The old geezer
Registered User
- Feb 10, 2007
- 715
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One aspect that always makes the play-offs extra entertaining, and play-off pools frustrating, is that there are always unexpected heroes who emerge for a brief period. All too rarely have “those†types of players been HFNHL Red Wings.
While I still think Aaron ‘freakin’ Asham headlines the list (leads a struggling Pittsburgh offense in goals and points), arguably the next two are HFNHL Red Wing rookies.
First is Marc “what the heck took you so long†Gragnani. Now 24 years of age and having spent almost the entire year down in the AHL (again) he got a late season injury call up and had 3 points in 9 games. Now in the play-offs he’s flying around (admittedly out of position at times) but is tied for 3rd overall in play-off points and leads the Sabres with 7 so far. He’s also been successful in agitating the opposition who started targeting him the last two games.
The second is Ben “clutch†Smith. An NCAA grad who is generally an all-round supporting cast type guy he did come with a reputation as a go to the net type player. In his brief injury call-ups during the regular season he had a single goal in 6 appearances. In the play-offs he now has 3 goals, one was game tying, and of course yesterday’s was an OT winner that drove a dagger through the hearts of Canucks fans. It’s more likely the sim version of Ben Smith will be receiving death threats than trade offers from our resident die hard Canucks fan (Robb).
It’s early in the play-offs with many more surprises and heroes yet to emerge.
While I still think Aaron ‘freakin’ Asham headlines the list (leads a struggling Pittsburgh offense in goals and points), arguably the next two are HFNHL Red Wing rookies.
First is Marc “what the heck took you so long†Gragnani. Now 24 years of age and having spent almost the entire year down in the AHL (again) he got a late season injury call up and had 3 points in 9 games. Now in the play-offs he’s flying around (admittedly out of position at times) but is tied for 3rd overall in play-off points and leads the Sabres with 7 so far. He’s also been successful in agitating the opposition who started targeting him the last two games.
The second is Ben “clutch†Smith. An NCAA grad who is generally an all-round supporting cast type guy he did come with a reputation as a go to the net type player. In his brief injury call-ups during the regular season he had a single goal in 6 appearances. In the play-offs he now has 3 goals, one was game tying, and of course yesterday’s was an OT winner that drove a dagger through the hearts of Canucks fans. It’s more likely the sim version of Ben Smith will be receiving death threats than trade offers from our resident die hard Canucks fan (Robb).
It’s early in the play-offs with many more surprises and heroes yet to emerge.
