#6

Biscuits and Breezers

                        Welcome back to another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! In this episode we will be discussing the Rangers’ win over the Capitals and Giroux’s and Klesla’s suspensions. Starting with The Ranger’s third win over the Capitals. The New York Rangers are really bringing out their own bag of tricks in this Semi-Finals series. Beating the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime and leading the series 3-2, the Rangers better take this opportunity and run with it. If you can get ahead of the Washington Capitals on the verge of claiming a spot in the Finals, you are definitely doing something right. This game was a game of call and answer. In the first period, Swedish defenseman Anton Stralman made a goal at 10:44 assisted by Canadian defenseman and alternate captain Marc Staal and American center Derek Stepan. Then in the second period, Brooks Laich answered back at 8:15 with assists from Russian captain and left winger Alex Ovechkin and Canadian winger and alternate captain Troy Brouwer. As we expected from these evenly matched teams, in the third period we had a power play goal from Capitals American defenseman John Carlson assisted by Canadian winger Troy Brouwer and Canadian defenseman Dennis Wideman at 4:20, answered back by a goal from sniper Rangers Canadian center Brad Richards in the third to tie things up at 19:53 assisted by Captain and American Ryan Callahan and Canadian defenseman Michael Del Zotto on a powerplay laser. To finally end the game between these two heavily chirping teams, Canadian defenseman Marc Staal at 1:35 into overtime assisted by Canadian center John Mitchell. I think we are all excited to see how this series will end up. New York vs. Washington. Ovechkin vs. Callahan.  Good luck boys!

Next we move on to suspensions. One game suspensions were dealt to Flyers alternate Claude Giroux for a head shot on Devils right winger Dainius Zubrus and another dealt to Coyotes defenseman Rostislav Klesla for a back check/boarding to Predators Matt Halischuk. Both players were suspended 1 game and will return for the rest of the series. Klesla was given a two minute penalty in the sin bin for boarding and left the game for a short period of time. This happened at 6:39 in front of the Coyotes’ bench in the first period. It appeared he grabbed Halischuk’s jersey before pushing him into the boards.  Claude Giroux is in the waiting stages of seeing if he will have to watch his team fall to the Devils from the press box. Appearing to be a direct shot to the head, Zubrus was hit in the head with Giroux’s elbow or shoulder, but he will be back in game 5 to hopefully defeat the Flyers. Personally, I think that it is a good thing that we are taking head shots a lot seriously now, it will prevent players from ultimate head damage. Good luck Devils!

Now we move onto the “Players of Today”. Today we are reviewing for the European pick is Elitserien Modo Hockey J20 player Ludvig Bystrom.  For the goalie pick of this week is ECHL South Carolina Stingrays goalie Rob Madore, and for the NHL prospect pick we have Djurgardens IF J20 SuperElit player Pontus Aberg.

Starting off with the European Player we have Ludvig Bystrom. He is 6ft 0in, 187lbs, and is from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden. He played for the Elitserien Modo Hockey J20 in the 2011-2012 season and 7 goals in 34 games played, 22 assists, 29 TPs, and 101 PIMs. Ludvig is a defenseman who really takes the game by the extreme. He went to the playoffs with the Modo J20 team and had 1 goal in 8 games played, 3 assists, 4TPs, and 4 PIMs. Ludvig is an NHL prospect also for the 2012 NHL entry draft and is expected to go to the Ottawa Senators. He can handle the puck well and keep it nowhere near that blue line.  Good Luck in your future hockey career and with the draft Ludvig! Good luck in the NHL Draft!

Next we have NHL prospect, Pontus Aberg. Pontus is 5ft. 11 in, 187lbs, and is from Stockholm, Sweden. He is a left winger playing for the Djurgardens IF J20 SuperElit team.  Pontus has 4 goals in 6 games played, 2 assists, 6TPs, and 0 PIMs with the J20 team. He has 8 goals in 47 games played, 7 assists, 15 TPs, and 6 PIMs with Elitserien in the 2011- 2012 season. Pontus was one of the first four canidates for this season’s Elitserien Rookie of the Year award. He is an NHL prospect for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and is expected to go to the Florida Panthers. Pontus handles the puck well and can make those needed decisions that come with good on-ice vision. Good Luck in your further hockey seasons Pontus! Good Luck in the Draft!

Finally we come to the goalie pick. Our goalie pick is Rob Madore from the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays. Currently signing to the Stingrays, Madore has a 8-3-1 record with 2.41 GAA and a save percentage of .926. He went to the University of Vermont where he had a 41-64-20 record with 2.91 GAA and a .902 save percentage. Rob is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. I picked Rob Madore because a lot of players in the minors and even lower should probably get recognized, like Rob, for fantastic work they are doing for their teams. He has great puck vision and in net control. Keep rocking it Rob! The Stingrays, for a while there, really needed a goalie that would work for them and have team chemistry. Great job!

Thanks for reading another blog of Biscuits and Breezers. Every Blog will be filled with updated hockey news, player reviews, and much more. Until next time, don’t get your breezers in a bunch because there is always hockey around the corner. Remember it’s always a great day for hockey for hockey and it’s a lifestyle, not just a sport!