The Niagara Ice Dogs were it town giving me my first real look at Blake Siebenaler this season. Siebenaler was one of my favourite prospects prior to last season, so much so that I even wrote up a pre-draft scouting report on him. In tonight’s game I was looking forward to seeing the progress he has made from last season.
The game itself was a disappointing one from the Ice Dogs perspective. They were outshot 41-36, being out played for most of the game.
Siebenaler was uncharacteristically on the second defensive pair playing with Brian Brosnan. Siebenaler usually plays on the top pair with Vince Dunn. Those two have been carrying the load defensively for the Ice Dogs playing the most minutes on the team, per CHL Stats.
I could see why Head Coach Marty Williamson would do this. By splitting up his best two defencemen he would be able to have two solid defensive pairs rather than a great one and a below average one. In theory this is a good idea, however in this game it didn’t work out.
Last Petes game I covered I made a note about how Head Coach Jody Hull had split up his big line of Nick Ritchie, Hunter Garlent, and Eric Cornel forming three good lines. In tonight’s game he had them back together and they were dominant. When those three were on the ice the Petes controlled the entire play. It felt like it was a power play the way they moved the puck around and got chances. The line combined for 10 points including all five of the goals.
To make matters worse for Niagara the Petes second line of Anthony Stefano, Josh McGuire and Jonathan Ang were also very good, getting a ton of zone time and offensive pressure.
Siebenaler matched up against both of those lines and with the way they were going it’s not surprising he didn’t have his best game defensively. He was pinned in his zone for extended periods of time. When he tried to skate with the puck someone would be right on him, forcing him to either chip it out or pass it off. He was also over-matched in trying to defend Ritchie one on one. Both times Ritchie targeted Siebenaler, he got a controlled carry in and both times got a shot off. First time the shot was blocked the second time Siebenaler wasn’t so lucky as Ritchie found the back of the net.
Offensively Siebenaler was pretty good. Had a couple of great one-time chances where he showed off a good hard slap shot. That is something I don’t remember seeing a lot of last season. It was nice to see that his shot has improved and he’s willing to use it often. He did not score in this game despite the chances, but he does have four goals on the season already, after just six all of last year.
The other Ice Dogs player I was very intrigued by was the newly acquired Josh Ho-Sang. Ho-Sang was traded from the Windsor Spitfires to Niagara on Friday, for Haydon McCool and three second round picks. Ho-Sang the Islanders first round selection in 2014 (28th overall) is extremely skilled but apparently has some maturity and attitude problems which are why he fell to 28th. I can’t speak to the attitude but the skill level was evident in this game.
He started on the third line but was quickly moved up to the top line with Carter Verhaeghe and Mikkel Aagaard as Niagara fell behind. He assisted on the lone Niagara goal setting up Graham Knott for a one-timer. He showed off his speed and explosiveness, particularly when he flew past Petes defencemen Matt Spencer (whose no slouch when it comes to skating) and made a great move in tight creating a marvelous chance that needed an even more marvelous save from goalie Dylan Wells.
Once the Ice Dogs get Arizona Coyotes first rounder Brenden Perlini back from injury, they are going to have one hell of a top line with Perlini, Ho-Sang and Verhaeghe.
FINAL SCORE: 5-1 Petes
You can find me on twitter @PaulBerthelot
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