I have been pondering over this blog for two days now, trying to conjure up things to say about the past weekend. Today I finally came to the conclusion that I am not affiliated with any newspaper, nor am I directly affiliated with the Thunder or the CHL. So therefore I will say exactly what I feel in this write up. Last weekend was terrible. For a team that started 8-1, had two-four game win streaks, and six of their eight wins were against Missouri, Rapid City, and Allen, they sure didn't look like one of the best teams in the league. Wichita went into the weekend leading the Berry division and came out of the weekend in third place. Now before anyone goes all "chicken little" on me, it is still early in the season. But it's a bit concerning to me that we are on a three game skid, all to Tulsa none the least. So what needs to happen, what needs to change for the Thunder to get out of this funk? In my amateur opinion, a couple things. First we need more consistency in special teams. Over the three game skid the Thunder have gone 4 for 15 on the man advantage compared to Tulsa's 6 for 17. Granted a small difference, but the Thunder need to limit the powerplays they allow, and take advantage of the ones they receive. Secondly improve neutral zone defense. Tulsa did a fantastic job both ways in the neutral zone. They tied the Thunder up coming into the zone, and were able to transition with the puck the other way quite regularly. This leads to odd man rushes, especially when Wichita needs to change. Lastly get dirty. And I'm not talking Missouri dirty. There were plenty of shots taken by Wichita this last week averaging 29 shots a game. Get guys down low and start burying rebounds, screen the net, get dirty. The majority of goals we have scored this year on former Thunder tender Ian Keserich have been dirty goals. This is where guys like Matt Summers and Chris Greene could really change the tempo for the Thunder. So again, let's not cry that the sky is falling, but rather lets note that the improvements that need to be made our not gaping holes.
The week started off for Wichita in Tulsa. Wichita trailed by two goals twice in this game. Starting the game off 2-0, Wichita answered with a Thomas Beauregard goal to cut the Tulsa lead in half. But with only two seconds left in the period Tulsa's Mike Ullrich extended the Oilers lead back out to two. The second period didn't start off any better for the Thunder who allowed a Sean Erickson powerplay goal to push Tulsa to a 4-1 lead. When it looked as if all hope was lost, Wichita's motor started running. They rattled off two goals in a :52 second time frame, one on the powerplay (Alex Bourret) and one shorthanded (Travis Wight), to cut the Tulsa lead to 4-3. Alex Bourret capped off the comeback and a two goal night by tying the game at 13:07 in the second period. When momentum looked to be heading directly up I-35 North, Wichita took two penalties in a :35 second time frame to give Tulsa a 5 on 3 advantage. Which they took advantage of, Jeff Terminesi scored to give Tulsa the lead for good and Wichita dropped it's second straight in Tulsa.
Saturday the Thunder looked to bounce back from a hard fought loss in Tulsa, at home in front of a large crowd at Intrust Bank Arena. This was a loss that I hope we don't see often this year. I have seen too many of these types of losses in the last four years as it is! Not a lot of penalties in this game, Wichita outshot Tulsa, yet lost 4-1. I honestly don't have a lot to say about this game, as I have already filed this back into the "I don't ever want to remember these Thunder games again" file. Many of the games in that file have the title of 2009-2010. A bit of extreme sarcasm there, but if you didn't make the game, you did not miss much. The highlight of the night was a Brett Hemingway fight, and Andrew Martens barreling over Ian Keserich which led to a Thomas Beauregard goal.
To finish up here, will we remain in third place all year? No. Keep in mind Matt Summers, who led the team in scoring before he was injured, will be back hopefully sooner than later. Add him back into the mix and the scoring threat of this team goes up quite a bit. I honestly believe this team is a number one or two seed in the conference. Let's see a healthy team play before we bust out the paper bags again. Once more a little sarcasm. Lastly I want to thank everyone for the amount of support I have received from doing this little experiment. It has been very rewarding to do so far, and I look forward to doing it well into the future!
Until next time.
Donkey...the Other white meat!
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