Dayton lost (again) tonight as the visiting Sudbury Miners beat the Musicmen, 4-1. Sudbury dominated the first 40 minutes and led 3-0 before the third period began. The Miners totally controlled the game and held a significant lead in shots on goal, 29 - 5 after the second period ended.
The two teams traded goals in the third period, which saw Dayton rookie Josh Archibald score his first career goal after some nice work by Damon Severson and Jason Dickinson with slightly more than 4 minutes left in the game.
"A bright spot?" asked Severson. "I think our penalty killing was better tonight than its been in a while. Comeau and Pyatt really know what they're doing out there. They've been around a while. Other than that, not really. Our offense just doesn't seem capable to generate very much. We just have to keep grinding. We'll win one of these days."
The "streak" is reaching epic proportions.
The last game Dayton won was back on Friday, October 13 (yup, Friday the 13th, hmmm....) when they beat the Niagara Falls Thunder 4-3. That was 42 days ago.
Since beating the Thunder on October 13th, the Musicmen have gone 0-28-2.
That was the same day that Alexander Barkov was traded to the Calgary Chinook for a package of highly regarded prospects and picks.
Severson commented, "I don't think Alex leaving is the cause of the losing streak. We're trying to set ourselves up for the future so we don't have to go through this again. Its tough, it's really, really hard. The guys are trying their best, but right now we're not a good hockey club. Looking forward, at who's signed and coming in from the minors - there's good news and bad news. Defensively, once Sanheim and Hagg get here, that'll perk up our blueline. Hopefully, Mike will still be here in nets and he gives us a chance to win every night. That's the good news. The bad news there's not much coming in the way of offense just yet. Mattias Janmark will return, but he's coming off a helluva injury last season and hasn't really found his game yet. The kid from the Coyotes, Fischer - he'll be here, but he's a rookie...how much can one kid do?"
The Musicmen expect to have the following forwards under contract for next season:
Adam Cracknell
Jared McCann
Matt Nieto
Derek Ryan
Carter Rowney
Blake Comeau
Tom Pyatt
Players who may not appear on the next disc and may be on the reserve list include:
Jason Dickinson
Zach Sanford
Restricted Free Agents who's status is undecided at this time:
Gregg McKegg
Phil Di Giuseppe
Teemu Pulkkinen
Potential prospects making next disc:
Danick Martel
It seems likely that GM Corfield will need to pursue centers for the two top lines, two to three (maybe more) wingers who can score a few goals. The Musicmen's third and fourth lines should be adequate.
The defense sets up to be:
Damon Severson
Dan Girardi
Micheal Del Zotto
Chad Ruhwedel
Travis Sanheim
Robert Hagg
Potential RFA resigns:
Mark Barberio
Matt Tennyson
Patrick Wiercioch
9 dmen should be able to carry the team a good ways in the 18-19 campaign.
With some financial constraints, I don't see Dayton signing anyone of value via UFA bidding process.
Barring a trade, Mike Smith should be the clear cut #1 guy in nets with Laurent Brossoit and Malcolm Subban backing him up.
Doubtful Dayton will see any of its prospect netminders advance rapidly enough to make the next disc.
A more economical way to sign a few players may be the waiver draft after the disk has come out. Corfield won't find any top six wingers to get excited about, but the depth guys and perhaps an interesting rookie who is available would be the optimal targets.
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