I'm headed down to “The Jack” tonight to watch the Ice Dogs
take on the Battalion in OHL playoff play. The Dogs are up 2-1 in the series
after shutting out North Bay in game 3. This will be my fourth time seeing
Niagara live this season (along with multiple times on TV), so I feel I have a
decent understanding of how their team works. With that being said here are the
some things I will be watching for in tonight’s game.
1. I want to see the line of Perlini-Verhaege-Difruscia
dominate play for the majority of time they are on the ice. As I’ve mentioned
in previous posts this is the one line on Niagara that can drive play and keep
possession in the offensive zone. It doesn’t matter what zone they start in
whether defensive or neutral zone they find a way to get the puck out and into
the opponents end. The Ice Dogs need this line to create that pressure and
score in order to have a chance.
2. They need to get the D pair of Vince Dunn and
Blake Siebenaler, more playing time. From what I have seen those two are the
Ice Dogs best D pair. I know Luke Mercer has the experience (229 career OHL
games played) and Aaron Haydon has the draft pedigree (28th among NA
Skaters per CSS), but from what I've seen from that defence pair is they are
always pinned in their own end. They do a poor job of getting possession and
getting the puck into the offensive zone. They do block shots and get in
passing lanes a lot but the reason they have to do that so much is they don’t have
the puck. What Dunn and Siebenaler do
are they get control of the puck and are able to either carry it out their zone
and into the offensive end or they make a good first pass to the forward who
usually dumps it or carries it into the zone. I'm hoping to see significant playing
time for both of them.
3. Brent Moran has to the stop the puck. Yes this
is what all goalies have to do, but as mentioned all lines other than the
Perlini-Verhaege-Difruscia line, and Dunn-Siebenaler, get beat in the possession
game. Moran is going to be peppered with shots whenever those five are not on
the ice. Moran is likely going to face 40 shots tonight; he needs to save 38-39
of those in order for the Ice Dogs to win.
If those three things happen tonight the Ice Dogs will win
this game and have a 3-1 stranglehold on the series.
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