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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

OFF THE CUFF

Assorted opinions and ramblings from the past week in the OHL.

   

-- So Mark Visentin fulfilled every goalies secret dream in that he scored a goal last night, and it was a legitimate goal that he scored himself, not one he just got credit for.  The interesting thing about Mark Visentin is that he almost scored a goal earlier in the year in a game at London, but missed the net costing his team an icing in a one goal game.  The star goaltender was a bit sheepish after that one his goal attempt exploits were reduced to if the IceDogs had a two goal advantage.   Puck handling is the strongest aspect of Visentin's all round excellent game, and it comes as little surprise to ardent IceDog followers that Visentin scored a goal. 

--Sports fans sure are a curious bunch though.  On the TSN article on Visentins goal the comments section made the usual foolish and unfounded comments about Visentin's World Junior play and somehow comments about Dougie Hamilton not being as good as Jake Gardiner.  Clearly Leaf fans are desperate for something to talk about

--More Visentin.  The Star produced a decent, all be it, short AP account of the Visentin's goal, but clearly proof-reading the picture was not in order as it was accompanied by a shot of Olivier Roy, and a bad one at that.  The article is here

--We had the night off on Friday as Sportsnet covered Game 1 of the Ice Dogs/67's series.   It sure was interesting watching the game from the stands, but still found myself calling the game in my mind.  Kudos to Sportsnet for actually fitting their giant production truck in a tiny space, but it also cost the 67's who had to move their bus to the street where one bright shining St Catharines star chose to give the bus a ticket for illegal parking.  Interesting that a lot of fans do not seem to care for the constant time outs by the major networks.  You have to remember that advertising helps pay the bills, and I bet you coaches love the timeouts as it gives them a chance to rest key personnel. 

-- Marc Zanetti is a good, hard-nosed player whose OHL career will likely end as a result of a momentary brain cramp.   The Ottawa D man gave IceDog Tom Kuhnhackl a boot to the face while he was on the ground during Game 1.  While the kick did not cause an injury, it was a shockingly momentary lapse in judgement.  I will choose to remember the player who was a leader on his team and a 30 minute a night defensemen rather than the one moment that many will chose to define him with. 

--Damien Cox, who analyzed the kick on Sportsnet, chose to rub it in a little more when he tweeted (and I paraphrase) on whether or not Zanetti was glad that his kick was caught on the Friday Night Game of the Week.  However, to twist the knife in a bit after the incident, in my opinion,  was not a wise choice by Cox, who rarely has a good thing to say about anything

-- In the spirit of full disclosure, I will readily admit I have been in a minor dispute with Damien Cox.It was so minor that he likely has forgotten about it.   He actually blocked me on Twitter.  After Cox used his twitter feed to relentlessly pound on Don Cherry and the CBC, I chose to lob a couple of soft-ball chiding comments his way, he blocked me. I'm a big fan of the CBC, and of Hockey Night in Canada, so I took a little umbrage to his needling shots at the Corporation and Don Cherry  Guess he can dish it out but.....

We will have Game Five of the IceDogs/67's series live Friday Night at 7pm on TV Cogeco and the OHL Action Pack

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