The Wranglers will play the Tri-City Titans this weekend in the Tri-Cities. I believe it will be a tough series for the Wranglers. The Titans want revenge for their loss to the Wranglers back in early October. And, the Titans want some wins. The Titans (4-14) are just up from the bottom of the Pacific Division of NorPac. Only the Wranglers (1-16) are lower. If the Titans got a couple of wins, it would help them gain on River City and Coeur d'Alene. Finally, the Wranglers want a couple of wins because it would help move them up on the Titans and maybe break them from being in the NorPac cellar.The Titans have a lot more scoring power than the Wranglers with 7 players having more goals and assists than the top Wrangler players - 10 points or higher. Two Titans (#19 Hollandsworth & #8 Turley) have 15 or more goals and 10 or more assists each in 18 games. Even one of the Titan's defensemen (#16 Tansy) has more points in assists (10) than the top Wrangler scorers. The Titan's power-play effectiveness (17.9%) is almost three times more effective than the Wranglers (6.1%). Only the Wranglers penalty kill effectiveness (78%) beats the Titans (76%). The Wranglers lead the Titans in penalty minutes by over 100 minutes. Finally, the Titans have 75 in "goals for" (GF) versus 30 for the Wranglers. The Titans have recently beaten the Tomahawks three times and the Wranglers once. The Titans have also scored well against Eugene, River City, and Seattle. So, it is going to be a tough series for the Wranglers to win; the odds are against them.
What do the Wranglers need to do? As always - set up an offense, shoot the puck on net, and be tough on defense. It is unclear whether PJ Brown (F) or Adam Webster (D) will be playing. And, Nik Vaitaitas (D) is still out for an infraction committed earlier against Eugene. So the Wranglers could be 'thin' on defense. On offense, the Wranglers have got to set up an offense by spreading out, passing the puck, and shooting on net. Hopefully the Wrangler plan is to put someone in front of the Titan goalie to block his view and keep him nervous. If the Wranglers cannot do what's needed then it will be a long bus ride home. C'mon Wranglers pull it together, do what is needed, shoot the puck and find the back of the net.
We need a great game from the forwards - Riemersma, Blase, McCormack, Mee, Robison, Jossie and the rest. Of course some goals scored by the "D" (Long, Miller, Summa, & Chase) would be nice too. The "D" and Wrangler goalie (CKJ or Blanton, or Teilborg) need to be stingy and keep the Titans from scoring. I would love nothing more than to welcome the Wranglers back to Medford after winning a series from the Titans.
Final note! I will not be traveling to the Tri-Cities to watch the Wranglers but will try to listen to the game online. So, my game analysis might not be what you expect.
