Has Warriors goalie Todd Mathews already blown his chance at being the team's #1 goalie? Maybe. After posting a 5.93 GAA and .852 save percentage in losing both of the team's opening two games, Mathews now has some serious competition for the #1 job after the Warriors traded for Kyle Birch from the Americans last night.
I shouldn't be so harsh on Mathews; after all, I think the Warriors might have the worst defence in the league, and two games into the season 9 different players have already played defence for them. It's boggling that they didn't think Giffen Nyren could play defence for them when he wanted to. But Mathews' early numbers are bad even for a guy playing behind a weak blueline, and now he's got competition. Birch isn't the most experienced guy - only 596 career minutes played - and he just got beat out of the backup job in Tri-Cities by a couple rookies, but hey, he was the backup on the WHL's best regular season team last year.
Some 07-08 WHLers saw action in NHL exhibition games for the first time last night. Ben Maxwell scored a goal and took 4 PIM for the Canadiens in their loss to the Bruins. Oscar Moller had 1G and 2A plus 4 PIM for the Kings in a win over Phoenix, while Thomas Hickey played for the Kings in that game as well but was off the scoresheet. Nick Ross played for Phoenix in the game, and did not get on the scoresheet either. The Kings also played another game against St. Louis (yes, the Kings played two exhibition games on the same night....the NHL is allowing split-squad games like baseball does now?) and Colten Teubert suited up for the Kings in that one but was also off the scoresheet. In Tampa Bay, former P.G. teammates Dana Tyrell and Ty Wishart suited up for the Lightning against the Penguins. They each had one assist for the Lightning. Luca Sbisa played for the Flyers last night, and did not get on the scoresheet. And lastly, Luke Schenn played for the Maple Leafs, and did not get on the scoresheet despite Toronto scoring 7 goals in the game against Buffalo. I am sure this will prompt much teeth-gnashing and hair-pulling amongst Toronto media about whether the team made the right pick in the draft, blah blah blah.
3 comments:
Former Silvertip Dan Gendur scored with 6 minutes remaining in the third for Vancouver last night to send the game to overtime, where the Canucks beat the Oilers, 4-3.
-- Andy Head
Thanks for the update, Andy. I did not notice Gendur because I was only looking at players who were 08-09 eligible for the WHL. I should have mentioned that. :)
In the NHL, they keep game stats on just about everything. For example, in addition to a Game Summary (goals, assists, PIM etc.) they have an "Events Summary" which is a much more detailed summary of each players performance during the game. The Events Summary includes total number of shifts per game, total time played, (also breaks it down to time played while short handed, power play & even strength), number of shots on goal (missed & on net), hits, giveaways, takeaways etc., etc. In other words, if you want a more accurate account of how a particular player performed, this is the sheet to review. Just because a player is not on the scoresheet, doesn't mean he didn't have a good game and contribute. I followed an Event Summary for one of the games last night and it was amazing.. The stats are updated instantly after each shift.
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