It's 0-0 after two periods, but man, has there been plenty of action. Both goaltenders have been amazing.
Rockford's Jesse Bennefield received a slashing major and a game misconduct, and the Komets' Mario Larocque recieved an instigation penalty for retaliating. UHL President Richard Brosal is in attendance tonight and the league is going to review whether the instigation penalty was the proper call since Larocque could argue that he was simply defending himself from the slash. I'll let you know what I hear.
Another highlight was a beautiful hip check by Mike Dombkiewicz. Haven't seen one of those lately and it was perfectly executed.
Great game to watch so far.
Comments
Brosal wouldn't know a penalty if he saw one. That guy is an embarrassment to the league.
Ummm...why?
The instigation penalty is horrible. A guy takes a brutal slash and then can't defend himself. That rule needs to be removed from hockey.
Anyone want to say why this was the most entertaining game of the year? It was by far the most exciting.
LAROCQUE OWNED BENNEFIELD
Did you see Cloutier grabbing his crotch after the final whistle?
I think Cloutier was simply saying that Cockburn would be with the team when they come back on the 26th of this month.
It's too bad Cloutier did all that at the end of the game. He played fantastic for Rockford. My thoughts on the game:
1. Good to see Mario get physical again.
2. Good physical game tonight. Pretty entertaining.
3. Great goals by Rudenko, the first one from a great pass from Ruid.
4. Frenchy is on top of his game this year!
So he did it? I couldn't see. But I heard he had something like that
Lizon looks scary skating around out there. I was worried he might take little Artie's head off at the end of the game or several other of the players. I hate Rockford with a passion. They goon it up constantly and Mizzi has to be the biggest baby in the league. Goaltender was an idiot at the end of the game.
How was that bet you offered up Scoops? You guaranteed that McWhinney would play one of the games this weekend? Oh right, I didn't bet you because I had lunch with coach this week. Good one Scoops.
Glad to see the guys are stepping up and making big hits on the ice. That is a must for this team to beat the other good teams in this league.
The new D-Man looked awesome. And why Honkenan sat out for Artie to play....I will never understand. Honker plays as sound and strong at defense as anyone. I just don't see what the rest of you see in little Artie. He would make a better forward. My opinion.
Awesome game ... best of the year so far.
Kiyaga played what I thought was his best game of the year so far. It was worth the price of admission to see Larocque bouncing Bennefield's head on the ice ... don't be surprised, however, if Rockford doesn't turn in the tape and try to get him suspended. I can't say I blame Larocque. If someone tried to slash me in THAT region, I'd probably do the same thing.
All that said, the Komet organization may want to seriously consider giving out items as fans exit the building like they did following the infamous "ice-scraper night" incident several years ago in the IHL. I realize this was "chuck-a-puck" night and some of the items were bottles, but somebody needs to crack down on this behavior before someone gets hurt.
It's unfortunate that several IDIOT fans think it's cool to throw things on the ice. It was bad enough they were throwing things at the Rockford end, but a number of them were doing the same thing from the Komets' end.
Keep it up you IDIOTS and sooner or later a Komet player is going to skate over something and blow out a knee.
Hit, I'll agree that Kiyaga might be playing out of position. I thought in pre-season with his speed he would make a better forward, but he's young and he's learning. You never know how he'll develop.
Hit, you never cease to amaze me, and I'll just leave it at that.
I think the Komets got a steal by signing Tuzzolino. This kid is gonna be really solid once he gets into game shape.
You know I am just like the Wizards in that regard...I am so amazing. What did I say that is so bad. Artie should be playing forward and the Komet's should have their best D-Men on the ice. And that would be Larocque, Dupuis, Caveman, Hansen, Tuzzolino, and Honkenan. So I think that is our best D-men. Real amazing thing there I guess. What do my fellow bloggers think? Honestly.....?
Did I mention that this was the best game of the year and it was entertaining? A game that everyone left energized about and probably are still thinking about right now, that is if they are awake. And why would that be? Anyone...Anyone?
Tonight tells me several things without even being there in person
#1 A bunch of guys realized they were playing for their jobs and showed what they could really do when properly motivated. Coach Bingham should expect this effort every night.
#2 Speaking of coach Bingham, I give him and the organization credit for not pulling the panic button and starting a revolving door of players. Sure they brought in someone new (lol you guys should have heard the radio broadcast....tortolini ...turtlino tetrazzini) but there has been a strong sense of stability with this group.
#3 Frenchy is a competitor and I can't believe there was any way he was not going to want to get right back in there tonight and it is a good thing he did because when his head is right he is a proud man and he had something to prove tonight and did it. He needed to get back in there and show the home fans he was still the man.
Before this season started I was vocal about him playing too many games which caused his breakdown in the playoffs last season. I do have a concern he might play too many games again. But really, when you have so many days off in between games, playing back to back games is no big deal.
Heck in Juniors goalies play back to back nights every weekend, sometimes with a 10 hour bus ride in between.
Final thought...on Reiter....
I don't want him. Why? What happens the first time Frenchy has a bad game?
Now, there is no doubt he is the #1 even after an off night. You bring Reiter in, Frenchy may start looking over his shoulder. Plus Reiter has made it clear he wants to start and even if he says he would come to town as a backup you know what his motivations are. Sure Dan probably would love to start too. No goalie wants to go through his career being a backup. But just like you didn't us Martin Brodeur to backup Patrick Roy, you don't bring in a guy like Reiter to backup Frenchy.
No I am not comparing Reiter to Brodeur when it comes to talent. Just saying you don't want 2 #1 goalies especially when you are happy with the original #1.
Not since Fuhr/Moog or Roy/Hayward has such an arrangement worked.
I too have been vocal about the goaltender situation. Let me make one thing clear. Frenchy is most likey the best in this league. He gives our team the best chance to win when he is on his game. I just don't want to have a Frenchy in the middle part to end of the season beat to death and not on top of his game. That has been my only point about this situation. I too think that a guy like Reiter coming in would only just muddy the waters. A good rookie goalie is the best choice in this situation. It most likey is Dan McWhinney. Just let the boy play every now and again is all.
Oh, one more thing. I am sooooo sick and tired of the Brosal bashing. You know, this guy has dealt so much screwy crap from the league owners over the years I can't believe they are paying him enough to stay!! The man gets no credit when things go right and the owners shove him out in front of the cameras to take the blame everytime they screw something up! Aside from the Komets and a couple of the other stable ownership groups, he has had to deal with quite the collection of screwballs.
Do I think he has made mistakes? Sure, MAYBE. I say maybe because you never know what he has taken blame for that the owners put him up to in the first place.
Lastly...give me a name of someone who could do a better job AND put up with the same amount of B.S. Brosal does.
AAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's see, Arthur plus 3 with two points over the last two games. The rest of the defensemen? Guy plus-1 (played with Arthur last night to get that one); Hansen plus 2 (played with Arthur tonight to get those two); Tuzzolino plus 1 tonight. The rest were even on the weekend.
If you can't see how much he has improved already or how much playing time he's getting in key situations of late, you should quit embarrassing yourself on this.
Rockford is a team full of scumbag sissies. Bennefield whacked the rock then turtled, sole purpose was intent to injure. I'm glad the rock picked him up and bashed him to the ice. i seen johnson do some cheap crap tonight as well, then their goaltender throws the net over.
Wonder who their coach could be, does whiny baby martinson come to mind. I think lil stevie is just picking the wrong players to form a championship team, either that or the good ones will not play for him.
I am not embarrassed at all Super Fan. I think he is a decent hockey player. He just isn't at the level of the other D-Men we have. Do you actually think he is a better player than Guy or Mario or Kevin or Caveman? If you do...I think you should get your nose out of the plus/minus crap and watch the games. He might be improving...that is great, I hope he is and does improve. Nothing personal here at all. I just think he panics with the puck...Hot Potato...Hot Potato, and he as a load of trouble body-ing up stronger forwards. Not a personal attack there...he might improve on these things. I just don't see the huge love affair that you guys have for this D-man?
Did I mention that this was the most entertaining game of the year. Lots of fun. Energy in the air. Brosal in the press-box. Guys taking the body. Frenchy looked great. Fun game.
OK, then here's the 2X4 upside the head for you, and if this doesn't work, then there's no hope for you at all because you'll never be able to argue against this.
How many opposing goals do you think he's been on the ice for lately? Try one over the last five games and since Oct. 28, 14 games, he has been on the ice for only four opposing goals, and on two of those, his partner got caught up ice so he was the only guy back on a two-on-one.
There is no other defensemen on this team, shoot, in the entire UHL who can say they were on the ice, taking a regular shift, and have only given up four goals. And how many times do you think opposing coaches have tried to match up their best lines against a rookie defenseman? That's a totally ridiculous statistic for any defensemen, let alone a rookie.
Or how about this? Over the last 10 games he's plus-5, which leads all FW defensemen by plus-2 and is second on the entire team.
If that isn't good enough for you, then, as they say on the radio, that's a you problem.
One area of concern and it stuck out big time this weekend...our faceoffs are horrible. We didn't win many tonight at all.
Blake,
I can't believe you put TuZZolino in the discussion of what D-man is playing better than Kiyaga. A little unfair considering it was his first game. I like Kiyaga but he is definitely raw and I could see right away Tuzzolino has more talent the Arthur. I do agree with Hit that I would have played Honkanen over Kiyaga. Much more physical and better all around player. Plus minus is an alright stat but for a D-man it's who you are on the ice with and when you have an open net. Kiyaga is improving but his two best passes of the year were to the other team(THEY SCORED ON BOTH). I do think I would consider moving him to a forward spot with his speed and see what he can do in the open ice more. As a D-man if he breaks away from the pack he just dumps and falls back to his position for D.
On another note, I am still amazed at the St. Pierre and Bingham bashers. Last week when we lost to Muskegon after the game a fan that sits near me yells down "See what you got yourself into Bingham!" and "Pierre Sucks". I find both to be ridiculous statements. If Bingham got himself into anything, it is that for some reason K's fans seem to think that you are supposed to and should win every game. Let's be realistic, this is not going to happen. Also, Pierre does not suck and in the Muskegon game, he kept us in it bescause from what I saw the rest of the team sure didn't play until the third period and then too little too late. A goalie, most of the time, is only as good as the players in front of him. Against Muskegon the guys were not that good. No reason to jump on Frenchy. Though last night I would say neither Frenchy nor the rest of the team brought their "A" game. But we saw a team that would not be denied tonight and the physical play the last two nights is something not seen for awhile. I definitely look forward to see what more these guys can bring to the Jungle.
I'm not comparing Tuzzolino at all. I just threw his plus-1 in there because I knew someone would bring it up if I didn't. No good deed... And how about their pairing of Tuzzolino and Larocque. They'll have forwards all over the world looking up to them at 6-6 and 6-4. They are big and play that way.
Hit... I am with you on Artie. He has not impressed me since 1st day of preseason. There was a group of guys sitting behind me chanting his name all night.
Tuzzolino looked awesome out there. He looks to be a great signing. His best play at the end when that Pig wanted to fight him he pointed to the scoreboard then pointed to his head.. saying use your head and look at he score board, now is not a time to drop the gloves.
Larocque should be able to defend himself, but clearly that guy did not want to fight. They showed the clip on the news and it looked like he was a bulldog throwing his prey around. Entertaining? YES! Called for? NO!
Sniper... I agree with you. St Pierre does not suck. I must have been sitting near that guy that hollered to Bingham. He was about 6 rows below me. I believe it was his beer talking. A goalie has to be able to make some good saves, but he has to have the guys in front of him doing their jobs too.
Hit... I am with you on Artie. He has not impressed me since 1st day of preseason. There was a group of guys sitting behind me chanting his name all night.
Tuzzolino looked awesome out there. He looks to be a great signing. His best play at the end when that Pig wanted to fight him he pointed to the scoreboard then pointed to his head.. saying use your head and look at he score board, now is not a time to drop the gloves.
Larocque should be able to defend himself, but clearly that guy did not want to fight. They showed the clip on the news and it looked like he was a bulldog throwing his prey around. Entertaining? YES! Called for? NO!
Sniper... I agree with you. St Pierre does not suck. I must have been sitting near that guy that hollered to Bingham. He was about 6 rows below me. I believe it was his beer talking. A goalie has to be able to make some good saves, but he has to have the guys in front of him doing their jobs too.
How can you say that Larocque throwing around Bennefield was uncalled for? The guy 2 handed him in the chest! If someone attacked you would you respond or just stand there and take it?
J.C....Do 2 wrongs make a right? If it cost you a game suspension is it worth it?
....
Did the Rockford goalie knock the net over after the game? I wasn't watching that end of the rink after the game. I looked down there and seen it was flipped backwards.
I take it you are one of the fans that don't like fighting in hockey? Yes Cloutier did knock the net off at the end of the game. I am pretty sure he was pissed about Labarre's shot that rang off the cross bar with 1 second left in the game. J.F. came in and blasted one. I am pretty sure that he would have scored that goal, we might still be sitting in our seats watching the gloves being picked up off the ice.