WHAT’S IN STORR

Flyer's, King's are modeled a lot a like

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:05:51 -0500

Boucher looked strong in the Flyer's net. Making 37 saves and keeping the game in hand with time running out in the third. It is a luxury to have a strong back up like Boucher on a team. He almost if not has more experience then the number one goalie in Emery.

There are a lot more back ups like Boucher available then number ones like Emery. I was at the practice the day before the game and because my last NHL team was the Flyer's it was a good chance to see player's like Richard's and Carter that were in there first year pro when I played for the Flyer's organization grow into the leader's of their team and the NHL. They're coaching staff was the same staff that I played for on the in Phantoms my last year in North America with Johnny Steven's at the helm and Chief Craig Berube as the assistant. Their goalie coach Jeff Reese was my goalie coach the year before I went to Philly. It was nice to catch up with old friend's and to be honest it was the first time I missed the game since I retired 4 months ago. Lappy came on the bench to say hi last and after playing with him for 8 years in LA it was nice to see an old friend even if his nose is father off his face then before.

At the time when I was playing for the Flyer's I didn't realize what first class organization it was right from the G.M. down to the minor league coaching staff. It's funny how the King's are now remodeled after the Flyer's in a way with Dean Lombardi coming from the Flyer's staff before being hired to the King's as well as their assistant G.M. being none other than Ronny Hextall of the Flyer's where he was the head of scouting.

It is a great hockey organization from top to bottom except they have never gone after a great goalie since Ron was a rookie. With all the talent on their teams in the last 10 years they would have won more in the post season with a solid number one goalie like Khabibulin.

Hopefully the King's continue to follow the Flyer's in developing their player's and coaching staff but go in a different direction in net.

Slowing Down Quick looks tired

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:52:51 -0500

I have watched the last couple starts of Quick and it looks like he needs a break. This is one of the reason's you need a second goalie that the team believes in that can give a starter time off here and there to charge the battery back up. Quick is getting beat of shots and reacting after they have already gone in.

This is a sign that his heart is their but the brain is not functioning at the speed it needs to be at. Now don't get me wrong the teams defensive play the last couple games has not been good but they have a good young team and can rebound.

When you play at the NHL level especially goalie's it takes a lot out of you mentally after each game. I remember that I would lose up to 10 pounds after each game in the NHL. I would have to take salt pills and drink a lot of fluid after each game. Somehow the next morning my weight would almost be back up the pounds it lost but it takes a lot out of you mentally as well.

It is a mental strain to stay focused for so long as well as the pressure that is put on you from the team and yourself. That's why when you see a young goalie like Quick or Price you see that if you keep playing them when they need a rest all you are doing is setting them back.

Once they are older and more experienced then you can ride them through a slump like a Brodeur but until they develop into a Brodeur you have to have a good support system that can help them get back up to that level.

My advice would be to start Ersberg for the next week and let Quick get back to the
fundamentals that he needs to be sharp as well as the rest that comes with not
playing in a week.

Kings use momentum to defeat Penguins at Home

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 05:45:55 -0500

I watched the third period of the Kings game and the game was 2-1 for the Penguins, Kopitar took a rebound off of the boards behind the net and rapped it into the net before Fleury could recover. It was Kopitar's second goal of the game also giving him the scoring lead in the NHL again. With in minutes the Kings scored 2 more goals to take a 4-2 lead.

The game ended up 5-2 for the Kings and you could tell that towards the end of the game that the Kings had more energy beating down the leagues best team and running away with the game. When I played for the Kings we had a number of games where the team had played the night before in Anaheim and Andy Murray's speech was always the same saying that we had to make the team play tired by finishing all our checks, it might not happen in the first or second period but if we kept it up we could run the other team down and get more scoring chances in the third. This was the case of the game tonight as the Kings took over the game thanks to Kopitar and secondary scoring from Stoll and Brown.

I feel that Kopitar is coming into his own now and can give Crosby and Ovechkin a run for their money because this kid cannot only score but is a good passer and plays with no fear taking pucks to the net as well as having a great shot from the outside. The Kings continue to impress during there first couple of months not slowing down and now beating the top team in the league ending their road winning streak.

Quick played solid making big saves moving laterally as well as making good saves look easy. He was catching the puck a lot which is a sign of a goalie being on. When normal saves that should have no rebounds are bouncing off of you and not staying in your glove it is a sign that the goalie will have to fight the puck all night to stay sharp. With Quick playing solid and there big guns firing it looks like the Kings will not slow down.

Kings Win in Phoenix

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 18:52:16 -0500

The LA King's won last night in Phoenix with traffic to the front of the net. LaBarbera let in 2 weak goals that help deflate his teams lead and give the King's the victory. When you have a goalie play so deep in the net especially on bad angles throwing everything to the net will pay off.

Quick looked good and when he was set for the shots he made the saves. The goals that beat him were good goals and for some reason it is your ability to limit bad goals during a game that helps your team stay in the game. A team will forgive the good ones and seem to quit when their goalie is giving up a bad one.

4 of a Kind for October for the King's

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:21:53 -0400

The King's ended the first month of the season this year with a record of 8-4-2. Not bad for a team that was supposed to be at the bottom of the pack for the NHL. It is still earlier and thing's could change like what happened to the Coyotes last year but I think that they have established a solid base with there offense and also have shown against 2 teams that normally score a lot of goals the Sharks and Vancouver that they can compete in low scoring games as well.

Quick has had a solid month with all 8 wins and playing all the games but 1 in the month. This will be a great year for him to develop as he is in front of a team that should make a run for a playoff spot.

I was at the game where they played the Blue Jackets. It wasn't even a game and the King's dominated from the start. Nash and Mason were the only things that were of worthy of mention in that game for the Blue Jackets while the King's looked solid as a team with Frolov and their second line taking some pressure off of the Kopitar line.

Even though the King's destroyed the Blue Jacket's I will tell you it was a pleasure to watch Mason in person. He is huge and plays so calm. He makes the big saves look easy and his movement looks effortless. Even though he let in 6 goals you can tell he is one of the better goalies in the league.

We will see if the King's can continue to have strong winning records in the months to come but with the talent that they have on their team this year it should be attainable.