A Kzoo Look: November 21st
8 years ago
This is a guest post from AHL/ECHL Photographer Sarah Hobday, whose pictures you may have seen previously on this site and on other platforms. Sarah has been harvesting notes on the Kalamazoo Wings throughout the season. The Wings have multiple Canucks prospects on their roster, who are the focus of these bullet points below. Let Sarah know what you think in the comments; this could become a regular series!
- This was the K-Wings 3rd road game in 3 days.
- The first line of Fox and Blomstrand was split up over the weekend. Fox remained on the first line while Blomstrand moved to the second line.
- Fox and Cederholm were in the starting lineup.
- In Mackenze Stewart’s first shift, he checked an Evansville player hard into the boards. It was a clean hit, but another Evansville player took offense to it and challenged Stewart to a fight. This was Stewart’s first fight as a K-Wing. Stewart quickly won this fight. Both players received 5 for fighting.
- Stewart looked better than last Saturday’s game. You can tell he has several more games under his belt and is getting used to new teammates. Stewart is showing more speed than last weekend.
- Cederholm had a very strong game. He was making very smart plays all night. Cederholm looks confident in his play – you’d never guess he was a rookie.
- Blomstrand and Cederholm were on the second penalty killing unit.
- Fox was on top powerplay unit and Blomstrand was on the second one. Blomstrand assisted on the first period K-Wings PP goal by setting up the play.
- Early in the second period an Evansville player was chirping at Fox trying to get him to drop the gloves. Fox kept a level head and didn’t take the bait. But the ref gave both players two-minute unsportsmanlike penalties.
- Blomstrand was on the ice to start the resulting four on four. Blomstrand had a nice breakaway but couldn’t get a shot past the goalie. Cederholm also saw ice time during this four on four.
- Blomstrand had another strong defensive game. It is great watching this side of Blomstrand’s game develop.
- Stewart had minimal ice time – my best guess was about ten minutes for the game.
- Cederholm was exceptional on the PK tonight.
- Cederholm again was throwing great hits throughout the game.
- I spent the second period up in the press box. From this view, it is very apparent how much faster of a skater Blomstrand is than anyone else on the ice. He can skate circles around everyone with such fluid skating. He is fun to watch.
- Fox showing some great speed. This was also very evident while sitting in the press box. It shows how much Fox worked on his skating and speed over the summer in order to improve.
- In the second period, Blomstrand was moved to the to PP unit while Fox moved to the second one.
- Blomstrand saw a lot of ice time during a four on four in the third period.
- You can tell how well conditioned Blomstrand is. Even being the third game in three days, when he gets caught out on a long shift, he never looks tired or gassed. Blomstrand’s speed and hustle are always apparent.
- Fox picked up an assist on a third-period goal by Mallet. Fox fed Mallet with a great pass.
- I am still on the lookout for the first Curtis Valk sighting on the season…
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