The Wranglers lost to the Coeur d'Alene Lakers on Friday night 3 to 5. There was plenty of Wrangler hustle, but there was a definite lacking of technical execution of skills. There are several skills the Wranglers need to improve on, two of these are passing and offensive positioning.I was definitely disappointed in the poor passing and this was a definite contribution to the Wrangler's loss last night. Once again, passes were out of reach for Wrangler players - passes were either in front of or behind of, or right at the skates of the player. Or if the pass was right on to the stick, the pass was not controlled rather lost. And, many passes were right to a Laker. These kind of mistakes along with other technical mistakes plagued the Wranglers all evening long. If you cannot control the puck you cannot win the game.
Offensive positioning means putting a player in front of the Laker net and two, positioning players through out the offensive zone. So many times I saw two or more Wranglers making a hit or collapsing to the puck on the boards. By doing that the Wranglers failed to adequately cover the offensive zone and set up any kind of scoring offense. Most of the time with the Wranglers bunched up, the puck was sent to an open Laker and the rush began down the ice. Sure there was some passing to the Wrangler points which created two scores but it was the exception rather than the rule. Again, the number of Wrangler shots for the game was only 19 (4-10-5), whereas for the Lakers the shots were 44 (14-15-15). "CKJ" had a good game stopping 39 of 44 shots (3.75 GAA, 0.911% Save). The Lakers definitely kept CKJ busy with the puck. I would say that once again, CKJ kept the Wranglers in the game.
Zach Miller (#11), the newly acquired defenseman from Helena, shot from the point several times which helped the Wranglers score twice. The first goal went to Miller with an assist to Long. And the third goal was tipped in by Long on a shot by Miller (with an assist to Blase). Miller has a very nice quick and hard wrist shot that is very accurate. The second goal by Riemersma was a "fluky" goal off of Aaron's back. A goal is a goal and the Wranglers will take any they can get.
Unless the Wranglers can improve on passing they cannot set up an offense or a scoring power play. The Wranglers definitely have the hustle, the hits, and the talent to compete with any team in the league, but no scoring offense. The Wranglers are 12th in "goals for" (GF) with 28 goals out of 15 games and last (13th) in "goals against" (GA) at 101 goals. For "Power Plays" the Wranglers are 12th with a 6.1% chance of scoring on a power play. For penalty kills the Wranglers are 12th with a 77.1% penalty kill. The Wranglers have no where to go but up and improve. I believe they can do it, but they need to work on their passing which will then improve their offense. Let's go Wranglers let's turn it around tonight with win over CDA. I believe everyone - fans and players - are ready for a big win.
