LOOSE DEFENSIVE PLAY LEADS TO MINERS LOSS

CANADIAN PRESS (Victoria, BC)

Ronin defenseman Jay Bouwmeester led the way with a goal and two assists, as the Victoria Ronin downed the visiting Sudbury Miners 4-1 win on Wednesday night.

“He (Bouwmeester) is so steady, plays in all situations. When you watch him it just screams veteran player. He's a good piece for us." Ronin goaltender Steve Mason grinned. “It great to see him have a game like this”.

Alexander Edler opened the scoring at 4:20 of the first period, with an unassisted effort past Miners goaltender Ben Bishop. Sudbury would respond with a short-handed marker by Aaron Ekblad, his first of the season, with Vincent Trocheck and Tobias Reider drawing the assists. The Ronin would take the lead back before the period ended, on a goal by Alex Radulov. Jamie Benn and Bouwmeester, with his first point of the night, got the helpers.

Two second-period goals — within 11 seconds of each other — extended the lead for the Ronin. The Miners would outshoot the Ronin, 8-5 in the second but never really tested Mason. In the third, the Miners tried to mount some sort of comeback, outshooting the Miners 15-5. But, as was the case in the second period, Mason continued to shut the door and sealed the victory.

“We didn't play hard enough, couldn't get enough shots to the net, not enough traffic, especially in the first. We were just awful”, noted Miner's defenseman Aaron Ekblad. “We needed to start on time, and in this league, it is tough to come back from a three-goal lead.”

The Miners have little time to think about this loss, as they are back at in on Thursday night versus the Sanibel Islanders. Game time at the Vale Centre is 7:00pm.

MINERS NUGGETS

- Center Vernon Fiddler suffered a thumb injury late in the second period. Fiddler was slashed by Ronin forward, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, which went undetected by all four officials. He will be out of the lineup about a week but the good news is he will avoid surgery on the injured thumb.

- Tobias Reider notched another point to keep his point streak going. It now stands at four games.

- Coach Derek Sutton, who voiced his displeasure with the back-to-back games and the trip back across the country, stated that Jake Allen will get the home start on Thursday versus Sanibel.

Chinook unbeaten streak ends with 2-1 loss to Owls

CALGARY – As the saying goes, all good things come to an end.  You knew the Calgary Chinook’ unbeaten streak wouldn’t last forever, and it’s now finished after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Portland Owls at the Saddledome.

The Portland Owls defeated the Falcons the previous game, and tonight they have defeated the Chinook, two of the top teams in the Corfield Conferences.  Marleau scored on a breakaway early in the first period when Panarin turned over the puck.  Panarin redeemed himself in the 2nd period with a powerplay goal.  Okposo scored the game-winner in the third period to seal the victory for the Owls.

 “I’m not going to stand here and blame my guys because they played some good defensive games during the last few games,” said Chinook GM Eugene Yip. “Portland was better than us tonight and they capitalized on their scoring chance.  We just didn’t do enough to win tonight.  It is disappointing. But at the same time, you’re not going to win every game. We understand that. It’s going to be how we react coming back.”

On Wednesday, their passes weren’t as crisp with only 78% completion and their faceoff wasn’t as good.  Their intensity level didn’t seem quite as high.

GM Eugene Yip will have some line juggling to do for the game against the Seattle Reign on Friday.

NOTES:

The Calgary Chinook has out-shot the opponent in every game so far this season.
With the loss, The Falcons and the Isotopes are only 1 point behind the Chinook after ten games.  

UP NEXT:

The Calgary Chinook are back on the road against the Seattle Reign on Friday.

Dayton's Defense Stands Tall, beats Ottawa 3-1

Barkov scored his 5th & 6th goals tonight

Dayton General Manager Bill Corfield had a goal for his team's first ten games. "We've basically broken the season into eight 10 games periods. Each period of ten games we hope to be able to see some growth in our team as the young guys mature."

Corfield has to be pleased after his team won their second in a row, a 3-1 win over Ottawa.

The Musicmen sit in a four-way tie in the Corfield Conference for 4th place with ten points after ten games.

If Dayton can sustain this pace, they will be in contention for home ice in the opening round of the 2017-18 CCHL Playoffs.

That's a big if, but so far, seven of the top eight scorers on Dayton are the "young guns." MacKinnon, Monahan, Barkov, Guentzel, Drouin, Aho and Larkin sit atop the stats sheet.

Tonight, Alex Barkov scored twice, Jon Drouin added two assists, Fedor Tyutin added two shot blocks and netminder Brian Elliot continued his strong play by stopping 32 of 33 Ottawa shots on goal, which raises his season save percentage to .894, and sees Elliot finds himself fifth among all CCHL Goaltenders.

Ottawa enjoyed only two power plays, and but was shut down by Dayton. The Musicmen converted two of their five power play opportunities as well.

"I don't know if we'll be at .500 after twenty games have been played, but so far it's about what I expected at the end of training camp. Lots of personnel changes, moving guys around in the lineup, etc. Things have settled down some for us and the future looks very bright. We just need to be patient, let our defensive prospects mature and join the fun up here - it'll happen."

One issue that Corfield will need to deal with is forward Jason Pominville's sudden demand for a trade.

"I appreciated the Musicmen acquiring me in the Shea Weber deal earlier this season. It was my understanding that I'd be working on one of the top two lines, which I was excited about. It's not worked out that way. Mack's got the top line RW and the coach seems to like Drouin on the 2nd line right wing, so that pushes me to the 3rd line. Yes, I've asked Mr. Corfield for a trade if one can be worked out where he gets a good return. I'll keep busting my ass as hard as I can until I'm told to pack my bags. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, I'll do everything I can to help this team win." said Pominville.

One unnamed source Sirius/XM's Hockey Channel suggested Corfield worked the phones earlier this evening and has a tentative deal in place with - according to our sources - another team in the Corfield Conference. The return Corfield is reportedly looking for in return is a young defenseman who has CCHL upside.

As of press time, the Musicmen had no comment on any player transactions.

Notes:

The homestand continues this week as Fort Erie comes in Friday night and Seattle will face Dayton Sunday.

Matt Irwin has been cleared for gameplay and is expected to be in the lineup Friday night. Marc Methot is considered a game-time decision.

Fedor Tyutin continues to lead the Musicmen in blocked shots with 9 blocks in ten games, which puts him in a group one behind Alex Goligoski of Springfield.

Matt Irwin, has 7 blocks in just 6 games.

Price Leads Chinook to Victory over Lakers With Shutout

Price stopped all 19 Laker shots

DARTMOUTH – Carey Price stopped 19 shots for his first shutout of the season to lead the Chinook to a 3-0 victory over the Dartmouth Lakers. Calgary moved to 8-0-1 to start the season.  This is the club best start in franchise history.

Ryan O’Reilly scored twice to help the Chinook win for the seventh time in eight games overall.  Panarin also scored for the Chinook.

"We're just playing well, playing with confidence," Price said. " We're in a spot where we can't take our foot off the gas ... We have to play every single game like that and give yourself the best chance to win.  “

Panarin extended the Chinook’ lead to 2-0 at 5:19 of the third period. He took the puck from behind the net back up the ice, turned around and shot the puck into traffic and past Rask for his sixth of the season.

"Everyone's pulling their weight," Panarin said. "That's a play you do a few times in practice.  When you know Weber and Shattenkirk are at the points in the power play, you have extra confidence to execute a play like this. “

"He was excellent," Chinook GM Eugene Yip said of Price. "Although Pricey didn’t face many shots tonight and he made some spectacular key saves that help us win."

O’Reilly, Gaudreau and Pastrnak have found some chemistry the past two to three games, which is important when Crosby line is getting tied up.

NOTES:
The shutout gives Price an impressive 1.11 GAA and 0.942 save% which is currently ranked 4th in the league.

The Calgary Chinook are the best defensive team with only 1.78 goals against per game.  

UP NEXT:
The Calgary Chinook are back at home against the Portland Owls tomorrow.  “The Portland Owls is a team that we can’t take them lightly. “Said Eugene.  “They just upset the Falcons tonight.  They are a confident team right now.  We expect them to throw everything at us tomorrow.  We have to be prepared.  “

Dayton Shows Discipline and Patience In Win Over Thunder

You could see it coming.

The very young Musicmen team jumped up to a 3-0 lead by the middle of the second period, but all was not well.

They lost their best defenseman, Fedor Tyutin after just one minute. Tyutin had been on the ice for roughly 45 seconds when he went behind his net to retrieve the puck after a Niagara Falls dump-in. As Tyutin reached for the puck, Shane Doan slammed into him with his shoulder. Tyutin dropped immediately and needed help leaving the ice.

The team announced after the game that Tyutin should be in the lineup tomorrow night when Ottawa comes to town. "Fedor sustained a severe stinger and couldn't feel his right arm for about 90 minutes. As the evening went on, he began to regain feeling in the limb and as of 20 minutes ago, reported no issues," said Frost Whitman, Dayton's trainer.

In the second period, Dayton lost two more defensemen. First, Matt Tennyson left after twisting his right ankle in a pileup in front of the Dayton goalmouth. Next, Francois Beauchemin to a lower-body injury after he blocked a shot by Niagara's James Neal. It's not expected to be serious, but the loss of two other defensemen left the Musicmen with just three blueliners left to play the last 35 minutes of the game.

Patrick Wiercioch, Mark Stuart, and Jyrki Jokipakka would have to step up and deal with it.

By the time the game was over, and of course, tonight had to go to overtime, Wiercioch logged 32 minutes, Jokipakka had 21 minutes played and Stuart, who wasn't supposed to play very much at all, logged 11 minutes.

Stuart and GM Bill Corfield reportedly had words after the pre-game skate regarding Stuart's ice time. Corfield was seen speaking in a very animated way with the defenseman at the Musicmen bench, after which Stuart slammed his stick against the boards and skated away. Corfield then apparently put the word out to let Stuart sit on the bench but not play unless he was absolutely needed.

After three defensemen left due to injuries, it was time for Stuart to hit the ice.

The Thunder fought back and by 10:45 of the 3rd period, found itself in a 4-4 game.

Despite losing all the momentum Dayton had built up in the first half of the game, they came out for the overtime flying.

Derek Ryan won his 8th faceoff of the game and moved the puck to Stuart at the left point. With Dylan Larkin planted in front of the Thunder net, Stuart directed a slapshot that bounced off Larkin's ass and skipped into the net past Pekka Rinne for the game-winning goal.

" I was the extra forward tonight and didn't expect to play very much. After Mac (Nate MacKinnon) broke a skate blade and had to leave the ice, Coach tapped me on the shoulder and said if we win the faceoff, I should go screen the goalie. It worked out, I guess..." said Larkin.

Larkin's GW was his fourth goal of the season.

Who's Next?

Ottawa comes to town for a game tomorrow night at 7:05pm. Tickets are still available.

They said it:

"Those guys really stepped up. Patty, Jyrki and Mark did what they had to in the third. I have to say Stuart played very well in the third after we decided to use him. He set up our last two goals. Without him, we probably lose."

Dayton GM Bill Corfield

Dayton Preps for Niagara Falls Thunder...

Niagara Falls Thunder

Tonight, the Niagara Falls Thunder (3-5-0, 6 pts.) face the hometown Dayton Musicmen (3-5-0, 6 pts.), in an early season Corfield Conference matchup. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00pm at the Soundstage in Dayton, OH. 

Starting Goalies: 

Pekka Rinne (1-2-0, 898%, 3.03 GAA in 3 games) is expected to start for the Thunder. Brian Elliott (3-5-0, 883%, 4.27 GAA in 8 games) will get the start for the Musicmen.

Key Injuries: 

Niagara Falls: 

Ryan Callahan (expected to miss another two weeks with lower body injury.)

Dayton: 

Matt Irwin (expected to miss two days with a left knee contusion.)

Marc Methot (expected to be out another 3 days with sore ribs.)

What you need to know: 

Niagara Falls has won two games in a row, while Dayton has dropped its last three. The two teams are among five teams currently with six points in the Corfield Conference. Parry Sound, Dartmouth, and Portland also have 6 pts. on the season.

Offensively, Dayton averages 3.25 goals per game compared to Niagara's 2.75 gpg.

Defensively, Niagara has allowed 3.13 goals against per game, while Dayton allows a league-worst 4.38 gpg.

Special Teams:

Dayton ranks 8th in the CCHL on the power play and 22nd in penalty killing...
Niagara Falls ranks 21st in the CCHL on the power play and 11th in penalty killing...

Each team sees three players tied for the team lead in scoring:

Dayton Musicmen

Niagara Falls sees Cam Atkinson, Jonathon Toews and Dustin Byfuglien each with six points on the season. Dayton has a 3-way tie at the top of their stats sheet between Nate MacKinnon, Jake Guenztel and Alex Barkov, all with 9 points.

An outside look at tonight's game: An unnamed General Manager from a conference rival says, "The Thunder is by far the better team. Dayton has some nice young forwards, but they're really young and don't play defense very well, at least not yet. The Thunder should play a patient game and wait for the Musicmen to make mistakes, which we all know they will, and then capitalize on those. The Thunder's defense and goaltending is also far superior to Dayton, so if the Thunder doesn't take a bunch of penalties, they should have a good result. Dayton doesn't take a lot of penalties, but Niagara Falls leads the league - like they always do. Niagara should win, Dayton is in a for a long, long season..."

MINERS SQUEAK PAST MILLERS, 2-1.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)

Despite being heavily outplayed and led by Ben Bishop, who turned aside 41 shots, the Sudbury Miners squeaked past the Georgetown Millers with a 2-1 win on Monday night.

Tobias Reider opening the scoring at 12:01 of the first period tipping in a point shot by Miners defenseman Ben Hutton and past Millers goaltender James Reimer. Matt Calvert would extend the lead to 2-0 late in the first period with Philip Danault and Shea Theodore drawing the assists. The Millers would pull one back just before the period ended on a goal by Mike Hoffman, his sixth of the season.

In the second, the Millers quickly took control and outshot the Miners, 13-7 on the period but could not beat Bishop, who made numerous spectacular saves to preserve the lead going into the third.

The Millers continued to dominate into the third, outshooting the Miners 13-8. But, as was the case in the second period, Bishop turned aside all chances to lead the Miners to the victory. The win was Bishop’s first of the year. “Bishop was outstanding tonight”, quoted Miners Coach Derek Sutton. “I know that they (Georgetown) will say they got robbed and deserved to win tonight, but there is an old saying we used back in my playing days with the Hamilton Mustangs…..Stick and Pucks may break my nuts, but winning always heals me”.

The win improves the Miners record to 4 wins, 5 losses on the season, good enough for 8th place in the Canosa Conference.

MINERS NUGGETS

- Defenseman Darnell Nurse suffered a knee injury late in the third period. Nurse has to be helped off the ice and the initial diagnosis is that he will be out of the lineup 5-6 weeks.

- Tobias Reider continues his solid play and has a three-game point streak going.

- Coach Derek Sutton indicated that with the win last night, Ben Bishop will get the start on Wednesday on the road versus Victoria.