You're not distracted? Dang it! Okay, I don't know any more than what I linked to. I'm going to practice on Tuesday, and I'll try and talk to Coach French and find out what this means for Neuvy. I doubt if I'll get anything more than you could find on an injury report, but keep your fingers crossed. If this is a longer term injury, we will probably be seeing Bacashihua as the number one goalie until Michal gets back.
The Caps ended their pre-season today, and now there are some tough choices for the front office to make. With injuries to Eric Fehr (double rotator cuff surgery), Tomas Fleischmann (blood clot in leg), and Michael Nylander possibly being on his way out, four Bears are fighting for two, maybe three, forward spots. Quentin Laing is the most experienced with the big club, and Keith Aucoin is on a one-way contract, so the smart money is for these two to stick. However, Chris Bourque was impressive in the final pre-season game, and there have been some rumors that if he doesn't make the Caps, they will trade him.
The Caps may choose to use one of the open forward spots to keep an eighth defense-man. If that happens the choice would be between Karl Alzner and Tyler Sloan. Sloan would be exposed to waivers if he were sent down; I'm not sure how much that will affect the decision. BB and GM GM both seem to be "play your way in" type guys. Sloan seems to do very well with the big club, but Alzner is a first round pick and needs seasoning at the NHL level. This one is too close to call.
In other news, the Bears also had a game tonight, and my impressions are after the jump.
Bottom Line Up Front: The Bears won the game 4-3 in overtime.
I know it's the pre-season, but tonight's game brought back bad memories of the slump last year. The Chocolate 'n' White came out guns a-blazin'. People were flying around the ice, hitting people, getting into passing lanes, going to the open areas of the ice, paying the price down low. We scored one, then two, and then the foot came off of the accelerator.
From the mid-point of the second period on, Norfolk carried the play. Slowly, our 2-0 lead dwindled, 2-1 on a play that should never have happened. Turnover at center, three-on-three getting back, but my boy, Jay Beagle, didn't hustle to get on the goal side of his man. Pass to the slot, Beagle's man buries it. 2-2 on a really bad goal, Cash got caught out of position and had to fall to his right rather than butterfly down to get the puck, and the puck slid under him. 2-3 on a goal that you just felt was coming. Norfolk was pressing, Bears were sitting back. Guess what? They scored.
This doesn't mean that the Bears didn't have chances. Jaroslav Janus, the Admirals second "half" goalie, was committing grand theft puck on a regular basis. Twice I stood up celebrating as a sure goal was stolen from the Bears, but these were exceptions, rather than the rule.
The boys got a scrappy goal back at the death of the game, tying it up at 3-3, and sending us into overtime.
The OT turned the way of the Bears. They were dogged in the offensive zone, strong on the puck, and getting some good looks. Boyd Kane got the game winner, and we all went home happy.
Three fights tonight: Gavin Morgan had a great clean hit on an Admiral, and Ty Wishart took exception to it and made what probably was one of the biggest mistakes of his life. After Morgan hit him for the fifth time, Wishart was looking for the linesman to stop the fight.
Big Joe Finley dropped the mitts with Trevor Hendriks. Joe kept trying to drop the overhand bomb but was tied up pretty well. He needs to learn how to use his size to get an advantage, or his days as a scrapper will be over pretty quickly. Where is Daddy Youngblood when you need him?
Reider went with Scott Jackson and gave him the business in the early going but got tied up in his equipment and allowed Jackson to fight him to a draw.
Scott Langdon impressed me tonight. Lots of effort and really put the hurt on people when he got a chance.
The save of the night goes to the left goal post in the Bears zone. Seriously, it was a thing of beauty.
See you on Saturday! Who is tailgating??
Grizzled Vet.
2 comments:
Good game last night for Gavin Morgan! He was every where and shifted with every line. He set the tone with the big hit, scrap and by drawing 2 minors in the first. I hope he can find a spot on the roster.
I liked Morgan's play last night too, but I guess it wasn't enough to bump a prospect off the roster. He was assigned back to Reading today.
I'm not sure what the Bears veteran situation is going to be this year and that may have played into the decision.
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