Knights-Attack Rivalry Heats Up

The rivalry continued to heat up Saturday night between the Owen Sound Attack and the London Knights. The back and forth scoring game ended with an empty net goal and the Knights defeating the Attack 5-3.

With three previous losses so far to the Knights this season, the reigning OHL champions were looking for redemption. The Attack team and fans are still feeling the loss of hockey phenom Artur Gavrus who is still out with concussion symptoms because of a collision with fellow rookie star Max Domi two weeks ago.

It did not take long for the fighting to begin as Attack fan favourite Daniel Zweep dropped the gloves early in the game against Kyle Flemington. The game was book- ended with another Zweep fight, this time against Jarrod Tinordi. With just over a minute to go in regulation time the score keeper had his hands full as the refs dished out the consequences. Tinordi received an instigator and misconduct; Tyler Ferry, Dane Fox, and Jared Knight each received a misconduct. Zweep was given a head check and a game misconduct and team mate Mike Halmo a misconduct. When the OHL offices open Monday morning, commissioner David Branch will be checking out the video tape.

The action in between the Zweep fights was once again a close game between the two rivals but also once again resulted with the Knights on top. London Knight forward Andreas Athanasiou has certainly figured out the Attack systems. While scoring a hat trick Saturday he was able to rack up his eleventh goal of the season…..seven of them have been against the Attack.

While Attack goaltender Scott Stajcer performed admirably stopping 30+ shots, he was disappointed at the loss stating “The guys came out hard, a lot of guys battled. We need the whole team on the same page. It was an emotional loss to London again, we’ve had three of them already, this being the fourth. Everyone in (the dressing room) hates them and wants to win every time.”

When asked how the Attack will prepare for their next Knight match up, Stajcer says “we’ve got to come out hard….everyone has to be ready, can’t say the whole team was ready (tonight). We have to push through and battle harder.”

It should be another sell out crowd at the Bayshore when the Knights return to Owen Sound on January 21^st.

Rangers Continue to Roll

For a team that was predicted to be middle-of-the-pack pre-season, the Kitchener Rangers have done just that so far, albeit constantly down a man. We're quickly approaching the midway mark of the schedule. The Rangers sit third in the west, 2 points behind Plymouth with 2 games in hand, and 6 points behind London. But the injury bug continues to bite the team, which has yet to have a full lineup at any point this season.

John Gibson and Ryan Murphy finally returned to the lineup Thursday night in Brampton, and the team rallied after allowing a goal with 30 seconds to play. The ended up winning the game 2-1 in the shoot out.

Friday night with Mississauga in town was a different story. With top scorer Tobias Rieder out of the lineup with a banged up shoulder, the Rangers lost 3-2 after going down 3-1 by the end of the first period. How much does #9 mean to this hockey club right now? I guess we'll find out when he leaves for the World Juniors in a weeks time.

With Rieder gone, the Rangers add him to a list that includes Matia Marcantuoni, Andrew Cresenzci, Evan McEnemy, and Josh Gilbert. All players are currently watching from the press box.

Radek Faksa, the Rangers second highest point scorer, was named OHL Rookie of the Month for November. Faksa put up 16 points (8g,8a)in 10 games to earn the Czech import the honour. Hopefully he can continue to put on a show down the stretch, especially when the big guns are gone over the next month.

One common theme of discussions lately is how good this team will be next season. The Rangers are only guaranteed to lose Sol, Melchiori and Cattenaci (or is it Captainacci?). Of course there's a high likelihood of losing Murphy, Rieder and maybe even Gibson to the NHL come next October. Of course the loss of Jeff Skinner and Jeremy Morin to start last season is still fresh in everyone's mind (I call it 53 syndrome), so the last thing anyone wants is a repeat. So what does this mean really? I'd like to think that the Rangers 50th season will be a big one. So don't get too distraught if things turn sour down the stretch, just remember the Rangers are probably better than Guelph and Windsor and the future is very bright.

Don't forget your teddy bears Tuesday night against London!!

ITO Prospect Files: Tanner Pearson

This is a prospect file that; if you asked me in August if I thought I would have to write this, I would have laughed. As it turns out, the Barrie Colts’ high scoring forward is getting the last laugh as he rockets up the draft charts of every NHL team and has even secured a spot at Team Canada’s World Junior Selection Camp. Let’s get to know the game of the Ontario Hockey League’s leading scorer Nail Yak... wait, no, 19 year-old, Tanner Pearson a little better…

NHL Draft Prospect: Tanner Pearson – Barrie Colts

The Line:
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 192 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Left Wing
Draft Eligible: 2010

Being passed over twice in the NHL draft usually is not a recipe for success, but for the Ontario Hockey League’s leading scorer that is precisely what happened. Tanner Pearson has had a breakout season with the Barrie Colts and Kevin Prendergast and the rest of the Team Canada brass have taken notice as he has been named to the roster for the Canadian World Junior team camp. The Kitchener, Ontario native is the definition of late-bloomer. His game has always been a skill game at every level, scoring 42 points in 56 games as a rookie in the OHL last year on a terrible Barrie Colts team, getting 3rd line minutes.

Pearson has made a name for himself this season by fooling goalies with what many consider one of the fastest releases in the OHL right now. He gets it off very fast and always accurate, but you don’t score 56 points in 25 games with just an accurate shot. He has great vision in setting up his teammates and doesn’t mind getting dirty down in the corner or dropping the gloves like he did against the Sudbury Wolves last Saturday.

What most impresses me about his game is his ability to get open in the high slot, especially on the rush. He likes being that high-trailer and defenders have a hard time picking him up. This shows the level that he sees the game at. Pearson is also a good penalty killer and can play a solid two-way game when it is asked of him. I am excited to see what he can do in a playoff atmosphere.

The only downfall here in drafting Pearson is that he is 19. You are missing two years of development. But, he is outperforming all of the players that were in the 1992 draft class that are in the OHL to this point, so it would be natural to assume he will continue to do so as he matures.

NHL Player Comparison: Rene Bourque – Calgary Flames

twitter.com/thallyburton

Can We Let Mark Visentin Up Before We Throw Him Under the Bus?

Special Thanks to Bryan Thiel

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When you decide to be a goaltender when you’re five, six, or whenever you become enamored with the position, there are few who say that it was something other than the fun and challenge of being the last line of defense for your team that they fell in love with.

But as young goalies grow older, they quickly find out that while the position is still fun, the spotlight becomes harsher and more and more eyes are watching you. And connected to those eyes, are the mouths that judge.

Niagara Ice Dogs goalie Mark Visentin knows all about those mouths and eyes. He heard from all of them last year when Canada fell apart in the gold medal game of the World Junior Championship against Team Russia, in a final game that defined ‘self-destruction’ for a country.

He heard from all of those doubters again this week when the Selection Camp roster for Canada’s entrant into the World Juniors was announced. Visentin was one of only three returning players named to the camp, and the only one who wasn’t a forward. And while this hockey-mad country usually looks to those returning players and crosses their fingers for a big tournament, no one showered Visentin with praise. No one lauded the fact he is probably back. They just brought up that game.

It’s no secret that things haven’t gone the way many expected in Niagara early on, and that probably has a lot to do with the naysayers and detractors. If Visentin was having a season like London’s Michael Houser or something similar to Malcolm Subban’s year, maybe what we’d be hearing would be different.

There would still be those that would grumble about how Visentin seemingly can’t win the big game and how Canada might have been better to take a chance on a goalie like Subban, but there’d probably be a few more out there willing to defend Visentin using this year’s numbers. They’d say he’s better than he was last year, more experienced from what he went through, and hungry after that third-period heart-break and five-game letdown in the East Final against Mississauga.

But things aren’t better. He’s just 8-7-0-1, barely above .500, and despite four shutouts his goals-against average is tenth best in the league, behind the league-leader Subban, Houser, and American-hopeful John Gibson to name a few. His sub-.900 save percentage has him just 23^rd and he won just four of his first 11 games.

He has wins in four of his last five, two of which are shutouts, but why would anyone tell you that? That doesn’t support the case for those that don’t want him to join the rare ranks of goalies who have played consecutive years for Canada at the tournament that includes Al Jensen (1977-78), Jimmy Waite (87-88), Stephane Fiset (89-90) Trevor Kidd (90-92), Marc Denis (96-97), Roberto Luongo (98-99), Brian Finley (99-00), Maxime Ouellet (2000-01), and Marc-Andre Fleury (03-04).

Of those nine, just two (Denis and Kidd) won gold in their first year with Team Canada, so when you don’t add to Canada’s record 15 golds at the tournament one year, you can imagine how hard it is to convince the masses of a hockey-crazed nation you’re worth a second chance.

But the fact is, Visentin is as worthy of that shot as anyone. We forget so often that hockey is a team game, and that the players ahead of Visentin last year let him down as much as he let them down. He also gained some hard-luck experience from when the hockey world came crashing down.

He’ll have to prove that he’s better than Tyler Bunz, Louis Domingue, and Scott Wedgewood before we get to see what he’s learned, but shouldn’t Mark Visentin get that chance before we throw him under the bus? After all, Hockey Canada saw enough in him last year, collapse or not, to invite him to this year’s camp, so why should we force ourselves to discount him so soon?

ITO Hot-stove: Can Tanner Pearson continue scoring points at his current pace?

This is my first blog post here at InTheORadio and I must say I'm thrilled to be a part of what Brandon Sudeyko has built here so far. I'm really thankful for the opportunity and I'm excited to get started.

I will have a weekly column posted here at IOT and for the time being it will be a hot-stove type blog. Myself and some of the other great writers here will debate and discuss interesting topics throughout the OHL.

Without further ado I'd like to introduce you all to the very first hot-stove blog here at ITO. Joining me in this piece is Thayne Hallyburton, Shawn O'Reilly, Brandon Sudeyko and Anthony Nicholson.

Question: Can Tanner Pearson continue scoring points at his current pace (over two points per game)?

Todd Cordell

Yes.

Though Pearson is scoring at a much higher rate than many expected, myself included, I think he can, and will, keep scoring at the pace he is scoring at right now. Some may say he's in over his head right now, and while I could see where you would get that from, anything is possible when you are playing with a lot of confidence and believe you can achieve anything; and that's where Pearson is at right now. All his life he's heard he's too small or can't do this, while right now he's proving everyone wrong and enjoying every bit of it. You can see it in his game, he's playing with all the confidence in the world. The fact that he has a lot of talented players around him only helps his cause. As you all know he was invited to Team Canada's World JR camp. If he makes that team and plays well throughout the tournament, who knows how much more confidence he'll have when he returns?

Shawn O'Reilly

Yes.

With 56 points in 25 games, he is currently pacing at 2.24 points a night. This will be a tough pace to keep up, as last year’s point leader Tyler Toffoli averaged 1.59 a game, but one thing working in his favour is playing with both Mark Scheifele and Colin Behenna. Tanner has already eclipsed his last year’s total of 42 points, but had a far less talented team to play with. The promotion to Barrie’s top line was the perfect fit for Pearson as the chemistry between these three has been incredible. Combine that with increased playing time and being on the power play and there is no reason he shouldn’t continue scoring at a very high rate. I do not think he will finish with a PPG total quite as high as it is now, but I do like him to finish with an average around 2.

Brandon Sudeyko

Yes.

Well this seems like a no brainer of a question. And despite the fact that Thayne believes I have a hate for Pearson I in fact just dislike the fact he was listed on NHL CSS…. But the question is not about that. the question is whether or not Pearson can continue to tear up the league. Considering who his liney’s are I have to say that is an absolute yes. How does he not continue if he has Behenna and Scheifele with him? Or even Hall and Locke? Or a combination of those 4 with him. Now most will say that he is getting a plethora of PP time and that is why he is racking up the points. Well only 9 of his 56 points have been either with the man advantage or short handed. The kid didn’t just come from no where to become a scoring threat, he was doing this down in Jr. B. This year the Colt’s changed their style and are now more offensive minded than just Defence first. They have a good back end which allows the forwards to press more and create chances. Thus giving all these goals and apples for Pearson. Like I said he plays with finishers on his line and he can do it to. I guess the question really is will he hit 110 points with over half a season to go… oops, you are supposed to ask the questions.

Anthony Nicholson

Yes.

Through 25 games, Tanner has scored 19 goals and 56 points, and has a comfortable lead in the OHL Scoring race. While averaged over an entire season, that would put Tanner on pace to score 52 goals and 100 assists, for 152 points. While those numbers aren't out of the question, Tanner has been playing consistent hockey all season, and will likely suit up for Team Canada at the World Juniors, and can miss about 12 games while with the team. If you adjust his averages to account for those missed games, Tanner is on pace for 43 goals and 82 assists for 125 points, and isn't out of the realm of possibility. Even with the missed time, these totals should be enough for Tanner to take the scoring crown in the OHL.

Thayne Hallyburton

Yes.

It is my opinion that this question entirely hinged on Monday’s announcement regarding the Canadian World Junior team selection camp. If Tanner were to not be selected I could see a letdown in his play due to some disappointment as we often-times see in players, especially around Christmas when they are watching, ‘what could have been’ on the television.

Tanner was named to the selection camp roster on Monday and because of that I feel like he can keep up his pace now and when he gets back whether he makes the team or not. He will go there, give it his all and if he makes it, that is huge; but if he doesn’t I don’t feel like it will hurt his production because he feels like he is ‘just happy to be there’ as the saying goes.

Tanner has the skill, he has the line mates and he has a coach that will turn him loose. It’s the perfect situation for offensive players and I don’t see his production slowing down one bit. A 125 point season would be huge, but the way I see it. It is entirely possible in this case. If he makes the team he will only pay 54 or so games and I think 108 points is realistic. If you look at his stats in Junior and last year on a terrible Colts team getting third and fourth line ice time he still put up good numbers. This is no fluke; he just needed that growth spurt to accompany the physical game he likes to play.

Trevor Miller

Yes.

Tanner Pearson should have no problem maintaining his torrid scoring pace throughout the remainder of the year. You can argue that a major plateau could be his status with respect to the World Junior team. If he makes the cut, Pearson’s confidence will no doubt be sky-high. Consider that he would be an undrafted and unsigned player making that team which is comprised mainly of draftees or draft eligible players. On the other hand, should he not make the cut, Pearson would go back to Barrie to rejoin the likes of Colin Behenna and Zach Hall amidst the absence of some of the league’s elite players for three weeks. Pearson is also aiming to get himself an NHL contract. My feeling is that he keeps up the hard work and that it will pay off at season’s end either with a contract, or at the very least, a pro tryout.

Vote count - Yes (6). No (0).

Follow me on twitter @ToddCordell.