Once again the Wranglers came out strong and I believe surprised the Generals with the first goal by #25 Camden Mee (assisted by Chance Robison). This was Camden's second goal of the season and it came at about 8:57 in the first period. Unfortunately the Generals answered back wtih 2 goals to end the period Generals 2, the Wranglers 1.The second period was hard fought by both the Wranglers and the Generals. PJ Brown #13 scored a goal at 14:44 assisted by Abeal Abera. Once again the Generals had two goals in the period. For a while it was looking that the Wranglers could have a chance to tie it or maybe even pull out a win. But the 3rd period ended all hopes as the Generals came on strong to put the game away and slam the door shut. Eugene scored 5 goals including a short handed goal. The Wranglers did manage a single goal by #8 Jeff Purslow (assisted by C. Steiner, and A. Riemersma). The game ending score was 9-3.
The "star" for the Wranglers was Jared Blanton, he faced 41 shots and only gave up 9 goals. Jared for the past 80 minutes (this game and 20 min. from last Monday's game) has a .901 save percentage. That's not too bad. However, once again the Wrangler defense let Eugene come into the Wrangler zone and shoot at will. When you watch other teams like the Generals, or Puget Sound, or the CDA Lakers you will notice that the forwards come back to help the "D" out. I didn't see too much of that last night. The Wrangler forwards are waiting too high up in the zone for the puck to come to them rather than help by doing some back-checking.
Offensively the Wranglers did try to set up an offense with some forechecking. But C'mon, only 14 shots for 60 minutes of play? You are not going to win too many games unless you up the shot count. Again, with a good goalie in net, they probably would have stopped 13 shots only by chance letting one in. Eugene decided to let their 3rd string goalie - #30 Levitan - have a chance at his first full NorPac game. That's probably why the Wranglers were able to get three goals. If the Generals would have put in Ohmart or Aslett in net the score probably would have been different. Did I see the Wranglers set up an offense with crisp passing around the zone, dropping in every now and then a player to get in front of the net? No. Did the points participate in the shots, maybe a few. Again, you watch a balanced, good team play and you will see a completely different offense.
The Wranglers are busy making some trades to hopefully overcome their team difficulties. DJ Giguere is supposedly headed off to Billings for some defensive help. Nick Cafrelli is off to supposedly Seattle. And the Wranglers just acquired Teilborg - a goalie - from River City. I will say "hats off" to many of the Wrangler forwards for working so hard and keeping the Wranglers in the game through two periods - "way to go." Finally, you've got to give some credit to PJ Brown who came back after a brief injury rest spell sporting a "mohawk." The mohawk magic worked for PJ getting him a goal.
So, what about tonight? Unless the Wranglers can really put something together I would think that tonight's game is not going to be that much different. Suggestions from a blog coach... Defense: hit somebody, and quit poking. Forwards: help your "D" out, get somebody in front of the net, and pass the puck around and SHOOT! Predictions: hopeful - Wranglers 3 Gens 4, realistic - Wranglers 2 Gens 8. Let's hope that November is a big productive month for the Wranglers.
