WHL: Johansson gets down and dirty

These are notes from a regular season game featuring the Kamloops Blazers in which a number of prominent Blazers were out of the lineup including Devan Dubnyk, Nikita Korovkin (later released), Josh Morrow, Eric Christensen and Paul Brown.

Dustin Slade Kamloops (WHL), G:

Tiny compared with his 6’5 goalie partner Devan Dubnyk .. quick feet .. has been out to lunch twice on glorious scoring chances, but was saved by the opposition missing the net .. got beaten by a bad angle shot .. nice glove save .. let in a goal off of a shot drilled from the high slot .. overall he looked shaky, however he ended up only letting in a pair of goals.

Roman Tesliuk Kamloops (WHL), D:

Russian blueliner makes crisp passes right on the tape .. played on the left side .. on both the powerplay and penalty kill .. skates up with the puck when given the chance .. solid hit which knocked a guy down .. doesn’t have outstanding mobility or the elite top end speed to catch up to player once he gets beat .. takes the pass with authority .. has trouble containing quicker forwards as he can caught flat footed.

Max Gordichuk Kamloops (WHL), D:

Started .. on pk and got on late during the odd powerplay .. big blueliner joined the rush and rang a shot off the crossbar .. not very quick or mobile .. looks a bit lost at times .. works hard every shift .. got away a bullet of a slapshot from the point .. supports his defensive partner and tends to be a stay at home type of defenseman.

Jonas Johansson Kamloops (WHL), F:

Amazing hands, stickhandles like the puck is on a string .. a fixture on the powerplay .. battles in the corner and not afraid to go in to high traffic areas .. took a dirty penalty on a hit from behind (called elbowing) .. appears stronger this season compared with last year.

Nathan Grochmal Kamloops (WHL), RW:

Played on the fourth line .. heavy slapshot, but high and wide .. above average top end speed .. doesn’t generate many offensive chances .. coach showed faith in him by playing him late in the game down a goal.

Cam Cunning Kamloops (WHL), LW:

Skates to the net with speed .. on powerplay .. forced a defenseman to take a penalty by skating hard out of the corner towards the net .. had a scoring chance by driving to the net tipping the puck wide .. has a heavy shot, but must work on his accuracy.

Kris Hogg Kamloops (WHL), LW:

Starter .. played on both special team’s units .. took a little off a slapshot and almost scored .. aggressive forechecker and reasonable strong on his feet.

Conlan Seder Kamloops (WHL), D:

Played on the right side .. got some time late on the powerplay .. mobile and plays his position well and generally takes his man .. moves the puck up to his forwards with accurate passes, but has to make quicker decisions in his own zone as he tends to get forced in to turnovers .. good top end speed.

Tyler Boldt Kamloops (WHL), D:

Starter .. turned it over in his own end .. played on both the specialty units .. likes to shoot the puck in to gain the offensive zone .. has trouble getting shots through from the point as they tend to get blocked or intercepted .. no problem moving the puck out of his own end .. solid on his skates .. opposing player had him lined up but ended up getting the worst of it when they collided.

Moises Gutierrez Kamloops (WHL), RW:

Starter .. hulking forward with some offensive skill .. used his vision and passing skills to make a beautiful pass on to the tape of a linemate breaking in to the clear .. dished out a solid check .. got out on the last part of a powerplay .. finishes his checks .. takes a pass as well as he gives it .. solid slapshot .. doesn’t have a great first step, but decent overall speed once he gets going.

Reid Jorgensen Kamloops (WHL), C:

Starter .. wears an A .. on PK & PP .. aggressive hard working forechecker .. ties up the opposing center on the faceoffs .. fluid skater with decent top end speed.