Plymouth – McKeen's Hockey

Kats Krunch: Great Danes – Nikolaj Ehlers & Oliver Bjorkstrand

Gus Katsaros — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 15:43:37 +0000

Denmark sent a representative team to Toronto to compete in the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships devoid of the star power and name recognition of some of the higher echelon teams.

There’s no Connor McDavid or jack Eichel’s for the draft eligible crowd to fawn over, and missing are a Sonny Milano, William Nylander or Sam Reinhart, drafted players that carry a high pedigree amongst their peers.

Six Danish players adorn CHL team silks in 2014-15, including two great Danes differentiated from the lunch-bucket crew, and the only players drafted by an NHL team.

Some notable players on the Denmark team include Nick Olesen, recognizable by the ‘flow’ and Seattle Thunderbirds pivot, Alexander True a draft eligible player in 2015. Another notable was defenseman Mads Larsen

The Winnipeg Jets are blessed with a plethora of drafted representation in this tournament, none better than the 2014 (9th overall) pick from the Halifax Mooseheads, Nikolai Ehlers. Partnered with linemate Oliver Bjorkstrand, the 2013 3rd pick by Columbus (89th overall) were the offensive catalysts for the Danes, having a hand in three of the country’s six goals scored in the preliminary round.

Nikolaj Ehlers, LW (Winnipeg), 2014

Electrifying with the puck whether it was from a long range rush, or quick bursts in the offensive zone, Jets pick in 2014 was the most dangerous Danish forward all tournament .. pushed back defenders with speed – although guilty of outside lanes and cutting to the goal .. capable of quick and efficient zone entries precipitated by speed through the neutral zone .. in the offensive zone, coupled change of pace with explosive first two-step acceleration in one-on-one situations, isolating a single defenseman to maneuver around .. elusive and tricky along the boards, using quick directional shifts with his feet, or toe drags and pull backs by lightning quick hands .. drove to the net with the puck .. could be forgiven for overhandling the puck at times with limited options without Bjorkstrand on the ice .. likely the fastest player on the sheet for any team he played against .. partnered marvelously with Bjorkstrand in the offensive zone, winning puck battles in tandem and setting each other up for shots on goal .. fired the puck much less versus Sweden, partly a reflection of the 5-1 romp in score, and retaining the puck instead of shooting in reasonable areas – similar to the final game versus the CzechRepublic .. if there’s one reason to be excited in Winnipeg, the Danish speedster is a bright starting point in their youth movement.

Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW (Columbus) 2013

Blue Jackets 1st rounder featured upgrades in skating and balance from his draft year, complimenting a high tempo offensive game featuring a sizzling wrist shot, where he fired from various locations – and close into his body .. more dangerous against Russia than Sweden, where he seemed to adopt a more stationary stance in a support role instead of attacking scrums and hunting for pucks (unclear if this was inherent or a coaching tweak) .. main shooter, lined up on the left side as a shooter on the PP looking for the one-timer set up .. was also the trigger man at even strength, often looked upon for teeing up feeds from linemate Ehlers .. scored tournament opening goal from this spot after a face off win .. dangerous with the puck versus Russia, determined to win every battle along the boards and in open space .. was more focused at attacking from an angle on rushes, forcing defenseman to pivot or make a directional change or shift in footing, less so versus Sweden, where he seemed to drive into the attack head on and through defesnemen .. hard wrist shot from a short wind up, exhibited periodically in the opening game .. fired the puck less, resolved on keeping it for better positioning or an opening, whereas he fired from prime real estate versus Russia .. similar to linemate Ehlers, where they created a lot of Denmark’s offense as a tandem, most of the prettiest efforts never ended up in the net .. lots to be excited about for Blue Jackets fans with this bargain 3rd round pick.

************************

Follow the McKeen's team on Twitter:

@mckeenshockey
@KatsHockey

Kats Krunch: Sonny Milano – Plymouth’s Rock

Gus Katsaros — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 15:41:28 +0000

Massaapequa, New York native was chosen in the 1st round (16th overall) in 2014 by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The talented 6-foot, 190 pound winger relinquished enrollment to Boston College, confirming the speculation after dodging many questions about his commitment to the US College. Instead, he signed an entry level contract with the Blue Jackets, then subsequently placed in Plymouth to develop in the Ontario Hockey League, a 3-hour, 325 kilometer distance north of Columbus, with the added bonus of keeping close ties to his draft team.

The Plymouth Whalers rolled through Mississauga on December 5, 2014, squandering an early 2-0 lead to end up in a 4-3 loss to the Steelheads. Below are notes from the game performance for Milano, who ended up with one goal and two assists in a losing effort.

Sonny Milano, LW, Columbus (2014)

Photo by Toms Sorensen.

Superb skating ability and explosive acceleration on display from his first shift .. exceptional stamina over long shifts especially while playing at a high tempo for the first few shifts, looking just as energetic late in shifts (like a late shift rush up ice, racing at high speed to get into scoring position) as when first stepping on to the ice .. assisted on the first goal with a solid cross-ice pass to a streaking Matt Mistele .. effortless skater, despite a sloppy skate lace set up that would suggest more of an ankle burner stride than explosiveness .. sprinkled in quick hands and elite stickhandling similar to the documented superb skills from the 2014 Scouting Combine (see video embedded below) .. works in a high tempo setting the pace of play in the neutral and offensive zone .. deft one-touch pass under forechecking pressure to an open teammate, directing the puck through the forecheckers legs in a dangerous part of the ice .. executing on that play is notable, but demonstrating the resolve to pull it off in that dangerous area added dimension to the play .. natural tendency to get the puck to the front of the net if there isn't an immediate play – especiallt if he’s running out of real estate .. scored off a breakaway pursued by a determined backchecker using stick and arms to interfere, and timed the protection of the puck with a swinging stick check maintaining control and speed to flick a backhand over stretched out goaltender .. lacked some strength in board battles, bouncing off bigger opponents .. better suited as the support player than the player battling for the puck along the wall .. despite the elite skating and stick skills, displayed a tendency to skate himself into dead ends if he doesn’t have an angle wide for a skating lane .. impressive showing, notwithstanding the loss.

************************

Follow the McKeen's team on Twitter:

@mckeenshockey
@KatsHockey

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.

**********

Follow the McKeen's team on Twitter:

@mckeenshockey
@KatsHockey

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.

*********************************

Follow the McKeen's team on Twitter:
@KatsHockey
@mckeenshockey