Tonight the Peterborough Petes took on the Niagara Ice Dogs, a day after they traded star netminder Trevor Caan to the London Knights. The Petes defeated the Dogs 4-3 in overtime on Tony Romano's second goal of the game.
My Thoughts...
Tony Romano (Drafted 2006 by New Jersey/178th)
Romano looked very good tonight. His play is much improved from last season, looks like a totally different player. He uses his speed very well, especially in creating scoring chances and on the forecheck. He played in all situations tonight and was very effective on the penalty kill. Romano scored his first goal on the powerplay by getting himself in the right position to receive a pass cross crease, and put the puck away with authority. He also scored the game winner in overtime on a beauty where he managed to get by the Dogs defender with a nice move and roofed it top shelf. It's really night and day his play from last season with London, where I was never impressed with him in the times I saw him. Starting to develop into a solid prospect who likely could have a future as at the very least, an energy player in the NHL.
Zack Kassian (2009 NHL Draft Eligible)
Looked very good tonight. You can easily see why he's so highly touted. Wasn't as physical tonight as I've seen him previously, but was involved in all other aspects of the game. Had a couple assists, although none were primary. He played in all situations for the Petes and was tremendous on the penalty kill, using his size to gain possession at the top of the box. The most impressive thing that Kassian did tonight was gain and maintain a partial breakaway against Ice Dogs defenseman Drew Schiestel. As he got closer to the net, he used his body to shield Schiestel from the puck and managed to get a shot off on net. This really showed Kassian's skating ability, which is good for a big man. Schiestel is one of the best skating defenseman in the OHL and the fact that Schiestel wasn't able to gain much ground on him says to me he's really worked to improve his acceleration and overall skating ability.
Sergei Korostin (Drafted 2007 by Dallas/64th)
Korostin was an enigma tonight. In the first period he was great. Showed outstanding speed and puck carrying ability with a couple of near end to end rushes that resulted in scoring chances. He also was involved physically and defensively, making one nice play in particular by coming back to engage his man behind the net before he could get the pass to the open man infront of the net for a scoring chance. But he was completely and utterly invisible in the second and third periods. An endurance issue, or just consistency problems? Who knows. He's got potential though, just needs to put in a better effort from puck drop to game's end.
Jason Missiaen (Drafted 2008 by Montreal/116th)
The first thing anyone always says when they first see Missiaen is, "Holy **** he's big." The crazy thing is he's getting BIGGER. Last year he was listed as 6'6, now he's up to 6'8. On skates, he looks even bigger. Saw Missiaen twice last year. He was outstanding once and couldn't save a beach ball the other. He was outstanding tonight, likely trying to prove the Petes did the right thing in trading Trevor Caan. The Dogs outshot the Petes by a tremendous amount, but Missiaen stood tall, no pun intended. A couple of things that are very impressive about him. For one, he moves very well for a big man. He gets across the crease pretty quickly, making one great save in overtime by doing just that, robbing Chris DeSousa with the glove on a two on one. Secondly, he is aggressive in challenging shooters. When a 6'8 goaltender comes out to challenge the shooter, there isn't much net to shoot at. Generally with big goaltenders you can see them being passive, relying on their size to stop the puck, rather than sound mechanics. I can only say one negative thing about Missiaen. It's the same thing that I saw last year that lead him to be wildly inconsistent. He goes down to the butterfly way to early at times. In a sense, it's the probably the fact that he's trying to take away the lower part of the net, relying on his size to cover the top, but I've seen him get abused up high. All in all, looks to be progressing nicely and the Caan trade is only going to do wonders for him as he starts to see more action.
Ryan Spooner (2010 NHL Draft Eligible)
Spooner was pretty good tonight. He looks really tiny on the ice, but is elusive for the most part and manages to find himself in scoring positions. Although he did cut across the blueline with his head down and got absolutely hammered by Andrew Shaw. At his size, he's going to want to try to limit that from now on. But he scored the first Petes goal with a nice goal infront of the net where he deked out Mark Visentin, then put home his own rebound. He definitely seems to have offensive skills and hockey sense. At this point, even at his size, he's got to be considered one of the better 1992's playing in the OHL.
Chad Lowry (2009 NHL Draft Eligible)
Lowry is a 2009 eligible defenseman for the Petes that I was looking forward to seing tonight. He was alright. He was pretty good defensively and showed an ability to take the man and play well in one on one situations. Offensively, he was unimpressive. Failed to make the breakout pass on several attempts and didn't look incredibly comfortable with the puck on his stick.
Jamie Doornbosch (2009 NHL Draft Eligible, Born in 1990)
The best defenseman on the ice tonight for both sides. Doornbosch was passed over in last year's draft, but has started the 2008-09 season very well. He's got good size, showed a strong skating ability and took the body. He was excellent defensively, making one very nice play against an attacking Ice Dog forward, removing him from the puck with ease and crushing his momentum. Offensively he showed an ability to control play at the point on the powerplay and was able to get his shot through to create scoring chances. Really caught my eye tonight. If he keeps up his level of play, I can't imagine he goes undrafted again.
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