I think the most dissappointing thing about tonight was that even with two imports down we couldn't win against what I thought was a very poor/limited side. Newcastle were entertaining as always, and Verner is clearly very good and I was impressed with the way Macallister dominated his end. (We couldn't get a screen on Verner all night and I think our goal came when Macalister was in the box.)
So, tonight showed just how much we miss Voth. Although newcastle were IMO poor, they still took complete control physically and took liberties which no team should be allowed to take in our rink. OK, Smith probably could have made a few more calls, but nobody sticks up for anyone out there. I'm concerned Prpich is going to get an injury without Voth, because he still puts himself in the tough positions and is paying a heavy price for it right now.
Hartwick was my MOM. He doesn't get the credit he deserves because he's a defensive minded player, but was again superb. Jarvis seems to play well every game, but makes one or two costly errors a game which he needs to cut out as he gets noticed for that more than his strong defensive play. ie the slash in overtime.
It's always going to be tough without Voth and Andersson who I'm sure would have improved our powerplay tonight. (Which is neverheless better than last year with or without him) We also needed Voth as the screen with Macallister in there.
I'm down, but I still think it's difficult to get a full idea as we still haven't played with a full team yet! I think we won every game we played with a full team last season (all 6 of them) Then, if you get used to winning and we have an injury it's much easier to keep winning.
Hopefully we'll have two bits of very good news this week and have a full team at least for next weekend!