Taking a deeper dive into the Friday, February 25th match between the Tri-Pen Ice and Tri-Com Thunder @ Paradise Sports Complex
Paradise has the nicest facility – overall – on the Avalon
The PSC has a simple two-pad design with a gym, lounge area, and canteen. I cannot believe that other facilities – that have been built since the PSC – haven’t taken its blueprint and copied it. I like the new CBS Stadium, but the mass expanse of seats that are never filled and having 2 rinks 300 metres apart is backward thinking. PSC Rink B is the perfect capacity for a ‘big game’ in Junior B, a Herder match, or a high school rivalry game; the PSC Rink A is just a shell rink that has limited seating. Which brings me to my next point – how badly does the city of St. John’s need one of these complexes? The demand is there for that 4-plex in Galway that everyone is talking about, even with the existing, aging arenas that currently occupy Sin City.
The Tri-Pen Ice Really Missed Jabez Seymour
This game ended with the Thunder outpacing the Ice, one could put an asterisk next to the win as elite power forward Jabez Seymour is currently in the USA touring prep schools. Seymour is a throwback centre who loves to throw his weight around, skates well and has above-average hands around the cage. Seymour – in my opinion – is one of the headlining talents in this ultra-rich ’07 pool that will likely see 4 – if not more – top-5 round QMJHL Draft picks next summer.
Carter Bromley is Electric
Bromley saw more ice in the absence of Seymour, and is absolutely electric every shift. Bromley has next level speed and can really push the pace down the left side – I can’t recall a winger in the past couple of draft classes that have his quickness off the line. Bromley is a tough customer who has a great motor and is relentless on the backcheck, consistently picking opponents pockets and creating offence by taking pucks to dirty areas. Bromley doesn’t strike me as a pure scorer though, more of a volume guy… but we did witness a snipe show in this game….
Ty Peddigrew can Score
Peddigrew is one of the more pure goal-scorers that NL has seen over the past couple of years. The TriCom PP stalwart does not need a whole lot of room to put the biscuit in the basket, which he displayed on Friday night in Paradise. Peddigrew picked up a hat trick in the victory over the Ice, one of which was set up by a nice pick-and-drive by ’08 program attendee Kaiden Sahajpal. Peddigrew may be billed as a centreman, but I like him more on the wing because he can exert less energy in the defensive zone, and more energy into doing what he does best – sniping. Peddigrew has 4 goals in his last 2 games, with both games coming against the top teams in the NL U15AAA circuit.
Blues Traveller – Run Around
Anyone else remember this pop rock hit in the 1990’s? The title best represents what happened in Friday’s game, as both teams ran around the ice trying to hit one another. I would love to see how many unnecessary body checks were thrown on Friday night, as numerous players skated over the puck to throw a hit which rendered their team at a disadvantage. The name of the game is to possess the puck – not shoot it around the boards all night long, constantly jamming up your wingers. Support the puck, make quick tape-to-tape passes, and use body contact as a means of puck retrieval vs intimidation.
Young Goalies, Be Free Tonight… Time, Is On Your Side!
A lot of first year ‘tenders played in this game – Morgan for the Thunder (who has – via my sources – received high-end prep school offers) and Akerman for the Ice. Brown finished the game for the Ice, and I am 99.9% sure he is an ’08 too. Sitting this one out for the Thunder was Tyler Combden, you guessed it… a first year! Brown fought the puck in his half of the game, but in fairness to him, it has to be very difficult to come in halfway through and face the likes of Peddigrew, Strong, Farrell and Carroll.
Mason Strong is Under-Rated
A guy that seems to contribute to just about every game that I have watched over the past few years! Strong played under John Barrington with… I believe it was the Generals in U15 AA last year… and at the time, I had never heard or seen the kid before. Strong has a nose for the net and compliments the line of Ty Peddigrew and Jacob Coish very well for the Thunder. He’s not the biggest guy out there – or the fastest – but Strong plays with passion and goes to the dirty areas of the offensive zone. It will be very interesting to see which city U18 AAA team selects Strong in the upcoming ‘Midget Draft’; I would imagine that most ’07’s are hoping to be selected by the Growlers solely for depth chart reasons. The Growlers will graduate multiple forwards this spring… off hand, I can think of 7 (Porter, Curnew, Hiscock, Whitten, Veitch, Randell, and Walsh). This list does not include guys who are eligible to return who may be drafted into the QMJHL/Junior A, or go stateside to pursue collegiate options. Fortunately for Trevor Budgell and company, these holes could potentially be filled by a deep ’07 class or by improving ’06s such as Connor Hussey and Andy Knight.