Inconsistent effort leads to Miners loss.

GAME STORY

Inconsistent effort leads to Miners loss.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)
Led by Keith Yandle’s four-assist night, the Las Vegas Aces skated to a 5-2 victory over the Sudbury Miners on Saturday night.

Four different Aces players would contribute offensively with a goal and an assist, and Aces goaltender Carter Hutton made 29 saves to get the win. Zack Hyman and Aaron Ekblad each scored in the losing effort for the Miners, while goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped 33 of 38 shots faced. He remains winless on the season.

The inability for the Miners to play a full 60 minutes has been a troubling concern the past two games. The Aces led 3-2 after two periods, before blowing the game open in the third with a pair of goals. We're horrible in the third period right now, and thats myself included, thats everybody," Ekblad said. "We got to be better. We got to fix it."

Las Vegas opened the scoring early in the first when David Perron's shot from the circle beat Kuemper cleanly to give the Aces a 1-0 lead. The Miners would respond a few minutes later when Zack Hyman tipped a Chris Tierney feed past a screened Hutton to tie the game at 1. However, that lead was short-lived, as Thomas Vanek’s power playmaker late in the first would allow the Aces to take a 2-1 lead after the first.

The two teams would trade goals in the second, but the inconsistent play that has crept into the Miners game as of late, reared its head in the third as the Aces iced the game in the third. We have to have more tenacity offensively and defensively for the full 60 minutes," Miners forward Vincent Trocheck said. "And we have to shoot more. Shooting creates opportunities."

MINERS NUGGETS
- For the first time this season, the Miners power play failed to produce. They were held scoreless in their two attempts.

- Sam Reinhart currently sits as the Miners scoring leader with 8 points through 6 games but was held
pointless for the second straight game.

- The loss drops the Miners home record to 2 wins and a loss, in three games. They finish up this mini, 3-game homestand on Monday night versus the Victoria Ronin.

Wheelin’ and Dealin’ – the Miners make a couple of moves.

Wheelin’ and Dealin’ – the Miners make a couple of moves.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Even this early into the CCHL season, General Manager Terry James was again working the phones and
as a result was able to announce two separate trades on Saturday evening.
The first deal was made late Friday night with the Capeside Loons, and the deal breaks down as follows:

The Miners traded forward Anthony Beauvillier, along with a 4th round pick, 9th round pick, 10th
round pick, 11th round pick and a 12th round pick (all 2019) to Capeside in exchange for Cedric
Paquette, prospect Jonny Tychonnick, a 2019 2nd and 3rd round picks and a 2nd round pick in 2020.

"(Beauvillier) is a real good person, he competes, he wants to win," James said. "He has some real
upside but as we move forward, we felt he might get caught in a bit of a numbers game here with what
we are trying to do. He knew that. But he can still be good value to a team in the right situation and I
think heading to Capeside will be good for him.”

The second deal was made with the Niagara Falls Thunder and was confirmed on Saturday afternoon.
The deal breaks down as follows:

The Miners traded forward Colin White and prospect Brandon Hagel to Niagara Falls in exchange
for Niagara’s 1st and 6th round picks in 2020. With this latest transaction, Sudbury will pick 3
times in the 2020 first round.

“I think this is a good trade for both teams. White is a solid, developing center. We think he will do well
in the Falls. But, taking a good look at our club, we have a good pipeline of players who can play the
position coming in Sudbury. It’s that depth that has allowed us to add a couple of good picks for later
down the road and keep our pipeline flowing”, stated James.

After the two deals on the weekend, the Miners are armed with 31 picks for the 2019 draft, along with
another 17 for the 2020 draft.

“We don’t want to be a one and done kind of a team. We want to build a champion here in Sudbury and
have the ability to contend for many years”.

Miners Fall to Isotopes...

GAME STORY

Gallagher’s hat trick leads Isotopes to victory over the Miners

CANADIAN PRESS (Springfield, IN)

Brendan Gallagher knew he had it in him.  

Gallagher scored a hat trick and Justin Braun had a pair of assists, as the Springfield Isotopes beat the Sudbury Miners 5-3 on Thursday night.

Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist also scored as the Isotopes won for the first time this season.  Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves in the win.

Before the game, the Isotopes juggled lines and put Gallagher on a line with Kyle Turris and Mathieu Perrault and for one night, it paid immediate dividends.   "It's quite different for sure," Turris said. "It wasn’t what I was expecting but it's great. I thought Gally really gave us some energy, too. It was good."

Charlie Coyle, Chris Tierney and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Miners.  Fredrik Andersen stopped 20 shots in the loss. He made some big stops early and didn't have a lot of defensive support.  "There were some good things and obviously some bad," Andersen said. "I can watch a video and learn from what happened."

The Isotopes started quickly and jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period, and were up 4-0 after two.  The Miners pulled a couple of quick one back early in the third to make it 4-2, but hopes for a Sudbury rally in the third were quickly dashed when Malkin scored mid-way through the period to ice the victory.  

"It felt like they had six or seven guys out there," Miners defenceman Andy Greene said. "They were skating on ice. We were skating through mud. Give them some credit because they played really well, and we were not very good."

MINERS NUGGETS

- In a battle of “heavy-weights”, Springfield forward Evgeni Malkin bested Miners defenceman Sami Vatanen in a spirited tilt, late in the second period.

- Coach Derek Sutton announced that goalie Darcy Kuemper would make his home debut on Sunday night when the Las Vegas Aces visit the Vale Centre.

Miners - Norsemen Game Story

Reinhart’s hat trick leads Miners to victory.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)

Led by Sam Reinhart’s hat trick, the Sudbury Miners got back in the win column on Tuesday night, with a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Norsemen.

"When you play with the players I play with, it makes it easy," said Reinhart, who now leads the Miners with three goals. "When you get looks I get, obviously it's pretty lucky."

Brayden Point and Sami Vatanen also scored for the Miners, who had leads of 2-1 and 3-2 during the game before they iced it with a pair in the third.  Goalie Fredrik Andersen, making his third start in four games, made 26 saves in the win.

The Miners power play continues to produce, as they scored twice in six chances, including Reinhart’s winner early in the third.

"What I like about the power play is we're not trying to make any highlight-reel plays," Reinhart said. "I think we're just kind of sticking with our structure and what we believe is going to work for us."

Andres Lee had a pair of goals to pace the Minnesota attack.  William Karlsson and Phil Kessel each finished with a pair of assists.  Pekka Rinne, who had been in goal to help the Norsemen to a 3-0 start, made 36 saves in the loss.

"Their speed and their creativity forced those mistakes,"  Kessel said. "Our execution wasn't where it needed to be against an up and coming hockey club."

With the win, the Miners now sit at .500 on early in the season with a 2-2-0 record.


MINERS NUGGETS

- While much has been said about the Miners red hot Power Play recently, the Penalty Kill has been often overlooked.  It was perfect on the night killing off both Norsemen chances.

- The Miners head back out on the road when they travel to Springfield to take on the winless Isotopes.  Game time on Thursday is 7:30pm.

Sloppy play leads to Miners loss in Victoria

Sloppy play leads to Miners loss in Victoria

CANADIAN PRESS (Victoria, BC)

Jamie Benn and Evgeni Kuznetsov scored just six seconds apart to break a 3-3 tie late in the third period, as the Victoria Ronin downed the visiting Sudbury Miners, 5-3 on Sunday night.  

Brandon Saad, Mika Zibanejed and Chris Kreider would score the other goals for the Ronin and goaltender Cory Schneider would make 34 saves in the victory.  The win was the Ronin’s first of the season.

Chris Tierney, Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Point would score for the Miners, who actually outshot the Ronin in this contest, 37-33.  Miners goalie Darcy Kuemper, who was making his Miners debut, was spectacular at times, turning away numerous Ronin scoring chances but in the end, it was not enough.

"I felt OK, but I take this loss on my shoulders," Kuemper said. "I thought we played a really good game. We gave up a couple of things, but we played solid. I've got to make better plays and make the saves at the right time to give us a chance to win."

The defence pairing of Aaron Ekblad and Sami Vatanen had a night they would like to forget, as they ended up a combined -5 on the evening.  

“At the end, there was a couple of costly mistakes and turnovers that they capitalized on," Ekblad said. "But we had a great start. We neutralized their heavy game by moving the puck quick in the offensive zone, and we had a ton of shots. If we play like that, I think we're going to be a hard team to play against."

The Miners will look to get back in the win column as the Minnesota Norsemen travel to Sudbury on Tuesday night.  Game time at the Vale Centre is 7:00pm.

MINERS NUGGETS

- The Power Play unit continues to roll early in the season.  They went 2-for-4 on the night and are cruising at a rate of 37.5%, good for 4th place in the league.

- Coach Derek Sutton stated that he will juggle some lines for Tuesday’s game, so one would expect to see defenceman Shea Theodore return to the line-up.  

Conversation with Dayton GM, BIll Corfield (Part Three)

(We continue our at-length discussion with Musicmen GM, Bill Corfield...)

Q: Dayton holds 39 picks in the 2019 CCHL Entry Draft, what's the plan? We'll assess everything as we go along like we always do. We currently have our 1st and three 2nd's which will give us four of the top 36 picks overall. We'll be able to add quality with those picks. After that, who knows? Deals could be made between now and that may add or subtract how many picks we wind up with. If we move some of our top-end veteran talent, we'd expect to bring in a few more high end picks that will improve the incoming quality in its own right. We really like how we've positioned ourselves for building through youth. The scouts have done a brilliant job. 

Q: If you can add one or two elements to this year's squad, what areas would you be most interested in acquiring? I'd be interested to bring on a legit #2 Center. Frankly, it's a #1 I'd like to add because the guys we have in our system who project to be a #1 Center - guys like Villardi, Chytil, Kupari, Suzuki and Batherson - won't be here for 2-3 years. Another area might be an upgrade defensively anywhere. If we are going to compete this season, adding defensive is usually less expensive than adding offense is.

Q: One final question. Of the seven players currently assigned to the farm roster and the two guys on the reserve squad who do you think can make a contribution this year and who should we be watching for next year? Christian Fischer is the first name that comes to mind. he had a strong rookie year but is pretty blocked by several guys who can play a top-six role for us. If injuries or trades leave us short, he'd be our first player to promote.

Q: What about next year? A few guys come to mind like Danny Sprong and Travis Sanheim. Will Butcher's path will be cleared out for him to join the top 8 Dmen in the 2019-20 season...

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Conversation with Dayton Musicmen Bill Corfield (Part Two)

Dayton Musicmen GM Bill Corfield

(We continue our at-length discussion with Musicmen GM, Bill Corfield...) 

Q: What were your goals coming into training camp? To put a competitive team on the ice and contend for a playoff birth. The talent level is better than it was last year, we're going to win more than 14 games and end up with more than the 35 points we did last season. I think that we can finish in the point range of 60-75 pts. with the talent we have. With few top line players, Radulov, Nurse, Dubnyck are our highest profile guys, we can't compete with the better teams over a full season. But, we'll do better, I'm sure...

Q: Are you shooting for the playoffs this season? We're taking the season in ten games increments. The first 5 stages are to assess what we have to work with and what line combinations work best. If we're sitting firmly in a playoff position after the 40-45 game mark - we'll review everything from the team on the ice, how the top prospects are doing, what rookies we can expect to be here next season and make a decision. We may look to acquire a few older players if the price is right to make a push for the playoffs and earn some additional playoff revenue. If after 40-45 games, we're not in a serious position to do anything in the post-season, we'll sell off the older and talented guys like Radulov, Girardi, Dubnyck, Dadonov, etc... and get ready for the FA bidding and then our Entry Draft. 

Q: How does that affect the overall goal of building a deep and successful organization overall? We really want to build a deep foundation of players here so that we're not forced to leave ourselves short if we need to add a few pieces. Our overall goal last year - that continues right now - is to build the best team in the CCHL and have the deepest prospect system in the league. Not just quantity, but more importantly, quality. 

Q. Would you explain the trading of Rasmus Dahlin? When you have an asset like Dahlin, you have to decide if the asset serves your overall goals best as an asset within the organization or outside the organization in terms of bringing some different assets of value into the team. In Dahlin's case, we agree that he's going to be fantastic. As advertised. Looking at our depth on Defense, we're sitting in a good situation, that will only get better by this time next year. being a defenseman, we don't think Dahlin will separate himself over the next 5-7 years in the CCHL from other very good dmen. We will have more than a couple of those very few dmen without him. By adding Chytil, we get a kid we project to be on the Rangers top two lines by the end of his rookie season and will stay there for a long time. In Ville Husso, a goalie we've long wanted to bring in from Siberia, we're getting the next #1 goaltender for the Blues who should take over the nets just about the time the other young talent in St. Louis is maturing as well. In Will Butcher, a rookie who scored over 40 points for a weak NJ Devil team, his upside is impressive as well. Plus, we get our 1st rounder next draft back, which should yield us a top ten draftee. If Dahlin was a forward, we probably don't make the deal as his impact would be greater than that of a dman. He'll be great - but for someone else, lol...

Up Next: The 3rd and final part of our discussion with Dayton's GM...