NOVEMBER 11, 2016 - The Steele County Blades have an opportunity to force a tie for fourth place this weekend as the Chicago Cougars come to town for two games. Both games will be played at 7:30 PM at Four Seasons Centre this Friday and Saturday night.
This will be the Blades and Cougars first head to head match up of the 2016-17 season. In 2015-16, the Cougars beat the Blades all four times in the regular season and twice more in the playoffs to advance to the second round. This season, Chicago has a record of 9-4-1 through 14 games, amounting to 19 points in the standings. The Blades record of 7-3-1 for 15 points through 11 games. The Blades hope to close the gap between the two teams and earn their first win against the second year franchise.
“Last year, Chicago was a very fast team that created a lot of opportunity through their neutral zone transitions from defense to offense," said Assistant Coach Bobby Solari. "We, as a staff, are watching a lot of film trying to identify tendencies and how to counter them. We also want to be able to execute our game plan rather than having to adjust to theirs. I am excited to play these guys again. I know the guys in our locker room from last year have not forgotten who ended our season and I expect an exciting, heated weekend of hockey.’’
The Cougars look to Andrew Van Dyke early and often for scoring. Van Dyke (8 G, 13 A) has 21 points in 12 games thus far, with 10 of those points coming on the power-play. Anthony Beltrame also has 10 points on a lethal Cougars power-play that has a division leading 29% success rate. This is no short order for a Blades penalty kill, currently ranked third in the division at 83%. The Blades will need to stay out of penalty trouble to keep the Cougars potent power-play at bay.
Blades Captain Chase Lewis has had this day circled on his calendar for a while. “I personally have been looking forward to this weekend all year. The Cougars had a really strong team that knocked us out of the playoffs. I think we are ready to be successful this weekend; things are going well right now and we want to build off our success last weekend. It should be another step in the right direction from a team standpoint.”
Make sure to follow the Steele County Blades on social media for updates on tonight's game.
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