2013/14 General Heat Discussion Thread

[thymebalm]

http://flames.nhl.com/club/blogpost.htm?id=23126

^ Torie has a blog on Granlund. Really humbling stuff from Ward on Granlund, great piece.

"I need to find him more ice to be quite honest with you," Troy G. Ward told CalgaryFlames.com's Heat correspondent Mike Cadarette. "I've got to find him more ice. He's a really good player. He has a great feel for the game offensively. He's learning the game defensively after coming over from Europe. He's learning to play on a smaller rink. There's not as much time and space out there, but he has a great great feel for the game. He has a feel for his teammates. He's more competitive than people realize.

"So I'm the one that's the issue there. I think he's playing well. I think he can play better, but that's on me. I've got to put him with the right people and I've got to find him more ice time. But I'm really proud of him."

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

It was a neat little transition for Granlund this season. Ward wanted to start him out slow. Give him the easy offensive zone minutes and see how he does. He took those minutes and made the most of them.

And to everyone's surprise he handled the physical game better than anyone could've imagined. He's not a wuss. So Ward gave him more minutes and he's getting a point every game now.

Quite the impressive start to his career. Watching him has been a joy because other than Sven and maybe Hudler, Granlund is probably the niftiest pro in the Flames system with the puck. He's got excellent dangles.

Always thought he'd never transition well to the pro game. I thought he'd be a weak, pushover player whose niche would be small minutes in the O-zone. Thankfully I'm eating crow on that one.

[thymebalm]

All McDonald here in the first.

Heat are wounded warriors. McKelvie is a forward playing d tonight. Ferland out with illness.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

MacDermid with his first fight in a Heat uniform. Woohoo!

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Elson scores! 1-0 Heat

Sounds like he's on a line with Street and Rhino.

[thymebalm]

What a bush league situation that was... wow.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Good lord. WTF is all this?

Wild player goes down injured because Ramage got his stick in the guy's face. The Heat go down to the other end and Elson scores.

Then the referee takes, yes, takes Elson's goal away after the fact and gives Ramage a 4 minute penalty.

Then, of course, the Wild score on the PP because "eff you, that's why," says (what I imagine) the referee thought in his head.

[Cheese]

how did MacDermid do in his fight?

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by Cheese

how did MacDermid do in his fight?

According to Brandon Astle is was a draw. Baldwin got the takedown though.

[thymebalm]

Sweet! They'll count this one!

[TheDebaser]

So it's 1-1 now?

[thymebalm]

Street scores his 10th and 11th here in the second! Heat up 2-1!

[thymebalm]

Granlund has an assist to extend his point streak to 6 games (3-4).

My boy Josh Jooris got back on the scoresheet with an assist.

Chad "assist" Billins has an assist tonight as well.

[thymebalm]

Heat are still leading 2-1. About halfway through the third. Pretty back and forth. Every time the Wild get a chance they throw it wide, MacDonald's had the rest.

[MyFlamesFirst]

I guess the wild had 43 shots on Macdonald who only let in one goal. Sounds like we were dominated in the shot department but managed to win. Things seem to being going good for this team!!

[thymebalm]

Final score 2-1.

Street with two goals, Granlund, Mckenzie, Jooris, Billins with assists.

That concludes the road trip. 6-1. They set a franchise record for wins in a row (regular season) on the trip with 9, took a lot of punishment, lost their leading scorer Jones to the Flames, saw a trade that moved Horak to OKC, added McDermid... hard to believe that's all the same trip.

edit:

MacDonald was insanely good. %.977sv 42 saves. He is the stats leader over ortio in gaa and sv% now.

[Enoch Root]

^ I would hope so... he is an NHL goalie after all.

[Enoch Root]

I just want to tip my hat to the Heat...

traded Horak, sent their leading scorer (jones) to the Flames, lost Wotherspoon and who knows who else to injury, have several D out, sent Berra to the Flames, and what do they do?

They go 12 - 1 and claim the top of the standings

Much of which was on the road.

And its not being done by a bunch of AHL veterans, this is a team full of prospects

Well done, boys!

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Here's a killer stat:

Of Chad Billins' seven assists this week, six of them were primary assists. He is the heart and soul of the offense from the blue line without question.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

MacDonald was insanely good. %.977sv 42 saves. He is the stats leader over ortio in gaa and sv% now.

He's trying his best to get traded.