Manatees 10/30 scrimmage results (and commentary)

By Tidalshark

This was a full contact scrimmage. The ice wasn't too bad but it could have been a bit faster, I think. There was some good checking, including some nice clean open ice hits. Dmitri laid a guy out right in front of me with a wonderful hit.

Two officials, and a lot of things weren't called.

Defensive wise, my impression has been that coach prefers an offensive game to a defensive one. We have two natural defenseman in our camp, one of which, Dmitri Dou1ebenets, is a very good offensive defenseman. The other is JF Picard who plays a nice steady stay at home game, which was a pleasure to watch.

(At least I'm pretty sure it's Picard, I'm still trying to figure them all out, but he was wearing Long Beach gear and Picard played for the Ice Dogs in the past.)

The other three defensemen on the training camp roster are forwards that are being converted to defense. I don't know how much experience they have in that position. There's nothing wrong with converting a forward to a defenseman, I've seen it done in the past with very good results. But it's usually done with a checking forward and from what I could find out about these guys, they've all posted decent numbers as shooters.

So, I'm thinking that coach is looking for the defense to chip in the scoring on a regular basis as well. Which brings us to goaltending.

One guy, Mark Abbott has been playing men's rec hockey and as a result I couldn't find any numbers on him. He was okay, but nothing to write home about. I think that he outplayed , who came very highly recommended from Wichita. I was told he plays better with a defense in front of him.

One of the fans from Flint told me that Sean Weaver played better with a good defense and a lot of noise. The more noise the crowd makes, the more he feeds off it. He's HUGE though, and actually played a very solid game.

I expected better from Mark Scally. The first goal happened when he came out of the net to play the puck. We got run into by a white player and was knocked down to the ice, and while Picard was there, he did not jump in front of the net to try to offer an obstical, but stayed in his post on the outside. As a result, white put a goal in on an uncontested net. I think Scally just timed that play all wrong. (I also have a nice photo of this happening.)

The last goal for team white was on an empty net as Scally had just left the net for an extra attacker. So Scally, Abbott, and Weaver can each be held accountable for three goals, and Levisak for four (plus the one empty netter makes 14).

Ghosts in the Arena: The spirit of Wayne Gretzky possesed the score board at one point and the score was Green 99, White 4.

I felt Oak Hewer played a very good game. I watched him play with the Ice Pilots. He's spent the last two seasons with Rockford and he's improved greatly since I last saw him. Definately a keeper.

Darcy Johnson, while very quiet in regards to the scoring, was all over the ice last night. He looked really good and has a lot of energy. It's hard to picture him as an enforcer though, I guess I'll just have to wait until I see him fight.

While Alejandro Ortiz is a personal favorite of mine, I thought he played quite a good game. I wasn't sure quite what to expect out of him, but he certainly didn't let me down. He plays with a lot of heart and a lot of energy.

As for the rest, I really don't know who's who, or at least, if I've met them off the ice, I can't tell them in their game gear yet. (This is the opposite reaction I have to my baseball boys, who I can't tell from Adam if they're not in their pinstripes.)

The two bouts were more WWF then Saturday Night Boxing. A lot of wrestling. Danielle told me Simon Duplessis had been stitched up three times already and had reinjured his hand in the first match, although that did not preclude him from tangling with Greene again later in the game.

It took me forty-five minutes to drive there and two-hours to get home again as I ran into something called "Rush Hour", which I'd forgotten about as I work a couple of miles from where I live. I'm guessing actually game day driving will be between a hour to a hour-and-a-half.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Loggerheads tomorrow night for the preseason game.

Results from the Press Release:

Period 1:
Goal White: Hewer (Ortiz) 16:04
Goal White: Duplessis 9:47
Penalty Green: Greene, Interference 7:50
Goal White: Doulebenets (Kiley) 5:19

GREEN SOG 8, WHITE SOG 12

Period 2:

Goal White: Duplessis (Doulebenets) 19:41
Goal Green: Stack (Vanc) 18:49
Goal Green: Kohansky (Picard) 17:05
Goal Green: Local NHL'er (Stack) 14:27
Penalty White: Duplessis, roughing 13:29
Penalty White: Duplessis, Fighting 13:29
Penalty Green: Greene, Fighting 13:29
Goalie White In: Abbott 10:45
Goalie Green In: Scally 10:45
Penalty Green: Socholotuk, slashing 4:52

GREEN SOG 22 (14), WHITE SOG 35 (23)

Period 3:
Goal White: Kiley 18:00
Goal Green: Stewart (Local player)
Penalty Green: Greene (fighting) 11:34
Penalty White: Duplessis (fighting) 11:34
Goal White: Hewer (Roy) 10:38
Penalty White: Perricone, slashing 8:50
Goal White: Liebenow (Perry) 3:34
Goal White: Kiley (Perricone) :56
Goal Green: Stack (Local NHL'er) :33
Goal Green: Local NHL'er (Stack) :22

GREEN SOG 42 (20), WHITE SOG 51 (16)

FINAL SCORE WHITE: 8, GREEN: 6

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