The battle for first place was won by the Bandits… for now. There were low-scoring games all over the place in week 14 – only one of the five games featured more than 21 goals, and two of them had both teams held under 10. Unsurprisingly, goaltending is featured in a number of my Awesome entries this week.

Awesome

Bandits vs. Rush

We expected a hard-fought game between the #1 and #2 teams in the league, and that’s exactly what we got. In the end, the ranking stayed the same but the game was an exciting back-and-forth affair. Even in the last minute of the game when Buffalo had a two-goal lead, we all knew that the Rush had the ability to tie it. Until it was physically impossible to score two goals in the time remaining, I couldn’t look away.

Both goalies were excellent, allowing under 10 goals, having save percentages over 80%, and making all the saves you expected them to. I thought the defences in front of them were also excellent, with a lot of possessions ending in a desperation shot through traffic or just tossing the ball into the corner. Any time you can keep Josh Byrne to two goals and Dhane Smith to none, you’re doing something right. The Rush were able to keep up with the Bandits even without Robert Church, and one wonders how different this game might have been had Church been available.

Goaltending in Vegas

Landon Kells had an 86.7% save percentage and only allowed eight goals on sixty shots. And he lost. Warren Hill (pictured below) only faced 46 shots but only allowed five goals for an 89.1% save percentage, the fourth highest in a game this season. I didn’t see much of this game (it started late and I was sleepy) so I don’t know how much of that was due to struggling offences or strong defense or excellent goaltending (or likely some combination of the three) but from what I did see, the excellent goaltending was definitely a big factor.

Dillon Ward

Nick Rose had a pretty good debut in a Roughnecks jersey on Saturday night. He made some pretty good saves and a couple of very good saves, but ended up losing. But at the other end of the floor, his Orangeville buddy Dillon Ward had an outstanding game. He kept Calgary off the board until 3 minutes into the second quarter, only allowed two goals in the first half, and made exceptional save after exceptional save the whole game. The Roughnecks started to have more success against him in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

Behind the net camera angle

In the Georgia / Ottawa game on Friday night, they used a camera behind the net for a few shots. I liked it – it gave you a different view and was wide enough that you could see all the defenders and offensive players at once. It actually gave an even better view of the defenders doing their thing and preventing the forwards from getting a good look at the net.

I’m still undecided on the drone camera. It seems like a gimmick, but that’s probably because it’s so new. Sometimes the shots it can get are pretty cool and definitely unique. I suspect that as it gets used more and more, the operators will get really good at capturing unusual and more interesting shots during play.

Refs explaining stuff

The refs seem to be spending more time and effort explaining penalties and goal challenges this season. They’re certainly done that in the past but not always to the same level of detail as now. It’s way more helpful for the fans in the arena who don’t have the advantage of broadcasters telling them what the refs are looking for during the review, and it’s also good in terms of transparency for the officials. It’s not just “Here’s the decision we made”, it’s “Here’s the decision we made and why.”

Todd Labranche

Speaking of explanations from the refs, this one from Todd Labranche may not have been very detailed, but was still awesome: “After review, my partner nailed it and I was wrong. That’s a good goal”

Not Awesome

Attendance in Saskatchewan

You have a second-place team that’s having a great season. You’re facing the defending champions. The winner ends up in first place overall. It was 0°C at game time. And you only got 7k in the arena? And that’s the season high? For some teams that would be excellent but the Rush averaged more than 11000 for five straight years from 2016–2020. Come on, Rush fans, we know you can do better than that.