Thanks to the folks from Nintendo for this gem….good ole Ice Hockey…how I miss it when the game was so simple. Alas hockey is back everyone! The Ducks and Kings split a pair in London this weekend with the Kings taking the first game 4 to 1…and the Ducks prevailing 4-1 in the second game. Funny how it just happened to work that way.
Some observations from the weekend action…..
The crowd ROARED and gave a standing ovation to Scott Thornton and George Parros squared off right at center ice thus proving hey Bettman, fighting doesn’t need to die in hockey…the instigator rule does but I digress. The overall physical quotient was up front and highly visible over the weekend….lots of hard, clean hitting for the most part…a few hits from behind but all in all…it was good smashing fun.
Michael Cammalleri will be a beast this season…the Ducks had an awful time trying to contain him all weekend and I think that is a harbinger of things to come. This guy is in the right place at the right time all the time…and gets scoring chances galore…I counted 8 or 9 between the 2 games and he netted 3 of them….pretty decent ratio I must say. I would like to thank my wife for remembering to Tivo both games….pausing and rewinding, etc. always help when analyzing.
Corey Perry and Chris Kunitz will make losing Dustin Penner a very short lived pain. These two work very well together….and they can’t hit like freight trains coming eastbound from New York City…and fast!! What I like about them two is the way they play offense and defense. Combine these two when Pronger is on the ice…and opposing players may need to duck and cover and pray.
Finally, Jonathan Bernier may just be the real deal. Now I know, it is only one game and the Ducks really weren’t all that active around him the first two periods. However, in the third, when the Ducks seemed to be hitting their stride…Bernier was rock solid…much like a 5 year vet and not like a 19 year old rookie. He made five or six point blank saves in that third period and was definitely my first star of the weekend. So with that..my 3 stars of the weekend are….
1. Jonathan Bernier
2. Michael Cammalleri
3. Corey Perry
Wednesday will see even more games get underway as opening night will be upon us. The hockey action is going to pick up and always there will be a weekly take of a different sort…all on the Monday Ice Water Cooler.
