#37
Welcome back to
another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! In this blog we will have the first game
review of the year! Let’s start off with the game review. I recently attended
the Missoula Maulers' home opener. Let me tell you, for a small town in western Montana,
it seemed like the entire town came out for this. At an attendance of over
1,300 people, the Glacier Ice Rink was packed with hockey fans from all over to
come fill their lockout wound and watch some good old junior hockey. With no
scoring until the 2nd period, both goalies in the cage were impeccable. McKinlee
Baum for the Maulers and Nic Wackerly for Billings, both in the cage with eyes
of a hawk. Nothing would get past them and they were on top of where the puck
so much that they wore both teams out even before the second period started.
But, man these guys are packing muscle this season. With gigantic checks from
both teams, I was surprised that the glass has lasted this long. Check after
check, the boys on both teams were certainly feeling both the first and second
periods! One example of a huge check was on Viktor Steenson, he was rushing
down the ice, carrying the biscuit with amazing speed, and all of a sudden a
Bull comes from his right side, crouches down, and up ends him completely in
the air. But within seconds, the Vaxjo Viking is back up at it again and completely demolishes the guy into the boards! I mean it was incredible I have never seen
such speed and power being thrust into a check. He was eating the glass and
boards. Being on the subject of Viktor, we need to talk about him for a minute.
First off, I am completely blown away by this guy. He has amazing speed,
incredible hands, and his power is off the charts! Coming from Sweden, he has
certainly picked up a few things along the way because he should be in the NHL
already I swear. Viktor's persistence, effort, and stamina are out of this
world in ways no one could describe. Some serious scouts need to look at this
guy because he is absolutely amazing. I haven't even mentioned his hands! They
are unbelievably soft and flick the puck around as if it were a feather. I am
stunned every time he steps on the ice, you will have to see for yourself. I
highly encourage it because you will not be disappointed! I am serious too go buy a ticket and watch
Viktor, leave stunned. I did. Another thing I saw was that they were not
working as individuals, but as one unit. The flow and almost one movement of
the whole entire team was mind blowing. Occasionally a pass would go the wrong
way or a little past the receiving player, but all in all the whole team was
spot on.
Another player that
impacted the game from the Maulers' stand point was Brett Mathews. Once you get
this guy going he just never stops. If you look at the individual stats on
these guys he by far has the most total points. You hear his name all over, in
the news, in the local newspaper, at the arena, practically everywhere. I mean almost every assist was from his
blade. Brett is just a huge player on the ice and really puts out a vibe that
sends chills through everyone in the barn. Moving on, we shall talk about the
stats here for a minute. The final of the game was 2-1 in overtime. The first
goal was struck by rookie Brock Brothers at 8:11 with an assist by none other
than Brett Mathews on a power play. The second goal was from a Billings Bull
named Stephen Thompson at 12:34 in the third period which was unassisted. In
overtime, rookie defenseman Dylan Chase found the back of the net at 4:16 with
44 seconds left before the sudden death shootout. It was assisted by veteran
player Anders Nord and also by Brett Mathews. The Maulers outshot the Bulls
49-24. Wackerly had 47 saves where Baum had 23. The penalties for Billings were
7-14. The penalties for Missoula were 8-16. Billings had 0-6 power play
opportunities. Missoula had 2-5 power play opportunities. It was actually a very physical and stressful
game, where at moments; the whole entire crowd was out of their seats. The
Bulls really wanted to pick a fight because it was so close at times. I really
think if the refs weren't there it would have been a blood bath. I have to give props to Nic Wackerly because
his goaltending was amazing, it was save after save.
The rookies are
really putting out this season, even challenging the veterans. They are taking
their share of the ice, clocking in time with the puck, and make goals before
the veterans can. Brett Mathews is quite the example of the veterans they have
this year. Some names to know would be Matt Chamberlain, Paige Maul, Anders Nord,
McKinlee Baum, Zach Paisley, Dustin Pierce, Donovan Mattfeltdt, and Cody Ogrin. The rookies
are Brock Brothers, Michael Cummings, Connor McNally, Viktor Steenson, Joey
Sundgren, Jordan Wheatly, Gabe Whiteman-Jones, Dylan Chase, Tyler Zandhuinsen, and Cody Janzen. You need to
watch out for these guys because they are going to put on quite a show! Take me
up on this and if you are near Missoula, Montana, go buy a ticket and go watch
the Maulers at their next home game on October 12th against the Great Falls
Americans. It is something you definitely need to watch and if you do, you will
understand why I am telling you to do this. Please go!
I also want to give
a huge congrats on the game against the Glacier Nationals 10-1! That is a huge
win! The first goal of the game was from Paige Maul at 17:21 and assisted by
Anders Nord and Dylan Chase. That was the only goal in the first period. In the
second period veteran forward Brett Mathews scored on goalie Tyler Huberty at
1:05 into the second period with an assist from Tyler Zandhuinsen on a power play, Joey Sundgren
scored at 9:56 into the second with assists from Brock Brothers and Dylan
Chase, at 10:49 into Brett Mathews scored again with assists from Tyler Zandhuinsen and Michael Cummings, and at
17:33 minutes into the second Michael Cummings scored shorthanded with assists
from Paige Maul and Dylan Chase. Then starting the third period, Tucker Spooner
of the Glacier Nationals scored on rookie goalie Cody Janzen at 12:39 in the
third with an assist from Bill Boberg. Bringing the scoring streak back to the
Maulers, Michael Cummings scored on Huberty at 15:06 in on a power play with an
assist from star defenseman Dylan Chase. At 15:11 Brock Brothers scored a power
play goal with an assist from veteran Cody Ogrin, at 16:11 Cody Ogrin got a
taste of scoring with an assist from the "Vaxjo Viking" Viktor
Steenson on another power play, then Ogrin scored again at 17:18 in with
assists from Steenson and Anders Nord. Tyler Zandhuinsen scored the last goal
of the game at 18:07 into the third on a power play with an assist from Connor
McNally. The Maulers outshot the Nationals 89-31, Missoula had 30 saves to
Glacier's 79. The Maulers had 13 penalties while Glacier had 24. The power play
opportunities usage from the Maulers was 6-19 and 0-5 from Glacier. There were
309 attendants. Way to go boys, you certainly got your "2 points"!
Congrats and keep on rolling, you could be the regular season champions again!
I will be planning to come to more of your games so let’s hope they are good
ones! More reviews to come!
Great job
Missoula, keep it going! 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 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!
Just a couple of
things to say before I leave, remember to grab a ticket and go see the Maulers
play on October 12th at the Glacier Ice Rink against the Great Falls Americans.
Also you can watch it on AWHL TV if you can't attend any of the AWHL games.
Also make sure to keep track of Viktor Steenson, Brett Mathews, Cody Ogrin,
McKinlee Baum, Matt Chamberlain, Tyler Zandhuinsen, Brock Brothers, Michael Cummings, Zach Paisley, Anders
Nord, Dylan Chase, Paige Maul, and all the other Maulers throughout the season.
I highly encourage it because they are my AWHL team of the season and I will be
giving frequent updates on them. Make sure to look back at the blog quite often
because I will have new articles about the lockout and the current status of
your favorite players while they are over in Europe so make sure to look at
that also. Help me get to 2000 views we are currently sitting at 1411 so
help me out! When we hit 2000 I will have a special blog that will have updates
the closer we get! Thanks so much for getting me this far! Also, I might do a
compilation blog of all your favorite teams so let me know if you would like
that and what teams you would like! Please comment below with your answers all
teams are welcome whether it's a midget team to an NHL team, I will do them all!
Comments
Post a Comment