2 weekends in, what's everyone's initial feelings?

[eastsidedevil]

I am interested to know what everyone's feelings are towards the current set of players after the first two weekends of hockey. (3 if you count the exhibition against the Phoenix). I want to make this clear it is not a witch hunt just observations and hopefully constructive comments. Please do not make this a personal attack on anyone!

I have only seen the home games and therefore can only comment on them

Wes Jarvis

Solid performer no let up, and he is a big intimidating guy. Good start.

Mike Hartwick

Another solid signing in my view clears the net well and decent going forward

Jason Stone

We know what we get from Stoney year after year. Is it just me or has he not been as sharp as last season?

Matt Towe

Picking up where he left off last season. Going to be an important team GB player for years to come. Is it to early to expect a big point haul from him this season?

Lee Cowmeadow

Effective tidy start on what has been a very well functioning 3rd line

Mike Prpich

Star performer so far. Justifying Adams' faith in him. Felt last season he was just a solid gritty competitor but showed he has bags of skill and talent too.

Derek Campbell

Second only to Prpich in my opinion. Bundles of energy and really gets under the skin of the opposition.

Likit Andersson

I feel that Likit has been off the pace in both games. Has been caught out positionally and gives the offence too much space. Hopefully it is jet lag and his game will pick up.

Phil Hill

I wonder whether this is the same Phil as last season. He seems to have bulked up big time and is throwing his weight around effectively. Already scored some points and this will be a big season for Phil

Brad Voth

What can I say? Everyone knows what we get from Brad. Clearly the activities of the Steelers game affected him for the Stingrays game as he was uncharacteristically quiet

Neil Francis

A decent start to the season always looks likely to give a needless penalty however as mentioned above the third line has been functioning well.

Jason Silverthorn

Not quite flying at the heights of last season but a decent start. Feel he will be top points scorer this year.

Doug MacIver

Just what the doctor ordered a real brute of a guy! Not the quickest or the most skilful but will be occupying a vital role in Brad's absence. Defensively sound and hits like a truck. Might have to reinforce the plexi in the tent this year.

Peter Aubry

A slightly shaky start, however it is more difficult to judge a goaltender on two games. I feel that he will be disappointed with the Stingrays goal on Saturday.

Rod Hinks

Yet to see much from Rod. Big things are expected of him but he has yet to grab the attention. Hopefully he will come good.

 

[Chris]

Agree with you on all of them I think

MacIver certainly seems like the big fighter and defender we've needed, hopefully it'll push Voth into scoring more goals and just throwing the hits

The brits we've signed have definately been above what I expected, Towe and Hill have improved considerably over the summer and it's bloody great, people from other teams were writing our brits off, but looking at them now, I think we've got almost the perfect setup.

Just remains to be seen how good Hinks is, hopefully he'll start to warm up and gel with Silverthorn a bit more as the season goes on, and when that happens, I think we'll be in for a treat.

Chris.

 

[MikeRichards18]

i have to agree with you about prpich and DC being our best players so far, i know its only 2 games but im expecting big things from prps and DC.
The brits are playing well especially towey and hill with both picking up some good points so far.
Really pleased with maciver, jarvis and hartwick. I feel andersson will get better with time and he's shown glimpses of how good a player he is but i feel stoney seems a bit slow so far this season.
silverthorn has been quiet but still doing the buisness, and expecting more from hinks and im sure he'll be fine and soon start playing really well. Brad is Brad need i say more? Aubs is looking fairly solid so far but could improve a bit? (too critical?)
so far (especially after the recent great weekend) im really chuffed with the team

 

[Flames24]

totally agree with whats been said.

Couple of key points that most impress me .... its fantastic to see Hartwick clearing the net as he does, one thing that we have been lacking in past seasons. MacIver is a brick wall, he plays such a solid game and as you said hopefully he'll ease Vothers enforcer role and we can see Brad high on the scoreboard. Also, we don't have the biggest name brits in the league but they have impressed me way above my expectations of them.

 

[Ugly Betty]

For me Mike Prpich has been the pick of the bunch. Outstanding start to the season. He brings scoring, grit , gives his all on every shift and plays the game with a smile on his face.
I have read some stuff about this guy on some of the US college forums. Mike is held in very high esteem there and judging by his performances so far we could have a superstar on our hands there.

Honorable mentions to Hartwick and MacIver both look good. Unconvinced by Andersson, Hinks and Jarvis but still early days.

 

[steve]

For me Mike Prpich has been the pick of the bunch. Outstanding start to the season. He brings scoring, grit , gives his all on every shift and plays the game with a smile on his face.
I have read some stuff about this guy on some of the US college forums. Mike is held in very high esteem there and judging by his performances so far we could have a superstar on our hands there.

Couldn't have said it any better. If your interested, have a look at University of North Dakota archive stats and look at where Pirps team mates are now!

 

[Ugly Betty]

Cheers Steve, had a look at that during the summer. quite a few NHLers eh?
Some of the posters on their forum were quite suprised that Prps was not playing NHL or at least AHL himself. Think we are really lucky to have him here.
A few comments were written over the summer on the forum that shall remain nameless, that Prpich was a poor mans Ryan Finnerty. Well the poor man is in Teal and Orange as far as I am concerned.

 

[Lid]

I would have to agree with most things said here. I think Hartwick and Prpich are the stand out players at the moment, although I have been extremely impressed with everyone. The only person I think isn't performing is Hinks, to me he just seems to be there but not doing enough. Especially with him being on the first line I was expecting more, and hopefully it will come.

Weird that a few people have commented on Stone being slower and not as sharp as last season, as I thought the opposite. I've never seen him skate so fast as he did in the Hull game when chasing the puck and their wasn't even a Hull player in sight. He also seems to be getting stuck in more than usual which in my opinion is due to having big guys around him. He knows if anything kicks off he has plenty of support unlike last year with our very small defence.

Hill is playing out of his skin at the moment, I was very impressed with him last season but everyone still seemed to be slagging him off but I couldn't fault him. However he has stepped up another level again this season, I hope he keeps it up.

Towe is an awesome player, I said this all of last season but again quite a lot of people didn't seem to see him in the same way. I remember making a comment in the summer on the other forum that he would be one of my first signings if I was coach, which I then got flamed for but personally I think he is a top brit. He always gives 110% wins nearly every face off even against first line centres, got to be one of the fastest skaters in the league has endless amounts of energy, and is usually the first person back defending a rush.

 

[Finny]

Not much in the initial post to disagree with.

Andersson has probably the best pedigree of all our signings and am confident he will start to impress over the next couple of weeks. He does have the different task of following Teplitsky - but then we thought Tyson had a tough task in replacing Burgy and we all know how well he did.

I have been suprised that Hinks hasn't been scoring yet. As long as he is setting up Silverthorn and Prpich though and we keep winning games I won't be too bothered. It took Sly quite a while to settle in last season though and hopefully once he gets used to his line partners he will click too.

 

[steve]

I think the problem with Hinks is that he can look very lazy on the ice - a bit like birbraer did sometimes, but he has got an awesome touch and he set up a couple of the goals in cov beautifully. I think it'll just take a bit of time.

Whilst i don't want to criticise Stoner, i'm not quite sure why he seems to be getting quite so much ice time at the moment.

 

[Old17New2]

I agree with most of what has been said .

I have never really been fussed with Hill either last season or when he was with us before, I never felt he gave much to be team but that changed on Saturday he got stuck in and I was so eating my words about him. Stoney is a good member of the team so I disagree with the comments about him. He is soild, reliable and works very hard in every match, yes he has bad ones but what player doesn't. I cant wait to see this team at full speed, I'm so excited

 

[Jensen]

Been really impressed with a couple of the players so far, Hartwick seems to be the real deal and the "goalies best friend" G talked about in the summer, Maciver is far better positionally and technically than I thought he would be, for a big man he is everywhere. Battering a few guys doesn't hurt either . . . . . :twisted:
Pirps has been just amazing, Hilly has started what could be a career season for him, awesome play by Hilly I think. DC is the "Man" in Cardiff imho, we've had 3 home games now and in 2 of them he has smoked some poor guy. He's a dump truck of a player. Love it. Aubs we all know about and the other guys are starting to really gel I think Hinks will show his class soon. For me Hinks looks like a cross between Doug Smail and Jim Brown, like a real hockey guy's hockey guy. wicked. Feel bad for not saying everyone's name but there's too much good stuff to mention !

 

[gneissgirl1]

Don't forget Stoney has a new baby keeping him awake at night! Anyone who is a parent knows what that is like!

 

[Skippy]

Cheers Steve, had a look at that during the summer. quite a few NHLers eh?
Some of the posters on their forum were quite suprised that Prps was not playing NHL or at least AHL himself. Think we are really lucky to have him here.
A few comments were written over the summer on the forum that shall remain nameless, that Prpich was a poor mans Ryan Finnerty. Well the poor man is in Teal and Orange as far as I am concerned.

Im sure I read somewhere last season that Prpich had a problem with a work Visa for the US and thats why he isn't playing there and may not be able to.

 

[Lid]

Im sure I read somewhere last season that Prpich had a problem with a work Visa for the US and thats why he isn't playing there and may not be able to.

I remember that too, wasn't it something to do with working for a friend without a permit or whatever is required to work. I could be totally wrong though.

 

[James]

He helped on a friends farm over the summer, not thinking he needed a work permit. The US authorities thought different and I don't think he's allowed back in the US for a year from that date. Basically, very unfortunate for him, exceedingly lucky for us. We saw a glimpse of it last year before his injury, he's made an immense impression already this year.

 

[steve]

The US authorities thought different and I don't think he's allowed back in the US for a year from that date.

I'm pretty sure it's 5 years! :shock:

Trouble is, he can't play for any of the major league canadian teams either - all the decent leagues out there are cross-border. He's better off here in europe for now. Lucky for us.

 

[Rempel16]

Hinks is the only guy not to have impressed me so far, however he has just come off a 4 point weekend without showing too much so technically he is till on for the 100 point mark so will be fine once he hits his stride

MacIver looks like the animal on D that we have sorely missed, the next Clayton Norris, no nonsense with one hell of a mean streak. i like his protection over team mates too.

Prpich will be our star forward no doubt

Campbell hits like a train, whilst Hartwick and Jarvis are both rocks on D. (although jarvis is taking a few costly penalties and i hope this is just a settling period).

Andersson looks quality, quarterbacked the powerplay beautifully in Cov and what a slapper for his goal!

I think we will upset the big 4 this year.

 

[Russky]

I am greatly encouraged with what I have seen so far:

BIG HITS! Showing the other teams that we will not be pushed around this season.

More Solid on D: There are signs that our Blue line will be a no go area for opposition players!

PACE: not in abundance but there is definite rise in technical ability will get us through alot of games with the points in our possession by the time the final buzzer sounds!

Hard Men. At last an alternative to Vother. take your pick from Hartwick, MacIver and Campbell
(thanks to the reminder from Rempel16) and Prpich! Although I think his principal role will be that of playmaker and goal scorer!

Need I add any more?

 

[Rempel16]

. take your pick from Hartwick, MacIver and Campbell

And don't forget Prpich, the guy would go 12 rounds with Holyfield, Tyson and Klitchko just for kicks!!! :lol: