A Washington Stealth Fan Blog
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Now, finally after sitting through the two hour bore fest, the arena seating reopened and we got to go sit down and watch warm-ups. These were nothing to get excited about. The players had been in their gear most of the afternoon, and just did shooting and passing drills. Why worry about defense 😉
The game was very fun to watch. Since I didn’t have a vested interest in one of the teams (they’re both full of current and former Stealth) it wasn’t tense or exciting, but it was tons of fun. We got to see just about everything, over the shoulder goals, over the shoulder 2/3 field clears by the goalie (go go B. Miller), forwards constantly on D because they wanted to be on the field for offense. It was a classic.
I picked the game wrong, predicting the West would be the East, but I also made my prediction based on more Edmonton Rush being on the roster and less of the hometown Lumberjax filling in the roster holes. Bruce Alexander and Peter Morgan as All Stars ahead of other defenders from the West? Not good choices. I’m partial to some Stealth defenders who all got left off the roster, but Curtis Hodgson is playing a much better game than either of those two. Jim Moss only played game for Colorado, so it’d be hard to include him because of that, but he’d have been a way better contributor to the West team than either of those two. Putting Moss and Hodgson on the West roster instead of Alexander and Morgan would have made a noticeable difference.
Geoff Snider was my wildcard in the face-off circle, but he didn’t dominate that area, just win that area as much as I’d expect. If he’d dominated the East would have scored maybe 25. That’s a scary thought all future All Star games, Snider is a rookie and going to dominate the face-offs for a decade or more. Congratulations East.
I feel the roster was still the difference in the game. The West roster was also maligned by some historical All Stars who are great players on their own teams and have been solid players for a number of years, but in the All Star the got 1 or fewer points. I’m looking at you Tracey Kulesky. Put history aside and get the young goal scorers (who can run all night because they’re young) and reward them for having a great start of the season and put them in the game for their efforts this year. Arizona is the second place team in the West and only had one offensive player make the All Star team? Who’s helping Dawson get all his points? Someone who was left off the All Star roster, that’s who.
Steenhuis got the majority of the goals for the East, but Tavares truly led the East. He wasn’t just a Captain in name for the East, he really was their leader. His quote leading up to the game that last year the East had done too much showing off and not concentrating on the win set the tone for the East. They still had some flash in their game, but they also dominated with crisper play on offense. They didn’t have a the same dropped passes that plagued the West’s offensive. Dawson and Zywicki had three attempts where the pass from one to the other wasn’t completed. These types of errors cost the West a couple of shot attempts.
The goalies had a less that desirable situation to be in, getting shelled all evening. So while some of their effort sucked, they can’t be entirely at fault because they didn’t have a defense in front of them that they’re used to or was used to playing together. All those issues aside, Roik was the best goalie at the game. And he’s a tall sucker too, 6′ 5″ tall. I never realized it watching him on TV, but meeting him in person I had to look up to greet him. At 6′ 2″ that is an unfamiliar action. The big guy cramming himself down in the change amazes me even more now. Brendan Miller also played a good half for the East. Together they outplayed the West goalie by a great deal.
That’s about it for the recap. The game was broadcast and you can see the highlights there. I had a blast and I hope to go to many more All Stars. It’s worth a trip to see all those players playing together at once. The action is fast and fun. Hopefully I’ll be writing next year from Edmonton.