OKC V HOUSTON 29.11.12
The OKC Barons are on a blazing 6-0-1-0 streak and can tie for the division lead with a win tonight. Their 62 goals for is good for 4th place (tie) in the entire league, and as you are no doubt aware three of the top 5 AHL scorers are Barons.
It’s a nice start. But not for everyone.
Secondary scoring among forwards is not happening. Beyond the top 2 lines there’s not a lot shaking. Here, let me show you:
THE TOP END
- Jordan Eberle 18, 11-15-26
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 17, 8-12-20
- Teemu Hartikainen 18, 6-10-16
- Taylor Hall 10, 4-10-14
- Magnus Paajarvi 18, 2-10-12
- Mark Arcobello 16, 5-5-10
THE BOTTOM END
- Chris VandeVelde 17, 1-4-5
- Dane Byers 18, 2-2-4
- Ryan Martindale 6, 0-3-3
- Curtis Hamilton 14, 2-0-2
- Josh Green 3, 1-1-2
- Toni Rajala 3, 1-1-2
- Kristians Pelss 3, 0-2-2
- Tyler Pitlick 14, 0-2-2
- Antti Tyrvainen 8, 1-0-1
- Tanner House 12, 1-0-1
- Anton Lander 14, 1-0-1
Byers has had some reasoncable offensive seasons in his AHL career, and Josh Green can post some numbers in this league (he’s close to ready). Rajala is an interesting chap, and one would hope that guys like Hamilton and Pitlick (currently concussed) have a little more pluck than currently reflected in the boxcars.
The Barons play tonight and tomorrow night and then nothing until next Saturday, so enjoy these next two games. I quite like mid-week hockey, miss it actually.
I’m not really certain what happened, but coach Todd Nelson seems to have settled the blue down with some minor tinkering. The top pairing remains intact (Marincin-Schultz) and they’ve been rolling Fedun-Teubert and Plante-Henry recently with some success. The third pairing has been wobbly at times–I would very much like to know if Alex Plante is still suffering from concussion symptoms and all kidding aside it is reasonable to assume all those head hits have had an impact on his career.
Yann Danis to my eye is returning to the form of last season–bad news for Barons’ opponents.
Barons recalled Hunter. Any idea why? In time for the game tonight? I wonder who is going to be the odd man out or if someone is sick or something.
http://okcbarons.com/index.cfm?fa=pressreleases&ra=showarticle&guid=06B9F947-C4EE-4514-A5AF-BB3E1C0622BC
Taking my boy to the game tonight, and it’s hard to say who is more excited about it. I like going to AHL games to figure out who I think is going to make it in the show or not. I want to go to this game for that and pure entertainment.
dessert1111,
Probably just want another healthy body for the back to back games. Unless I’m mistaken Green, Pitlick, Tyrvainen, Martindale and House are all still injured, leaving them with just 12 healthy forwards (I’m ignoring Abney here for obvious reasons). Hunter gives them a 13th (14th if we grudgingly accept Abney as a hockey player).
Ringwald was also called up (and Zahn down) the other day. Never thought I’d say this, but hopefully we see Ringwald in the lineup tonight. Henry has been ugly more often than not lately.
I’ve been holding out hope for one of Hamilton or Pitlick to “make it”, but they both seem to be black holes when it comes to scoring at the pro level. Even guys who have a journeyman bottom-six type NHL career have to have a modicum of offensive skill at the AHL level. The Marty Reasoner, Toby Petersen type.
Too bad. Lots of potential there. I really liked both guys on draft day.
You’re probably right, and agreed about Abney. I just wonder who they’ll sit now. Most the guys have been playing well but it would be pretty shitty for the guy to be called up just to sit then sent back down in a week. I guess Zahn’s experience as of late wasn’t much different, which is surprising given how poorly Henry has been playing. Would’ve preferred him to be sent down, he seems to be the least consistent of the D now.
I’ll be at the game tonight, hoping to see some secondary scoring for the love of everything hockey and holy…
Lack of secondary scoring is pretty common among the AHL this year, with 4-6 good scorers on each team and the rest or the players around a much lower number.
And it’s due to lack of icetime. Due to the lockout, there’s better talent at the top of most teams than usual and the up and coming players who would be taking those top line roles and getting PP time are not getting that icetime.
Those “bottom end” numbers would have looked even uglier one game ago. Lander, VandeVelde and Byers all scored key goals in Charlotte, and when the big boys kicked it up a notch the game became an ass-kicker rather than the usual nail-biter. Considering those three dudes had combined for one freaking goal all year, it was a welcome sight.
Let’s hope they’re just getting started to at least hit their weight. As you know, LT, by June it takes more than a day or two to raise a .150 BA even to .200. But you gotta start somewhere.
Bruce McCurdy,
It took me 7 years in university and a lot of partying to get .2 of a BA
Bruce McCurdy,
Damn it, is it June already??? You’re right, it is…
re: Plante, I’m concerned about the same thing you are, LT. I have not been seeing him good, hell I graded him a 4 in a game he posted +2 so maybe it’s me. But his game is nowhere. Even after that game he was -4 on the season, among a group that was otherwise even or plus. His defensive game is fairly solid but not consistent, which it absolutely needs to be for him to go anywhere. Whatever offensive potential he once had is somewhere out in the ether. His compete is still there — he fought twice one game, didn’t look good in either — but I wonder if all these past head shots have taken their toll.
I’m still PO’d about the sucker punch that goon PL3 landed on him in the Saddledome last February. Could have been a career-changer, hell, a life-changer.
I wouldn’t say Alex has been helped by having Jordan Henry on his right. In the past Plante has shifted to his weak side on the perennially starboard-heavy Barons D but with another right-shooter like Petry or Teubert who could more than hold his own. I’ve seen just enough of Henry to realize how he must have arrived in the ECHL in the first place. Between the two of them it’s an adventure, even in third-pairing type minutes. An own-zone adventure for the most part.
Baseball June is like Hockey December. It’s 0.5 years reversed, like seasons in Australia or something.
LT will understand what I meant.
Bruce McCurdy,
I understood, it’s just sobering to realize we’re almost 1/4 though the AHL season, and should be that far into the NHL season too.
So, uh… how are people watching these OKC games?
There’s this thing called the internet now. It’s supposed to be the next big thing.
Lois Lowe,
Cool! do you think it’s got boobs and beer as well as hockey?!
seriously, though… are the usual suspects streaming these games?
Romulus Apotheosis,
I am using hockey streams.com 15.99 a month and it works great.
Romulus Apotheosis,
They appear to be. Sure would be nice to be watching from the first row of this sports action.
And if the internet had boobs on it, why the hell would we all be wasting our time here? #myth
It works great meaning the stream is smooth and not choppy, or it works great meaning the picture quality is good/very good? I purchased some Baron playoff games last spring via AHL online. The picture was at best , OK. What is hockeystream’s source feed? Thanks.
I certainly do know what Bruce is talking about!
Defence pairings for #OKCBarons: Marincin & Schultz; Ringwald & Teubert; Plante & Henry
Lines for #OKCBarons: Hall-RNH-Eberle; Paajarvi-Lander-Hartikainen; Byers-Arcobello-Hamilton; Cornet-Hunter-Rajala
Details
Scheduled scratches for #OKCBarons: Davidson, Pitlick, Green, Tyrvainen, Martindale, House, Fedun, Abney
Oklahoma City Barons @OKC_Barons
Also scratch VandeVelde, wife had a baby today, a son, congratulations to Chris and Olivia
jake70,
jake70,
It is AHL live but its in 720p and not choppy plus you get junior games KHL games as well.
A working link for the masses: http://www.thefirstrow.eu/watch/156110/1/watch-ahl:-oklahoma-city-barons-vs-houston-aeros.html
Plante is a plant. Seriously.
Schultz got beaten clean there. Wow.
Most of the Barons aren’t playing well thus far, really.
Like a Plant
JUSTIN SCHULTZ HOLY SHIT!
Wow, Schultz can turn water into gold.
Damn I love Shultz.
This last place for years thing is really going to pay off. This is going to be a fun decade for Oil fans.
Schultz (Byers, Hamilton)
Just an amazing play by Schultz
Indeed
Indeed, Indeed.
Aeros cheerleaders are ok to look at
voxwah,
Very ok to look at.
Justin Schultz is a machine.
Oilertown,
Agreed, stream is quite good at hockeystreams.com. The usual free ones are ok but this is a step up!
voxwah,
What’s up with the multiple sound feeds?
Is the stupidly annoying air guitar and making yourself look like a complete fool a Houston female thing?
Professor Q,
Aliens maybe? Lets blame Horcoff, I’m sure it’s his fault. The bastard.
voxwah,
That made me chuckle!
I’d forgotten how bad the camera-work was for these games.
Oilers’ defensive injury woes continue.
schultz is a freaking WITCH!
disenfranchised stat fudger,
I see what you did there.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
DSF,
No, flattery is the sincerest form of flattery, followed by longing glances. Imitation is seventeenth.
The refs are just looking to give us a 5-3 it seems. Thats like 4 in 3 games. Hopefully the cross check to the throat nullifies it!
DSF,
Darn. I was hoping for something a little more clever, not some recycled cliche that you’ve used a hundred times before. Take a few more minutes next time before you hit “Post Comment”
Even though they’ve gotten close a couple times on the powerplay, that top unit is just trying to be too fancy/perfect. Need to simplify the attack.
But…but…Schultz will never sign in Edmonton right???
Has Harski missed a lot of golden ops?
Barons getting outworked in this game, guess that will happen when you downgrade your D for a game.
Aeros on their heels… taking some bad penalties. Time to drop the dagger
He’s missed a lot of cross crease opportunities on the PP, he seems to have trouble on those for a reason
Byers is a stone cold idiot unless I missed something.
Wow. Byers lost it. You don’t need that.
Really fucking stupid.
Wow! What a coward. He should be forced to shave that badass stache off after running and hiding like that
wow, that’s a dumb penalty by byers.
real dumb
If the season started tomorrow, which would you prefer as a depth winger: Byers or Eager?
Pisani, wherever the hell he is (actually, he’s about 5 miles and approx 1.5M in household value down the road from me).
Hot Carl,
Really? You’re going to bring that futile masculine argument?
RexLibris,
Me thinks this might be the reason Byers isn’t an NHLer.
Granted, no one’s an NHLer now
Lowetide,
No fair to play “perfect world” mode. If that’s the case we go with Stan Weir or Dave Brown.
fuzzy muppet,
Yeah, I’m not sure looking at guys who couldn’t crack the Blue Jackets is the best place to shop.
This game has been a bit of a snoozer.
I liked that that penalty by Byers…and I saw it coming.
Bagnall had already taken a bit of a run(legal) on Nuge and then took a bit of a dirty hit that shook up Schultz a little, I think a message needed to be sent even if it resulted in bad penalties. Sucks that Bagnall turtled though…
I also really liked how little Rajala came and tried shoving Bagnall immediately after the Schultz hit…although kind of humorous, you gotta like the heart!
Speaking of Pisani, kind of, anyone read the EJ article about Corson and ulcerative colitis? Corson wasn’t the most popular guy in the room, from what I’ve heard, but I always liked the way he played.
OilLeak,
That’s called the Minnesota Wild effect. Its roots run deep.
Nice coverage by Marincin
Shultz and Marincin were pretty good tonight.
RNH looked to be the weak link on the top line; just seemed a bit off tonight.
I was wondering what is was, the Wild taint runs deep.
What are Danis’ chances in the shootout?
Agreed, I saw a little of that too. Byers was trying to send a message. Taking 4 min to 0 is too much though.
Not good….
Phillips is unrecognisable from his QMJHL days, look at that flo!
Taylor stinks on shootouts. yuck
jp,
You never know, he might score.
Rajala the new Omark? And shite!
Dammit, slick move by Rajala though.
Well, they didn’t deserve to win, imo. Outplayed for the majority of the game — figures they would be when I finally sit down to watch one.
I think that’s the kind of game we should expect from a team that plays so much on the weekends and then nothing until the next weekend. Weird schedules! I respect guys who get out of the AHL even more after paying such close attention to things like travel and schedule.
When your hockey stick is 8 feet long, it’s hard to be creative in close.
Yeah, great move by Rajala. Looks like he could be an important player if the lockout ends. Otherwise he might stick with OKC, but is a little redundant.
Agreed, Byers could probably have scaled it back a bit when it was pretty clear Bagnall was turtling and just got two mins….on the other hand though, when it comes to stepping up and protecting our young star players from lifer AHL thugs I’m ok with being overzealous and it costing us a game as opposed to underzealous and not responding.
Overall though poor game from the Barons IMHO…Danis easily the first star…I think that’s the worst I’ve ever seen Nuge play, usually he is so shifty and greasy but tonight he seemed to be getting manhandled and pushed off the puck like I’ve never see happen to him before.
Rookie D J. Schultz tied for 3rd in the league in goals. Good God!! Regardless of the unsustainable shooting % Wow! Still leading the league in assists and points too. What a find.
I hope the Barons bring their skating legs tomorrow. Marincin looked good today. I’m worried about Hall though. He looked like he was 75% back from injury. I hope I’m wrong.
Yeah, I was at the game, Bagnall head-butted Schultz… Byers did the right thing. Also, the Nuge didn’t look very good tonight, Hall looked good, and I saw Marincin make two big errors but otherwise play all right.
Henry,
Hall looked crazy good, fast and aggressive, just iffy on his shot.
Dalton,
Ya, just didn’t see what happened before Byers’ Hulk Smash, but everyone who did is saying the same thing you are.
Thanks for the links everyone.
The feed had both audio streams somehow… is it always like that… is that because the press box is so small or something?
Finally managed to get around to watching the Barons last night…
My impressions are basically defence doesn’t seem to exist, but the level of play is higher than expected.
Schultz made a few mind-boggling blunders (two in particular in the third if memory serves), but his goal in the first had me yelling at the screen for the first time in months.
Too bad about the loss… looking forward to tonight’s game!
I don’t think anyone mentioned the head-butt before me, though.
The game was played at the Toyota Center, seats 17,800 for ice hockey… It’s a huge arena where the Houston Rockets play basketball. It is not a shambling podunk like some AHL arenas… I don’t recall two audio streams airing at once in the past; probably a technical error?
That makes sense. The commentator kept marvelling at the sheer size of the arena and the jumbotron (was it Jack Michaels by the way, sounded like him).
My fantasy was that Michaels was cramped in a shoe-box like room with the other commentators and their mics were simply picking each other up. Or, that Michaels wasn’t at the game… but was listening to the Aeros call and trying to pick it up and talk over it at the same time.