200th Blog!

Biscuits and Breezers

  Welcome back to another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! After two and a half years of operation, Biscuits and Breezers has finally come to a very momentous milestone; post #200. Yes this is the 200th post for Biscuits and Breezers! I would just like to send out a thank you to every viewer and to all of the Biscuits and Breezers hockey family for continuous support of the page! In this special post I will do my Celebratory player reviews, as always, but I will also be reviewing what it means to wear the "C' per request. Once more, thanks again and here's to many, many more posts!

  To start off, I will be explaining what it means to me to wear a letter on a hockey team. When a player receives either an "A" or a "C", the expectations and the duties of that particular player doubles or possibly even triples. Instead of worrying about just your own numbers, you should be concerned with the whole team's well being. If someone is not up to par, you should know that that is someone who needs even more of a supporting shoulder. If you are a player that has proven themselves enough to bear the title of team captain, in my opinion, you should always be out there working ten times harder than your team mates. You also lead as an example for the whole team to follow. In my opinion, a great captain is one who puts all of his 25 brothers' needs before his own. The captains give a strong and unbreakable base for the team to rely on and they strive to make the team as best as they possibly can every single day. They should play a very strong and clean game that shows great qualities of respect, class, and responsibility. Just remember all captains (assistant or team captain) out there, when you pull on your sweater with that letter on it, it is a tremendous honor and you should treat it as such. You no longer represent yourself and a minority of the team, you represent the entire team. You are the first and last skater the fans and the community sees, therefore, your actions will reflect on not only you but the entire bench. "With great power comes great responsibility." - Voltaire.

(Pictures found on Google Images)

  On my page, I ran a contest that resembled the 2000th view Player Contest (where players were submitted for a drawing) and out of almost 30 submissions, 3 players were chosen. Those three players were Todd Cooper from the Marquette Royales in the MnJHL, Rory Bock from the Helena Bighorns in the NA3HL, and Chase Perry at Colorado College (NCAA). I think I will start off with Bock!

Rory is 6 ft 0 in, 210 lbs, and is from Kent, Washington, USA. Playing last year with the Helena Bighorns, he had 4 goals in 37 games played, 3 assists, 7 TPs, 32 PIMs, a +/- of +15, and 1 game winning goal. When you have a player like Rory Bock on your team, you know that you are getting a skater that will put in the hard, elbow grease work every game no matter the reward. Bock is the type of player you send out to protect the goalie, get some aggressive moves on the puck, or to get the game back in the direction you need it to go. Bock plays strong at both ends of the ice and is an absolutely great player to have on roster. Playing with a very large frame, Rory's game is essentially built on the aspects of strength and solidity. He is one of the key players that keeps a team stable while giving as much to the team as he can. Rory plays a clean game, but he is definitely a player you want out on shifts just as an extra set of eyes against rough enforcers and goons looking to drop the mitts.  If you have a player that absolutely snipes tenders, that player will come with a huge target on his back, and you need someone to be up front at all times and who is willing screen other players to take home the big win. Rory is definitely the player who is watching his team mates' backs in order to get the necessary goals scored. The first player that comes to mind when finding an NHL skater that highly resembles Bock would be Penguins right winger Patric Hornqvist. Both are intimidating players who know how to play the ice to their teams' advantage. It will be very interesting to see where Bock heads with his junior career, because if he moves up, he is the exact type NAHL teams are looking for to work the boards and rattle the glass. If decides to move up to college hockey, Rory Bock is the type of player college teams specifically look for due to his strength and his ability to play the entire ice. All in all, Rory Bock is a fantastic brick wall of a player who has great determination to succeed in the sport and he is bringing attention to the type of game that should be seen more and more on the ice. Good luck with Helena Rory and your future hockey career!

(Photo Credit to Danny Liberko via Facebook)

  Todd is 6 ft 0 in, 170 lbs, and hails from Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Playing up in Marquette with the Royales last year, Cooper was able to rack up 14 goals in 36 games played, 6 assists, 20 TPs, 15 shots on goal, 2 power play goals,  and 112 PIMs. You know when Cooper skates out for the start of a game, it will be a gamed filled with action-packed shifts fueled by intense aggression on the ice. Cooper is fantastic at playing a very quick and very fruitful game. He can produce a high number of goals while getting in great physical plays such as working the boards, throwing bone-crushing hits, and dropping the mitts to go head to head against any opponent. Todd is an absolute bulldog of a player and seems to love the gritty side of the play. Most times you will either have a player that can score or a player that can fight, not too many times will you see both worlds come together neatly, but with Cooper that is exactly what you get. Just from his statistics alone, you can clearly see that Todd can manage his productions of points along with managing his output of penalty minutes. Cooper is definitely a player that you want on your roster because he is a sturdy skater who is as tough as nails and can still find the back of the net with ease. He will stand his ground along with protecting his team as well. Cooper has incredibly soft mitts and is great at getting the biscuit to team mates or where he needs it to go; usually flying past the goalie and lighting the lamp before the goaltender even realizes what is happening. In my opinion, Cooper is definitely following in the foot steps of Rangers tough guy Chris Kreider. Both players absolutely love to play aggressive, both have built very strong skating abilities, and both will fight through any predicament to come out on top. When Cooper leaves the bench, he makes the other teams work for their ice time. To finish off this review, Todd is the player that will battle through any injury just to ask when his next shift is. Cooper has very strong components to his game, and as a whole, is certainly a player to keep an eye on. Good luck Todd with the Royales and your future hockey career! 

(Photo Credit to Randy Ritari)

  Chase is 6 ft 3 in, 190 lbs, and is from Andover, Minnesota, USA. In the 2013-2014 season, Perry recorded 2.34 GAA and a .905 save percentage with the Wenatchee Wild. Chase was drafted 136th overall in the 5th round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft to the Detroit Red Wings. Chase Perry has many great aspects to his game and he excels in all areas of goaltending. Perry is the type of goaltender that challenges skaters, stands guard in front of the net, and is in deep concentration for the whole entire match. He is a very strong individual player but he always proudly represents the logo on the front of his jersey. Chase has an incredibly high endurance level and is constantly giving 100% to his team. He has very smooth basket and blocker movements as well as very precise pad movements. Perry has a very high intelligence for the game and is always looking for ways to improve. If and when he does indeed move on to the NHL, he will be a great asset to any team he is on roster for. He has the exact frame all professional teams are looking for and he certainly uses it to his advantage. Chase covers the entire net very well and is on constant guard of every shift going on outside of the crease. He is very observant to players of both benches and will play accordingly to each individual. Perry continues to further his game in any way he can by keeping up with the newest and most advanced goaltending methods.With every level he climbs, he adds a new chapter in his book of net minding. As Chase continues with Colorado College, it will be in no doubt that we will see much advancement within his playing career. In my opinion, Perry will fit in quite well to the world of college hockey and will make very large strides within his seasons for Colorado. There is a bright future for Chase with the sport, and with his determination, he will certainly continue to pave his own way forward. Good luck Chase with Colorado College as well as your future NHL career!

(Photo Credit to Sarah Amend)

To conclude this special article, I send out a great thank you to everyone! Thanks for reading another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! Every post will be filled with updated hockey news, player reviews, and much more! Until next time remember, don't get your breezers in a bunch because hockey is always around the corner. Remember, it's always a great day for hockey and it's a lifestyle not just a sport!