Holy Crap! We had to come from behind against the Bisons! Fire Hakstol! Bench Eidsness! Call a Priest to put our season 6 feet into the ground!
No, seriously, it was just an exhibition game, so I won't pontificate on our season based off of this game. However...
Jason Gregoire and Corbin Knight had great games offensively. Derek Forbort was head and shoulders the best freshman on the ice.
I didn't get as much out of this game than perhaps Goon did (however, I THINK I saw Goon on the FSSN feed for a fleet second...), but those three stood out the most to me.
Brock Nelson will eventually be pretty good, but he wasn't the best on the ice.
Also, Chay Genoway did ok, but he did have his rough moments.
I also thought the officials did a passable job tonight...except when it came to protecting the players safety. Derek LaPoint was checked into the boards from behind, no call. I thought for a second that Don Adam was officiating but I remembered that he wasn't. How'd I know? Because if he had, he'd've done two things in the aftermath of the play:
1. He would have called LaPoint for a 10 minute misconduct for telling him that he wasn't doing his job. (By the way, I found out Don Adam guest starred on South Park. You can see him right here.)
2. He would have found a way to give Manitoba the powerplay. He'd've probably added a 2 minute minor to LaPoint for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Manitoba actually played very well all things considered. Steve Christie played alright. He didn't do a great job on Malone's goal. Erb and Dudar did a decent job as well.
They Sioux looked like they hadn't played together at all in the first period (which, except for one practice and a handful of captain's practices, was true) but played better and better as the game wore on. I also thought the first period was also where they missed Kristo the most. Manitoba scored simply by throwing the puck on net. It deflected off of Blood's skate and voila. Danny Kristo isn't afraid to shoot the puck, which, up until that point, was basically what the Sioux seemed to need. No one shot the puck. They tried to be too cute and flashy.
Of course, I've always been a strong proponent of "when in doubt, shoot the puck" as well as the adages "No goals have ever been scored on a pass" and "The more you pass on the power play the more your opponent gets away with too many men on the ice." To further beat the dead horse, a garbage goal is just as good as a highlight reel goal and are much easier to come by.
Anyways, we've got a little work to do before we play Anchorage.
