The Sharks prospects dropped a 5-4 shootout decision to the Anaheim Ducks prospects last night at the Anaheim Ice.
Sharks Goal Scorers: McInnis, Schwartz, Tierney, DiFruscia
Chris Tierney, centering the top line, added an assist to go with his goal. Tierney is expected to get a good look at the Sharks big camp when it opens in a few days. Mirco Mueller and Nikolay Goldobin were not on the ice for the Sharks last night along with Jeremy Langlois, Melker Karlsson, Peter Emanuelsson, Ryan Carpenter, Chris Crane, Nick Jones and Julius Bergman.
Here’s how the lines looked:
Forwards Boudreau-Tierney-McInnis Schwartz-Chartier-Goodrow DiFruscia-Baillie-LaBanc Sadowy-Moynihan-Schoenborn
Defensemen Ellis-Bigos Vanier-Trojanovich Young-Yorke
Goaltenders Anderson Grosenick
The scratched players from last night should draw in tonight when the prospects take on the Ducks again at the Honda Centre. It will be interesting to see if Goldobin heads to the first line with Tierney to keep the generation of offense flowing. Tierney is in go-mode right now and is looking to make an impression on the Sharks staff, saying this after the game:
"It’s always exciting to put on the Sharks uniform. It’s the stuff you dream about as a kid. It all starts here and I hope to keep it going throughout the rest of camp.…
Spoken like a player who’s ready to take on the task of playing in Worcester with a chance to grab some games in San Jose when the time comes. Game 2 of the futures series is tonight at 5p.m. pacific.
*****
Sometimes I think the NHL just changes rules for the sake of doing something, a reason to have a friendly gathering in the summer. Here's a few thoughts on the changes the NHL made recently.
Expanding the trapezoid
Wasn't the whole idea of the trapezoid to create more offense initially? Restricting the goalies to a certain area to allow the offense players to get more puck possession? Now you want me to forget about that and believe that expanding the trapezoid will do the trick?
Just get rid of the trapezoid if it failed in its experiment. Pull it off quick, like a band-aid, or you could let it linger for a while like Atlanta until a Canadian trapezoid (Winnipeg) comes along to cover up the failed experiment.
Tripping
Here’s another rule change that I’m not a fan of.
It used to be a great defensive play when a defender would hustle back and skillfully dive and knock the puck away from the opposing player before said opposing player went flying over top of him. The result was hard work by the defender, not enough foot-speed by the forward and a breakaway broken up.
There’s not much more the league can take away from the goaltenders so it seems like they are looking to the defensemen now.
Video Goal Review/Face-Offs
The video goal review change and the change in face-offs are two that I’m indifferent toward.
Overtime
This is one I’m a fan of. Teams should have been switching ends all along in overtime.
Puck out of Bounds
I think the puck should be dropped closest to where it exits the ice unless, of course, it’s the defender shooting it out from his own end. This change covers that. All of the changes to this rule reflect accidental stoppages by the attacking team. I’m a fan of this rule.
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