Seattle Brew
Issue #3
The digest with news and notes from and about the CCHL and Seattle’s own CCHL team the Reign...
After a couple of weeks of action, trends have started to emerge in the 2015-16 CCHL season. For Seattle, that trend is one they would like to see end as a slow start has further been compounded by a couple of key injuries. We had a chance to ask Reign coach Scott Stevens about his team’s early season results.
SB - Do you think your team has played well enough to win more games than they have year to date?
Stevens - No
SB - Have you been able to take away positives from some the early season losses?
Stevens - No
SB - Is there any aspects you need to focus on, such as defensive zone coverage, power play, fore-checking?
Stevens - Yes
SB - Do you care to elaborate?
Stevens – No
SB - Has it been tough incorporating all the new players into your system?
Stevens – Yes
SB - Do you think more changes in personnel are in order?
Stevens -Yes
SB - I don’t suppose you care to elaborate on the changes needed?
Stevens *
glares in silence*
SB - Thank you for your time coach.
Stevens - Thanks
Game #5 – Wisborg Donuts – 2, Reign – 1 (OT)
Wisborg picked up their 1st win of the season as Seattle fell to 0-2 in extra time.
Seattle stayed out of the penalty box but went 0 for 6 with the man advantage and that cost them the game. Dennis Wideman was the best Reign player on the ice along with Bergeron and Crawford.
Game # 6 – Reign – 4, Winnipeg Ferrets - 1
The tables were turned for Seattle when it came to the power play chances from the previous game as they gave Winnipeg 6 opportunities but held them without a goal. Seattle trailed after the 1st period but scored twice in the 2nd and a Darren Helm short-handed goal 7 minutes into the 3rd was the insurance marker they needed to get their 2nd win.
Bergeron, Helm, Jeff Petry, Andrew Ference and Kari Ramo who recorded his 1st win by stopping 41 of 42 shots led the way for Seattle. All of Seattle’s points have come on the road with 2 wins and a tie.
Game #7 – Reign – 4, Niagara Falls Thunder – 6
A back and forth wild affair saw 6 goals scored in the 1st 20 minutes of action with the Thunder taking 2 leads of 2 goals and 1 goal only to have Seattle tie it up in the last minute of the period.
Niagara Falls took control with 2 goals late in the 2nd period and built up a 3 goal lead with another goal at the 13:33 mark of the 3rd as Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa dominated this game for the Thunder.
David Desharnais was the top producing Reign player with 2 goals and an assist and Wideman picked up 2 assists in his 31 minutes of work. Crawford struggled in net yielding 6 goals on just 37 shots and Marek Zidlicky struggled with extra minutes ending up with a -3 for the game.
2 keys injuries were among 4 suffered by Reign players, Malkin (upper body) and Ference (lower body) will miss the next few games while Thomas Hickey and Jeff Petry left early but will not miss any further game action.
Game #8 – Reign – 1, Portland Owls – 3
Portland picked up their 1st win of the season and bragging rights with their interstate west coast rivals with the victory. It seemed Seattle could not handle the pressure created by the Owls and appeared to have little left in the tank at the end of the road trip.
After a scoreless 1st Portland dominated the 2nd period opening the scoring with one of their 1st 2 power play goals and adding a 2nd goal just 16 seconds later and outshooting Seattle 16-4. A goal by Reign’s Dominic Moore with just less than 6 minutes to go in the game was answered by the Owls with their 2nd power play goal off the stick of Torey Krug at the 17:59 mark was the end of the scoring.
Crawford was the lone bright spot for Seattle after struggling in the previous game but Portland was led by Ryan Kesler who logged 30 minutes of ice time and ruled the faceoff circle winning 22 of 32 draws.
Seattle year to date
Holding a 2-5-1 record is a rough start for Seattle fans and ownership may not allow this kind of play to continue so changes could be on the horizon. Their penalty killing unit is the lone bright spot overall as a team and individually Dennis Wideman, David Desharnais and Carl Hagelin have played well. Corey Crawford, Thomas Hickey and Erik Cole have been disappointing so far this season and need to show something to justify their ice time going forward.
League news and notes
Reykjavik and Victoria appear to be adding their hat into the ring in the dog fight for 1st place in the Canosa division with Minnesota and Copenhagen.
Georgetown’s Roman Josi (1G – 9A – 10 PTS) and Montreal’s Brent Burns (6G – 4A – 10 PTS) are the early pace setters on defence and have really helped spark their respective team’s offence.
Hamilton and Springfield are looking to get on a few game win streak if they want to keep pace with the division leaders or at least stay near a possible playoff spot.
Calgary has shown they may have a case for the best defence in the league but Carey price looks like a world beater through his 8 games. The Chinook also handed Dayton their 1st loss of the season so there may already be a season-long rivalry established.
Tyler Seguin from Dayton still sits atop the league scores with his 16 points, while his teammate Tomas Tatar is tied with Copenhagen’s Steve Stamkos for the goal scoring lead with 8. Watch out for Sanibel Islanders Alexander Ovechkin who sits in 3rd place with 7 goals and has been known to score goals in bunches.
The only team who has yet to get a point is the Siberia Icecats and at the rate they are surrendering goals it could be a while before they do get a win. Mika Zibanejed has been a bright spot for the Icecats if their fans are looking to take a positive out of their early season struggles.
Finally, some key injuries may hurt the following teams over the next couple of weeks;
Boston – Colin Greening is out for around 3 weeks but that may be addition by subtraction with his 0 pts and -6 rating in 6 games
Copenhagen– Gritty and versatile Brandon Dubinsky will be on the shelf for about 3-4 weeks. Anton Lander is a big step down.
Linz – Tobias Enstrom will be sorely missed from the blue line. The slick puck moving defenceman is replaced by Cody Franson. Franson has 4-6 weeks to try to give management a reason to keep him in the lineup every day.
Long Island – J.T. Miller (4 weeks) had shown much in his limited ice time so perhaps Jay beagle will provide better return while serving as his replacement.
Sanibel – Stephen Gionta (6 weeks) can ill afford to lose any players especially a defensive minded fore checking forward. Matt Calvert has slid into the lineup to try to fill the gap.
