Miners scoring woes continue; lose 2-0 to Puffin.

CANADIAN PRESS (Rejkjavik, Iceland)

Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored on the power play, an unassisted effort at 4:05 of the third period, as the Rejkjavik Ruffin defeated the Sudbury Miners, 2-0 on Saturday night.

Matt Niskanen would score the other goal for the Puffin with Andrew Ladd and Mikko Koivu drawing the assists. Braden Holtby would make 19 saves for the shutout, his third of the season.

With the loss, the Miners now sit last overall in the CCHL with a record of 7-19-0.

"We are in the collecting points business," Miners coach Derek Sutton said as the Miners concluded a two-game road trip with the visit to Iceland. "Today we collected zero."

The Miners were badly outshot in this contest, 31-19, but Ben Bishop was spectacular at times, turning away numerous Puffin scoring chances and keeping the Miners in the game.

“We did do a lot of positive things, but came up short again," said Bishop. "We're getting close and against one of the greatest teams over the past few years, I thought we showed a lot of positive things."

The Puffin had 13 shots in the first period, and 13 shots in the second but only managed 5 in the third against Bishop.

"I think the first couple of periods, they had way too many shots, way more shots than we want to give up," Miners forward Vincent Trocheck said. "He (Bishop) stood on his head for a little bit and kept us in the game.”

Bottom line, despite improved play, the Miners have a losing streak that has now reached three games.

"We lost three in a row. Good teams don't like to lose two in a row." Trocheck said.


MINERS NUGGETS

- Defenseman Darnell Nurse was put through a vigorous skate on Saturday morning.  Word is that he is close to returning and should be back in the lineup within a week.

- Tobias Reider sits as the scoring leader for the Miners.  He has 8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points on the year.

- The next game for the Miners is Monday night when they play hosts to the Long Island Express.  Game time at the Vale Centre is 7:30pm.

Pastrnak nets hat trick in 8-4 Chinook win

HALIFAX –  David Pastrnak and the Calgary Chinook dominated the Halifax Hammerheads for the second half of the game with an offensive barrage Friday night.

Pastrnak recorded his first hat trick of the season, Crosby and Pavelski each had two points and Calgary beat Halifax 8-4 to get back to the winning column after a tie with the Wisborg Donuts two days ago. Pastrnak's second goal at 11:28 of the second period on a shot that sneaked through the legs of Kinkaid.  The goal turns out to be the game winner and it was all Chinook after that.

''It feels pretty good. It's obviously nice to score some goals,'' Pastrnak said. “It's definitely nice to get those three in.''  All three goals are unassisted.

Pavelski, Niederreiter, Silfverberg, Weber and Crosby also scored for the Chinook, and Carey Price made 33 stops.

Kulemin also scored a hat trick for the Hammerheads. Kinkaid made 29 saves on 37 shots.

''You want to have good responses when the other team gets the lead, we are down 2-0 at the start of the game'' Weber said. ''You're sort of fighting to get back in it. Some nice plays individually, obviously (Silfverberg) short-handed goal gave a big boost to the team and it changed the momentum for both sides.”

''It’s nice that we fought back after trailing by 2-0,'' Chinook head coach Eugene Yip said. 

NOTES:
Coming back from an injury, Pietrangelo logged 25 minutes of ice time, 2 assists and a plus three.
The two points tonight moved Crosby within one point of scoring leader Getzlaf.

UP NEXT:
The Calgary Chinook will host the Parry Sound Orrsmen on Sunday.

Ryan Miller beats former team!

Last night, the Siberia Icecats took on the Sanibel Islanders, and the Icecats faced a former familiar face, Ryan Miller. Ryan was shipped off to the Islanders to make room for young Matt Murray, and the two faced off against each other.  It was a thrilling game that saw a very even battle. 

The first period ended with no score as both teams got their feel for each other.  Then in the second period, the Islanders took commanding control of the game, scoring 3 goals, two of which came in a span of only 25 seconds.  The Islanders had to feel good as they were heading into the 3rd period with the old, dreaded 3 goal lead.  Siberia played tough and JG Pageau got the Cats on the board with their first goal to cut the lead to too.  Unfortunately, that thrill was short lived as less than a minute later, Richard Panik widened the Islanders lead back to three.  The Icecats were not done yet as Kyle Palmieri got them back to within two midway through the 3rd.  The score remained the same until the Icecats pulled their goalie with less than 2 minutes left in the 3rd.  The gamble paid off as Patrick Eaves scored his team-leading 16th goal of the year with a little over a minute left in the game.  

Unfortunately for the Icecats, that was their final goal and the Islanders beat the Icecats 4-3.  After the game, we caught up with Captain McDavid.  "You know, it was a tough game.  Sanibel has a good team and tonight we just let them get out to a lead that we could not recover from.  We need to regroup and find a way to neutralize their big 3 of Ovechkin, Marchand and Oshie."  The Icecats are playing in a tight tough group of teams in their division so these kinds of battles will be common all year.  Stay tuned for more, sports fans!

Trader Sam: Well, well, well......it's been quite a week in the CCHL with a whole flurry of trades.

TRADER SAM

#2

Now I know you all care what Trader Sam thinks of the deals, so I'll stop jibber-jabbering and get right to the crux of the matter.

FOR trades J. Pominville, Christian Fischer-p, Malcolm Subban-p & Cliff Pu-p to DAY for S. Aho...
Well, this trade is all about the future and oddly enough it's the future of both teams.  At first glance, it really looks like Dayton GM Bill Corfield ripped Falcons' GM Matt Young a new Aho in this trade (yes I just did that) but it's a pretty good deal for both.  Young gets a player he covets while giving up Cliff Pu who should be a solid CCHL player in a few years.  With a glut of young goalies, Fort Erie could afford to give up Subban in this deal as well.  Fischer could turn into a power forward for Dayton and should make the next disk, but it's truly hard to say today what his ceiling will be at the CCHL level of hockey.

PAR signs C. Gunnarsson to a 1 yr., $2.9M contract...
Well, this is a case of filling out a roster for the rest of the year.  Ol' Gunnarsson has lost a step over the years but he still blocks shots rather well.  We're not sure if that shot blocking is intentional or if he really just can't get out of the way since he's lost a step, but let's pretend it's intentional.   A bit of a price for what he brings, but he'll help PAR get through the season.

DAY trades N. MacKinnon to SPR for J. McCann, Victor Mete-p, Jeremy Roy-p, Warren Foegle-p, Danill Tarasov-p, DAY 2nd-18 & SPR 4th-18...
Well, Springfield has stepped up to the plate and declared for all to hear that they are in it to win it this year.  MacKinnon is a great value and could be a franchise center for the Isotopes for the next decade.  Dayton acquires a lot of good players to help fill out the lineup down the road but lacks the true star coming back in this deal.  Overall this could be a very even deal in 3 years.

NIA waives D. Girardi...(Waiver expiration date 10/25/17)...
Well, Niagara Falls finally gives up on the old expensive vet.  Much like Gunnarsson, he's really lost a step and now exists to stand in front of the net to block shots and clear bodies out of the way.  It's an expensive buyout, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

FOR trades T. Bozak, M. Staal & Christian Jaros-p to SPR for J. Petry, S. Andrighetto & A. Burrows...
Well, Springfield continues to collect centers like they are going out of style.  Bozak is excellent in the faceoff circle and could really contribute to the 'topes this year before hitting unrestricted free agency and looking to cash in.  Petry goes back to bring a physical presence to Fort Erie and help balance salary in this deal as Andrighetto is the real prize for the Falcons.

DAY trades B. Elliott to VIC for A. Burmistrov & Nick Henry-p...
Well, Dayton finally found a taker for the hottest goaltender in the CCHL.  Elliott was on fire before this trade and could stabilize the Ronin goal for a year or so until they can find a permanent solution.  Nick Henry is the prize in this deal for Dayton as Alex Burmistrov is just not good at hockey anymore.  You know it's true, don't try to deny it.

DRT trades B. Gionta & DRT 5th-18 to GEO for Adam Musil-p & GEO 3rd-18...
Well, Georgetown continues to load up in their quest for a second consecutive deep playoff run before many of their players could leave as unrestricted free agents in the spring of 2018.  Gionta is a solid fourth line option in the CCHL or an even better insurance policy for the Millers.  Dartmouth receive a nice prospect in Musil and a third-round pick to help continue their build

FOR trades J. Coreau to DAY for CGY 9th...
Well, there's something about Fort Erie goalies that Dayton loves.  In dealing Elliott, the Musicmen needed a goalie and Fort Erie was happy to oblige given their depth in goal.  Not much else to say here other than this is two GM's helping each other out of bad situations.

DAY trades $2M to CGY for future considerations... (FC = Mike Smith after the 1/2 way mark of the season has been met...)
Well, this one was interesting.  Mike Smith will come to Dayton in another 17 or so games and should finish their year as the number one goalie in music land.  The part about this that troubles me is how can Smith stay motivated in Calgary when he knows he won't get to play unless Carey Price or Jimmy Howard get hit by a bus.

Thanks for reading Trader Sam's super spectacular trade review blog.  Have a great day everyone!


-TS

Confusion reigns supreme amongst scouts in Fort Erie

It was announced earlier this morning that the Fort Erie Falcons had acquired winger Sebastian Aho from the Dayton Musicmen in exchange for Jason Pominville and three prospects; however it wasn't the easiest transaction the Falcons have made.

In preparation for the trade, Falcons GM Matt Young had sent the team's scouting staff to Dayton to watch the young winger practice. 

It seemed like a pretty simple request, but simple isn't always how things go in the world of scouting. 

It turns out that the scouting staff flew to Sweden to watch Sebastian Aho - the defenceman play for Skelleftea AIK. 

The Aho that plays defence is property of the Hamilton Tigers of the CCHL, and given Fort Erie's propensity to trade with Hamilton, it seemed to make perfect sense to the scouting staff that they were headed to Sweden.

The scouting staff phoned Young with a glowing report for Aho and with that information the sharp-looking Young pulled the trigger on the deal with Dayton. 

Upon reading the scouting reports however, Young knew something wasn't as he had requested. 

"I had sent them to Dayton.  Somehow they thought I wanted them to go to Sweden and Dayton would be the hub they would fly out of.  Thank god they understand hockey, because common sense apparently isn't something that resonates with them" said Young of his scouting staff. 

By that point however, it was too late.  The deal with Dayton had been consummated and Aho, the forward, was a member of the Falcons. 

"We're happy to have Sebastian on the team.  He's a solid, young forward that can score 20 goals and will be around a long time.  Luckily I knew a lot about him already and the staff was just going to confirm what I knew.  Turns out we looked at the wrong guy but based on their report, maybe I should talk to Chuck (Hamilton GM Chuck Taylor)" added Young. 

While it's unknown when Aho will make his Falcons debut, the odds are that it will be on Sunday when the team plays next. 

"We'll get him in today and have him practice tomorrow.   We'll make a decision at that point" said Young before departing to his office.

There is never a dull day in Fort Erie.  We'll be back after Sunday's game, provided nothing happens before. 

Penalties and special teams hurt the Miners; lose 2-1 to Isotopes

CANADIAN PRESS (Springfield, IN)
The Miners penalty killing has been the one bright spot in an otherwise trying year so far.

However, the normally reliable special teams had an off night giving up two third period power play goals,
within a span of 20 seconds, as the Sudbury Miners would fall to the Springfield Isotopes 2-1 on Thursday night.

Patrik Hornqvist would score both power play goals for the Isotopes and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky would make 29 saves for the win. Matthew Tkachuk would also chip in with a pair of assists. Philip Danault would score the lone goal for the Miners and Jake Allen would make 35 saves in goal for the Miners.


The Miners had a hard time staying out of the penalty box all game on Thursday night. The game was a forgettable one for Miners defenseman Toby Enstrom. He would take four minor penalties in the contest and was in the box for Hornqvist’s game winner in the third.

“That was a stupid, uncalled for penalty at that time of the period," admitted Enstrom."You can put yourself in that position. I take full responsibility."

Coach Derek Sutton wasn't happy with it either.

"He should take full responsibility for the penalty," Sutton stated. "Now its 2-1 against a good defensive team. That's a tough hill to come back from.

Sutton hinted that a couple of his players are going to see reduced ice time for their chronic penalty issues.

"It;s the same guys taking penalties and the same types of penalties. Those guys are going to dress but they are going to lose some of their prime real estate ice time,"said the Miners coach, not naming names. "We'll just clean it up with the guys that can control themselves."

Miners next game is Saturday night at 7:00pm on the road versus the Reyjkavik Puffin.

MINERS NUGGETS
- Goaltender Jake Allen continues to get very little offensive support when he plays. His record sits at 1-9 and the Miners average just over a goal game with him in net.

- Despite last night’s poor penalty killing effort, the Miners still sit first overall in the CCHL at 90.1%.

Klefbom’s late goal completed heroic come back for a 6-6 tie between the Chinook and the Donuts

CALGARY –  Sometimes it doesn’t need a lot of shots to score. Wisborg Donuts scored 3 goals in just only 6 shots at the third period to tie the game against the Calgary Chinook.

Klefbom slap shot from the blue line hit Giordano leg and changed direction to fool Carey Price at 18:38 of the third period to complete the comeback. “I don't know what to say. “Said assistant captain Giordano. “I was trying to get out of the way for Price to see the puck. The puck hit my shin pad and went in. I need to be
more careful next time.“


The bright side for the Chinook is that Crosby’s line have been great yet again. Crosby has a goal and two assists and Panarin has two goals and an assists. The trio of Barkov, Gaudreau and Pastrnak combined for eight points in this game. “I felt great.

“Said Barkov, who recently acquired to booster the depth at center. “Johnny and Pasta
are great teammates. They make everything look so easy. “

Draisaitl, who also had a 3 points performance, had a great year with 37 points in 24 games which are tied with Crosby at 2 nd in points, just three points back of Getzlaf of the Springfield Isotopes. “It was an honor to have my name up there besides some of the great players like Crosby, Getzlaf and Zetterberg.“

NOTES:

Crosby are closing in on the league leading point race, who is only 3 points back of Getzlaf.
Pietrangelo and Howard are clear to play the next game.

UP NEXT:

The Calgary Chinook will visit the Halifax Hammerheads on Friday night.