Preseason QC Flames vs Peoria Rivermen. pics and thoughts.

[PIMking]

Well QC pretty much dominated the game from start to stop. Marek Scwartz the goalie kept Peoria in the game and won it for them in a shootout.

The good.

Hugo is an absolute stud. He has very good vision on the ice and has a good shot. the bad about Hugo. Well this isnt the QMJHL and you cant take a stupid hooking penalty because you didnt want to move your feet. He also had the hit of the night but the only problem it was on teammate Adam Cracknell.

J.D. Watt

I dont have a clue this guy is an absolute agitator. Kinda like Prust but he actually can hit people.

Okay shot but has a great drive and is going a 100% the whole time. Also had a fight (draw)

Kris Chucko

That guy was a hitting machine. Hit everything in sight but not the net. played very well looked like a man amongst boys.

Leland Irving

He has great positioning and will be a good goalie this year. I think keets better worry about splitting more time with this guy. the only goal he gave up in regulation was because the PTO players broke down infront of him.

Adam Cracknell

Agian NHL shot but skates like hes a little light on he feet.

Dan *** Ryder!

This guy is back. He made some retarted ( good) moves in the game Missed the net a couple of times but they were just barley off the corner.

Skated hard but didnt back check as fast as I would like for a centreman.

any questions about other players just ask.

http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/g...afilter=images

[Reggie Dunlop]

Big time thanks for the info. Not a lot of info online about the game (being preseason and all).

I know there'll be at least one Hugo Carpentier fan who will be happy to hear your opinion!

[Drunk Skunk]

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with Carpentier tonight. He played on the third line, and I thought that was fitting. He looked out of place at times, and timid at other times. Hopefully that will change on Saturday against the Chops.

Vandermeer was the player that stood out to me tonight. I knew he was more than a goon coming in, but I never expected him to be a first line defenseman. He was all over the ice tonight, even quarterbacking the dismal power play. He's also a master of the "slap pass." Oh, I couldn't forget one thing - he is a master of the cheap shot. He speared a Riv' t'wixt the nethers while the ref wasn't looking.

I was also really impressed with camp invitee Mike Hamilton. He had a very solid game, and I hope he's kept around for a longer look. He played most of the game with Ryder.

Ryder had a very solid game - and a pretty sweet shootout goal. He was more physical then what I remember last year.

Kris Chucko is a completely different player this season. Tonight he was hitting everything in sight. He had two or three highlight reel hits, including a hit where he absolutely pasted a Rivermen forward against the corner of the bench.

Dan Spang and Brad Cole both looked very good as well. They were paired together on D, and I thought that they complimented each other well. Cole looks a lot more ... involved, I'd say, this season. He is always in the play, and he seems quite a bit more aware as well.

I thought Cracknell had a great game. Very solid up front. There's no way, based on the three days of camp and tonight's game, that he should be going down to Vegas.


A couple video highlights -

Dan Ryder's slick shootout goal
JD Watt Vs. Robin Richards

[dobbles]

i thought chucko played well. looked much better than last year.

i really thought watt looked good out there as well.

though what i saw of carpentier just looked average. i'll chock that one up to not seeing the same things. could have just not been watching him when he was making good plays.

i had worried tremblay would be a liability, but thought he looked good. though he seemed to think he had a couple hits lined up and whiffed.

i did think ryder looked good but seemed to glide at times.

edit: DS, i agree totally about vandermeer and the spang cole pairing.

[Drunk Skunk]

Tremblay called out Robin Richards three or four times. Each time they were on the ice together, The Hammer pointed at Richards and then pointed at center ice. Richards was having none of it ... can't say that I blame him though.

[Hack&Lube]

What was the crowd like?

[Drunk Skunk]

It was pretty full in the little Quad City Sports Center, I'd say upwards of 500. Not bad for a Thursday night pre-season game in a dumpy little rink.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Again thanks guys, great info.

[PIMking]

http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/g...erplaygoal.flv

Power play goal.

[SparkyOne]

A fun game to watch, even if it was preseason.

I was impressed with Chucko--a different player than the guy who left here 6 months ago. And Ryder was impressive, as was Hamilton. I'm gonna love Vandermeer....his experience shows.

Cole seemed to be all over the ice and Spang wasn't far behind. Carpentier had a couple of good moments, but by and large I didn't notice him out there much. Palin was kinda the same way....some good plays but other times he disappeared.

For some reason, I keep noticing Justin Bowers from time to time. At some point, this kid could be good.

As for Irving in goal...with more playing time and a chance to get comfortable, he could be stellar. (Do they have shootouts in juniors?)

With Germyn, Peters, and Vandy scratched....and with Sutter, Pelech and Greentree on their way, wondering who will still be here and what we'll see tomorrow night against Iowa. I kinda like that we get to see the guys being evaluated....and it doesn't show our hand for regular season.

I heard a couple of comments last night about no offense. But that's not what this is about....and I think our biggest scorers were sitting in the stands.

[Drunk Skunk]

Originally Posted by SparkyOne

A fun game to watch, even if it was preseason.

I was impressed with Chucko--a different player than the guy who left here 6 months ago. And Ryder was impressive, as was Hamilton. I'm gonna love Vandermeer....his experience shows.

Cole seemed to be all over the ice and Spang wasn't far behind. Carpentier had a couple of good moments, but by and large I didn't notice him out there much. Palin was kinda the same way....some good plays but other times he disappeared.

For some reason, I keep noticing Justin Bowers from time to time. At some point, this kid could be good.

As for Irving in goal...with more playing time and a chance to get comfortable, he could be stellar. (Do they have shootouts in juniors?)

With Germyn, Peters, and Vandy scratched....and with Sutter, Pelech and Greentree on their way, wondering who will still be here and what we'll see tomorrow night against Iowa. I kinda like that we get to see the guys being evaluated....and it doesn't show our hand for regular season.

I heard a couple of comments last night about no offense. But that's not what this is about....and I think our biggest scorers were sitting in the stands.

Considering the players that will basically make up the first and second lines were in Calgary or sitting in the stands, I thought our offense was just fine last night.

[dobbles]

sparky - something else i personally think always needs addressed regarding offense. so many fans still think any time a guy has the puck at the point he needs to instantly shoot. i don't know if that was a superb strategy in the old uhl or not, but these fans need to realize that random shots out there are just going to get blocked. these guys have tremendous vision and they know when they have a lane to shoot at. yet fans get all pissed because they aren't firing at every chance. instead they keep moving the puck looking for a hole and an opportunity. so personally, i feel that frustrate the average fan even though it probably shouldn't.

just my 2 cents as an add on to what you stated.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Depending on how Ryder does, I don't think offense is going to be a problem for QC this season.

Ryder and Greentree can be offensive players in the AHL, and I think Chucko steps up to a top 6 role as well.

[dobbles]

last night made me feel a lot better about the team.

but what worries me is that we are looking at ryder and greentree to replace scoring that was lost in kolanos and stevenson... yet even if they are able to do that, we still were 3rd to last in goals scored last year. so i do think significant offense needs to come from other places. now if chucko can be that better player all year, thats a huge step, but we managed to lose 7 of our top 10 scorers from last year.

[Tilley]

To add to offensive optimism, I think Armstrong will be a bigger, stronger version of Van der Gulik. He's shown some ability in junior and will add to the depth on the third line in the QC.

Quick guess at the opening forward line-up:

Greentree-Lundmark-Germyn
Chucko-Peters/Ryder-Van der Gulik
Carpentier-Ryder/Peters-Armstrong
Vandermeer-Sutter-Watt/Cracknell

Good offensive ability spread over three lines. Cracknell isn't a fourth line player; he'll either be a top 9 or back in Vegas. If Chucko can handle top 6 responsibilities I can see a lot of other options (Carpentier, Ryder).

[SparkyOne]

I agree with all of you!

I said last night, and will repeat here, that this year's team is going to be markedly better than what we saw last year. There's effort going into it from two fronts and, with Calgary getting better and some great young kids coming up, we're going to benefit.

I actually like that preseason games aren't about scoring. It gives me, as a fan, the chance to really look at the guys and see what they can do with the puck and to the opposition. I was surprisingly impressed with our D in general last night. It appears to have racheted up a few notches, and if the hitting continues.... I really didn't expect to see two scrums last night!

Now I can't wait to see who else we get from Calgary! They still have to get rid of 6, I do believe.....which means we're only going to get better.

[Tilley]

Originally Posted by dobbles

what worries me is that we are looking at ryder and greentree to replace scoring that was lost in kolanos and stevenson...

Lundmark and Greentree are a better fit with the team than a floater like Kolanos and someone asked to do too much in Stevenson. Stevenson was good offensively, but I didn't think he played in all three zones. If Lundmark can consistently play at the level he has demonstrated in camp he'll make a lot of people forget about Stevenson.

Van der Gulik should break the 50 point plateau and if Chucko has any NHL aspirations he has to show more than last year. Losing Ramholt and Hambly won't be a big deal and Couture was a below average AHL player last year.

Take a deep breath dobbles, thing are going to be o.k. This is a better team in every aspect compared to last year.

[dobbles]

i will not be taking any breaths until we win some games!

i hope i don't come off as too alarmist or that i think the team will be awful. just worry about our scoring thats all.

if anything, something that made me feel better looking at goal totals from last year is houston. they only scored 3 more goals, but because of their better goals against, they made the playoffs and were fine.

i would just hate to see us not have any offense and cause our record to suck and/or fans to not be excited to see games.

i did kinda forget about lundmark though. and i also agree that we will most likely have all around better players. i often harped on krissy kolanos for never playin D.

[QCsec113]

Dobbles i hate to be pesimistic also but I have yet to see a thread where you arent worried about something!!j/k

[dobbles]

lol. call me weird, but i find it hard to be excited when our team finished 27th in scoring last year and lost most of our leading scorers...

but its really just picking on the weakness of the team. we have good goaltending and good team defense. just offensively challenged!