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| 2005-06 1st Half Review |
| With a 5-6-4 record for 14 points in first place in the OUA Mid East Division, six points up on second place Queens, you would think that this would be an A+ season for the RMC Paladins, but not with this years edition of the team. The RMC Paladins are very much like the Calgary Flames, solid goaltending and defense and excellent coaching, sometimes inconsistent special teams and a quiet offense. They will not win a lot of 6-4 games but rather the 3-2 tight checking affairs are their specialties. This team has enough leadership, grit and solid goaltending that their record could be even better than it currently sits at the end of the first half of the 2005-06 OUA Hockey Season.
Of the 15 games played so far this season there have been only two that RMC did not have a chance to win. One was a 8-1 defeat to the high powered UQTR Patriotes and the other a 3-0 loss to the McGill Redmen who are currently the number 2 ranked team in the country and remain undefeated. The remainder of the first half schedule has been extremely competitive matches that RMC could have won. With a bit better luck RMC could be 9-6 as in each of their ties they gave up a lead. In three of those games it has been two goal leads late in the game. The season opened up well with a 2-1 vicotry over the Queens Golden Gales and their rookie head coach Kirk Muller. RMC then went on a 2-1-2 run before running into an explosive UQTR team. After the loss to UQTR RMC bounced back to defeat the Ottawa Gee Gees before going on a two game losing skid. They then tied Lakehead to reverse the trend. A tough western road swing a the end of November led to a another 2 game skid with losses to Western and Waterloo who are both ranked top 10 in the country. The season ended off on a positive note with RMC getting three out of a possible four points with a tie against Concordia and the schools first ever victory over UQTR. Overall Grade B Goaltending A. The only blemish is the 8-1 loss to UQTR. Third Year Blair Robertson (Outlook, Sk/Quesnel Millionaires) has been solid in net playing 830 minutes an only giving up 40 goals with a 2.99 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. The only other goalie to get minutes is Matt Hartney (Burnaby, BC/University of Saskatchewan). After a difficult first game against UQTR where he came on to replace Robertson, Hartney came back to stone UQTR in the RMC win stopping 58 of 60 shots he faced. He has a 3.74 goals against average and at .930 save percentage. Defence B+. This tight defensive unit has drastically reduced the goals against and the scoring opportunities of opposing teams. Their tight checking smothers teams down low. This unit is led by Fourth Year Brent Maurice (Almyer PQ/Shawville Ponticacs) and Matt Fetzner (Royston, BC/Weyburn Red Wings) Maurice is an offensive defenseman who quarter backs the power play. He leads all defenseman in scoring with 6 goals and six assists. Fetzner is a solid presence on the blue line who can chip in occasionally of offense. The defensive corps has RMC 15th out of 31 CIS teams allowing only 3.1 goals against per game. Offense B-: With a tight checking team system you cannot expect an explosive offense but they can score when given the opportunity. The team is led offensively by Second Year Dion Lahoda (Kamloops, BC/Merritt Centennials) with 6 G and 9 A and First Year Paul Bradley (Calgary, AB/Canmore Eagles) with 6 G and 8A. Also chipping if offensively is speedster Tyler McTavish (London, ON/St Thomas Stars) and power play specialist Roman Srutek (Kanata, On/Kanata Stallions). McTavish is a bit of a surprise as he is known for this great checking a penalty kill, while Srutek started off hot but has slowed down over the last 3 weekends. The offensive is spread out amongst the team as 14 different players have scored this year. RMC is ranked 21st in the country with 2.8 goals per game. Special Teams B: The penalty kill has been solid and consistant through out the year helping with the success. The power play on the other hand has had its ups and downs. There have been opportunities this year where the power play could bury the opponent but it has just not been able to do so. Second half outlook. The second half of the season looks good for the Paladins. They play seven of their remaining nine games against OUA Mid East rivals. They face Queens three times and the U of T and Ryerson twice. The remaining two games are against McGill and Ottawa. The sole drawback of the second half is that RMC plays it�s last five games on the road. All nine remaining games are key as RMC fights to finish first in the Division and get a first round playoff bye. |
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