Pre Season

Well the first home preseason game in quite some time happened last night in the MC. While I was impressed with many aspects of the game, you could also see that not only were the players not quite ready for the opening face off of the year, but also game operations, the refs and many other areas were not ready either...

I know it was only preseason... but let's take a minute to review a couple of things from last night... Nissen is still not a WHL ref, he is just plain bad. Maybe I didn't see the rule change, but those two boarding calls on Boychuk were just bad calls. Nissen blew calls on both sides last night and overall I would rather see someone like Brian Fortin get a chance to ref then see Nissen call games this year. The WHL is a learning level of Hockey for the players, lets see some new refs too.

I know it was only preseason... but I really missed hearing "The Voice" call the game last night. The new PA person was not good in my opinion. This is not the NBA, so let's not try and introduce the players like it is an NBA game. I know that "The Voice" chose to move on, but he will be missed. Does this new person not understand that you have a volume control and that you do not have to yell? The PA needs to give information to the fans, and in this case they did OK... maybe this was a try out, and I will always give someone more then one chance... In the end, I just don't see this PA sticking...

I know it was only preseason... but, the Hawks have to bury the puck. Time and time again they had up ice rushes, and not to be turned away by the defense, rather they lost the puck because they tried to get fancy, or make one more move to beat the goalie. They have got to start burying the puck in the net. They had a ton of chance...

I know it was only preseason... but, Wotherspoon looked great. Time and time again he made the right decision and that will go a long way. The Hawks will be young on D, but have the players to be good, and that means not only this season, but next season too...

On to the Everett Pre Season Tourney, and I know, it was only preseason....