First off, Goneau came back and was fine. ``It's been three weeks,'' he said. ``There was no problem.''
So far after eight home games, the Komets have out-scored their opponents 49-14, out-scoring their power play 25-4. Their closest margin of victory has been three goals, and i don't believe that even includes any empty-net goals.
Does that mean they are a great team? Beats me because they haven't been pushed at all. Their opponents had a 24-38-4 record coming into those games and only one of them had a winning record. Elmira was 8-4-0 and the Komets drilled the Jackals 8-1.
That's one reason why I'm looking forward to Friday's game. I want to see how good the Komets are, and it's really tough to tell right now. I think they are pretty good, but I also think there's a possibility the league is pretty bad, too.
There are always factors like travel and injuries and such, but strictly as a hockey fan, I haven't been too impressed by what I've seen so far in general. I'm really hoping Friday will be a quality game, and I want both teams to push each other to greatness all season. That's just kind of hard to do when you only play each other seven times all year.
You know what else I haven't seen? The depth of goaltending in the league. So far there hasn't been anyone who made me go Wow, they really had to earn those goals. I actually thought Kris Tebbs of Elmira had a pretty decent game but the rest of his team was horrible.
Goaltending can hide a lot of problems.
So, what did you guys think?
Comments
I think the league as a whole has drop off in overall talent with the "cap" rules in place. Except for the K's, their talent level is better imo than last years and Muskegon who lost Bouchard did a good job of recruiting. Kzoo, Rockford, and I will throw Elmira in there as the best of the rest. You have to give Bingham and Franke some credit here for putting this team together, but the true depth of this club will show if injuries occur and hopefully that will not happen.
I might buy that Sgriff, but the UHL still has a significantly higher cap number than the CHL or the ECHL. You are correct, though that Komets did a great job, and they are playing well together. I just want to see how good they can truly be when they are pushed, and that might not come until late in the playoffs. I want Muskegon, Kalamazoo, FW and Rockford to set the tempo for everyone else to shoot for and strive to improve. I don't want those good team to be dragged back to the pack.
I think the UHL has done a great job of improving the quality of play every year since the Komets joined the UHL, but I'm not seeing that so far this season and that disappoints me.
how can you say you havent been impressed so far? dont you know thats negative and scoops and some of the others will lambaste you for that??? put your rose colored glasses back on and sing the praises!!lol
No kidding....the players and scoops are gonna either have a field-day with you Super Fan, or they will just go along with you as always....not sure which way it will go. I thought we were just supposed to love that we are winning and shut-up and say nothing else about the games. Kind of like...there is food on your plate, it may taste like crap, but shut-up and eat it...it still is food, right?
Be ready Blakes, they are gonna tell you that you don't deserve this team...just be lucky you have Hockey to write about....LOL
I'm not saying I'm not impressed with the Komets. I just don't know how good they are because the level of competition has been terrible. By far the best game I've seen this season was two weeks ago in Kalamazoo. That was a FUN game to watch from start to finish. And by the way, they lost that game.
Ramsay will bring his boys in tomorrow night looking to run us off the ice. I bet they were looking ahead to us as they played poorly against Flint tonight. That will be one dangerous Fury team tomorrow night. I just hope we can match the physical play and intensity from the get-go. Or we could dig a huge hole and never get out of it.
The team that surprise me the most is QC. Traditionally they have had some great teams over the years but the last couple of years seem to struggle. The question for the ECHL and CHL cap's is it a hard cap or a soft cap like the UHL had last year? I have no idea. It makes no sense to me why teams like Toledo, Dayton, Cincy, etc are playing in the ECHL when the UHL would be a better league for them. I think a lot has to do with the perception the ECHL is a "better" AA level of hockey. Can't say one way or another because I have never seen an ECHL game. The question for the UHL is can they keep teams in Flint and Port Huron. I think the addition of Bloomington over time will be a good one. The game Friday with Muskegon should be a great match up as the 2 most tradition rich organizations play.
I looked up Muskegon's schedule to date and they have only played 5 games against teams with winning records. K-zoo= 3 times, won all 3...Elmira= twice, 1-1....Rockford=1, won...makes them 4-1 against the top of the league, and Flint won 2nite which makes them 12-1 against the rest of the league... Will be interesting to hear tomorrows game and then comments after the game.
i've been waiting for tomorrows game all season.
Hukalo just makes things happen.
Thought we had a lot of quality near misses tonight, we could have scored a lot more.
Although there are fewer penalties, i don't think Searle did a good job tonight. The Goneau and Goupil incident -- we still went 5 on 5 and yet he gave them both 2 min roughing and 5 fighting, whats the point.
Couple of the penalties i think he called so he would have something to do, then when stuff happens in front of him nothing.
someone at the game tonight told me that we have the second best attendance in all of minor league hockey,, is this true?
It's true Lisa and you can read about it here: http://www.intotheboards.net/hockey/publish/article_7040.shtml
I think most hockey people (or sports people for that matter) will say that there are teams you should beat and others you'll have problems with. Yes the komets lost to Bloomington but have made up for that loss with 2 wins over them. then there's K-Zoo who is one of the better teams in the league and Rockford who is our primary rivaly right now. Muskegon will be a good test for the Komets. just look at the numbers. Goals per game is about even. 4.9 for Muskegon to 4.6 for the Komets. The K's seem to have more players performing and adding to the offense whil you look at Todd Robinson from Muskegon whose got 42 points in just 18 games. I don't think the K's should hang their head if they lose tonight, just learn for the future, but I do hope they win.
Greg, The fact that we have more players putting up decent numbers (even 3rd line!) is what I think will be one of the keys to beating Muskegon.
As long as they keep the intensity up and avoid the really dumb penalties....with the goal scoring coming from everyone; Muskegon is going to have to deal with trying to contain all 3 lines, not just one or two key players.
I think this has the makings of a very closely contested game. I might get some grief for saying this, but I would like to see the officials let them play, only call what needs to be called.
While I think the officiating has gotten better, it's still going to be a work in progress.
Actually, I thought Searle did a decent job last night....Blake, do you know if he instructed PA Larry to announce the "Unsportsmanlike Conduct for Diving" verbatim? I cannot recall it ever being announced in that exact manner.
I agree about the quality of goaltending throughout the league being poor, except Frenchy. He has been playing excellent all season. I think the overall talent level is down this year compared to the last couple years and I believe that is due to the UHL losing teams this past Summer. There are 2 excellent teams, Fort Wayne and Muskegon, who are both better than last year's teams, 2 pretty good teams in Rockford and Kalamazoo, who are both slightly weaker than last year, 1 good team in Elmira, who is than last year's team, but not really that good, 4 bad teams in Flint, Chicago, Port Huron, and Bloomington, and 1 horrendous team in Quad City. Just no depth in the league overall. Bottom line, unless major changes happen on rosteres, Muskegon and Fort Wayne will be playing for the Cup come May.
I don't know if he instructed him or not, but I've heard it announced that way several times this year, mostly on the road. It was so obvious. Now THAT was a copout call where he called both at once. When a guy windmills his arms as if trying to keep his balance, how in the world could it actually have been a hook, too?