Doug Evinou said:
RangerBoy said:Nigel Dawes
Doug Evinou said:
JasonMacIsaac said:I think not, Dixon can be used in any situation, checking line, offensive line, pp, sh. He is very versitile.
La-La-Laprise said:Why are so many people up Locke's ass?
Sure he is a great player, but remember all the bashers against Simon Gamache, they predominatly came from the OHL and WHL fans.
Gamache and Locke are the exact same player, they are both great, but neither will play in international tourny's.
Hossa said:There's a difference between what Locke did and has done in the OHL compared to what Gamache did in the QMJHL. Believe me, I've watched both leagues extensively, having grown up in Ottawa (Hull/Gatineau right there), I know that guys like Gamache are hardly a rare commodity in the Q. But in the OHL, what Locke did, was simply unbelievable. I mean, Locke was the first OHL player to win the CHL Top Scorer award since Marc Savard in 94-95.
I've watched guys like Pavel Rosa, Christian Dube, Martin Menard and Ales Hemsky come through Hull, and guys like Locke, Alyn McCauley, Mark Bell, Dan Tessier, Miguel Delisle and Matt Foy come through Ottawa. Of the players mentioned, only Hemsky has the playmaking skills to match Locke.
JasonMacIsaac said:I thought Houle should at least got an invite. Not enough publicity.
O.T. said:I think politics might have played into the decision of not inviting Houle. Because if Canada invited him, they would have 3 netminders from the QMJHL. Obviously they think that Deslauriers and Daignault are better than Houle, so either they think Ward and Harding are too, or they just did'nt want to invite 3 QMJHL goalies, 1 WHL, 0 OHL.
If I had to not take one of these goalies to camp, in order for Houle to be there I would have probably left Ward off the list. But IMO I would rather have these four goalies in the camp than Houle, so I think Canada made the best selections.
Benoit came into his own towards the end of last year, and this year - he is a lot stronger in the corners and in front of the net than he was previously. I think he learned a lot as an invitee at the Leaf's camp this year.thestonedkoala said:What's up with Benoit? Why wasn't he drafted? He's putting up a ton of points. I can see two things, he's smallish for a defensemen and he was knocked out for 8 games...
Now the London Knights captain will see if the apology carries any weight with the OHL.
The league is reviewing an incident involving Bois in last Sunday's game with Kitchener that left Rangers defenceman Andre Benoit with 16 stitches in his forehead.
Bois wasn't called for a penalty.
Ted Baker, the OHL's director of hockey operations, said he has seen the tape and received a written statement from Bois, who says what happened was an accident.
"We hope to be able to be in a position (today) to make a decision," Baker said. "You try to be as expeditious as possible, but we also have to make sure we have all the information we require."
Bois spoke with Benoit at the John Labatt Centre before Benoit left with Team OHL for its Canada-Russia Challenge game in Sarnia. The OHL team had been based in London since Sunday night.
"I told him that it was unintentional and I was sorry," said Bois, 20.
"He said he appreciated me getting hold of him. Obviously, he wouldn't be happy, but I hope he realizes I didn't try to hurt him."
The video from the Rogers Television telecast shows Bois dropping on top of Benoit, 19, who had been hooked to the ice by the Knights' Logan Hunter. Hunter was penalized
What follows next is Bois' stick driving Benoit's face into the ice. The force of the impact resulted in a pressure cut to Benoit's forehead.
"He'd crossed our blue-line with the puck and I was coming across from the other side to hit him," Bois said of what he wrote to the OHL.
"A couple feet before we connected, he got hooked down by Logan. I was coming pretty quick and I tried to stop by using his body, almost like a blocker."
Bois said assistant coach Jacques Beaulieu told him "the tape doesn't look good. Jacques was saying his helmet had come off and I pushed his head down, but it was totally accidental.
"I tried to stop on him and it turned into an ugly situation. I would have liked to hit him -- that's part of the game, but when he went down, I tried to not to make a big collision.
"I'm worried it may be misinterpreted. But if the league feels it was inappropriate, I'll have to serve the suspension and learn from it."
Benoit said the OHL training staff retrofitted his helmet so he could play the two games against the Russians.
"I'm just happy it didn't take me out of that," he said.
"I guess the league will handle it in the way they see fit. They do a good job. They have a history of taking care of these incidents."
The Knights, the most-penalized team in the league (averaging 30.6 minutes a game), play Plymouth tomorrow night at the JLC at 7:30 p.m.
thestonedkoala said:
That is the funniest thing I ever heard about Harding. He can't carry a team on his back? Talk to anyone that follows Regina and they will tell you Harding is the only thing saving them from humiliating defeats...or it was last year. Jesus he was outshot last year 212 to 47ish something like that and ALMOST PULLED an upset. He can carry a team on his back.
leafssuck said:Anyone that can give my some info on Harding that isn't a wild homer?
Charlie_Girl49 said:Benoit came into his own towards the end of last year, and this year - he is a lot stronger in the corners and in front of the net than he was previously. I think he learned a lot as an invitee at the Leaf's camp this year.
I'm not sure which 8 games you're referring to -- unless I'm missing something, he hasn't been injured.....