Game played on 11/15/2024.
General Game Notes: The Tri-City Storm just edged out the Waterloo Blackhawks tonight 5-4 in a shootout. The game was a back-and-forth, with both teams trading goals through regulation. In the decisive shootout, Carmelo Crandell was the hero in a win and go home situation.
Carmelo Crandell (C, R, 5’11”, 176, Tri City Storm, 03/02/2005, Arizona State)
Grade: A-
Comments: The hero in tonights game scoring the shootout winner in impressive fashion while also adding two assists to the scoresheet. Crandell scored showing off his wrist shot coming in slow and drifting to the middle. As the goalie pushed to the side, Crandell saw his opening and fired one low right next to his pad, great goal under pressure. He likes to have the puck in the offensive zone, when shooting, he uses his strong build up and spatial awareness to his advantage. Crandell recognizes both shooting and passing lanes extremely well with his head constantly moving. He likes this play when he has a defender on him he does a subtle but deceiving body twist that often makes the defender bite right before he looks to release.
Rhys Wallin (C, L, 6’3″, 172, Tri City Storm, 08/03/2005, UMass Amherst)
Grade: B+
Comments: Scored an impressive goal on the power play tonight coming off the half wall into the slot, as he picked his corner and waited for a little screen, Wallin beat the goalie from a bit of a distance with a power wrist shot. This was a prototypical flanker goal and showed that this power play spot suits him well. He is creative on the rush and recognizes scenarios on the odd man rush and makes a smart decision with the puck. He sells the pass the entire time, but once he identifies the defensemen attempt to block the pass and back up toward his goaltender, Wallin will shift his weight and use the space to his benefit. Instead of forcing a pass or shooting right away, he corrals the puck slightly back in his stance while on the forehand, creating more space for himself.
Ilya Morozov (C, L, 6’3″, 197, Tri City Storm, 08/03/2008, Miami (Ohio))
Grade: B
Comments: Morozov has a powerful stride and uses his size accordingly. His goal happened so quick it needed to be watched a couple times. As he caught the puck in the slot on his off side, with one stick handle he put the puck in his back foot and snapped it over the goalie shoulder. The way he was able to get this shot off and in such an accurate spot, it was one of the nicer goals of the night. Morozov is bigger and does take a couple strides to get going but at slower speeds, there were times where he dazzled with the puck, making unexpected passes, and creating plays out of seemingly harmless rushes. His creativity is smooth but risky at the same time. His creativity when moving out of the corner leaves opponents unsure what his move would be, whether it would be thrown on the net, a pass to the point or a shot out front.
Nolan Roed (C, L, 5’11”, 186, Tri City Storm, 10/25/2005, St. Cloud)
Grade: B
Comments: Roed was able to show tonight that he has great straight line speed. Couple times he would get the puck on the breakout at a dead stop and immediately get his feet going, enough to keep a gap between him and the back checker. Scored a nice goal on the power play finding a loose puck sitting at the net front. Smart play by him seeing that the goalie cut his angles out hard so the puck was either going to be sitting at the top of the crease or he had a back door positioning play. Roed needs to bear down along the wall while on even strength. Too many times tonight after a bump, the puck would leave his stick. He is skilled with time and space but in the hard areas, if his first couple dangle attempts do not work, he finds himself chasing back.
Artemi Nizameyev (LW, R, 5’9″, 168, Tri City Storm, 11/20/2005)
Grade: B
Comments: Nizameyev is a smaller forward who plays with pace. For a player with all of this skill, there were periods of time where he was a non factor in both zones. If his skilled game is not on, he has trouble finding other ways to make an impact, too many made ill advised passes, or was just lazy defensively. Players who hit consistently, usually are deemed as energetic role players, typically given an edge over players who do not hit. He can make it simple to add this type of offort. For his size, he does have determination in front of the net. He drives the net with power. His quick feet allows him to get laterally effectively on the rush or in small spaces.
Brendan McMorrow (LW, L, 6’0″, 180, Waterloo Black Hawks, 03/27/2006, Denver)
Grade: B
Comments: McMorrow was able to show tonight that he has the confidence to try to get through an entire team on his own, even when sometimes he probably should not. His higher risk style shows when he occasionally forces passes in the offensive zone that lead to turnovers, and can lose possession while trying to stick handle between multiple defenders. Defensively, he lacks the energy he brings to the offensive zone and rarely throws hits or finishes his checks and will try to use his speed to compensate for his size. He is one of the more skilled players on the ice and you can see flashes of that but not on a consistent basis tonight.
Teddy Townsend (C, L, 5’10”, 170, Waterloo Black Hawks, 09/02/2005, Minnesota)
Grade: A-
Comments: Townsend is a typical smaller forwards, who can play with the puck with pace. He has a unique ability to get to top speed to get the puck on his stick with his head up. He was able to show tonight that he has good balance, making him hard to knock off the puck along the boards, which is crucial for a player his size. He is quick moving north to south, but could still find another gear as he develops. The one aspect of his game that allows him to be a threat is his shiftiness and ability to take on defenders one on one. He loves to drive the play inside, but he does so by making the defender think he is going to go outside, often using cross overs, shoulder fakes, and rapid changes of pace. Townsend offensive game is better than his defensive game but he does have a good stick that showed up a couple times, not his strong suit though.
Joseph Monteiro (LW, L, 6’0″, 203, Waterloo Black Hawks, 01/12/2006, Providence)
Grade: B
Comments: Monteiro plays a hard game. He uses his size well on the back check and is able to bump players off the puck along the boards when the opportunity arises. When crashing the net for rebounds, he can box out defenders effectively, giving him chances for easy rebound goals. He uses his size well in all three zones. He made a nice offensive zone play where he uses his body to gain position on the opposing player prior to receiving the pass along the boards. He then fights off a couple of hacks before sending a pass to his teammate in the slot creating a grade A scoring chance. He loves to draw in defenders, then protect the puck with his body and slide the puck back to the open defenseman at the point.
Nicholas Kosiba (RW, R, 6’0″, 176, Waterloo Black Hawks, 01/17/2007, Western Michigan)
Grade: C+
Comments: Picked up a nice power play goal tonight at an important time. He was able to show tonight offensive plays where he can retrieve the puck and quickly slide it back to his d-man, who can then reset the play. Kosiba is not always making passes that result in high-quality scoring chances, but he utilizes his teammates well. He is most dangerous when he fakes like he is going to shoot, only to rip a no look pass across to his teammate for a high quality shooting opportunity that will catch the opposing team off guard.
Chase Jette (RW, R, 5’10”, 174, Waterloo Black Hawks, 04/09/2007, Wisconsin)
Grade: B-
Comments: Jette is smaller but plays with enough energy that makes himself think he is bigger than he is. Did a good job tonight when breaking the puck out, he receives the puck on the half wall, identifies the space he has and pursues up ice. He made a nice offensive play on the rush where he saw the the opposing teams trailer covering the forward and instead, cut toward the upper slot. The defender pushes to his side, but Jette kept the puck on his backhand, and his back and rear end facing the defender to protect the puck. His pass just misses his teammate, but it shows the creativity he has when given both the time and space. Even thought Jette is smaller, he is fairly consistent at finishing his checks, even though he is not one to throw hits often.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images