Quote:
Originally Posted by Freddy
One of the undercurrents to this game was the fact that I thought the Flames played 'heavier' than the Canucks, specifically Ferland and Jooris. While Ferland was quick to drop the gloves with Dorsett and looked a bit silly for the penalty, Dorsett didn't choose to keep picking on Ferland. Then later they showed Bieksa and Ferland jawing at eachother prior to a face off, and despite Ferland face planting himself into the boards right after, he at that point had essentially 'made himself available' or 'offered an invitation' to the 2 guys the Canucks consider their modern day enforcers without even a hint of them pushing back to escalate the emotion. So while some would say it's just rookie vs veteran composure, I'd say there is an intangible lift to your team when a rookie openly challenges / shows disrespect to opposing "tough guys" without either saying a peep. And then setting up the game tying goal with a sexy feed was icing on the cake.
Great game by Ferland!
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Great synopsis about Ferland's game last night.
3 or 4 years ago my buddies and I went to a Brandon-Hitmen playoff game specifically to watch Ferland. He was crashing the net, fighting, generating chances, and just generally imposing his will all night. It was the kind of game that made me imagine what he could become that at the NHL level, and last night's game was the realization of that. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite players on the team and hopefully he puts Burrows on his a$$ a lot more before this series is over.