London – McKeen's Hockey

OHL: Greyhounds Game 3 Greatness

Gus Katsaros — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 06:00:16 +0000

Scouts will expound the preference to scout prospects in Friday games as opposed to Sunday games. The reasoning revolves around breaking down game conditions and optimal levels of excellence and energy a prospect can demonstrate and that means more in a Friday contest than a Sunday game.

A Friday game is normally the beginning of a weekend series where most games are played and prospects are approaching the games fresh and full of energy to showcase their best. In contrast, Sunday games are usually the tail end of the series as junior players gear up to go back to school on Monday or looking forward to the next week’s slate of games.

This is especially true when trying to assess a player that’s appeared in the three-games-in-three-nights (3-in-3) scenario.

Prior to the CHL seasons commencement, I broke down all three member leagues schedules highlighting the number of 3-in-3 sets played by each team. The entire breakdown is available here.

The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds distinct advantage over all other CHL teams in 2013-14.

The northern Ontario town endured one lone 3-in-3 set all season, a distinct low amongst Ontario Hockey League teams and a far cry from the OHL team average of six.

There’s more. The Soo also enjoy 16 games played against an opponent dressing for the third game in their 3-in-3 set. Once again, the league average was six (6), so the Greyhounds almost tripled the league average.

In 2012-13, the Kitchener Rangers led the OHL with 10 such games. I hadn’t gone back before that season, but the game numbers are indeed random year over year but will expand on that when I do the schedules for the 2014-15 season, because I feel it’s an important to distinguish that scheduling is a random science of balancing availability, travel and convenience. It’s not exact and one season’s advantage can be the next season’s drawback.

Behind the Soo were the Windsor Spitfires (12) and the Oshawa Generals (10).

To date, the Greyhounds have played 15 of 16 games amassing a stellar 14-0-1 record. They played six games as a rested team (where they had not played the previous day) and 11 games were at home.

Being based out of Ontario – and given the information at hand – I wanted to break down the records of teams in each of those games. The results are in the table below.

	1				2				3
Team	Gms	W	L	O	Gms	W	L	O	Gms	W	L	O	Rested
Barrie	4	1	2	0	5	3	2	0	3	2	1	0	1
Belleville	6	2	4	0	15	5	9	0	4	0	3	1	1
Erie	6	5	0	0	5	3	2	0	3	1	1	0	0
Guelph	6	2	3	0	10	7	0	1	3	2	1	0	1
Kingston	5	3	2	0	3	1	1	1	9	4	5	0	7
Kitchener	6	1	4	0	7	2	2	1	4	1	3	0	2
London	7	6	1	0	6	5	0	1	5	4	0	0	0
Mississauga	5	2	3	0	5	2	3	0	7	4	3	0	2
Niagara	9	4	5	0	3	1	2	0	1	0	1	0	1
North Bay	10	6	2	1	3	0	2	0	6	5	1	0	3
Oshawa	6	3	2	0	3	3	0	0	10	7	2	0	6
Ottawa	8	2	5	1	2	1	1	0	7	3	3	1	5
Owen Sound	9	3	4	1	7	2	4	1	5	4	0	0	1
Peterborough	2	0	2	0	3	2	0	1	3	1	2	0	1
Plymouth	3	1	1	1	8	2	4	1	7	3	2	1	0
Saginaw	4	0	2	2	12	6	5	0	7	3	3	1	3
Sarnia	3	0	3	0	8	3	4	0	3	0	2	0	2
Sault Ste. Marie	5	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	16	14	0	1	6
Sudbury	2	2	0	0	12	7	4	1	3	0	0	2	1
Windsor	12	10	1	0	1	1	0	0	12	7	3	1	6
Records of listed team versus an opponent playing in Games 1, 2, or 3 of a 3-in-3 set

The table represents the team listed in the first column, the amount of games they played versus a team in Games 1, 2 or 3 during a 3-in-3 set and their record in those games. The Greyhounds have 29 points in 15 games played against a team in Game 3 of a 3-in-3 set with one more remaining on the schedule (entering the weekend of mar 6 thru 9).

Some of the other numbers are interesting. The Soo scored 4.9 goals per game in Game 3’s (scoring 67 goals) while averaging 3.6 goals in other games. Defensively they allowed 2.26 goals against in Game 3’s (33 goals allowed), and 3.06 in other games.

As of this writing, they’ve amassed 86 points en route to a West Division Crown, with 29 points versus opponents in Game 3’s representing 33.7% of their total.

Windsor sitting in second place in the division with 75 points sported a record of 7-3-1 against teams in Game 3’s, earning 15 points while 24 points were earned via team’s starting off their 3-in-3 set in Game 1’s.

Sudbury, in a battle with the North Bay Battalion for the division crown, had a total of three games this season against a team playing Game 3 having played two of them, garnering a point in each with shootout losses in both.

The East division leader Oshawa Generals strung together a 7-2 record garnering 14 points over division rivals Kingston – coincidentally matching the gap separating the Generals (88 points) and Frontenacs (74 points). Kingston has a 4-5 record versus opponents playing in Game 3’s. Those five losses could have really closed the gap and made it a closer race for the division lead.

In the Midwest Division, the first place Guelph Storm and second place Erie Otters each played three games against teams in Game 3’s, representing half of the OHL league average. The Storm have completed their three games with a 2-1 record, while Erie (1-1) has one game remaining and five points back of the Storm.

Sault Ste. Marie in their lone 3-in-3 set went 1-2 in 2013-14.

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CHL: 3-in-3 Sets 2013-14

Gus Katsaros — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:48:53 +0000

The distance between Sault Ste. Marie and Windsor, Ontario is approximately, 568 kilometers. The Greyhounds begin their lone 3-games-in-3 nights set in 2013-14 starting with Ontario’s southernmost franchise, before moving on to Plymouth and Saginaw in Michigan to complete the set.

This isn’t the only benefit the Hounds enjoy this season. The second encompasses 25% of their schedule with a marked advantage.

Strictly by coincidence, Windsor was one of three teams with one 3-in-3 set in 2012-13, along with the Edmonton Oil Kings and Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL. In 2013-14, the Greyhounds are the only OHL club to have one 3-in-3 set with Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw and Regina in the WHL sharing the same number.

The distance traversed is less than the furthest expanse for the Greyhounds. For instance, there’s an 800 km distance between Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa that can be travelled between 8-10 hours and passes through Sudbury and the newest OHL franchise, North Bay Battalion – after they moved from Brampton on the outskirts of the GTA. Traveling into the Toronto area is similar in length – about 700 km – with a travel time of 7-8 hours, where there are five teams within a 2-3 hour drive

THREE GAMES IN THREE NIGHTS

One of the driving attributes of schedules distinguishing the National Hockey League to other North American leagues is that the NHL does not schedule 3-games in 3 night sets. The American Hockey League – a talent feeder league – schedules games over three straight days, usually, if not exclusively, to the weekend Friday-Saturday-Sunday combination.

Member leagues under the CHL umbrella share this same scheduling attribute. Apart, as separate entities, the OHL, WHL and QMJHL vary in their particular characteristics, but share the same philosophy.

The OHL has a higher average number of overall sets per team, hovering around six, with the other leagues at about half of that, counting about three sets per club.

	Average	Min	Max
	OHL
3-in-3	5.9	1	9
3-in-3 Rd	1.35	0	3
	WHL
3-in-3	2.9	0	7
3-in-3 Rd	1.1	0	5
	QMJHL
3-in-3	2.8	2	3
3-in-3 Rd	1.7	0	3

The number of sets is scattered in the OHL with member clubs distances making for travel between arenas accommodating for short-ish jaunts during winter weekends. Consider, for instance a Friday night game in Mississauga then Saturday contest in Oshawa and then off to one of Belleville, Peterborough or Kingston only a short drive from General Motors Centre where the Generals suit up. The end result is a mix of 3 games in 3 night set combinations, the end result potentially varying each season.

Stability is available in the QMJHL where parity among clubs amounts to a similar number of 3-in-3 sets, with 2013-14 at three per team, falling in line with the previous season. Travel is slightly more spread out in ‘the Q’ – mimicking similarities to the OHL – yet expansive enough to limit games to consecutive nights and dropping the third game entirely. Less teams (18 teams in the QMJHL) also makes for lessened travel, while the Q starts their season one week earlier than the other two leagues, spreading games slightly further.

The WHL features four teams without any 3-in-3 sets in 2013-14; Victoria, Red Deer, Calgary and the Eastern-most outpost, Brandon, home of the Wheat Kings. The challenge of expanse and long bus rides are slightly diminished in higher density areas closer to the West coast resulting in the Western Conference having a slight higher concentration of 3-in-3 sets.

For instance, the distance between bookend franchises in the Western Hockey League is a 21 hour bus ride, maybe more.

The QMJHL have similar effects with a 20 hour span between Cape Breton and Rouyn-Noranda.

Let’s look back before moving ahead.

2012-14 SEASON RECAP

I broke down last season in detail here, but here’s a summary of all three leagues in the image below.

Explanations of the headings are as follows.

The TOTAL column denotes the number of 3-in-3 sets

The Rd Column signifies the number of sets all played strictly on the road. The WHL in this case is very different from ’12-13 to ’13-14 as we shall see. Vancouver and Victoria were the only two clubs with sets strictly on the road. That changes this season.

The Gm1 through Gm3 columns designate the amount of games in which the team lined up on the left faced an opponent playing in the associated game number, 1, 2, or 3 during a 3-in-3 set.

For example, Vancouver led the entire CHL dressing for 11 games where the opponent was playing their third game in three nights. The Kitchener Rangers played 10 such contests.

2013-14 SEASON – RELEASE THE HOUNDS!

I added two additional columns for the ’13-14 edition.

With all the attention I’ve devoted to teams playing rested/tired in the NHL I couldn’t resist figuring out the CHL equivalent. I defined Rested and Tired in a post here , with the definitions appearing below.

Rested – a team that has not played the previous night facing a team in the second game of a back-to-back set on consecutive nights.
Tired – a team playing its second game on consecutive nights versus a team that is rested and has not played the previous night.

Enough prelude, on to the data.

We start with the OHL with notes below the table.

OHL
Team	3-in-3	3-in-3 Rd	Gm1	Gm2	Gm3	Tired	Rested
Barrie	9	1	4	5	3	20	10
Belleville	5	2	6	15	4	14	14
Erie	5	2	6	5	3	16	12
Guelph	7	1	6	10	3	12	14
Kingston	6	2	5	3	9	13	19
Kitchener	6	0	6	7	4	6	10
London	8	3	7	6	5	10	7
Mississauga	6	2	5	5	7	6	12
Niagara	8	1	9	3	1	18	10
North Bay	2	2	10	3	6	14	14
Oshawa	6	0	6	3	10	12	17
Ottawa	4	2	8	2	7	10	13
Owen Sound	6	0	9	7	5	10	11
Peterborough	6	1	2	3	3	17	11
Plymouth	6	1	3	8	7	10	7
Saginaw	3	1	4	12	7	5	10
Sarnia	9	1	3	8	3	17	9
Sault Ste. Marie	1	1	5	0	16	10	12
Sudbury	9	2	2	12	3	15	16
Windsor	6	2	12	1	12	9	16
Average	6	1	6	6	6	12	12
Min	1	0	2	0	1	5	7
Max	9	3	12	15	16	20	19

The clear takeaway here, is not only the one 3-in-3 set, but the 16 games the Greyhounds face an opponent playing their third game in three nights. In a 68 game schedule, that amounts to 25% of the total schedule. Windsor lags by four games, with Oshawa rounding out the double digits.

Scouts often emphasize the Friday games versus a Sunday game and comparison of scouting views. This little tidbit is helpful in this regard. Watching players on a Friday night is very different from a Sunday game after the weekend grind.

Sudbury, Sarnia and Barrie share the lead with nine (9) sets.

Barrie leads the OHL playing in 20 games as a tired team, balanced by half that amount as a rested team. Kingston leads the league with 19 games as a rested team.

Let’s move on to the more stable QMJHL.

QMJHL
Team	3-in-3	3-in-3 Rd	Gm1	Gm2	Gm3	Tired	Rested
Acadie-Bathurst	3	2	7	1	4	7	10
Baie-Comeau	3	3	2	2	4	6	8
Blainville-Boisbriand	3	2	3	3	7	6	10
Cape Breton	2	2	1	2	0	9	4
Charlottetown	3	1	0	7	2	5	12
Chicoutimi	3	3	3	2	1	9	10
Drummondville	3	1	5	2	6	11	12
Gatineau	3	1	2	0	4	7	6
Halifax	3	2	1	1	2	13	10
Moncton	2	1	2	1	4	9	7
Quebec	3	1	3	3	1	11	8
Rimouski	2	2	4	2	1	7	3
Rouyn-Noranda	3	3	1	1	1	8	8
Saint John	3	1	3	5	4	8	10
Shawinigan	3	1	2	5	3	9	10
Sherbrooke	3	1	7	7	3	3	6
Val-d'Or	3	3	1	1	1	10	6
Victoriaville	3	0	4	6	3	10	8
Average	3	2	3	3	3	8	8
Min	2	0	0	0	0	3	3
Max	3	3	7	7	7	13	12

The entire league is fairly vanilla across all categories. The average number of 3-in-3 sets is a consistent three (3), with all but Victoriaville playing at least one set with every game on the road.

Blainville-Boisbriand leads the ‘Q’ with seven (7) games against a team playing their third game in three nights. Unsurprisingly, CapeBreton is the only Quebec team without an instance against a team on their third game in three nights (Saskatoon is the only other team in the CHL that is blanked.)

Halifax plays the most games as a tired team, with the Charlottetown Islanders leading the rested category with 12.

Moving over to the WHL, we see a difference from ’12-13 both in the number of teams without a 3-in-3 set as well as the increase in the number of sets strictly on the road, a little different from the Vancouver/Victoria combination of a year ago.

WHL
Team	3-in-3	3-in-3 Rd	Gm1	Gm2	Gm3	Tired	Rested
Brandon	0	0	4	1	2	7	10
Calgary	0	0	4	3	4	5	9
Edmonton	3	2	4	3	3	10	10
Everett	6	0	4	6	4	6	8
Kamloops	3	2	1	4	4	5	8
Kelowna	4	2	5	2	1	9	6
Kootenay	2	0	3	5	5	7	7
Lethbridge	1	0	2	5	2	4	11
Medicine Hat	1	0	3	1	1	13	9
Moose Jaw	1	1	0	2	2	11	8
Portland	5	2	9	2	5	9	7
Prince Albert	2	1	1	1	2	8	8
Prince George	5	5	0	1	3	7	2
Red Deer	0	0	3	3	2	11	8
Regina	1	0	2	2	1	6	9
Saskatoon	5	2	4	1	0	15	6
Seattle	7	2	5	6	5	5	3
Spokane	5	3	2	3	4	5	8
Swift Current	4	1	0	0	2	5	9
Tri-City	3	1	3	5	3	6	4
Vancouver	5	0	2	3	6	6	10
Victoria	0	0	2	4	2	3	3
Average	3	1	3	3	3	7	7
Min	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
Max	7	5	9	6	6	15	11

Already having covered the zero set teams, the Western Conference Seattle Thunderbirds lead the WHL, with Everett a close second and Portland, Vancouver, Spokane and Saskatoon rounding out third overall.

Prince George is the only CHL team that plays all it’s 3-in-3 sets on the road. Scheduling will bite them in ’13-14 as they face a team on their third game in three nights three times, and end up as a tired team seven (7) times in a not-so-lucky turn of events. All that while playing a WHL low two games as a rested team.

Strength of schedule on a macro level may not have a significant effect, however, taking it to the micro level, counting the little intricacies associated to each club paints a bit of a different picture.

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London Knights Drafted Player Notes

Gus Katsaros — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 22:33:41 +0000

The London Knights took their 14-game win streak into December 2, (2012) contest versusMississaugaon the tail end of their third game in three nights. The night before, London dressed in a 3-1 win at home, a 7 pm start.

Sunday’s contest marked the third time in (2012)-13 they have dressed for a 7 pm start the previous night and followed up with an afternoon start less than 24 hours between games.

The Knights were on the tail end of their 5th 3-in-3 set, featuring three cases of the late night/afternoon start combination (for the complete breakdown of CHL 3-in-3 sets, the post is here with a link to a GOOGLE Doc containing all teams.

The Knights have two more 3-in-3 sets left in their schedule, once in mid-December (featuring another 7:30 pm Friday start and 2pm Saturday start combination) and another in mid-January before the schedule eases in this regard.

Mississauga had not played the previous evening. It somehow showed. After the Knights went ahead in the third period, tired legs set in, allowing the Steelheads to tie up the contest late in the third period. The game headed for a monster shootout round that featured both bench entirely taking at least one shot in the shootout before Seth Griffith’s second shootout goal extended their streak to 15 games.

These are notes on drafted players on the Knights.

Ryan Rupert C (2012) - Toronto 6th 157 overall

The Maple Leafs late round selection rang in the new season with a strong opening, recording five assists in the first two games, and then seven in six games, but yet to score his first of the season as of Sunday’s game .. his stick prep isn’t mature and he has to make more concerted efforts to keep his blade on the ice .. ineffective and almost uninterested early on in the game, skating out on the perimeter when he was skating – showed lead feet and unwillingness to keep them in motion .. reacted to plays and not heavily involved .. acted more as a finisher than set up man, and was almost just as uninterested in the offensive zone unless he had the puck .. not moving his feet looking sluggish as the game was nearing it’s end .. played with the puck very little on his stick and even got rid of it instead of carrying it on occassion .. more energetic bursts towards the end of the second period before he helped set up brother, Matt, for a 3rd period goal .. could have had a better showing, but sluggish was the only constant through this game.

Chris Tierney C - (2012) San Jose 2nd 55 overall

Sharks second rounder was patient with the puck while maintaining urgency and the pace required at this level .. good puck protection skills along the boards, strong core strength as he plants and twists his torso to move pucks away from oncoming defenders .. a first penalty-killing pairing forward .. features a good active stick, instinctively getting his stick and body into passing lanes and taking away immediate space .. effective as a high PK forward .. wide skating base, horse shoe stride .. speed is adequate when considering the short length of his stride .. showed how he processes the game and his skill level without his stick, banking a beautiful pass off his foot while tied up by a defenseman with his stick tangled .. performed a really high end skilled move with quick thinking to get the puck to an open man advancing the play .. went straight to the net to pick up a rebound from anAndersonshot to score the 3-1 goal .. one of the better forwards this game.

Josh Anderson RW - (2012) Columbus 4th 95 overall

PK pairing with Tierney .. strong forechecking presence .. defensively responsible .. capable straight line, but not an entirely efficient skater off the block .. lacks initial startup burst while pivots and crossovers lack fluidity .. makes good use of speed but loses speed in turns .. engages opponents aggressively and closes up space quick, an effect of hurrying the play, or forcing defenders to make a play earlier than they wanted .. created some offense while paired with Tierney, but was more of a defensive presence utilizing big body and aggression .. mixes it up physically at will and leaves the impression of at least one hit per shift, a good visible quality that will serve well in the professional leagues where finishing checks becomes more important .. will be more imposing with some weight gain and has a good make up for an energy player.

Seth Griffith RW - (2012) Boston 5th 131 overall

Bruins 5th rounder started the season off strong and continued into November while recording six assists in the weekend’s 3-in-3 set including a four-assist night in Game 1 versus Barrie .. can be somewhat passive defensively and doesn’t fully engage in the defensive zone .. very quick hands with complimentary feet .. elusive with the puck and subtle in his creativity .. will use look offs and shoulder fakes to disguise his intentions .. used his quickness in this game to maneuver around opponents, including a good change-of-pace, but hasn't displayed much imagination .. more a product of being heavily involved getting to pucks and positioning .. didn’t show the dynamic offensive touch after early game displays and seemed to be more of a support figure than initiating .. made up for any less than stellar efforts by scoring twice in the shootout.

Olli Maatta D (2012) Pittsburgh 1st 22 overall

Pittsburgh1st rounder ate up ample ice time on the blueline all game playing in every situation, even-strength and special teams - a testament to conditioning, and even morse so considering this was the third game in three nights with a game less than 24 hours previous to this one .. paid attention to warm up where he practiced individual puck/skating drills showing off tight turns with the puck on his stick, without losing momentum in a small, tight turning radius .. skating is a work in progress - lacks natural quickness and sluggish feet haven’t improved .. makes up for any initial burst limitations with a stark demeanor and a presence, complimented by a spanning reach from a big wingspan .. carried the puck out while also displaying a great outlet pass ability – routinely sent out long stretch passes .. concern sparked at watching him hunched over while skating and in any readiness stance, something I feel is indicative of potential future back problems.

Alex Broadhurst C - (2011) Chicago 7 199

Former Clark Cup champion Green Bay Gamblers scorer - with an impressive 73 points in ’11-12 (53-26-47-73) lined up alongsideLondon’s leading scorer Seth Griffith and draft-eligible Max Domi .. complimentary playmaking vision and soft hands .. felt he straggled at times as the late man but otherwise operated in a stealth mode in the offensive zone setting up on the weak side and in soft areas of the ice looking for passes .. set up at times by Domi with cross-ice feeds .. lacks some physical elements and didn’t initiate contact – a mode of preservation .. one play in the second period stood out - in light of him asking for more defensive responsibilities, including penalty killing duty to progress his overall game - while making a strong and determined effort to back check and catch up to his man late in the second period, he interfered using his stick to tie up and interfere instead of marking his man and staying with him .. caught for a penalty on the play .. quick release and good shot.

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