Blaine vs Duluth East 1-7-10

[minnesotaice]

there aren't enough fans to do chants. that arena is empty..


meanwhile, yuck.... blaine is looking terrible...

[mj79]

there aren't enough fans to do chants. that arena is empty..


meanwhile, yuck.... blaine is looking terrible...

there more ppl there than it looks like.. And i already said they werent chants... But humorous comments nonthe less

[mj79]

2-1 east

[dulutheastfan]

2-1 east

how much time

[mj79]

2-2

[mj79]

2-1 east

how much time

2-2

9 minutes left in 3rd

[minnesotaice]

overtime.

[mj79]

Heading to OT

[mj79]

2-2 FINAL


great job by east on this one, Hopefully they can take a positive out of this for the biggest game of their season so far against Minnetonka

[Goldfishdude]

Congrats to East.... with the Olympics right around the cormer, we almost had Miracle On Ice II......

Looks like Tonka is starting to have some cracks exposed..

OOPPPSS!! I was thinking Tonka... But Blaine, nonetheless... Even Better!!

[mj79]

Congrats to East.... with the Olympics right around the cormer, we almost had Miracle On Ice II......

Looks like Tonka is starting to have some cracks exposed..

we shall see this saturday.. I think east is gonna hang with them, but its gonna be a huge test for them, and its not home ice so hopefully they can pull it off

[east hockey]

Ugh....Lapanta says after the game "East has cemented themselves as the team to beat in 7AA". Last thing they need to believe.

Lee

[mj79]

Ugh....Lapanta says after the game "East has cemented themselves as the team to beat in 7AA". Last thing they need to believe.

Lee

I was thinking the same.. Andover and ER seem to be doing very well, How is GR doing?

[east hockey]

Ugh....Lapanta says after the game "East has cemented themselves as the team to beat in 7AA". Last thing they need to believe.

Lee

I was thinking the same.. Andover and ER seem to be doing very well, How is GR doing?

They're 4-7-1 but have played a pretty tough schedule so far. As of now I'd put them at the top of the second tier in this section with East, Andover and Elk River in the first tier.

Lee

[Goldfishdude]

Bjugstad didn't produce anything reported in Blaine's last game with 9 goals, and it appears that East kept him in check, too.. Kudos... great coaching Mike Randolph!!

[LetsPlayHockey22]

Pretty sloppy game it seemed, but nice job East on the tie, not what they wanted but in no way a disappointment to tie a tough Blaine team.

[BodyShots]

I only caught a little of this game in the 3rd period and there previous game against Tonks, and I gotta ask.

Does Blaine know how to break the puck out of their own zone? It looks like the de just flip it out of their own zone and hope a forward can go get it. How can a team be ranked in the top 5 and not have a defensemen than can skate the puck up and pass it to a forward.

[slyer]

seemed kinda sloppy to me but t.v can do that to young kids, east is the 7aa front runner by far

[northwoods oldtimer]

I only caught a little of this game in the 3rd period and there previous game against Tonks, and I gotta ask.

Does Blaine know how to break the puck out of their own zone? It looks like the de just flip it out of their own zone and hope a forward can go get it. How can a team be ranked in the top 5 and not have a defensemen than can skate the puck up and pass it to a forward.

Very good point Bodyshots I thought the same exact thing watching Tonka verse Blaine earlier in the year. Defense is the achilles heel of Blaine team pretty weak unit overall. I was hoping to see Blaine make a run at State but I think they will get tripped up at Excel by a heavy forechecking team. That may be what helped East against them tonight to even the odds. Not sure did not see the game.

[northwoods oldtimer]

east is the 7aa front runner by far

I would disagree this section is vanilla at best and wide open. Still looking for a front runner. East's 2 goal average will not go far in playoff hockey.

[Goldfishdude]

seemed kinda sloppy to me but t.v can do that to young kids, east is the 7aa front runner by far

Maybe it was because on TV, people look 10 pounds heavier!!!

[karl(east)]

Well, that was a fun night of hockey.

First, I screwed up the schedule and thought the Cloquet-Denfeld game was the first one. So I ambled into the arena between the 2nd and 3rd periods of the East game, took one look at the scoreboard, and realized something was wrong.

I found a spot to stand next to the FSN crew, which made for an entertaining night. Not too often you get live commentary at a rink, along with instant replay on the tiny screens. I didn't get a chance to talk to Gorg or LaPanta, but I did some quality creeping and shared a few laughs with the producer over Denfeld's circus goals in the 2nd game.

I also figured out who Howie Hanson is. (The "Howieblog" sweatshirt was something of a giveaway. ) I gave him a few awkward stares but managed to keep myself from accosting him.

As for the East game (or what I saw of it), I was very pleased. They forced Blaine to play their game and had an awful lot of quality chances. The defense had improved quite a bit since the last time I saw them, and it was good to see Welinski back on the ice a lot earlier than the injury reports had suggested.

After last year's loss to Blaine, I remember being quite cynical about East's chances going forward. After this year's Blaine game, they just might have made me a believer. Sure, there isn't as much talent as last year, and if they let up even a little bit things will come crashing down. But right now they look like a unified team instead of a collection of individuals, and I'm confident they can at least have a chance at anyone.

Looks like a road trip to Minnetonka is in order for Saturday.

[EHSHack]

Sloppy play by Blaine? Not really. Credit needs to be given where credit is due. East D-men stepped up and make some huge plays. Blaine was held to 1 shot on goal in the first period. 1 shot! Jojo also played great, and did not give Blaine anything down low. Also nice to see Paulseth back to laying the body, and the Randolph-Mellin-(Renier?) line looked great the whole game. I really liked how Mellin was protecting his teamates, especially with how hard Randoplg was getting hammered after the whistle and well after the puck was in the other zone.

[minnesotaice]

Sloppy play by Blaine? Not really. Credit needs to be given where credit is due. East D-men stepped up and make some huge plays. Blaine was held to 1 shot on goal in the first period. 1 shot! Jojo also played great, and did not give Blaine anything down low. Also nice to see Paulseth back to laying the body, and the Randolph-Mellin-(Renier?) line looked great the whole game. I really liked how Mellin was protecting his teamates, especially with how hard Randoplg was getting hammered after the whistle and well after the puck was in the other zone.

not taking anything away by DE's performance... but yes, Blaine played VERY sloppy. Passing was off the whole night, at times the blaine D was overagressive to the puck carrier (Richart in particular, who Gorg and Lapanta were glorifying the entire night), also Bjugstad had a very undisciplined penalty in the 3rd period that resulted in a goal for East.

Blaine's defense was exposed tonight for sure. They've got maybe 1 or 2 quality defensemen with good varsity experience. The rest were getting their passes intercepted all night.

[northwoods oldtimer]

Gorg and Lapanta were glorifying the entire night

Hey Minnesotaice those guys wouldn't know good hockey from bad hockey having to cover the Gophers every weekend