The Wranglers lost to the Puget Sound Tomahawks 2 -8 last night in Bremerton. My frustration yesterday gave way to a different hockey game played Saturday night. While yes, the Wranglers still lost by 6 goals, I would say they played a much better game. One, the passing was much improved - not only did they pass the puck from stick to stick, but the skating improved making it possible to make that good pass. Two, the Wranglers made some hits. While I would have liked more, the Wranglers did make some good hits. And three, more shots on goal. In fact, *** NEWS FLASH *** the Rogue Valley Wranglers had almost as many shots on goal - 28 as the Tomahawks -31. In this game I started to see the Wranglers cycle the puck in the corner, use the points, have someone in front of the net, and pass it around. Way to go Wranglers - now that's old time hockey.The Wranglers have two new additions to the team which proved definitely noticeable. #20 Lucas Walsh from the Seattle Jr. Admirals AA, and #16 Nick Guzman from the Seattle Totems. Nick was acquired in the trade for Cafrelli back in November, and last night was his first start for the Wranglers. In fact, during last week's Totems-Wranglers games Guzman had two assists in goals against the Wranglers. As I sat and watched the game all I could say about Nick was, "Wow, that kid has got dekes." Several times he "deked" around T-hawk players like they were standing still. Nick scored both goals for the Wranglers - one assisted by Miller, and the other unassisted. Would it be safe to say that without Guzman the score would have been 0-8?
Another noticeable item was that the Wranglers played with some passion. The Wrangler "D" were not putting up with the T-hawks harrassing our goalies. New young defenseman Losey got into a fight with a T-Hawk - decision undecided. And, after T-hawk Lindberg slashed our goalie not once but twice, Chase pursued him and got into a scrum - letting Lindberg and the Tomahawks know to stay away from Wrangler goalie or else - decision Chase on that fight. Chase reminded Lindberg again later by placing Lindberg's butt on the ice with a good check. Again, while I would have liked more Wrangler hits, the Wranglers did start to make some hits. They need to keep this up.
What I noticed is that the Tomahawks got most of their scoring from outside the circles. They would crash the net with a couple of players, create enough confusion and distraction right in front of the net, then fire shots from outside. While I'm definitely not an expert I thought most of the T-hawk goals were top-shelf. Wrangler goalie Jared Blanton played admirably for most of the game, but was pulled mid-way through the 3rd period after a shot from the left side, top-middle circle was sent in glove side top shelf. He faced 24 shots, but let in 7 goals. "CKJ" came in for the last half of the 3rd, faced 4 shots and let 1 in. The T-hawk goalie was great in net. Several times the net appeared wide open only to have a Wrangler shoot wide or T-hawk goalie Gayet make a great save. Several times I commented during the game, "The Wranglers can't buy a goal." Shots for the Wranglers were 28 (11-7-13) and 31 (12-8-8) for the Tomahawks.
Another thing I definitely noticed was that the Wrangler skating speed increased which then helped getting the pass. Sure there was the errant pass that went nowhere, or to a T-hawk, but I did notice a reduction in passes that were either too long or short. Again, skating hard starts to eliminate poor passing since effective passing is an excercise in proper timing. Additionally, the speed through the neutral zone was greatly improved. Several times the Wranglers moved effectively through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone quickly before the Tomahawks could set up any sort of a defense. The Wranglers then set up an offense which produced the shots. Keep it up. Again, the Wranglers are starting to play "old time hockey."
Again, I had to remind myself, the Wranglers lost another one and it wasn't close - a 6 goal differential, but if they can keep up the offense and the hits who knows maybe Santa might deliver a few wins to the Wranglers.
Today, the Wranglers play the River City Jaguars at the RRRink in Medford at 3:30 PM. Imagine this, play a game last night, travel by bus all night back home, sleep a couple of hours, then play another game. Uff da! Good luck Wranglers, kick some Jaguar booty today - you deserve it. GO WRANGLERS!
