Sharp Shooting Neely
Registered User
Watched the 3rd game of the Q final tonight. SJ wins it 2-0, the 2nd goal being an empty net. First time I could see it on HD tv and not on a stream. Chabot is amazing, he played 35-40 minutes tonight no doubt, he's playing in every situation, with everyone and on both side (left-right).
That bring me to a point, I think I can understand better how Zboril might have been frustrated last year and how Green ask to be traded this year. Coach is giving so many minutes to Chabot, every other guy is playing only a somewhat limited role, even Bourque and Zboril who are repectively "probably" in the top 5 and top 10 of defensemen in the Q imho. Don't get me wrong, Chabot is WAY better than them at that level and nobody would trade 1 Chabot to get 2 Zboril or 2 Bourque on his team, but I suspected it's kinda a little bit harder for the kids to get their head to the game. Zboril dosen't have any major role, he is not playing on any of the go to special team, he is not use for decisive situation if they need a goal or if the want to protect a goal (I suspect it was the same for Green).
I would love to see him have more opportunities at crunsh time. Can someone tell me if he had more of those opportunities before SJ got Bourque at the deadline?
Great that you could find a broadcast of the game. The are very rare once the playoffs begin.
The complete reliance on Chabot to carry the mail as it were plays into the mixing and matching of D throughout the game. Zboril was relied upon to play a more prominent role when Chabot was not with the team and posted some good offencive numbers. Glorydaze touched on some of his numbers in an earlier post here. Recall it being a topic of discussion in another thread earlier in the season. Chabot has the most prominant role of any player on his team as you point out.
It does raise a discussion point of how involved (or not) teams are in influencing how their prospects are developed in junior. Most junior coaches are focused on winning as objective one and not player development. It you don't win you are out of a job. That lends itself to playing the crap out of certain players, ie Chabot, perhaps to the determinant of that player and to other prospects. Saw that situation play out with players like Drouin and Elhers during their time in Halifax. It leads to very bad habits being created (excessively long shifts, PP and PK assignments just because, poor back checking, penalties born of exhaustion and frustration of being targets for physical play from opponents and overall poor defensive play in general) that pro coaches then are forced to put the screws to them and work extra hard to get the bad habits out of their game. Zboril is fortunate that he is in a more fitting role that lessens those bad habits that follow top picks to they next level. It's not that he won't have any, it's more a case that they are fewer in number. Would venture a guess that Chabot will struggle in the first years of pro more than Zboril as they try to adjust to the demands of coaches at the pro level. Imagine if Chabot and Zboril were both playing for coaches like Julien or Tortarella who insist on responsible defensive play. Would be far different experiences for both players.
SJ has BB in a deep deep hole. They held SJ in check it would appear in this game with low shot totals and on the scoreboard as they relied on their strong defensive style of play to win. In the end it still wasn't enough to pull out a win in the must have game #3. Barring an unthinkable collapse we will see SJ at the memorial cup in a few short days.
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