Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Abuse of Equipment


Tarik El-Bashir reports in Capital Insider...


"It's well known that Milan Jurcina has one heck of heavy shot. Today, after a challenge from Karl Alzner, Jurcina took aim at the cross bar at one end of the rink at KCI. The result? He broke two sections of plexiglass. Wonder if that will be coming out of his check?"

I'd just as soon Jurcina take it out of goaltenders' hides. The defenseman has 25 shots on goal (two goals) in 31 games. But when he unloads...geez, it hurts from where I sit, and I sit in the balcony.

8 comments:

Paul said...

Yeah, with his shot like that, I would like to see him take it alot more.

You would think that the more he shot the more confidence he would get.

Anonymous said...

sessapesWhat I like is that when he's paired with Alzner, he'd freed to shoot and to play the game he does best. With Erskine, he's not, and the difference shows in his play. Since we saw an improvement in his play when we paired him with Fedorov on the blueline too, I'm inclined to think that his problem has been less him than who he's partnered with; Erskine just is not a good match for his game.

Nation's Capital said...

"this space for rent" You nailed it! Alzner has been the tonic for Jurcina, and I would also say it makes a huge difference to Morrisonn who he's paired with.

Anonymous said...

@Michael Eason: Agreed. Pairing Morrisonn with Collins seems to have settled him down too, so that when he went back with Green like he did Friday and Saturday, he was the solid S@H D we've all come to know and love, and not the spaz he was at the beginning of the season.

Overall, I think having to bring up all those Hershey blueliners has been a good thing for the Caps. It's settled us down and brought us to playing a simpler game on the blueline. We're not continuously out of position like we were at the beginning of the year. I wonder how much of that is Alzner?

Marky Narc said...

Juice has a super-heavy shot, but he also has a slow wind up. It's not that he isn't shooting, it's that they're getting blocked because opponents have time to get in the shooting lane.

Hooks Orpik said...

Marky has a good point: often times it's not the speed of the shot that's as important compared to how quickly a player can get the shot to the net.

And accuracy matters too...Wasn't the bet to hit the crossbar not fly it high? (Like I could do any better but hey)

The Peerless said...

When I started reading the article, I was kinda hoping the happy ending was going to be that Jurcina dented the pipe.

Marky Narc said...

Like I said - Juice is total money with the bomb of a shot he has.

*cough*