Rookie Practice - September 10th

Michallica wrote:Jim O'Brien has looked pretty good so far. Hopefully other gms are taking note of this

After seeing him at the practice and the two games, I think we need him in Bingo to see what we've got.

Did he not play in Bongo last year? I thought he's been there for the past 2 years or so...

SensGirl11 wrote:Did he not play in Bongo last year? I thought he's been there for the past 2 years or so...

he did play. and he was awful...hopefully he has a good year this time around. If not trade bait, at least it'll be nice to put a bit of pressure on Mike Fisher.

He has defintely been one of the most impressive to me in this tourney, talk about turnaround for him. He's just a very late bloomer, hopefully he continues to improve.

My faves so far in the tourney

1. Butler - wow, he's one slick puppy, I can't wait to see him again tonight and in the main camp next week. He's been great on both sides of the puck, I think with the chances he's had he could even have 4 goals by now. Very impressed, Wick not coming was a mistake on his part, IMO. Unless he's that much more developed...we will find out in main camp for sure.

2. Gryba - Shiiiiittt! This guy seems like he's for real and ready to join the big club. No joke, he's been solid throughout the whole tournament, I can't recall even 1 mistake he's made. He really seems to be fighting for a spot, at least as the 8th guy behind Lee for us. He is looking more and more like he's earning call up duties. We'll see how he does in the main camp...assuming he's going of course.

3. O'Brien - This has been the biggest surprise for me this camp, he has changed so much since last camp, you wouldn't even recognize him if you saw him. Really pleasantly surprised by O'Brien and I hope that he continues to develop and hone his skills. He's actually got one heck of a shot too if you all saw Sunday's game, I think he's the only one that knew he had scored... Really impressed, am more interested now in following his development, I was starting to think, especially after last year's poor showing in camp that he was a total bust. He's proved me wrong so far this year.

SensGirl11 wrote:Did he not play in Bongo last year? I thought he's been there for the past 2 years or so...

Yeah, but he's sucked up until now.

Oh yes, and I cannot forget to mention Brandon Foote, he was spectacular on Sunday, I was stunned at how good he was for such a little man.

Yeah, he was great.

Michallica wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:Did he not play in Bongo last year? I thought he's been there for the past 2 years or so...

he did play. and he was awful...hopefully he has a good year this time around. If not trade bait, at least it'll be nice to put a bit of pressure on Mike Fisher.

The guy is still really young. He is only 10 months older than Mike Hoffman after all. He's also 10 months younger than Zack Smith He was drafted to be an energy type guy, two-way project forward, not a top line guy. I've been really down on this kid in the past, really negative towards this pick. But at this tournament he's definitely shut me up. Apparently he's worked all summer on his speed and shot.

He definitely didn't have a good year last year, but he was also not put into a position to get offensive numbers. He spent much of last season centring the 4th line. But this kid has received a lot of negativity, somewhat unfairly. I'm glad he's breaking out, and look forward to seeing what he can do, especially now that he will be given more time and better linemates in Bingo.

god the stream is brutal... it's going to be a long winter without satelitte.... and damn the leafs scored.

The game's over, but I won't tell you the score

Hoffman was rockin' tonight. Cowen had his best game too, IMO.

The only downer to me was A.J. Jacubek. I got back to the car just a couple of minutes before the Sens scored. He went on for a couple of minutes trying to figure out who scored -- was it deflected or not; finally saw that it was deflected in by the Leafs defender, so for sure it was so-and-so's goal. Then he starts saying how now both teams have had an "own goal". All this time I'm sitting there waiting for the freaking score! When he finally said that the Sens had just gone up in the game (I had left the radio when it was still 2-1 Leafs) I just couldn't believe that he took *THAT LONG* to announce that the lead had once again changed hands.

Wow, Cowen was a monster tonight. He's ramped it up every game and tonight he was a rock. Really impressed.

Also, dude can Wiercioch ever skate and man is Gryba ever the man.

Wow...
Great game...

Loved hearing the home town Leaf Losers shut up in the 3rd...

The 3 games told me a lot. I still maintain that of the 3 defensemen Gryba is the closest to being ready to make the big club, but he's still a year away. Cowen will be going back to Jr. No question.

O'Brien is on his last shot. He just didn't do much out there and besides the goal he looked lost most of the time. If he doesn't show dramatic improvement he will likely be packaged in a trade out of town. Bingo won't have room for him next year especially if the swedes come over.

The future for Ottawa is very bright, especially on the back end...it's easy to see that they have at least 4 studs (not counting Karlsson) on defense that will set this team up for a long time. Lehner is huge and really really quick.

Off to catch my plane and back to Ottawa...

Who are the 4 studs not counting Karlsson? Cowen, Wiercioch, Rundblad, and who?

O'Brien to me will be a replacement for Chris Kelly...similar type of player, IMO.

Big Ev wrote:Who are the 4 studs not counting Karlsson? Cowen, Wiercioch, Rundblad, and who?

O'Brien to me will be a replacement for Chris Kelly...similar type of player, IMO.

Lehner I assume.

EDIT: Nope, misread it. I think he counts Gryba in there.

Lehner was great too, can't fault him for either goal, he made some excellent saves and he had to keep sharp when he didn't face shots for long stretches.