Now I certainly don't qualify as an expert on the makeup of this years Raiders lineup, hell I've only attended a handful of home games this regular season. I must say however that I had on several occasions mentioned to my wife how I felt that Fred Gervasi wasn't being utilized to his capacity in the games that I had watched!

Well, if Saturday nights contest against the Oakville Blades was any example of what I had believed Fred was capable of all along, then he'll no doubt be called upon throughout these playoffs! What a performance he put on Saturday evening!!! And it wasn't because he netted at hat trick either!

As most of us are aware there's a crap load of point whoring in this league, you know, skating up to the referee after a goal and casually reminding him that we were the second assist on a goal and such.

Well rest assured that Fred Gervasi certainly ISN'T one of those types of players! What he does bring to his team is deserving of the 'A' that's on his jersey! I just can't understand why a player with such determination and grit has been relegated to the third line for all of the games I've watched.

If anyone can help me out with this one I'd greatly appreciate it. Fred played an amazing game Saturday away from the puck as he did with it! He certainly warranted the ice time that he was rewarded with, but left me wondering why he wasn't afforded these opportunities throughout the regular season?

Anyway, keep it going Fred you're a great example to your team mates out there! Also kudos to Evan Zych who is playing hurt (no revelation just visibly evident) but as a true leader is playing through it.

I'm not giving any team confidential information away, as I don't know a damn thing about the Raiders inner workings (nor am I bothered). I suppose in todays' hush hush world of secrecy (oh brother) it would be referred to as a "lower body" injury correct?

As if in a reactionary sport such as hockey you can really exploit such a situation. This isn't football for crying out loud where one on one coverage plays a significant factor in the game. No one can predict the transitions, the puck bounces or errors which occur.

For anyone who knows anything about this great game they can easily observe whether a player is favoring an ankle, knee or shoulder, it's not that easy to hide an injury at this level of the game!

No matter, Evan has displayed just how much of a leader and foundation he is to this years Raiders!

Here's Saturday evenings scoring summary:

 

FINAL

Mold-Master SportsPlex    Sat, Mar 07, 2009 at 7:30 pm EST

Oakville 3

Georgetown 6

GAME DETAILS SCORING SHOTS   1 2 3 TOTAL Oakville 1 1 1 3 Georgetown 2 3 1 6   1 2 3 TOTAL Oakville 14 13 11 38 Georgetown 13 12 6 31

POWERPLAYS Oakville 2 for 7 : Georgetown 4 for 7

SCORING SUMMARY Period 1 Georgetown - Evan Zych (powerplay) (Brandon Pirri, Andrew Marcoux) 1:09 Oakville - Ryan Murphy (powerplay) (unassisted) 13:20 Georgetown - Jeremy Wick (powerplay) (unassisted) 14:21 Period 2 Georgetown - Fred Gervasi (unassisted) 1:57 Georgetown - Brandon Pirri (powerplay) (Evan Zych, Jordan So) 9:54 Oakville - Taylor Farris (powerplay) (Ryan Murphy) 15:44 Georgetown - Fred Gervasi (powerplay) (Jordan Dewey, Jeremy Wick) 18:21 Period 3 Oakville - Braden Birch (Jeremy Welsh, Ryan Murphy) 2:22 Georgetown - Fred Gervasi (shorthanded) (unassisted) 19:55

PENALTIES Period 1 Oakville - Lindsay Sparks - (Hooking) (HKG), 2 min, 0:56 Oakville - Chris Rocca - (Checking from Behind) (GM50), 2 min, 2:04 Oakville - Chris Rocca - (Checking from Behind Game Misconduct) (GM50/51), 0 min, 2:04 Georgetown - Marcus Pryde - (Hooking) (HKG), 2 min, 8:59 Georgetown - Chris Borges - (Checking from Behind) (GM50), 2 min, 13:12 Georgetown - Chris Borges - (Checking from Behind Game Misconduct) (GM50/51), 0 min, 13:12 Oakville - Jordan Smith - (Hooking) (HKG), 2 min, 14:16 Period 2 Georgetown - Kyle Essery - (Tripping) (TR), 2 min, 4:42 Georgetown - Fred Gervasi - (Slashing) (SL), 2 min, 5:05 Oakville - Tyler Leimbrock - (Hooking) (HKG), 2 min, 9:31 Georgetown - Jeremy Wick - (Interference) (INT), 2 min, 14:02 Oakville - Adam Simms - (Hooking) (HKG), 2 min, 16:40 Georgetown - Marcus Pryde - (Hooking) (HKG), 2 min, 19:21 Period 3 Oakville - Chris Muise - (Cross Checking) (CC), 2 min, 9:03 Georgetown - Jordan So - (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) (USC), 2 min, 17:16 Oakville - Jordan Smith - (Cross Checking) (CC), 2 min, 17:16 Oakville - Ryan Murphy - (Roughing) (RO), 2 min, 17:16 Georgetown - Andrew Marcoux - (Slashing) (SL), 2 min, 17:58

Oakville  Georgetown # NAME G A PTS S PIM 4 Smith, Jordan 0 0 0 0 4 5 Ryan, Sean 0 0 0 0 0 7 Moodie, Luke 0 0 0 0 0 8 Hunt, Dan 0 0 0 0 0 12 Murphy, Ryan 1 2 3 0 2 15 Alcock, Dustin 0 0 0 0 0 16 Leimbrock, Tyler 0 0 0 0 2 17 Rocca, Chris 0 0 0 0 2 18 Simms, Adam 0 0 0 0 2 19 Lain, Kellan 0 0 0 0 0 20 Ingoldsby, Michael 0 0 0 0 0 27 Welsh, Jeremy 0 1 1 0 0 30 Hache, Matt 0 0 0 0 0 35 Volpe (APJ), Adrian 0 0 0 0 0 44 Birch, Braden 1 0 1 0 0 57 Farris, Taylor 1 0 1 0 0 74 Muise, Chris 0 0 0 0 2 77 Teakle, Sean 0 0 0 0 0 89 Badham, Kyle 0 0 0 0 0 91 Sparks, Lindsay 0 0 0 0 2 # NAME G A PTS S PIM 4 Borges, Chris 0 0 0 0 2 7 Avgerinos, Nick 0 0 0 0 0 8 Branning, Trevor 0 0 0 0 0 9 So, Jordan 0 1 1 0 2 10 Pearce, Aaron 0 0 0 0 0 11 Mathers, David 0 0 0 0 0 12 Essery, Kyle 0 0 0 0 2 14 Perfetto, Steve 0 0 0 0 0 17 Gervasi, Fred 3 0 3 0 2 18 Wick, Jeremy 1 1 2 0 2 20 Pirri, Brandon 1 1 2 0 0 25 Zych, Evan 1 1 2 0 0 30 Campbell, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 37 Capobianco, Tony 0 0 0 0 0 40 Marcoux, Andrew 0 1 1 0 2 44 Dewey, Jordan 0 1 1 0 0 55 McGowan, Mark 0 0 0 0 0 61 Pryde, Marcus 0 0 0 0 4 81 Giroux APM, Cory 0 0 0 0 0 88 Borgatti APM, Brad 0 0 0 0 0  GOALIES NAME DEC MIN SHOTS SAVES 30 Matt Hache LOSS 60:00 31 25 35 Adrian Volpe (APJ) (b)         NAME DEC MIN SHOTS SAVES 37 Tony Capobianco WIN 60:00 38 35 30 Kevin Campbell (b)

PENALTY TOTALS Oakville 16 minutes on 9 infraction(s) Georgetown 16 minutes on 9 infraction(s)

Head Coach: Coccimiglio , Carlo Assistant Coach: Brock, Jamie Assistant Coach: Moore, Matt Trainer: Baird , Bob Trainer: Fryer, Ben Coach: Cordua, Brandon Head Coach: Richmond , James Assistant Coach: DeGrazia , Lucky Assistant Coach: Schomogyi, Geoff Trainer: Groombridge , Andrew Trainer: Landry , Jen Coach: Teeple , Craig

OTHER FACTS GAME LENGTH: 2:27 ATTENDANCE: 465 REFEREE: Scott Ferguson REFEREE 2: Matt Wilson LINES 1: Nick Mintopolous LINES 2: John Eminger SCOREKEEPER: 1ST STAR: Capobianco, Tony (GEO) 2ND STAR: Gervasi, Fred (GEO) 3RD STAR: Murphy, Ryan (OAK)

Gervasi is a great example of the depth of the Georgetown team. It's one thing for the opposition to have to worry about a strong first line but when you have players like Gervasi who can hurt you too, it must give a coach fits. And this doesn't even take the second line into account.

Also a player can score more when he's not on the bench.(duh) With 10 points so far Fred has certainly earned the right to lots of icetime.

I've always been a fan of smaller players. They are often speedy, tenacious and aggresive in the corners. The ability to get and keep the puck is an advantage on a forechecking team and Gervasi is showing he can do this.

So then Bob, as regularly attending die-hard Raider fan can you possibly explain as to why you believe Fred hasn't been rewarded with a role of more significance within the team? He's obviously a great role model to his peers and coaches alike as he's been designated as one of the captains, so it ceratinly can't be for attitude, performance or personality conflicts!

To me Fred represents everything that is right with hockey and commits to his role (no matter how minimal) without a single word of negativety!  

No, I can't.

I admired his play as a rookie and was expecting great things this year. I've had to wait 'til now for them. Thankfully, I got to see them eventually. I think the A on his sweater shows that the staff was expecting those things too.

He reminds me a bit of Finegan of '04 -'07. He was chosen C in his final year and he rightly deserved it.

So might Freddy.

Yes Bob, I can agree with you 100% that Fred is very comparable to Wade Finegan. The character trait that they both have (which I can relate to completely, as I was that way as a player) is that if they get rocked early in a game then it seems to fuel their passions by getting their heads into the game early!

  

i have watched a few games in this series and they have been great,gervasi is a good player he got a big heart for a little guy but i dont know if you compare him to wade that well he was a great player in this to take nothing away from gervasi

Many of you may be tired of my praise of the smaller player so I'll finish with this.

Many times when I have watched the 5'7"- 5'8" dynamos tear around like mad I have been reminded of a poem I read years ago by the Canadian poet Wilson MacDonald. This only the first half of the poem.It is best read aloud or at least muttered to oneself. Aurele Joliat did play for the Montreal Canadiens in the 20s and 30s


Monsieur Joliat by Wilson MacDonald

Boston she ave good ockey team;
Dose Maple Leafs ees nice.
But Les Canadiens ees bes
Dat hever skate de hice.

Morenz e go lak one beeg storm;
Syl Manthas strong and fat.
Dere all ver good, but none ees quite
So good as Joliat.

I know heem well; e ees ma frien;
I doan know heem himsel;
But I know man dat know a man
Who know heem very well.

Enfant! Dat Joliat ees full
Of hevery kind of treek.
He talk heem ockey all de day
And sleep heem wit hees stick.

Hes small but e ees bothersome
Lak ceender in de heye.
Maroons all yell: Go get som Flit
And keel dat leetle fly.

Garcon es slippery; oui, oui-
Lak leetle piece of soap.
I tink nex time I watch dat boy
I use a telescope.

Hes good on poke-heem-check, he is;
Hes better on attack.
He run against beeg Conacher
And trow heem on hees back.

He weegle jus lak fish-worm do
Wen eet ees on a hook;
An wen he pass de beeg defence
Dey have one seely look.

He weigh one hundred feefty pound.
Eef he were seex feet tall
Hed score one hundred goal so queek
Dered be no game at all.

Wen I am tired of travail-trop
I put on coat of coon
And go to see Canadiens
Mak meence-meat of Maroon.

For the full version of this poem go to:

http://dennis-kane.com/the-complete-and-wonderful-aurele-joliat-poem/

I find smaller hockey players have lots of tenacity and most of the time are speedy, love watching smaller players

Just moving this up.