Post by Shaggy on Sept 6, 2006 23:22:15 GMT
Just back from the challenge game between Manchester Phonix and Sheffield Scimitars (ended 6-0 to Manchester).
An entertaining game... a long-benched and enthusiastic Scimitars team held a very short-benched Manchester team (11 outskaters IIRC) for most of the first - then started suffering from ZT infractions in the second, and the powerplay goals started to mount up.
It's too early to tell too much about the Phoenix team - missing 3 imports, had 1 practice session and that's it... at first glance they appear to have a lot of speed, some decent scoring potential... perhaps a bit lightweight on the physical side (not sure how well they will cope with teams full of big players) and the defence wasn't completely convincing.... they definitely look stronger going forward.
Individual Phoenix players that caught my eye:-
#15 Johan Molin. Ye gods, is this guy fast or what? Definite contender for fastest skater in the league. Small, agile, good puckhandling... 9 checks out of 10 are going to miss him easily! Possibly a bit too fast - if his linemates can't keep up, his speed and skill might sometimes be wasted. But a potential star player. Probably the pick of the bunch.
#29 Adam Walker. Strong, fast, feisty - good killer instinct with the puck... definitely a British player to watch.
#2 Radoslav Hecl. A few defensive errors (early days) - but this big D-man looks like he will be an offensive asset. A very quick slapshot with very little backswing - could be a nasty surprise. If they don't team him up with a stay-at-home blueliner, there could be exploitable gaps. However, see next...
#6 Scott Basiuk. Big, strong, dependable D-man. Looked like your classic stay-at-home brick wall... was teamed up with Hecl. Positioning seemed good.
#12 Robin Gomez. Potential nutjob alert! There could be fireworks with this one... I got the feeling he was constantly one step away from going postal. Looks like he can play the game pretty well though - so if he can hold his temper, could be an asset. Pretty big, reasonably fast, looks strong.
#9 Tony Hand. Maybe it's just pre-season sleepiness, but Ron Shudra didn't look like the only hockey OAP out there tonight. Hand's skating was much slower than I remember, his passing was poor - he just didn't seem all 'there'. We shall see.
#31 Jason Wolfe. OK - who nicked the Manchester netminder and left Shrek's second cousin in his place? This netminder is BIG. He didn't really get properly tested tonight - a few good shots, a few decent saves... going to have to wait for full-on EIHL opposition to see if his size makes him slow or less than agile.
Apart from all that... it was nice to meet lots of old friends from Manchester (and meet a couple of new ones).... and to say just two words.
Welcome back.
An entertaining game... a long-benched and enthusiastic Scimitars team held a very short-benched Manchester team (11 outskaters IIRC) for most of the first - then started suffering from ZT infractions in the second, and the powerplay goals started to mount up.
It's too early to tell too much about the Phoenix team - missing 3 imports, had 1 practice session and that's it... at first glance they appear to have a lot of speed, some decent scoring potential... perhaps a bit lightweight on the physical side (not sure how well they will cope with teams full of big players) and the defence wasn't completely convincing.... they definitely look stronger going forward.
Individual Phoenix players that caught my eye:-
#15 Johan Molin. Ye gods, is this guy fast or what? Definite contender for fastest skater in the league. Small, agile, good puckhandling... 9 checks out of 10 are going to miss him easily! Possibly a bit too fast - if his linemates can't keep up, his speed and skill might sometimes be wasted. But a potential star player. Probably the pick of the bunch.
#29 Adam Walker. Strong, fast, feisty - good killer instinct with the puck... definitely a British player to watch.
#2 Radoslav Hecl. A few defensive errors (early days) - but this big D-man looks like he will be an offensive asset. A very quick slapshot with very little backswing - could be a nasty surprise. If they don't team him up with a stay-at-home blueliner, there could be exploitable gaps. However, see next...
#6 Scott Basiuk. Big, strong, dependable D-man. Looked like your classic stay-at-home brick wall... was teamed up with Hecl. Positioning seemed good.
#12 Robin Gomez. Potential nutjob alert! There could be fireworks with this one... I got the feeling he was constantly one step away from going postal. Looks like he can play the game pretty well though - so if he can hold his temper, could be an asset. Pretty big, reasonably fast, looks strong.
#9 Tony Hand. Maybe it's just pre-season sleepiness, but Ron Shudra didn't look like the only hockey OAP out there tonight. Hand's skating was much slower than I remember, his passing was poor - he just didn't seem all 'there'. We shall see.
#31 Jason Wolfe. OK - who nicked the Manchester netminder and left Shrek's second cousin in his place? This netminder is BIG. He didn't really get properly tested tonight - a few good shots, a few decent saves... going to have to wait for full-on EIHL opposition to see if his size makes him slow or less than agile.
Apart from all that... it was nice to meet lots of old friends from Manchester (and meet a couple of new ones).... and to say just two words.
Welcome back.