MLD11 Sir Allan Montagu Preliminary Round: Weyburn RW (4) vs Kitchener Schmidts (5)

[seventieslord]

WEYBURN RED WINGS
1984 and 2005 RBC Royal Bank Cup Champions
Head coach: Dwight McMillan
Assistant coach: Randy Carlyle
Captain: Jason Smith
Alternate captain: Ron Sutter
Alternate captain: Keith Crowder
Alternate captain: Joe Jerwa

FORWARDS:
Steve Payne-Bronco Horvath-Dave Christian
Geoff Courtnall-Ryan Getzlaf-Andy Shibicky
Greg Gus Adams-Syl Apps-Keith Crowder
Marty Gelinas-Ron Sutter-"Cowboy" Bill Flett
Herb Carnegie

DEFENCEMEN:
Bob Dailey-Doug Bodger
Joe Jerwa-Jason Smith
Jeff Brown-Sylvain Cote
Jay Bouwmeester

GOALTENDERS:
Nikolai Khabibulin
Rollie Melanson

Power play units:
Payne-Horvath-Christian-Brown-Jerwa
Courtnall-Getzlaf-Shibicky-Dailey-Bodger

Penalty killing units:
Adams-Apps-Jerwa-Smith
Gelinas-Sutter-Dailey-Bodger
Crowder-Getzlaf-Jerwa-Cote


Kitchener Schmidts

GM's: Chigurh & TheOneAndOnly
Coach: Peter Laviolette
Captain: Pat Flatley
Alternate Captains: Rick Green, Chris Phillips

Anton Stastny - Harry Smith - Marian Stastny
Pavol Demitra - Dave Gagner - Corb Denneny
Andre Pronovost - Brian Rolston - Pat Flatley (C)
Bob Probert - Rob Niedermayer - Don Metz
Mike Walton - Craig Conroy

Dan Boyle - Rick Green (A)
Dave Manson - Andrei Markov
Chris Phillips (A) - Sheldon Souray
Jim Morrison

Ron Hextall
Henrik Lundqvist

PP1: Anton Stastny - Harry Smith - Marian Stastny - Dan Boyle - Andrei Markov
PP2: Pavol Demitra - Dave Gagner - Corb Denneny - Sheldon Souray - Dave Manson

PK1: Brian Rolston - Andre Pronovost - Rick Green - Dave Manson
PK2: Rob Niedermayer - Pat Flatley - Andrei Markov - Chris Phillips​

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[VanIslander]

This may be the series of the first round.

It's steadiness versus passion if one looks at coaching and captaincy. Expect lunchbucket efficiency from responsible Weyburn and emotional highs and lows from skating Kitchener.

Look for an ankle injury from the Red Wings' Dailey or Shibicky, it seriously hampering the career of the former though it didn't stop the latter from playing through the pain and winning the cup.

The Schmidts will need Manson and Probert to goon it up just to keep pace with the grit and physical play of the Red Wings. Yet Hextall will be tested by an opposition group of wingers willing to go to the net and push his buttons.

In addition to multiple championship production from Denneny, Kitchener might want to dress Walton, as he was a significant secondary scorer in Stanley Cups for two franchises.

A hot young Red Wing 'Bulin Wall or the cup-experienced veteran, whichever Nikolai is between the pipes he'll have a solid core of blueliners keeping rebounds away and making it hard for Kitchener's fancy pants Stastnys to skate deep.

Two of the best powerplay bluelines in MLD11 and in terms of pp unit forwards, the Schmidts having an edge in puck control on the perimeter and the Wings in presence around the crease.

I'd pay to see this series.

 

[seventieslord]

- Call me crazy, but I think Syl Apps Jr. is every bit as offensively accomplished as Weyburn's top-2 centers. Horvath was, in the NHL, a 2-year wonder, though he had goalscoring skills that Apps didn't. Getzlaf is building a resume at the moment but he's not there yet.

- Both teams' fourth lines are loaded with grit, toughness, and determination. Probert makes the Kitchener line a bit more intimidating.

- Khabibulin and Hextall? take your pick. As I said, I don't know who to pick among these two, McLean, Kiprusoff, Kolzig, Ranford, and Giguere.

- Weyburn's forward corps is littered with 1980s forwards whose career and year-by-year totals make them look a lot better and more significant than they actually are in the grand scheme of things, such as Christian, Courtnall, Adams, Crowder, and even Steve Payne (who did crack the top-20 in goals once and has outstanding size and playoff numbers)

- A couple of excellent captains. both teams resisted the urge to give the C to one of their best players and went with the best leaders. I'm a big fan of both Smith and Flatley.

- Just five players on both teams were born before 1915: Jerwa, Shibicky, Smith, Denneny, and Metz. Only Smith and Denneny are 100 years old.

- Tons of grit and toughness sprinkled throughout Weyburn's roster compared to Kitchener. But the three toughest regulars in this series? Manson, Probert and Hextall.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Apologies for not writing something sooner. Don't know if I missed the deadline or not. Just a few responses:

*I think Horvath's the clear-cut best offensive player in this series. As I stated when I picked him, if he plays post-expansion, when his ilk were more accepted (one dimensional offensive players) I think he's a second line centre in the ATD. But playing O6, when there was a slew of really good centres who could take his job because they'd backcheck and play tough in addition to providing some offence, Horvath was in tough to find and keep his job. Best goal-scoring centre in the MLD by far.

*Hextall vs. Khabibulin: Both goalies have struggled with consistency during their respective careers. Khabibulin also sulked for nearly two years over a contract dispute. The one thing about Khabibulin is his playoff record is better. Yes, Hextall has a Conn Smythe. But Hextall also cost himself jobs in Quebec and Long Island with absolutely dreadful post-season performances. (I'll give him a pass for 1997, which was near the end of his career).

Khabibulin has a ring. He didn't win the Conn Smythe in 2004, but he would have been a deserving pick. He was great for Chicago in 2009. He was great for Tampa in 2003. He was great for Phoenix in losing efforts a couple times. He had one suspect playoff in 1998. That's it.

I think our team offence is better. We have two strong scoring lines. We have a two-way third line that can log big minutes against Smith or Demitra's line, while providing very consistent production. I think the Apps line would be a plus line against those lines. We have strong offensive potential from our back end, with Dailey, Jerwa, Bodger and Brown. I think Brown's one of the top three offensive defencemen in the draft. And we have a tandem that we can play against the opposition's best on a regular basis. (I'd be concerned if I had to play against Green and Phillips as a pairing. I'm not so concerned with Boyle-Green or Phillips-Souray. Sheldon Souray's one of the worst defencemen in the league in his own zone. A human highlight reel in that he's been victimized for a lot of great plays for the opposition).

And I think Crowder vs. Stastny or Crowder vs. Demitra would be a very favourable match-up.

 

[seventieslord]

Sheldon Souray's one of the worst defencemen in the league in his own zone. A human highlight reel in that he's been victimized for a lot of great plays for the opposition

This is very true.

 

[seventieslord]

Weyburn Red Wings defeat Kitchener Schmidts in 7 games.
3 stars:
1. Corb Denneny
2. Ron Hextall
3. Joe Jerwa

 

[Dwight]

Damn, I have 2 of the 3 stars, but still lose.

At least it went to 7 games. Good series, Weyburn