Larry Lisk beat me to the punch with his report card on the Tips so far this season. Here’s how he graded the team:
I have been a Season ticket holder since day 1. I have enjoyed your articles and Blogs. Looking at the schedule I noticed we are approaching the half way point. I thought I would Grade the season so far-
Offense- C. The Tips only have one scoring line. In WHL you need to have 2-3 scoring lines, and a good checking line. You can’t really win when you have 2
scorers and on a team of 25. Beach and Hamill look good at times but also must have help from others.
Defense- C-. They just can’t clear the zone at times. About 1 third of the goals given up so far are because of Defensive collapses. The goaltenders need a little help.
Goaltending- C. Both Irving and Barrie have been sporadic at best. Both have had very bad games and then looked good in others. Only 1 shutout we are use to more. Defense needs to help here. Barrie still needs more time in net, He will be number one once Irving leaves for nationals. Simpson might have to see time then.
Penalty Kill- B-. Again they are inconsistent. Go 20+ Penalties without giving up a score. Then seem to give up scores with ease. Good job killing 5-3’s.
Power Play- C. Can some at least pull the trigger once in a while?? Bad passes, to many passes, not hitting the open man, no-one in front of the net all are hurting here.
Shoot out- D-. We lost the two best shoot-out players in the WHL- (Sonne, Mueller) no-one wants to take their place.
Coaching- C-. Becanic keeps playing with line-ups. I know injuries have hurt and star players playing in special events (Russia/Canada Challenge, etc) have limited players, but I think one major problem with the team consistence is inconsistent lines. Things aren’t going to get better in the near future with Nationals coming up. Becanic has a though job ahead.
Future- D. Near future Tips losing Key player to all-star games will hurt this next month, they might be lucky to go .500. Far future, The Tips might lose up to 7 star players next year: Overagers- Crowley, Gender, Bauer; AHL/NHL Hamill, Irving, Ellington, Beach. (Harty and Potuer might have a chance at the AHL also) The Tips have no-one to step-up and replace them.
Overall- D. The team is to inconsistant to be good. They might finish .500. We have young players that must step up and play offense, and score. You can’t win with 1 Offensive line and 3 Checking lines.
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