It seems like that two-win weekend didn't fool anyone in the Kingston area into believing the Frontenacs are a reasonable facsimile of a hockey team.
The announced attendance was 1,967 for today's 9-5 loss to John Tavares and the Oshawa Generals phenom, up only about 200 from the previous weekend. Much of that bump could probably be tied to people wanting to see the Oshawa phenom, who had a mere five points in the Gens' easy win.
The Frontenacs have the look of being ever so clueless about how to play defence — hey, it's not like they had a week off for Larry Mavety, et al., to work on fine-tuning their defensive systems. (Oh wait, they did.) Ben Shutron being out with the quote-unquote upper body injury is no excuse, since their D wasn't that good when he was in the lineup. They also don't have a goalie who can make them look better than they really are: Jason Guy hasn't been snatching away any sure goals. (If he did today while giving up nine goals on 43 shots, apologies.)
The Fronts got four goals in the first five minutes of the second period — but playing hard for three full periods is another story. Take out that outburst and it was a blowout, with two short-handed goals against. No one is expecting this team to set the OHL on fire, but some indication that they can show up would be nice.
The scary part: This was the most winnable game in a week that has Kingston playing Belleville, Kitchener, Sarnia and London over a five-day stretch.
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4 comments:
Obviously I don't follow the Fronts like you do, but your comment about their goaltending is telling. The goaltender position has evolved now to the point where you can't get away with having one who is just average. That's because most of your opponents are going to have a kid in there who is either great or spectacular. The same thing happened to the 67s last year -- neither of their two could be counted on to steal a game for them, or to stand on their head during those increasingly frequent 5 on 3 situations.
If Kingston wants to save their season, or at least give the fans some modicum of hope, it strikes me that the first thing they need to do is find themselves a 20 year old goalie currently toiling in the East Coast League, and lure him back to the OHL for the balance of the year.
Guy, right now, is just a guy... he has looked really bad on some goals and his rebound control has been poor.
That's more on the coaching and the org.'s ability to develop netminders.
I checked ECHL rosters... there's only two 20-year-olds in the league, J.P. Levasseur in Augusta. The other is Tyler Plante and he's a high draft pick (2nd round), so he's not available.
Speaking of 20-year-olds, ex-67 Brady Morrison is in Kingston playing for the Frontenacs.... but that bridge has been burned.
Morrison is playing for Queen's - isn't that what you mean? Going to university and playing in the OHL are mutually exclusive undertakings, unfortunately.
Yes, of course, Morrison is playing for the Golden Gaels...
Guys have gone to the CIS and come back... Andrew Self started the season with Carleton and then bagged it to play for the Belleville Bulls.
Good catch, DP.
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