wow, from the start of the game it was so intense, then as time grew i was watchin mike brown snag pucks from mid air, dang, that guy is awesome. (hes my fave) then geoff platt. oh my gosh, going to san jose did wonders for him, he's not playing like his age at all, im very impressed with him, even more than last year..all i can say is WOW !!!..tonights game had me so pumped i was shaking inside during the 3rd period. i was yelling and just going crazy with all of our scoring and great team play..i think good things happen also when the rizk brothers play togather. they compliment eachother very well and always seem to know where eachother is. what can i say spirit, you guys rocked. keep this up and you WILL go to the playoffs..

I must say we looked excellent last night!! I've been waiting for you "experts" to give your thoughts on the game. Who did good, who did bad, who suprised you most, all that good stuff. Come on, tell me what I didn't see that you did.

I can't believe we were able to get away with what we were able to get away with last night.

We could only dress 4 defensemen (McNeill, Sturgeon, MacDonell, Gibson). Biz (who is almost certainly the captain) was playing for Pittsburgh Saturday night (Fleury was in net and they lost to the Isles 1-0). Kozak and Pain were suspended, and Misharin won't be here until the middle of this week. Dix, having some experience on defense, double shifted at times on both the 4th line and on defense.

The coaches probably went to those 4 defensemen, and told them, we are only playing 1 game this weekend, so you guys will be dead tired tomorrow, but we need you. We need you each for 30 minutes tonight. Hopefully we won't ever need you like this again. Also.....none of you can be in the box tonight. No penalties. NO FIGHTING, Sturgeon!!! I joked that they should staple his gloves to his jersey for the game. Each defenseman was too valuable to be in the box for even 2 minutes last night.

Someone was smiling down upon us. None of our D got a penalty. Also, Windsor was playing their 3rd game this week and they were dead tired. Also, our offense was improved. Even though we have the same defense as last year, pretty much, we will be much better on defense. Because, we have a much better offense and we will have control of the puck on offense more often than last year.

Those four defensemen last night were the unsung heroes of the game.

Watching last season, I understood a few things about junior hockey.

1. Take advantage of other teams when they are worn out (which we did against Windsor).
2. Prevent being worn out yourselves (better depth makes this happen).

Kitchener's top scorer last year had just about the same number of goals as Geoff Platt. However, they had production coming from everywhere, about 6-8 guys who each could score 15 goals a year. And, they had depth, so they could rotate guys in and out on back-to-back-to-back nights and stay fresh.

Suggs looked awesome. If he plays with Platt all year, he will definitely bag 20 goals.

Brown was in the zone. You could tell seeing shots from NHL guys like Joe Thornton in practice helped him see OHL shots a lot easier. Platt also said compared to the NHL camp, playing an OHL game was like slow motion.

Pittsburgh was this close to keeping Bissonette. They are not very deep and only have 4 defensemen with any measure of NHL experience, and not a great farm system. Paul will probably get signed to a deal this year.

It looks like the Saginaw News roster was a little bit off from the real one. We kept Kovalcik and Thompson, and Misharin is coming after all. That means we will have roughly 17 or 18 forwards and 8 defensemen on the roster to start. I think that we need to cut it down to around 25 at some point, but not yet.

Disco Stu's Groovin' Stars of the game:

Platt (1G, 4A)
Brown (1st shutout in team history)
Suggs (2G, 1A)

I think Constantine picks the 3 stars of the game. We also know how much of a goofus he is capable of being. 1st career shutout for Brown, nice going Mark The Shark.

I thought it was an awesome game last night. The ThunderStix were really fun. From where we were it was so loud you really couldn't hear the players names being called as they were introduced. It was really loud.

Brown was awesome and totally in the zone. At times it seemed like he was showing off a bit, but he was on top of his game. Platt was really good. I thought the defense was great. I hadn't realized there were only 4 defensement dressed. Suggs is going to be a good addition to the team. It was a great game to be at though. The atmosphere was amazing. It was probably one of the best games I've ever seen, even better than some of the Wings games I've been too, though not as good as teh Cold War MSU-UM outdoor game. But the crowd was great.

Also I thought it was really cool that at the end of warmups Crowder was tossing some pucks over the glass to the kids that were standing there similar to what McCarty always does at the end of warmups. That was nice to see.

Here are my pictures. I'm in the process of updating my site with them. I know I don't update enough, but I have been redesigning two of my other sites. Oy! There should be more than 170 pictures there.

I will apologize for the quality. I only had one memory card with me last night and had to use the lower quality setting on my camera to get more pictures on the card I did have. They aren't the best ones I've taken, but there are some good ones in there. Hopefully they will all be linked on my site by tonight.

http://members.aol.com/SashaC14/09202003//

GO SPIRIT!!!

Yzerbear

Don't blame the Shark for the STARS. They get picked by a Spirit "employee" who shall remain nameless unless he makes even more of a boneheaded move in the history of picking 3 stars. A lot of guys could have been considered. When I was driving home on the post-game on the radio, Greg Brady said the fact Brown was omitted was laughable, he picked 1. Platt 2.Brown 3.Asselin. You can't even disagree with that, Asselin was everywhere he needed to be and got his 1st OHL goal.

SPIRIT - let an OBJECTIVE media member pick the 3 stars. Andre Benoit got the gamewinner in overtime for Kitchener and HE didn't get a star that not. Your guy was on crack last night.

It's such a small issue but it probably would have meant a lot to Brown to be named. But I agree it's small potatoes. Windsor showed nothing and I know they were tired, but they have nothing up front but big bodies. Only missing Rediker and Janssen. I said it 3 weeks ago, if we finish behind the Soo and Windsor (let alone Erie, they're a mystery right now), fingers have to be pointed somewhere. We have more talent, and that's the bottom line.

Disco, sorry I didn't mean to infer that I was you, I just signed in the wrong box! Why did you think Constantine picked the stars? Just curious. Since he's the only writer at every game, maybe he should but I know from what I hear, that he never ever has picked the stars. A certain "front office" member does. That prior statement won't lead to any speculation, will it. But it's a little embarrassing that that's how they do it, so CHANGE it!!!

Suggs/Asselin/MacNeill - man they all played well, they ALL could have notched a star playing in their first game. But I agree Platt and Brown were locks.

Glad to see the Whalers start 0-2. Keep it up, Whale.

**Since he's the only writer at every game**

That might be the reason I thought he did. Plus, I thought that I heard it from somewhere.

There has been talk forever about the three stars, who picks them, and are they objective. As I recall, a very, very long post on the NOOF some time ago.

I guess they really shouldn't be taken so seriously. The guys in the room know who the stars are, and so do most fans in the stands.

Although, if I were with the OHL, I'd make it a requirement to have a local newspaper reporter or radio guy, independent of the team's payroll, be designated the "3 stars picker dude." But I digress.

I finished updating the photo part of my site, so all the pictures from last nights game are there. A total of 177 of them. There are quite a few of the fight. I happened to have my camera out at the right time.

http://members.aol.com/LetsGoSpirit08/Photos.html



Yzerbear

did anyone notice i think it was in 2nd period, mikey was at the zamboni end, he stopped a puck and looked very irritated, looked at the ref as if to say, GOALIE INTERFERENCE. nothing called, but i have tickets in section 30, lower level and it was body language. I personally didnt see any showing off but him grabbing pucks out of mid air, WOWWW !! if nhl training camp can make our real good players look like allstars, then imagine what it could do for the rest of the guys. I know they have to be invited but just to think. how impressive. It's a whole day later and me and my cousin are still talkin bout it and i agree with yzerbear, I do think that has got to be one of the most exciting games i've ever been to...