Jan 08, 2014 | SCorrigan | 635 views
Catching Up on Major Atom
A lot has transpired since the last article with the Christmas tournament, one of the HL teams attending a tournament in London and even a round of HL games last weekend.
As billed in advance the Christmas tournament did not disappoint. There was no shortage of great saves, nifty goals, smart defensive plays and, as promised, surprises. Pool A saw a couple of upsets in early round robin play. The always impressive Devils, with just a mere loss in the regular season, were hit by the flu bug and were locked in a pair of defensive battles. They came up short in both cases versus the Sharks and Penguins. Indeed, the Penguins, with just 3 wins in the regular season, on the basis of sound defensive play and close checking matched that total as they went undefeated during the round robin and semi finals on the way to finals. In Pool B both the Senators and Hurricanes played some close matches, showing some solid team defensive play and good goaltending. However, the real story of the tournament may have been Blackhawks offense, which kicked it to overdrive for all four games they played, amassing 31 goals in the process and nailing down the championship. Despite the goals, anyone watching the games would tell you that the game play in turns of puck possession and scoring opportunities were close, especially in the semi finals versus the Sharks and the finals versus the Penguins.
In terms of individual performances a few players stood out to me from each team:
1) for the Hurricanes a familiar duo were front and centre, as they have been all season: Aidan Fuller was stellar in net while Tyrus Morissette (5g) provided all the teams scoring;
2) for the Senators it was really a case of solid work on the back end as the defenders Nathan Demerchant and Michael Metcalfe were impressive in forcing shooters to the outside and clearing the front of their net for Jack Murphy, who made key, timely saves;
3) for the Sharks, it was a very similar story as their key defenders Mason McCormick and Keiffer Wegener kept the opposing forwards outside the box and out skated most forwards to loose pucks while Dominick O'Handley was very sharp in net;
4) for the Devils, once again it was the defence that shone most brightly as Evan Kilpatrick, Jansen MacDougall and Josh Wettlaufer skated hard and played physical, thereby frustrating the other team on most rushes;
5) for the Penguins, where so much went right, a great deal of credit goes to Atticus Vaz, who took his play in net to another level, as well Kaden Moco and Chase Machin who were relentless on the backcheck;
6) for the Blackhawks, the defensive centre shut down role played by Mark McGuire was truly impressive in a player so young, while Dylan Corrigan (10g, 8 a) and Gage Rud (9g, 8a) provided more than enough fireworks.
The victorious Blackhawks then traveled last weekend to London for a tournament (in addition to the HL game they had to play). They represented Cambridge in great fashion and were clearly battle tried after surviving the hotly contested CMHA tournament. Facing a series of division leading or Christmas tournament Champions from other centres they went undefeated in the round robin and the semi finals but lost the finals late in overtime. The goaltending tandem of Jackson Soucie and Jack Murphy were simply on fire, making great saves each game - as good as saves as any this year by any goalie. The emerging play of their defensemen like Braden Asher, Sam Fleury and Aulden Palin was impressive and rewarding to watch. Up front the hot hands of Dylan Corrigan continued as he netted 12 goals over the 4 games, earning MVP honours in the finals.
The HL games last weekend started with a squeaker as the Blackhawks edged the Sharks 5-3 (including an empty net goal). The following game was a see-saw affair between the Devils and Hurricanes - a rematch of the 4-3 Christmas consolation game. Again the Devils barely edged the Hurricanes, 6-5 this time, but the five goal performance in a losing cause by Tyrus Morissette was definitely impressive. The final game saw an undermanned Senators squad run in to the very hot Penguins and that combination explains the 8-1 win posted by the Penguins.
This weekend there are no regular season HL games. The Blackhawks have an exhibition match against a Kitchener team but more importantly the red hot Penguins will be participating in the Gretzky Tournament in Brantford. Here's wishing they do us all proud and come back champions!