A few game notes about our most important prospects
OByrne was a +3 in his first game, paired with Valentenko, a few lapses but in general playing well. SK getting some point PP play and excelled at it. Valentenko a notable presence, hitting hard.
To quote a fellow fan:
"Finally, Valentenko. His family moto must be hit first. Ask questions later. If they survive. A couple of good hits, really uses his stick on guys, trying to knock pucks loose. Floored a couple of guys. I really like him so far but could take some bad penalties."
Halak very steady, does not seem affected by demotion.
Pavel Valentenko
As mentioned, standard operating procedure for the Bulldogs blue line on opening
night was to play steady, solid hockey and not draw much attention to yourself. It
would appear that Valentenko either never got the message or he just didn't
understand it as he set about making sure the Amerks would remember him when the teams play in Hamilton on Friday night.
Initially, the Amerks probably appreciated him being out on the ice. He was one of the Dmen who got dissected by the pass to MacArthur for the opening goal of the game. After that though, he made sure the impression he left on the home team consisted of bruises and bumps and making himself tough to play against. Apart from numerous solid checks, he broke up a play as one forward drove to the net using positioning and force.
Later on, Mancari would take a run at him and bounce off him and could only get back to his feet slowly. Seconds later, Lapierre would score his first goal of the night.
He was a bit quieter in the thrd period but by then had already left his mark (marks mostly imprinted on Amerk forwards for the next few weeks). He looks like a quality addition to the Bulldogs blue line but hopefully he can control his force because if Hamilton gest a ref who calls everything, Pavel could spend a fair bit of time in the penalty box.
http://thedraftguy.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=35
Disco