ECRHA Roundtable, Pottstown Weekend, 11/12-11/13/11

Once a week, Commissioner William Bourque and Senior Staff/Marketing Committee member Jesse Creek will bring you a weekly roundtable discussion, focusing mainly on naming players of the week. In addition to players of the week, insights and predictions on weekends will often be included. Hopefully this is a fun thing that everyone enjoys and we can continue to expand it in the future. As for now, here is the weekly ECRHA Roundtable:

 

Jesse Creek: Welcome everyone to yet another addition of the ECRHA Roundtable. Not as many games this weekend, as Pottstown played host to a variety of approximately thirty ECRHA games this past weekend. Here to discuss this with me as always, Bill Bourque!

Bill Bourque: Thanks, Jesse. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am for this week’s guest.

Jesse: About that…

Bill: This week’s guest, from the Buffalo Sabres, goaltender Ryan Miller!

Jesse: Yeah… just heard from his agent, Ryan won’t be able to participate in the roundtable today, his doctors haven’t cleared him for anything as of yet.

Bill: NO! Looks like we will have to go it alone, Jesse. Let’s get started, shall we? What are your thoughts on Division I this week, Jesse?

Jesse: My pick for first star this week to me is a no-brainer- Justin Zim from Stony Brook. He had a monster weekend, posting nine goals and four assists in three games. His three goals was the difference in Stony Brook’s closest game this weekend, a 5-2 win over Buffalo.

Bill: Interesting, I had a Stony Brook player as my top choice, but it wasn’t Zim. Derek Blatchley also had a great weekend, scoring five goals and adding seven assists for a total of twelve points. Blatchley was also very instrumental in Stony Brook winning all three games this weekend.

Jesse: For sure. Stony Brook looked great all weekend. They seem to be one of the most balanced teams in Division I. They receive scoring from several different players, play very good team defense, and have stellar goaltending. It’s tough to find a weak link in their game- they seem to be firing on all cylinders right now. That being said- who is your third candidate, Bill?

Bill: I’d have to go with Bryan Feiler from Buffalo. Despite finishing 1-2 this past weekend, Feiler scored six goals on the weekend to power the Buffalo attack. It is kind of hard to overlook someone who scores half their team’s goals for the weekend, so I think Feiler deserves some props for that.

Jesse: Agreed. My picks would be Zim-Blatchley-Feiler.

Bill: I had Blatchley originally as my first star, but I think you make a valid point about Zim’s goals in the Buffalo game. I would agree with those choices. Let's take a look at Division II, where a lot of players can make a case for player of the weekend. Who stood out in your mind?

Jesse: Robert Lerro from Northeastern. Granted, Northeastern has a lot of players who can score, but Lerro was impressive all weekend, especially in Northeastern’s closest game against Delaware. Lerro had a hand in each of Northeastern’s six goals, including scoring the game winner with eighteen seconds left, as they edged Delaware 6-5.

Bill: Excellent choice. I’d like to nominate Andrew Staake from Binghamton as a player of the weekend. Binghamton went 2-1 this weekend, and Staake had a hand in nine out of fourteen goals scored by the Bearcats this weekend. I definitely think he deserves a bit of credit.

Jesse: Staake was impressive for Binghamton. He is one of many offensive weapons for the Bearcats. My last nomination would be for the Northeastern goaltenders, John Harris and Jackson Betro. In four games, they posted a GAA of 2.00 and a save percentage of .867 to help guide Northeastern to a perfect 4-0 weekend. Harris looked very impressive all weekend, especially in the game against Binghamton.

Bill: I’d go with Lerro, Northeastern goalies, Staake. What do you think?

Jesse: I’d go Lerro, Staake, Northeastern goalies. My logic being that even though Northeastern went 4-0, Staake played a bigger role in his team’s success. It’s a close call, you could easily interchange the two.

Bill: For the sake of making you angry, I am going to stick to my guns.

Jesse: Fine, you are a jerk though. Let’s move on to Division III so I can forget this even happened.

Bill: Anything for you, sir. My first nominee is Gary Krupa from Cortland. Cortland scored a dizzying forty-nine goals this weekend, and Krupa wound up with fifteen points.

Jesse: Fifteen points is a lot, but don’t overlook CJ Gilcrist from Cortland as well. He scored twelve goals and added twelve assists- he pretty much had a hand in half of his teams goals this weekend, which is pretty impressive especially when you score forty-nine goals. Either way you slice it, a lot of the Cortland players had great offensive weekends.

Bill: Agreed- they seem to be the favorites right now to win Division III. My third pick for player of the week is Jared Bly from Syracuse. Syracuse was certainly undermanned this weekend, playing with four guys and a fill-in goalie. Needless to say, the weekend didn’t go too well for the Orangemen, as they dropped all three games. Bly, however, scored fourteen goals and added two assists to keep a lot of these games competitive, despite the circumstances.

Jesse: Agreed. Well said, Bill. I’d go with Gilcrist, Bly, Krupa.

Bill: You read my mind. That about does it here for us this week. Jesse, do you have any bold predictions for this upcoming weekend in Long Island?

Jesse: Our interregional guest, Central Florida, goes 2-2 over the weekend, beating Connecticut and Brockport, but falling to Stony Brook and Neumann.

Bill: I know that you jinxed them last time, but I think I am going to take Hofstra upsetting Stony Brook in a rare Friday night game on Long Island. I don't expect much scoring, but I am taking Hofstra 4-3 over Stony Brook. Until next time, keep it real.