A Kzoo Look: December 12th
By Sarah_Hobday
8 years ago
Kalamazoo played two games this week – home games Friday and Saturday night against Brampton followed by a Sunday off. Kalamazoo dominated on Friday night for a 4-0 win. Blomstrand scored the 4th goal of the evening and had four shots on goal. Fox had one assist, seven shots on goal, and a 10-min misconduct penalty late in the game. I did not attend the game Friday night but arrived in Kalamazoo on Saturday.
After a 4-0 win, Friday night at home Kalamazoo had an optional Saturday morning practice. Blomstrand, Fox, Valk, and Witt were on the ice. Witt was the only goalie on the ice so got a lot of work in. Curtis Valk arrived in Kalamazoo this past week. Valk is on 21-day IR. I was happy to see Valk back on the ice with the team Saturday morning. He was wearing a yellow no-contact jersey. Valk looked pretty good skating wise but evident he is not back at game speed yet. Valk is expected to be ready to play by the first of the year. Evan McEneny is still on 21-day IR in Kalamazoo with an upper body injury. I have not heard a timeline for when to expect him back in the lineup. He did not skate with the team during the Saturday morning optional practice.
Not a lot of new information to report on the game Saturday. Lines remained the same with Fox on the 1st line and Blomstrand on the 2nd line. Blomstrand and Cederholm stayed on the 2nd PK unit. Witt hung out alone in the corner of the ice during the game instead of sitting on the bench. No wonder he also leaves practice alone with no one riding with him…
Fox stayed on the 1st PP unit at the point position. I miss seeing Fox plant himself in front of the goalie during power plays as that was where he was typically found last season. This season the coach moved him to the point with Mallet taking up residence in the crease. So Fox has been picking up more assists from setting up PP goals instead of scoring them himself. Fox picked up an assist on the PP goal less than 2 minutes into the game Saturday.
Brampton had a goalie change 2 ½ minutes into the game after the 2nd Kzoo goal. Kalamazoo dominated the game on Saturday in all areas. No Canucks prospects were whistled for penalties on Saturday.
Blomstrand was back to his usual high level and play and explosive speed that was great to see. Once he takes off no one can catch him. Surely his goal Friday night helped to boost his confidence. Blomstrand remained on the 2nd PP unit. Blomstrand scored the 3rd Kzoo goal 12 minutes into the 1st period – a chip in from a rebound of his initial shot.
Cederholm again had a significant amount of ice time and had a very solid game. Cederholm is unyielding in front of the net and doing an excellent job of clearing opposing players out from the crease area. As usual, Cederholm threw several great checks during the game and was smart with his physical play.
Fox got an order of new sticks in this week. Kissing one during warmups on Saturday did not help him score any goals, though…
Late in the 1st period, Blomstrand had one shift in which he had a great scoring chance and as play quickly moved to the other side of the ice he jumped back on defense to help out his goalie followed by a great check along the boards in the defensive zone. That was Blomstrand’s best shift of the night.
Fox was relatively quiet during the game. He took a few faceoffs during the game – unlike last weekend when he took about half the faceoffs for his line. Fox had solid play throughout the game with his speed and puck handling. Fox had three shots on goal.
With his goal and great overall performance, Blomstrand was named the 3rd star
Kzoo has three games coming up this week. A Thursday morning 10:30 am game start at home against Manchester, which will feature Yann Sauve’s first game back in Kzoo with the opposing team. Then Friday and Saturday night games at home against the Atlanta Gladiators.
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