Miners blow lead in the third, lose 3-2 in Portland.

CANADIAN PRESS (Portland, OR )

Patrick Marleau had two third period goals, including the game-winner, as the Portland Owls handed the Sudbury Miners another road loss, coming away with a 3-2 victory on Friday night.
T.J Brodie had the other marker for the Owls (14-15-2), who snapped a three-game losing skid.  Chad Johnson made 12 saves for the win, after taking over for injured starter Scott Darling mid-way through the second period after the Miners had built up a 2-1 lead.
Radim Vrbata and Marcus Foligno responded for the Miners (7-23-1), who lost for the fourth time in five games.  Their winless streak has now reached eight games.  Ben Bishop made 30 saves in the loss.

The Miners played one of their better games during this current winless streak, but the breaks did not seem to go their way at times. "Two were off shin pads and what is a guy to do?” added Miners goalie Bishop. "I'm disappointed with their third goal right after they had tied it up.  I didn't feel awful, but I didn't play well enough after that to keep us in the game."

“We have to give them (Portland) credit, they dug back, reached down and started to play a much more intense game after the goalie change, and our execution and work ethic and emotion started to get channeled in the wrong direction the last 30 minutes," Miners coach Derek Sutton said.  "But you can't win in the CCHL playing 30-minute hockey."

It doesn’t get any easier tonight for the Miners, as they continue their road-trip in Calgary to take on the league-leading Chinook.

MINERS NUGGETS
- With the loss, the Miners now dropped their road record to 2-15-0 this season.  They are the worst team on the road this year.
- Newly acquired Jordie Benn is expected to make his Miners debut tonight versus Calgary.  He was unable to make it from Springfield in time for last night’s game.
- In an effort to try and provide some offense, the Miners have recalled Brayden Point from their AHL farm club in North Bay.  He will be in the line-up on Saturday night.

Puffin flew into Dayton tonight

Puffin netminder Frederik Anderson must be exhausted after battling the Dayton Musicmen for 60 minutes this evening.

To emerge victorious against the defending champs and to stop all but one of the shits Dayton threw at him tonight was really something to behold.

Halfway through the first period, the two teams were tied 1-1, despite the Puffin holding the territorial advantage.

After stepping on the gas in the second period, and owning a 3-1 lead heading into the third, Dayton knew they had better increase their shots against Anderson if they wanted to win tonight.

"We tried everything to put pressure on their goalie. It was pretty impossible the way they lined up across the blueline and wouldn't let us in, " said Thomas Vanek.

 Dayton posted 5 shots in the first period and again in the second.

 In the third, they managed just 3 shots on the Puffin net.

Final score: Puffin 4, Musicmen 1

"8 shots from the forwards tonight? 5 shots from our D? That's not going to beat anybody let alone the Puffin. I don't know what the answer is right now," said Vanek.

GM Corfield said, "Stuart is back for Sunday's game against the Millers. Before he got hurt, he was in the top 5 for shot-blocking in the entire league. He missed a ton of games so he's not among the leaders anymore, but getting him into the lineup should help things out."

What's next?

Saturday is a scheduled day off for the team and then they the Millers at the Soundstage on Sunday evening.

Quote: "Honestly, it was a little boring tonight. They're not a very good team right now..." Andrew Ladd, Puffin winger...

Hocking Hills Prospect Camp, Final Chapter

10/29/2017: Final Scrimmage Notes...

The session was scheduled for two, 10 minute periods. We'd told the kids we structured it this way intentionally. We wanted to see them max-effort, balls-out battle levels. They were told of all the ways to make a lasting impression on us, this would be their best opportunity.

Instead of the gold and black jerseys we'd seen yesterday, we saw two squads, one "shirts", the other "skins." (Apparently, the kids went out last night after the talent show and drinks were drunk and somebody lost a  bet...)

Dale reminded me that a local kids league team had the ice reserved for their team at 11:00am. The team of 10 and 11-year-olds sat in the stands and were eager to watch the prospects display their skills.

The puck dropped promptly at 10:00am sharp.

Play ensued after the opening face-off a bit sluggishly with neither team seemingly taking an advantage. Passes were off the mark, teams were going offside and the few shots that were taken rarely gave either netminder much of a challenge.

The scrimmage's first half ended with a scoreless tie.

The final ten minute period began with a highly unfortunate injury. Kid Wock skated full speed toward the corner to the right of the opposing goalie. Wock did beat the defenseman to the puck, but caught his right skate in a rut and crashed violently into the boards.

Wock had knocked himself unconscious and fallen awkwardly with his left leg underneath him.

It took half an hour for the paramedics to arrive and get Wock secured in a stretcher for a trip to the local hospital.

Injuries happen and while everyone felt bad for Wock, there was still hockey to play. Trouble was with the delay from the accident, time was running out for the prospect scrimmage.

The kid's team was now in the dressing room and waiting to take their turn on the ice at the HHHH.

Dale Rosetti quickly brainstormed a compromise to the conflict.

The prospects would take on the team of 10 and 11-year-olds in a no-check running time game of 30 minutes.

It was no surprise that after the 30 minutes came to an end, that certain players had stood out.

Dayton is always looking for young players with promise, and several players were pulled aside and informed by our scouts that we were quite impressed with their play.

We'd certainly found a few "under the radar" players that we will be targeting in a future draft.

While not eligible for either the 2018 or 2019 CCHL Entry Draft, we are quite excited about 3 or 4 kids for the upcoming 2025/26 drafts.

We had a few minutes with Dale to share our observations of the camp. He expressed remorse as to how things hadn't gone as planned on his end. We talked briefly and I asked about the future outlook of the rink in Hocking Hills.

Dale said, "I think the future is bright. We have good community support and a solid financial backing from our investor group. Matt especially is on top of things as a liaison to the pro hockey and the rest of his team, Eugene, Paul and Chris were always responsive when we needed anything."

It was at that moment, it fully dawned on me what exactly had happened over the last 48 hours.

Springfield acquires G Aaron Dell from the Miners for Benn and a pick.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

With their goaltending situation in chaos given the injuries suffered to incumbents Sergei Bobrovsky and Roberto Luongo, the Springfield Isotopes made a move Friday afternoon, acquiring goaltender Aaron Dell for the Sudbury Miners in exchange for defenseman Jordie Benn and Springfield’s 11th round pick in 2018.

The 28-year-old Dell had played two games for the Miners this year, sporting a 1-1 record to along with a .952 save percentage. He was third on the depth chart behind established veterans Ben Bishop and Jake Allen. The hope is that he will give the Isotopes much needed goaltending depth as they continue to challenge for top spot in the Canosa Conference. He has two more years left on his contract that will pay him $925,000.

In Jordie Benn, the Miners get a veteran, shot-blocking defenseman who had the ability to play both the left and right side. With the run of injuries to Miner's defenseman Darnell Nurse this year, General Manager Terry James needed to address getting some short-term depth until some of the Miners prospects are ready to handle full-time minutes. The Miners will be on the hook for the remainder of Benn’s $1.1 million dollar salary this year as he is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

"I don't think I've heard one thing other than he's a really good person, he competes, he wants to win," James said. "He's been caught in a bit of a numbers game. He knows that we don't expect him to come in and be a savior. We just expect him to come in here and just be the hockey player he is."

Calgary Chinook produce early three-goal outburst to clip Portland Owls 3-2

CALGARY –  If all back-to-back games unfolded as the past 48 hours did, the Calgary Chinook would be asking for more and not less of these demanding schedule.

With a 6-1 win in Dartmouth and Carey Price played again and made 40 saves in Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Portland Owls. Calgary had three goals on its first six shots on Scott Darling early in the first period. Mikael Granlund scored late in the third period trying to rally for a comeback but it wasn’t enough.

The Chinook continued to sit at first place in the overall standings with 52 points and a record of 25-3-2, the best record they have in franchise history.

“Thursday night was a good win, though we got careless at times,” Chinook head coach Eugene Yip said of beating the Owls. “We got careless near the end of the third and then were able to hold off their attack at the last minutes of the game.”

Crosby, Pastrnak and Ferland all scored within 6 minutes and 19 seconds early in the first period. The goals were enough for the Chinook to record their 25^th in just 30 games.

“It’s important to have balanced scoring, not have it come from one guy or one line and we’ve have had that so far this season,” Pastrnak said. “It’s better to be playing ahead than from behind, but we’re not happy they controlled the majority of play (12:49 minutes in the offensive zone). But on a back to back, you get a little cushion, it’s a good feeling.”

“There’s a little rust on my end, that’s for sure,” said Price, who let in a goal with just two minutes left in the third period.

NOTES:

Despite the win, the Owls dominated the game with more possession in the offensive zone (12:49 minutes) compared to Chinook with just 9:40 minutes.

Having played 0 minutes last game. Ferland scored tonight with only 7 minutes of ice time. Granlund had an assist.

UP NEXT:

The Calgary Chinook will host the Victoria Ronin on Friday.

Miners winless streak reaches 7, as they lose to Ronin.

CANADIAN PRESS (Victoria, BC)

Ronin forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins led the way with two goals and an assist, as the Victoria Ronin downed the visiting Sudbury Miners 5-2 on Thursday night.  With the loss, the Miners winless streak now reaches 7 games.

Chris Kreider also scored for Victoria, notching his 10th of the season.  Jacob Trouba and Alex Radulov had the other markers. Brian Elliott stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced.

Victoria struck early and mounted a 2-0 lead just 2:18 into the game, on goals by Kreider and Trouba.  Anthony Duclair, with his first of the season, would pull one back for the Miners before Radulov would score on the power play and give the Ronin a 3-1 lead after one.

The wide-open second period would see both teams generate numerous Grade A scoring chances, and by the end of the period, they would trade goals by Nugent-Hopkins and Philip Danault respectively.   The game would be put on ice in the third, as Nugent-Hopkins with his second goal of the game, on the power play, sealed the win for the Ronin.

Miners goaltender Jake Allen would make 20 saves in the loss and it’s clear that the current winless streak is starting to wear on him.

“We continue to be inconsistent, and that's the worst thing you want from a team because it gives you hope," Allen said. "Obviously we still believe in each other. We know what we're capable of doing. We just have too many letdowns, and that's about being mentally tough."

The Miners have little time to think about this loss, as they start Intra-Conference play on Friday night as they travel to Portland to take on the Owls.  Game time at The Nest is 7:00pm.


MINERS NUGGETS

- Winger Tobias Rieder suffered a thumb injury mid-way through the third period and had to leave the game.  The injury is not severe and he is expected back in the lineup on Friday night.

- With the two power-play goals against last night, the Miners penalty kill has now dropped to second in the CCHL.

- Coach Derek Sutton indicated that he will turn to Ben Bishop to try and stop the winless streak on Friday night versus the Portland Owls.

Dayton Loses Another game in OT, Coreau hurt, Jonas Gustavsson signed...

Jonas Gustavsson, newest Musicman

It happened again.

Dayton was leading 3-0 over the Barracudas, in their home rink with a sold-out crowd cheering them on.

Rookie goalie Jared Coreau was standing tall and in fact, pitching a shutout against Ottawa.

Fifteen minutes into the second period, Coreau apparently tweaked his groin and had to leave the game. That meant Jeremy Smith had to come in and man the nets.

Yes, THAT Jeremy Smith.

The same Jeremy Smith that had been receiving treatment for shell-shock from facing too many shots over the last couple weeks.

"We had no option after Jared got hurt. We had to use Smith." said Musicmen goaltender coach Les Binkley. "We know he's not right. We know he needs some time off to get his mind clear, get back to practice and eventually get back in a game or two. He's a mess, but he had to man up and go in there and do his best."

"It's a shame it didn't work out for him."

The Musicmen entered the third period with a 3-0 lead.

At 4:24 of the third, Paul Statsny scored his 7th of the year to make it a 3-1 game.

At 6:19 of the third, less than two minutes later, Smith gave up a terrible goal. Ron Hainsey had control of the puck and as he skated past the center red line, he dumped it gently toward the Dayton goal.

Somehow, it went in.

"I saw it the whole way," said Smith. I was concentrating so hard on it that I couldn't move. I froze. I don't know what happened."

It took another eleven minutes for the game-tying goal to come, but everybody in the rink knew it was coming.

Eric Fehr scored his first of the year at the 17:47 mark of the period, to make it a 3-3 game.

Fehr wasn't done.

At 2:17 of OT, Fehr found himself in front of the Dayton net when Zdeno Chara wound up for a slapshot at the right point. Chara's shot hit Cody Eakin in the butt and Fehr reached over and snapped the game-winner past a stunned Jeremy Smith.

Game Notes:

Coreau is expected to be back next Monday night to face Hamilton.

The team signed free agent goalie Jonas Gustavsson to a one year contract worth $525K.

Matt Irwin had two more shot blocks and now sits alone in 3rd place in the CCHL with 27 blocks in 24 games.