Carleton Place Canadians AAA vs. Ottawa Jr. Senators AAA, October 9, 2017

Carleton Place Canadians AAA vs. Ottawa Jr. Senators AAA
October 9, 2017
HEO AAA Regular Season

OTT #16 F Mcgurn, Sean (2018) – Mcgurn possesses a very high skillset and strong skating ability at the AAA level. He has soft, quick hands and demonstrated patience with the puck to hold on, open up space and create a scoring chance when presented with the opportunity. He can accelerate quickly from the standing position, which makes him effective on the breakout and carrying the puck across the opposing blueline. His quick acceleration also makes him dangerous in the offensive zone. At one point, he moved off the sideboards into the high slot quickly for a shot on net. At another point in the game, he flashed a strong, accurate slap shot but didn’t score. His skillset can make him a very exciting player at this level, but his strength could use improvement as he was knocked off the puck at least once when a defenceman played the body on him.

OTT #25 F McDonald, Kyle (2018) – McDonald is a large center with a hard wristshot. Overall, he backchecked hard throughout the game and played strong in his own end in a non-scoring game. His skating is average at the AAA level and he lacks the speed to separate himself in a puck race. However, he is strong with the puck and uses his body well, often skating the puck up the ice on the breakout or to the net in the offensive zone. At one point, he muscled his way out from a scrum to get to the front of the net for a scoring chance. He drew two penalties throughout the game by moving his feet and protecting the puck well under pressure. He played a physical style throughout the game and laid a huge hit in the offensive zone. He occasionally backchecked below his team’s own goal line to battle for the puck. At one point, he demonstrated strong hand-eye coordination to deflect a point shot on net on the Powerplay.

OTT #11 D Rossides, Alex (2018) – Rossides played well offensively and saw lots of time on the Powerplay and Penalty Kill throughout the game. He made strong tape-to-tape passes along the blueline on the Powerplay and at one point flashed a strong wristshot from the point through traffic. His decision-making was sometimes questionable and led to a few giveaways throughout the game.

OTT #19 D Bays, Brendan (2018) – Bays plays a strong defensive game and uses his skating ability effectively. He is an agile skater and showed an ability to keep a useful gap while defending on the rush and pivot quickly if necessary. He saw some Powerplay time but wasn’t able to establish an offensive game, although he consistently made strong tape-to-tape passes. He showed an ability to throw a big hit when warranted and appeared to be positionally sound throughout the game. He was impressive in his own end at times, winning battles against multiple forecheckers and playing with lots of energy.

CPC #36 G Ranger, Joe (2018) – Ranger was the best player for Carleton Place throughout the game. He appeared to be steady and calm in net, even while under pressure, and made a few big saves on notable players to push the game to a shootout. Ottawa seemed to control the play throughout the game but Ranger saw the puck well through traffic and responded quickly. He flashed a big glove save on a slapshot from Sean McGurn and made a breakaway save on Kyle McDonald. Sean McGurn found the puck alone in the slot at one point in overtime and Ranger made the stop. He also dropped into the splits later in overtime to make a panic save.