GDT April 14, Barons vs Hamilton, 5 PM

[dlbalr]

For the third straight day, Hamilton (28-38-1-5) will try to play spoiler as they aim to dull the playoff hopes of Oklahoma City (36-24-2-9) who presently sit 7th in the West.

Projected Oklahoma City Lines:

(based on last games' +/-)

Hartikainen - Lander - Rajala

Cornet - Arcobello - Cheechoo

Stretch - Vandevelde - Pitlick

Hordichuk - House - Martindale

Davidson - Stafford

Fedun - Marincin

Teubert - Jones

Danis

Projected Hamilton Lines:

Kristo - Tenute - Holland

Hudon - Bournival - Belzile

Archambault - Nokelainen - Leblanc

Hagel - Vail - Stortini

Tinordi - Ellis

St. Denis - Stejskal

Ross - Pateryn

Gervais-Chouinard

Puck drop is at 5:00 PM, Funny820 as always will have the play-by-play; click the banner below to listen.

[Lammy]

Yann Danis

[Lammy]

2-0 Barons in the 2nd period

Shots are 23-7 for OKH

[dlbalr]

3-0 now, Cheechoo scores a PPG.

[Lammy]

Shots on goal are now 30-9 for OKH

[dlbalr]

Shots on goal are now 30-9 for OKH

On the bright side, they're getting a good look at Gervais-Chouinard.

[dlbalr]

Zack Stortini is playing the 2nd PP wing. Unbelievable.

[dlbalr]

End of 2, it's still 3-0. The Bulldogs are now only getting doubled up in shots instead of tripled.

[dlbalr]

Now 4-0 and Bournival's hurt.

[dlbalr]

4-0 is the final. Hamilton has been shutout 11 times this season now.

http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1010957

[miklin]

thought I'd try and digest supper first (and try and keep it down before posting). I can see wanting to want to give the rookie goalie a start but it could have been done last night in Cleveland, not before the home crowd. The team's play of late has been a disincentive for folks thinking of buying season's tickets for next season.. The much more desparate OKC team came in with a lot of vets.

Even when Hagel tried to get a fight going, the OKC player wouldn't drop the gloves and Hagel got an unsportsmanlike instead. It truly looked like a Jr A lineup. Tinordi and Stejskal looked particularly weak on defense and I wonder if Joe will be in the AHL next season?. And to add iinsult to injury or maybe the other way around, besides Bournival, Holland got injured also. Both referees were pretty easy on the whistle-both must have had hot dates and wanted to get out of there in a hurry.

-as far as the Stars go, all three deserved to be from OKC but I wonder what kept Yann Danis awake at times. He really didn't have anything hard to handle but I guess the shutout warrants the third star. As far as that hardest working Dog b.s., it was sure slim pickings-Belzile must have got it for fastest skater-one shot-one penalty. This meaningless award, the sponsored PK's and PP's get real old after a while.

-and with their usual lack of notification, they announced during the game there would be a post game autograph session

-there were 58 actual canines in the building. Most of the dog poop was actually on the ice. I can't wait to see what pun master Ken Peters has written on the Hamilton Spec website.

-Robert Mayer was sitting near us keeping goalie stats-keeping him busy until the end

[dlbalr]

thought I'd try and digest supper first (and try and keep it down before posting). I can see wanting to want to give the rookie goalie a start but it could have been done last night in Cleveland, not before the home crowd.

That means Mayer would have started today. I'm sure you're sick of him by now, at least he's someone new to watch. How did he do, by the way? He certainly didn't have much help. I figure he'll get one of the three remaining starts as well.

Even when Hagel tried to get a fight going, the OKC player wouldn't drop the gloves and Hagel got an unsportsmanlike instead. It truly looked like a Jr A lineup. Tinordi and Stejskal looked particularly weak on defense and I wonder if Joe will be in the AHL next season?. And to add iinsult to injury or maybe the other way around, besides Bournival, Holland got injured also.

I can't see the Habs qualifying Stejskal. He has failed to really progress since he signed and with Dietz (plus potentially Thrower) coming in next year, there may not be room for him anyway.

-as far as the Stars go, all three deserved to be from OKC but I wonder what kept Yann Danis awake at times. He really didn't have anything hard to handle but I guess the shutout warrants the third star. As far as that hardest working Dog b.s., it was sure slim pickings-Belzile must have got it for fastest skater-one shot-one penalty. This meaningless award, the sponsored PK's and PP's get real old after a while.

The PBP guys were a bit puzzled with Belzile's selection as well.

Mike, you've had a chance to see the newcomers a few times now. What's your first opinion on how Hudon, Kristo, Archambault, and Vail have fared in their early AHL days?

[miklin]

I think Chouinard should have received the hardest working Dog award. He sure didn't get any support from the defense. Even Desantis looked like he was going through the motions. I thought Chouinard look pretty decent. He made some timely stops and honestly, three of the four goals came from wierd deflections. Once he got beaten cheating badly to the wrong side.

As far as the kids playing up front, I honestly think I've noticed Hudon the most as far as getting his nose dirty. Just the way the team has been playing lately, with so much of the play in our own end has really made none of the others stand out other than I'm not terribly impressed with their size. Kristo looks a lot smaller than I imagined and he carries a lot of baggage with the famous frostbite incident,

As I inferred earlier, I'm just worried that fans, after two bad seasons, will take a wait and see approach towards advance ticket sales for next season. Like every minor league organization, they seem to go through a lot of personel, and they seemed doomed to repeat the mistakes made by the previous group.

I heard PBP's first two OKC goal calls between the first two periods and in the truck on the way home post game and it sounds like Derek was late making both goal calls again. Too much gibberish while play is on going

Brian: Derek was going on re Budaj being signed again and Tokarski being back here again next year. I don't agree. What's your thought. Wouldn't he have to pass wavers to get to Hamilton next year????

ps-I was amazed on one of your polls to see the number of fans who thought Danny Kristo would make a Habs lineup this season

[dlbalr]

Brian: Derek was going on re Budaj being signed again and Tokarski being back here again next year. I don't agree. What's your thought. Wouldn't he have to pass wavers to get to Hamilton next year????

ps-I was amazed on one of your polls to see the number of fans who thought Danny Kristo would make a Habs lineup this season

He would have to clear waivers. It's rare that a goalie gets plucked off waivers in training camp though as usually the top two goalies are entrenched in their roles by then so it's certainly not a foregone conclusion that he'd be claimed. That said, it's certainly not a foregone conclusion either that he'd clear; it's a bit early to guarantee he'll be back. That said, the postgame show seemed to be about selling the future and having a strong goalie in Tokarski is a good selling point.

Funny you mention the poll, I was just looking at the results myself while I've been doing some content updates on the main page of the site. Honestly, I thought more would have predicted that he does play this year. I expect he'll be among the many recalls after next Sunday's game so he'll have a chance.