Grand Rapids at Duluth East - Who wins?

[elliott70]

Duluth has two things going for them....
Coaching and playing against a short bench....
other than that it is all THawks.

[kniven]

Duluth has two things going for them....
Coaching and playing against a short bench....
other than that it is all THawks.

Agreed. And/but with rivalry games a lot can/and usually happen that doesn't add up. I've seen it countless times here in Cloquet. It will be fun to watch that's all I know for sure. I think the orange and black will win, but feel like the Greyhounds. Rivalry games will do this to you!

[silentbutdeadly3139]

Duluth has two things going for them....
Coaching and playing against a short bench....
other than that it is all THawks.

Agreed. And/but with rivalry games a lot can/and usually happen that doesn't add up. I've seen it countless times here in Cloquet. It will be fun to watch that's all I know for sure. I think the orange and black will win, but feel like the Greyhounds. Rivalry games will do this to you!

With the game misconducts handed out at end of the HT vs. GR game will there be players missing from GP?

[Usthockey13]

Duluth has two things going for them....
Coaching and playing against a short bench....
other than that it is all THawks.

Agreed. And/but with rivalry games a lot can/and usually happen that doesn't add up. I've seen it countless times here in Cloquet. It will be fun to watch that's all I know for sure. I think the orange and black will win, but feel like the Greyhounds. Rivalry games will do this to you!

With the game misconducts handed out at end of the HT vs. GR game will there be players missing from GP?

Yes I think both Anderson and Heitkamp are out for tomorrow

[BP]

5-2 Grand Rapids.

[silentbutdeadly3139]

Agreed. And/but with rivalry games a lot can/and usually happen that doesn't add up. I've seen it countless times here in Cloquet. It will be fun to watch that's all I know for sure. I think the orange and black will win, but feel like the Greyhounds. Rivalry games will do this to you!

With the game misconducts handed out at end of the HT vs. GR game will there be players missing from GP?

Yes I think both Anderson and Heitkamp are out for tomorrow

Hub also has Peterson with a game misconduct. Great game. missed all after horn action in the corner though.

[karl(east)]

Keys to the game...there are more for East because East needs more things to go right to win.

For East:

Win the battle of attrition. That means coming out strong early (an issue in some recent games), keeping it close, and letting their depth and freshness make the difference late.
Goaltending. Last season's section final will not go down as one of Kirk Meierhoff's greatest moments as a Hound, but he's been excellent so far this season. His .928 save percentage is equal to the much more hyped Zach Stejskal's. Assuming he gets the call tomorrow, he needs to be on his game for East to have a chance.
Stay out of the box. East needs to be pesky, but has to avoid giving that Rapids top line a man advantage. Don't play with fire.
Luke LaMaster's health. LaMaster is probably the most important player to East's success this season, and he's been out hurt since an injury in the Marshall game. I believe he'll be back tomorrow, but we'll see if he's at 100 percent.

For Rapids:

Composure. As I said in my comments after the Hermantown game, Rapids can go overboard emotionally sometimes. They play with an edge, which can be great, but can tip over too easily. If East sets out to annoy them, they have to keep their heads.
Defensive depth. With Heitkamp and Anderson out, the Rapids D, which is not especially deep to begin with, is in for a big test. We're probably going to see a ton of Stampohar, and also some minutes from kids who haven't seen much varsity ice time, especially not in games of any magnitude. How well do they hold up?

Even without factoring in recent playoff history, this one seems bigger than usual. Getting the last change in the playoffs would be a real benefit for Rapids, so they need this one or else they're almost certainly consigned to the 3-seed. The Hounds, meanwhile, have to prove they belong in the conversation along with Rapids and Elk River. As always, the mental side of things in this one will be huge.

[grindiangrad-80]

I can't get a feel for this one either way but I am guessing that whoever wins-their goal tender will be the player of the game.

Or it could be 7-6.

[blueblood]

I'm going with East on this one:

1) T'hawks have given up 42 shots to Hermantown and 52 shots to Holy Family. Giving up shots is a product of the entire team - fore-check, NZ play and defense. This is a bad trend against good teams for GR

2) Two suspensions resulting from Hermantown game. Hard to replace 1 player, let alone two.

3) Home game for the Hounds. A win by East could drop rapids into the 3 seed for Section 7, depending on the East vs. ER game in early Feb

[elliott70]

I'm going with East on this one:

1) T'hawks have given up 42 shots to Hermantown and 52 shots to Holy Family. Giving up shots is a product of the entire team - fore-check, NZ play and defense. This is a bad trend against good teams for GR

2) Two suspensions resulting from Hermantown game. Hard to replace 1 player, let alone two.

3) Home game for the Hounds. A win by East could drop rapids into the 3 seed for Section 7, depending on the East vs. ER game in early Feb

This could be a defining moment for Klatt.

[hadenuf]

I'm going with East on this one:

1) T'hawks have given up 42 shots to Hermantown and 52 shots to Holy Family. Giving up shots is a product of the entire team - fore-check, NZ play and defense. This is a bad trend against good teams for GR

2) Two suspensions resulting from Hermantown game. Hard to replace 1 player, let alone two.

3) Home game for the Hounds. A win by East could drop rapids into the 3 seed for Section 7, depending on the East vs. ER game in early Feb

This could be a defining moment for Klatt.

Not a defining moment for Trent.
I am having a hard time rooting for most of these kids but at least the suspensions are for what happened on the ice this time.

[BodyShots]

GR can't overcome the loss of two suspended D players.

Even with the loss, I think they have a shot at the #2 seed. DE record is not very good, and all coaches will know the reason for the loss during section assignments.

DE 5
GR 2

[grindiangrad-80]

bit.ly2gKGx6L


Have to copy and paste I guess.

[hawkenjonny]

GR by one. I agree that the two D men missing are going to be a factor, but still not sure East can shut down the THawks. Hope not anyway. I hope everyone can keep their heads and avoid more of the same problems. Like someone mentioned earlier, play with passion, but not to the point you are doing things that hurt your team.

[grindiangrad-80]

I couldn't make video work. Got in on KOZY.

[edgeless2]

Let's Play Hockey totally dropping the ball on the game of the week. Video worked fine for warmups.

[hockeycentral]

Can watch on ifan.tv

[grindiangrad-80]

Can watch on ifan.tv

Yep. Got it there. Working good.

[Duluthguy]

Try this:

http://www.ifan.tv/page/show/872603-channel-5

[edgeless2]

Thank you ifan!!

[grindiangrad-80]

Injuns should stay out of the box.

[grindiangrad-80]

Rapids needs to be a little smarter in the 3rd. East doing a nice job with their opportunities.

[edgeless2]

Does ifan do all east home games?

[grindiangrad-80]

Does ifan do all east home games?

Not sure but I don't think they do them all. They do have nice coverage though.

[grindiangrad-80]

Give East a lot of credit but I was assuming to see a better effort from the Rapids.