Prospect Tournament Practice Updates And Tight Standings

Practice Updates:

The Wings hit the ice for the first time since losing to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday afternoon. Lines in practice were the same as they’ve been for the entire tournament so far, and it appears that Todd Nelson doesn’t plan to make any changes. So lines for tonight’s game against the St. Louis Blues at 7:00 PM should look like this.

Lines:

Forwards

Tyler Bertuzzi - Kyle Criscuolo - Evgeny Svechnikov

Dylan Sadowy - Dominic Turgeon - Zach Nastasiuk

Givani Smith - MIke Borkowski - Mathew Santos

Luke Coleman - Jeff De Wit - Alex Globke

Defensemen

Joe Hicketts - Robbie Russo

Dan Renouf - Filip Hronek

Mathew Caito - Jordan Sambrook

Goalies

Jake Paterson

Connor Hicks/Stephen Dhillon

Scratches

Stephen Dhillon/Connor HIcks

Dylan Coghlan

Adam Marsh

Justin Brazeau

Luke Kirwan

Practice today focused on puck movement, passing, shooting, line rushes, transition, and power play work. Both of the power play units had one half of the rink to themselves for about 10-15 minutes getting individual instruction and direction from the coaches. Given how poor the power play was against Chicago, the extra attention to these groups was much needed. Something interesting I noticed during the power play practice, was that on the first PP unit of Svechnikov, Criscuolo, Bertuzzi, Hicketts, and Russo, it was Svechnikov not Bertuzzi who was the net front pest. I’d rather see Chevy as the shooter and Bertuzzi as the pest/puck tipper, but what do I know.

Tournament Standings:

After two days of games, here are the current team standings (prior to any games on Monday).

As you can see, the Wings division is as tight as can be. The tournament uses the following point system. Three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime or shootout win, and one for an overtime or shootout loss. Today’s games are going to be extremely important for the Howe Division, since all teams are currently tied with 3 points. There are four tiebreakers in place, should there be a tie after tonight’s round of games.

Tiebreakers:

1. Most points earned in head to head play (if 3 teams are tied in points, then the points earned in games involving those 3 teams in head to head play shall count).
2. Best goals for, versus goals against differential
3. Most goals scored in all team games (shootout goals do not count)
4. Coin toss.

Tonight (Monday) is the final round of games before the “placing” games on Tuesday. After Monday’s games, we’ll know which teams are playing for which places on Tuesday.

Check back later for a game recap and update on standings after Monday’s games are completed.

I’ll leave you with this fun throught until then.