Game 2 is almost upon us and I for one am getting excited! Game 1 was an incredible roller coaster ride of a game and I think the entire series could go this way.
There has been some debate on the forum about whether or not Hershey is that much better or if Manitoba has yet to give their best stuff.
Personally I think all the talk of Hershey's scoring depth is moot at this point until someone else scores. So far 2 players have scored goals and a few of those goals were lucky. I mean how many times are you going to bank a shot in off a defenseman that is a good 6 feet away from the goal?
That being said I have already commented that all of Manitoba's goals were on special plays, 2 of them on 5v3 power plays and 2 more on poor defensive plays that led to breakaways. Can they score when Hershey is not taking penalties and playing good defense? Time will tell...assuming Hershey can stop taking bad penalties.
With all that said I now say this....
Neither team has played their best yet. After not playing each other in the regular season both teams spent game 1 getting a feel for each other. Early in the game the Bears were struggling with the Manitoba speed, throughout the game Manitoba struggled with Hershey's strength, and late in the game Manitoba again struggled with the Bears hustle and depth.
Game 2 figures to be a pretty big game in the series. Both teams need the win in my opinion. Sure Hershey now has home ice advantage and they don't have to go back to Manitoba if they can win their games at home. But if Manitoba comes out and wins they will gain a lot of confidence and momentum and they proved in 2008 that they can win in Hershey.
Hershey is going to have to come out much better then they have since the Wilkes Barre series if they want to take a 2-0 lead back to Hershey.
Can they get up for the start of a game when they already achieved their main goal of winning 1 in Manitoba?
Let's hope so.
LET'S GO BEARS!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment