From the Pre-Game Notes for tonight's game from the North Iowa Outlaws official website:
"Missing in Action With the Central Division prospects scheduled to play late Sunday afternoon, a bus taking the team and coaches has been scheduled to leave Saturday afternoon. As a result the Outlaws will be without defensemen Jon Crouse (Alexandria, MN) and Ryan Peltoma (Brainerd, MN) along with forwards Brandon Brodhag (Brooklyn Park, MN), Jack Paul (Minnetonka, MN) and Alex Carlson (Farmington, MN). Combined that is a loss of 55 goals, 92 assists and 147"
The entire article is here: http://www.northiowaoutlaws.com/pregame.asp?show=1/17/2009
This is very good news for Express fans, as our three Top Prospect guys will be in uniform tonight for the game. Cory Thorson, Tony McDonald, and Tim Smith are flying out to Michigan Sunday morning.
In my opinion, this is the biggest game of the year for the Express, and the Outlaws will be without their 3 top scoring forwards, their top 2 defensemen, and their head coach. The Express are on a roll, and with a win tonight can move to within 2 points of the 1st place Outlaws in the standings.
I won't believe it 100% until I see the lineup card tonight, but if it's true, that greatly increases the chances of the Express winning their 6th straight game.
Friday Night Recap: The Express went down to Albert Lea Friday night, and dominated the Thunder in a 11-2 victory.
- See the boxscore here: http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=764121
- See the OPP recap here: http://owatonna.com/news.php?viewStory=32733 .
- Newly acquired forward Dan Cecka had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick Friday night. He scored a goal, an assist, and had a fight.
- The referees totally dropped the ball on the Cecka fight. As Cecka left the penalty box to skate to the Express bench, the Thunder's Ian Braun came over and checked him. This was away from the play, and could have been an interference penalty in itself. Braun then dropped his gloves and his helmet and challenged Cecka to fight. Cecka obliged him, and they both got 5 minute majors for fighting. However, no interference penalty was called, and no instigator penalty was called, even though it was blatantly obvious. I would have loved to heard the official's reasoning behind the no-calls.
- Newly acquired goalie Freddy Bergman had a solid night in goal in his first appearance with the Express. Although he wasn't tested much, he made some great saves, including stonewalling one of the Thunder players on a clean breakaway.
- If memory serves, this is the 2nd time this season that the Express chased both Thunder goalies in the same game. It also happened on November 15th in the Express's 10-2 win at the 4 Seasons Centre in Owatonna.
Don't forget that tonight's game is an 8:00pm start. See you at the rink.
--BK
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
so who's the odd goalie out with the new guy coming in? Surely you're not going to keep 3 goalies happy.
"so who's the odd goalie out with the new guy coming in? Surely you're not going to keep 3 goalies happy."
- That's the million dollar question right now. I would look for all 3 to stick around, at least for a few weeks. If a player(skater) becomes available that could help the Express (USHL or ??), then they would have to lose a goalie to clear a roster spot. If that doesn't happen, then we could keep the 3 goalies until Darnell is healthy towards the end of the year.
The better question would be: Will all 3 goalies choose to stay here with only so many minutes to go around?? Could one of them be tradebait at the deadline to get another forward or defenseman??
--BK
looks like North Iowa's leftovers were a bit hungrier than Owatonna tonight.
Shows what a hot goaltender can do for a team. According to Roy on KRFO, the Express had several good opportunities, only to be denied. This might be part of Cullen's reasoning for getting a third goaltender. He might want to get the competitive juices flowing to fight for that position.
Post a Comment