Seattle Prince George Exhibition Wrap

First off... I didn't read through every single comment but I urge everyone to go check out the "replay" of the live blogging that the TBirds did from Comcast today, you can find it here.

Good stuff there... quite frankly the more of that we get, the less I have to do, which in my book isn't such a bad thing.

Tbirds win today 3-2 over the Cougars. I didn't think Seattle played a particularly pretty game, but I think this game provided the blueprint for how Seattle is going to win this season.

By the way... this is one of my favorite days of the year, nothing like getting out of work for about 4 hours to watch a little hockey where you can sit anywhere you want at Comcast and I didn't hear one single cowbell. Plus it means that the start of the season is coming up quickly. I hope Seattle keeps getting these 11:30 am games on the Friday of the Everett tournament.

- DeSerres in net for Seattle to start, Priestner starts for the Cougars.

- I quickly jotted down the lines I saw... Sena - Jacobs - Parker with Schappert - Muth. Wells - Nielsen - Troock with Chaffin - Fleming. Elliot - Alos - Doty with Haber - Berg and Sanvido - Tutt - Lachance is the final line. DeSerres and Jahraus were dressed, Pickard was a scratch.

- Early penalty to Elliot for tripping lands him in the box, PG with a late flurry of shots turned away by DeSerres but overall a pretty strong kill for Seattle with Fleming making a nice pinch that springs Parker for a short-handed break but the puck rolls off his backhand and wide of the net.

- Nice pass by Sena from behind the net to Jacobs who just misses wide. Acolatse is wearing one of the "A's" today with Nielsen wearing the "C".

- Tbirds get a little sloppy here in the middle of the period and Prince George is getting a majority of the shots.

- Alos with a nice strong fore-check and even though he didn't cause a turnover he finishes off a nice check along the end boards.

- PG penalty to #26 (I didn't grab a roster) for elbowing and the Tbirds go on the PP.

- Parker, Acolatse, Tutt, Schappert and Muth out for the PP.

- TBirds quickly cash in as a shot from deep by Acolatse is blocked right to Parker who corralled it with his skates before taking another shot/pass that finds its way over to Tutt on the doorstep for the wide open goal and the TBirds lead 1-0.

- Seattle penalty to Brad Haber for hooking with 6:49 left to play in the 1st.

- Tbirds kill the penalty without any real threat.

- PG penalty to #25 for roughing as he took issue with Doty and went after him... but Doty kept his cool for the most part and Seattle winds up with a Power Play.

- First period ends with Seattle up 1-0. PG controlled the action most of the period but the Tbirds were dangerous at times and cashed in the special teams goal to grab the lead. I'm going to figure out a way to illustrate the "new" Seattle power play and give you guys an idea what it looks like by next week.

- 2nd period starts with two penalties on Seattle. Sena gets one for checking from behind. I thought it was more unfortunate than violent as the player turned his back as Sena went to hit him, oh well. Alos then gets another penalty as PG was on the Power Play but it was a good penalty at the PG player was alone in front of the net.

- Seattle kills off the 5 on 3 with DeSerres playing a big role.

- Misplay by PG in their own end with Seattle pressuring leads to a scrum in front of the net where Elliot finally bangs home a rebound past Priestner for the 2-0 lead.

- Acolatse works the puck deep into the PG zone before feeding Jacobs at the hash mark where he places a perfect pass to Parker in front of the net who buries it 5-hole and the Tbirds lead it 3-0. This line of Acolatse, Parker and Jacobs has looked very comfortable together today.

- Jahraus replaces DeSerres who makes 23 saves and does not allow a goal. DeSerres had a little trouble controlling rebounds at times today but overall looked healthy, in control and solid in making his 23 saves. He was without question the reason why Seattle led 3-0 here at the mid point of the game.

- Muth over the boards for a delay of game penalty.

- Jahraus makes several solid saves here and the penalty it killed.

- Shortly after PG is on the board with a goal by #19. Shot was a good one through traffic and I'm not sure there was anything Jahraus could have done.

- PG penalty to #23 for holding of the stick.

- Period 2 ends with Seattle on the PP. PG leads in Shots 31-17 but the Tbirds have been very opportunistic and lead the game 3-1.

- Start of the 3rd period.

- PG penalty to #15 for delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass.... at the other end of the ice. First time I have seen that one happen in person.

- Seattle fails to convert on the PP but I really do like the new look of the PP, players are calm and seem to understand what they are doing and how it works. I mentioned that I will try to diagram what they are doing at some point next week but I can give a short description here. 2 D at the top with an overload of 2 forwards to the strong side, one about half way up the zone, one in the short corner and one player occupying the front of the net.

- PG pulls to within a goal as #18 scores an easy tap in as Jahraus made the initial save through a screen but the rebound squirted out to an unmarked #18 at the far post. Seattle needs to be careful here as they have led the entire way but PG has done the majority of the attacking.

- Seattle penalty on Parker for boarding, 6:16 left in the game.

- Nice work by Tyler Alos on the kill and eventually the PP is erased with a goaltender interference penalty on #27 of PG. Alos has really impressed me today and I can't see how he doesn't make this team.

- Final minute of the game and Sena Acolatse, who has also had a very strong game, blocks a shot from the point that hobbles him before getting back out to the point 15 seconds later for another block. What an effort by Sena giving up the body in the final minute of an exhibition game.

- Seattle wins 3-2 and improves to 2-0 in the preseason... PG leads the final shot total 37-22 but the Tbirds got pretty strong goaltending from DeSerres and Jahraus and some opportunistic goals to pick up the win. Seattle looks much more comfortable and dangerous on the PP so far and while I don't want to get too excited about things two games into the preseason you have to be encouraged by what you see and if this team was able to make a leap forward in the PP department they might not have as much difficulty scoring as previously thought.

Final Note... I will not be going to the game tomorrow night against Everett as I will be watching the Huskies hopefully upset LSU so if you have a comment or report, feel free to shoot it my way. I will be back up in Everett on Sunday for the 3rd and final game.