HCB 2 - 1 OLL OT/SO
To dam the tide of potential negativity that comes after a loss like this, let's construct some hydroelectric positivity:
- We took a point off a top-2 team in the league.
- The improvement from where we were this time last season is immense.
- To say that we should have beaten KAC and Bolzano this week is something that would have been hard to fathom last year, where it took till November to have a home win.
- The Penalty Kill was outstanding, going 6 for 6.
- Horak was quasi-divine in net, with a casual 97.6 save % at 5 on 5 and then save after save in the shootout.
As good as hydroelectricity is, it comes with the danger of washing away the previous reality that existed before the dam. Let's not let that happen. I talked with my Dad yesterday, who used to be a professional sportswriter. He advised me not to allege bias in the officiating. That was my most difficult task of the day. See below:
- Ege gets high-sticked in the goalmouth and is bleeding from both nostrils. The high sticking stopped him from following up a net-front chance. Nothing gets called - this should have been a double-minor. One for the high stick, one for drawing blood. How this doesn't get called is absolutely beyond me.
- Kerbashian gets boarded by Valentine (more on him later) and starts bleeding profusely from his mouth. There is blood on the ice and all over his jersey. The play started off fine, but Valentine clearly pushes Kale's face into the boards at the end of it. No minor penalty, no double minor. Again, in what universe is this not called?
IIHF rules for blood on a double minor - it's used as evidence of injury. Apparently the refs didn't consider Ege bleeding from both nostrils as an injury, but then they didn't count the high stick, either!
60.3 Double-minor Penalty - When a player carries or holds any part of his stick above the shoulders of the opponent so that injury results, the Referee shall assess a double-minor penalty for all contact that causes an injury, whether accidental or careless, in the opinion of the Referee.
41.1. BOARDING A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any Player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the Boards violently or dangerously. The severity of the penalty, based upon the impact with the Boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee. There is a considerable amount of judgment involved in the application of this rule by the Referees.
- On the flipside, Bolzano got six penalties to our one. The distinct impression I currently hold is that if we bloodied their players we would get instantly called on it.
- I am sure it is not the league's stance, but according to these referees, you are absolutely fine to take out the opposing team's top line centre for the final minutes of a very tight game with no repercussions whatsoever. Good to know!
- Bolzano giving Valentine the MVP, after he did nothing noteworthy apart from illegally taking out Kerbashian, was pretty despicable of them. Obviously we don't like the Carinthia teams, but I think we can add Bolzano to our list of rivalries this season. Take the man's number for next time, fellas (44).
Lineup changes
The cavalry has arrived - Zajc and Vodlan rejoin, with Kapel demoted to 13th forward. What is up with Zajc this season? Has he got a recurring injury or something? Or is it performance-related? He's been in and out of the lineup, which is unusual for him.
Sodja gets bumped up to the 3rd line, which makes me feel strangely sad - it just doesn't look right for him to be playing on a line without Beričič!
Stars of the game
* Lukaš Horak - It's an absolute travesty that this performance did not result in a victory. What more can he do? He was locked in for a shutout until a screened shot pierced his shield wall. He then went on to dominate in the penalty shootout, bringing out a gobsmackingly-good scorpion save (my favourite live moment of his from last year, too), but tame penalty after tame penalty on our side couldn't help him out.
** Aljoša Crnović - I'm not going to deny that I enjoy being right. Carry-ins to the offensive zone are more effective than dump-ins in creating scoring chances (see Dom Luszczyszyn's work at The Athletic), and in my view only two players seem to be able to do this consistently and effectively. Those are Crnović and Kerbashian. Mašič has looked out of sorts so far this season, with turnovers galore, so perhaps reuniting Crnović with Pavlin on the top pairing and giving Mašič some time off to work on his game could help. In that scenario, Hebar or Bohinc would come in as 7th defenseman, both of whom I enjoy watching and believe have considerable potential to develop.
*** Žiga Pavlin - I thought the captain consistently used his body, length and stick well to disrupt Bolzano's dump-ins, attacks and rush chances. If you were a young defenseman watching this game, as the Olimpija juniors seated near me were doing, you were in for a treat of a display. Well done, sir.
Notable contributions: Penalty kill going 6/6!!!
Analytics
Just PDO, still getting used to tracking the basic shots and saves, so I will build up to doing the fancier stuff.
P1: 7 shots, 16 saves, 1 goal scored.
P2: 5 shots (4 more on PP), 11 saves (4 more on 2 PKs)
P3: 3 shots, 11 saves (4 more on 2 PKs), 1 goal conceded.
OT: 2 shots, 5 saves (4 more on 2 PKs)
5 on 5 shooting %: 1/17 = 5.88 (down from 33 last game)
5 on 5 save %: 42/43 = 97.6 (up from 81 last game)
PDO = 103.48
We are in the 'dull' zone of Boston Hockey Stats' PDO breakdown of the NCAA last season. I didn't think this game was dull at all, but high save percentage and low shot percentage leads to some tight and low-scoring games. I think I prefer that to the rollicking 5-7 scores!
Slightly above 100 means we are not playing in a 'lucky' or an 'unlucky' fashion - this is pretty much who we are. Which is a good thing, as barring the low shooting percentage (5%), which should revert to the mean of around 10% in pro hockey, we were playing well against a very good and high-scoring team.
Game flow
P1
1749 HIGH DANGER CHANCE
Crnović finds Zajc, who has an open net at the back post but doesn't take it cleanly and it squirms wide.
1130 GOAL OLIMPIJA
Crnović with a gorgeous carry-in to the offensive zone and a beauty of a pass back to Zajc who just about gets it home.
L3 +1
Crnović and Pavlin +1
1-0
1040 Horak comes up big with a double save.
945 A funny sequence as Ćosić kicks it from the neutral zone back into the offensive zone twice in succession.
914 Huge stop by Horak. Pavlin fails to pinch in the offensive zone and Tomaževič can'r get back to help out with the 2 on 1.
Some embarrassing turnovers in the offensive zone from us.
1-0
P2
HCB have two good chances in the first 30s.
Just as I'm writing 'no penalties so far'...
1417 PEN OLL
Atwal for interference, 2 mins. To me, he just outmuscled the overmatched forward, but the refs think differently.
The commentator says Horak had a 'sensazionale' save. Bičevskis does a great job at the end essentially sitting on the puck to waste time.
1038 Horak glove save on a 3 on 1.
More mind-numbing offensive zone turnovers, unforced errors in tennis parlance.
Lavoie's search for a first goal continues...
552 PEN HCB
Slash on Beričič, 2 mins.
Decent possession in the first minute, but messy final minute.
337 PEN OLL
Mahkovec for something unannounced. Interference? Hit to the head? Roughing? It's unlucky as the HCB player's head was lowered, so what would have been a shoulder to shoulder hit was not. 2 mins.
120 Double save by Horak. HCB turning the pressure valve right up to end the period.
1 Tomaževič with a strong faceoff win to see out the period.
1-0
P3
1718 GOAL BOLZANO
They hit the post on a 2 on 1, which Pavlin disrupted, but then a point shot is deflected up and in.
1-1
1643 3 on 2 rush for HCB
1533 3 on 1 rush for HCB
1502 PEN OLL
Sabolič for a high stick. Accidental.
PK contesting the zone entries 4 across. Seems like a new tactic.
Italian camera team still picking out pretty ladies in the crowd, à la Noughties football coverage. Love to see a bit of tradition ^^
We look pretty toothless at the moment, just absorbing HCB pressure.
11 - still no shots on goal so far this period for us.
1121 Tomaževič is through on goal - shoot! Instead, he passes to Sabolič and the attack fizzles out with an interception. As Shoresy would say, get the puck on net!
1040 NO PEN HCB - Ege gets high sticked for all to see on a net-front chance from a Gregorc pass. Hello referees?! His nose is bleeding?? (See top of article for more)
Shortly after, Kerbashian gets bloodied on the boards - refs discuss but nothing for that, either. Seriously?! (See top of article for more)
536 left and we get our first shot on goal in the period.
330 Another mishandle by Mašič. Is he ok?
Beričič is playing 1C with Kale out.
PEN OLL
Ege trips a HCB player as he falls to the ground.
1-1
OT
39s left of the Ege penalty. Starts 4 on 3. Bičevskis, Gregorc and Pavlin are out there.
Mašič and Mahkovec get decent shots on goal.
207 Horak saves a 1 on 0.
51s left PEN OLL
Simšič collides with another player for a 'slew foot'.
1-1
SHOOTOUT
HCB X Horak saves
OLL X Lavoie with some weak dekes
HCB X Horak saves
OLL X Sabla can't elevate it and it's well saved.
HCB SCORE - Helewka, a dangerous player identified in the GB Preview, gets it under Horak's glove.
OLL SCORE - Kerbashian gets some revenge, going glove side as blood still streaks down his chin.
OLL X Mahkovec tries the same thing he did successfully last shootout. They are going to do some basic scouting, Marcel...
HCB X hit the post.
OLL X Kerbashian again? I need to read the rules of shootouts in this league ^^. Great save but again, we need to elevate the puck over the pads. Easier said than done, especially when you've been brutally boarded minutes before.
HCB X Horak saves.
OLL X Sabla.
HCB X Horak SCORPION SAVE OMG!!!
OLL X Mehle - tries to stop and shoot but it's another tame penalty by a Olimpija player.
HCB X Horak saves.
OLL X Gregorc.
HCB X Horak saves.
OLL X Kerbashian again.
HCB SCORE Helewka finishes us off.
ENDS 1-2 OT/SO
Final stats
Penalty Kill = 6/6 = 100%
Powerplay = 0/1 = 0%
Final thoughts
At the start of the game, Coach Karhula said that we needed to "keep the focus" and "eliminate weird moments". We did both of those, so mission success in that regard. It's a shame Bolzano scored on a heavily-screened shot, as Horak was otherwise dead set on a shutout. Referees will make mistakes but missing two extremely obvious calls in quick succession at the end of the 3rd period cannot happen again if the league wants to maintain competitive integrity.
Dropping 5 points over the last two games when we should have won both is tough, but both HCB and KAC are strong teams, so it's not the end of the world, or season. As G.B. said in his preview, Linz are much more of the mediocre variety, so we must beat them at home tonight. Forza Zmaji!
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