The Tri-City Titans are returning to Medford for the last time this season. As I said in earlier blogs the Titans are on a mission to work their way into the Pacific Division NorPac playoffs. Currently the Titans are in 4th place today and theoretically in the playoffs, but need to worry about the Puget Sound Tomahawks (#5 place) as well as the River City Jaguars (#3 place). There are 13 games left for the Titans, including the two this week against the Wranglers. Any loss will certainly hurt in their hunt for the playoffs.The Titans have a wealth of high scoring talent that will help them into the playoffs and will hurt the Wranglers chance to play the spoiler. Hollandsworth and Turley are #4 and #5 respectively in the NorPac scoring leaders list. And Walker is #18 on the list. Only Seattle and Eugene from the Pacific Division have 3 players in the NorPac leading scorers list. The Titans have 9 players that have 20 or more scoring points. That tells you their scoring potential.
In net the Titans have #11 NorPac goalie Romeike with a 4.01 GAA and a save percentage of 0.893. Their back up goalies are good too, both with a GAA of less than 4.00 and a save percentage and GAA better than Wrangler goalies Blanton and Kramer.
So, if the Wranglers want to be spoilers they're going to have to play one of their best games ever. Remember the Titans are a fast skating and crisp passing team. They like to spread out the offense and quickly move the odd player in for the shot or the rebound and score. They use the points effectively to make shots.
How can the Wranglers win? The forwards have got to drop in deep to the Wranglers zone to help the "D." Not that the Wrangler "D" is that bad, the Titans are that fast in swooping in for the quick score. The Wranglers have to work hard to get the puck through the neutral zone and in behind the Titans "D" quickly before the Titans forwards can come back to help their "D." I would work on making lots of shots, work hard to get the rebound, and then make the quick, errant shot. This worked for the Wranglers last time we were in the Tri-Cities. The Wranglers have got to spread out the Titans players across the ice to be effective. And, the Wranglers have got to work hard to control the puck. One of the keys will be to be physical - hit the Wranglers hard and keep them off-kilter.
Hmmm? Lots of advice for the Wranglers that they've only once or twice been able to demonstrate. Hey it got us the win in the start of the season it can get us the win late in the season. However, if we play typical Wrangler hockey - no pass, no skate, no shoot - then its going to be a long couple of games.
Player notes: The Wranglers will be without Guzman, McCormack, and Vaitaitas. These three are off the team or waiting to be traded.
