The Wranglers are traveling to play the Puget Sound Tomahawks this Friday and Saturday night in Bremerton, Washington. The last time the Wranglers played the Tomahawks - almost two months ago - they lost both games 6-4 and 6-1. If you remember, the second game was quite ugly with penalties for both teams. Hopefully the T-hawks have cooled down and are ready to play the Wranglers again. This time on the T-hawks home ice. However, not all is well in Tomahawk town, the Tomahawks have lost 5 of the last 6 games and have went from 3rd place in the NorPac Pacific Division to 4th. So I believe the Tomahawks will be looking for a couple of easy wins at the Wranglers expense to help them stay up in the standings.The Tomahawks are blessed with 3 players - Tessin (33 points, #10 rank), Belorad (27 points, #15 rank) and Kaufman (24 points, #23 rank) - in the NorPac Top 25 player rankings. 7 additional Tomahawk players have more scoring points than the top Wrangler player. So, the Tomahawks know how to score, but not too much. The T-hawks are almost even in GF (79) and GA (81). Their home record is 6-7.
Can the Wranglers beat the Tomahawks? Now, several of you have commented that if we don't count the 3rd period the Wranglers have played quite well. I watched the Wranglers and would tend to agree, but if you look at the scoresheets, the Wranglers were outscored 14 - 2 in the 1st and 2nd periods, and a whopping 11 - 2 in the 3rd period, or a disappointing 35-4 in the last 3 games. So the Wranglers have a lot of work to do if they are going to beat the Tomahawks. As I have said so many times, the Wranglers have to concentrate on:
- Defense - that is, if any Tomahawk player has the puck in the Wrangler zone - HIT HIM;
- Hustle, hustle, hustle - that is, skate to the puck to catch the pass or to intercept the pass;
- Tenacity - that is, focus on the keeping the puck on your stick except when shooting;
- Teamwork - that is, spread out and make crisp, decisive passes to your team;
- Transition - that is, work on getting the puck out of the Wrangler zone through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone - this can only be done through hustle and teamwork; and,
- SCORE! - not only close in but from the points, get a forward in front of the net to get the rebound.
Two wins - while almost unimaginable, would be such a boost to morale and a comment to all the other NorPac teams that the Wranglers are for real. Again, I seriously do believe that there is enough Wrangler talent that not only one but two wins are possible. Go WRANGLERS beat the Tomahawks!
Player notes: The Wranglers will be without Abera since he's still out a couple of games because of penalty antics. PJ Brown is out for the rest of the season. Unsure about McCormack. The Wranglers have a new forward from the Seattle area that recently started the team.
