Seattle Brew Issue #2

Seattle Brew
Issue #2

The digest with news and notes from and about the CCHL and Seattle’s own CCHL team the Reign


A handful of games have been played by most teams in the CCHL at this point so while it’s too early to put a barometer on  how each team’s season will go the rest of the year there have been some quick and slow starts which may raise or furrow some eyebrows.

As the focus on this article is to inform all the Northwestern fans here in Washington about their beloved Reign let’s take a look at how the team made out in their first games of this season.

Game #1 – Reign – 1, Calgary Chinook – 1

A tight checking, evenly played game. Crawford looked good as did Calgary’s goalie Carey Price.

Bergeron played well doing a bit of everything, winning faceoffs, block shots, battling of the puck and drew an assist. Zidlicky was efficient in moving the puck and seemed to fit in well under Reign coach Scott Stevens’ system.

Game # 2 – Dayton Musicmen – 3, Reign – 2 (OT)

The 1st home game saw raucous rabid Reign fans roaring as the puck dropped but this game saved all the drama for the 3rd period as the teams scored all 4 regulation goals in that frame, including one with just over 90 seconds left by Dayton to tie things up. OT was short lived as the winner was potted at the 3:35 mark.

The ice was tilted in Dayton’s favour in the 3rd and OT although they were pressing for the tie later in the 3rd period. Malkin’s struggle in the circle hurt puck possesion time for the Reign and needs to be addressed going forward. Zidlicky and Crawford were again some of Seattle’s better players, Zidlicky had a goal in 22 minutes of action and Crawford faced 35 shots.

Game #3 – Halifax Hammerheads – 6, Reign – 3

Any hope Reign fans had of a home win were quickly extinguished after Halifax built up a 5-0 lead in the opening 14 minutes. They put it on cruise control from there and coasted to an easy win.

Few bright spots here other than the line of Malkin, Nyquist and Abdelkader who were solid with a collective 2G and 2A and an even +/- rating. Crawford was awful and it is perplexing as to why Stevens did not remove him early in the 1st. The trio of Moore-Zucker and Jones was overmatched all night and need to play much better going forward.

Game #4 – Reign – 4, Boston Banshees – 2

A close game after 40 minutes (2-1 Reign, 23-22 shots on goal in favor of Boston) was broken open when Seattle scored just 6 second into the 3rd period and a little less than 9 minutes later and they held on for the victory, their 1st of the season.

Kari Ramo got the start but handled just 2 shots and 8 minutes of play before leaving with what the team only said is a day-to-day injury. Crawford rebounded *wink* from his last game stooping 34 of 36 for the win.

Despite his continued faceoff woes Malkin did spark the offence getting the unofficial GWG and adding a helper. Wideman was the offensive contributor from the point matching Malkin with a goal and assist of his own in his 21 minutes of work.

Seattle year to date

Holding a 1-2-1 record is not a bad start for Seattle and their management and while there are some positives  to be found, only 1 PPG against in 18 short-handed situations, those are usually offset by a weakness that needs addressing 1 PPG scored in 24 chances.

It will be interesting to see what Seattle does in their next ½ dozen games and if Mangement and the players are happy with how thing are progressing.

League news and notes

Quick starts out of the gate for Minnesota (3-0-1), Dayton (3-0-0) and Winnipeg (3-0-1) has fans in those regions giddy with excitement. However it is not just the central part of the continent that has some early hope as Calgary (2-0-2) and Halifax (2-0-1) have yet to suffer a loss.

Speaking of continents it appears Europe may have had a summer that went longer than expected as Siberia (0-4-0), Linz (0-2-1) and Wisborg (0-3-1) have been a little slow out of the gates. Portland (0-3-1) is the only other team seeking to put something into their win column. Of course powerhouse Copenhagen is looking strong (3-0-1) so maybe our Scandinavian friends had a regular summer and fall.

Quite a powerful line in Dayton with Tyler Seguin, Tomas Tatar and Jason Spezza with their 18 points and +22 rating. The line has earned the nickname the JT line and as evidenced by their play their bringing the sexy back to Dayton.

Crusading in Copenhagen is the entire Canosa division All-star defence of Duncan Keith, Shea Weber, Brent Seabrook, Jay Bouwmeester and Erik Karlsson. With 5 points in 4 games, tied with teammate Weber, Karlsson has done it while averaging just 15:30 of ice time, imagine what he would have with 25 minutes a game. Of course the fact that in all of his time on the ice that he has yet to meet teamamte and Crusader goalie Jonathan Quick might be one reason.

Not only does he do a great job of playing homage to THE hockey movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ST-JyiOyV0 Springfield Homers Marc-Andre Fleury has been great in the blue paint so far facing almost 31 shots a game and yielding just 2 total goals in the team’s 3 games.

Leaving behind the burning tire town of Springfield there is a strong smell coming out of the state of Oregon. It seems to be centered in Portland where the hometown Owls have used 4 netminders early on and all but Scott Darling have struggled mightily and 11 goals scored as a team in 4 games is not bad but when you yield 18 as a team it’s tough……

…..unless you are Jonas Hiller in Siberia who has requested an actual suit of armour be made available as his 5.50 GAA and 22 goals surrendered in the first 4 games are tough but then he has faced an average of 45 shots a game. There could be hope things will improve but 6 goals scored in those same 4 games does not foster much…however we all know hope springs eternal so stay strong Icecats fans.

Finally some key injuries may hurt the following teams over the next couple of weeks;

Springfield – David Krejci is out for around 3 weeks so another forward in the top 9 will have to step up
Sanibel – Matt Stajan will be sidelined for a couple weeks so Derek Roy and Kyle Brodziak will fill in during his absence
Portland – Scott Laughton (3 weeks) and Wisborg – Johan Larsson (5 weeks) will have their youth movement and evaluations hinderd while these two are on injured reserve.
Winnipeg – Kris Versteeg will see Brad Richardson take his place for the next 3 weeks while he gets treatment.