#with ambrose and poulin on the first all star team [though i think what they mean is the all pwhl team bc they did all star already

[the-physicality]

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[the-physicality]

The minutes were extremely well split up among the forwards today which is super good. And interestingly the third line actually had the most minutes among the forwards. What did you think of the new defensive pairings?

I saw the minutes. what it tells me is either something's going on that we don't know about [unlikely bc it was all of them] or that first line still isn't doing what it needs to be doing because they aren't producing enough. I do like that the minutes were more evenly split; it means that kori trusts more than just team canada to get the job done, and they are doing it. If that top line was doing their job, they'd be playing at least 17. and these are numbers with 3 [unsuccessful] power plays.

honestly i don't know what is going on with the top line re production overall but they have to find the third person or start from scratch. Because, and this is the real issue here, outside of the NY game which let's not even get into, we're winning games, but they are way closer [by scoreline] than they should be. We aren't converting on good looks, we're not making smart plays on net, and as per usual, we let in stupid goals. So we have the closest GD in the league, which does not [or does] reflect the quality of our play. We've played 5 games, winning 4, and scored 14 goals. Minnesota has played 6 games, winning 4, and scored 22 goals. We have 1 person [ Abby Boreen, thank you] in the top 20 players when ranked by points at #16 with 4. This has some to do with not assisting enough [not playing good clean hockey, just scoring against the run of play or second chance points] and some to do with not converting good looks, not taking smart shots, and some to do with not converting on the PP. [and a little to do with the fact that most teams have played more than us]

I do wonder if we were just playing to minnesota's weaknesses [petrie just got put on ltir, their defense is shallow with jaques out, they've dealt with illness]. of course i don't have rotation maps [thank you pwhl] so i can't see if they were or not without rewatching the game, and I won't be doing that tonight so. But the idea is you play to the mismatch and maybe that's what kori was doing. or maybe she was just playing who was doing well. The only other thing that might have messed some stuff up is if the lack of stoppages in the 3rd impacted when line changes were happening [though seems unlikely]

as for the D pairings: they didn't really have a choice with boulier out. Kori's thing this season has been you spread out your strong D so you have one person to anchor each pair and they can't just put out their stars on our 3rd pairing. So Ambrose, Tabin, and Banres are on separate lines. It was interesting that they didn't add a 7th D as they've done all season but if C Daoust just signed a contract yesterday or the day before, that's a tough ask when you don't need to make it.

Ambrose reunites with Keopple which obviously worked out well [they both ended +2, Keopple with her first goal] Tabin-Kjellbin pairing wasn't on ice for any goals so to an extent they did their job, and Barnes-Wilgren was on the ice for the poulin goal and their tow, but their two also had the 4th line out [which was also out for the keopple goal]

as for the opponent's goals- I didn't like them. the first one went off their player unintentionally and the second was poor defense from our players and goalie - it was sitting there waiting to be kicked in [and it wasn't the only one this game, we just got lucky that they couldn't complete those plays]

I would expect kori to keep these pairings because they worked- we won the game. but defense doesn't come down to the two people on the ice with a D next to their name. It's about managing line changes and protecting the puck and making sound passes, and that falls on all players. The D minutes were also relatively even, at least more than min, so it worked out. I look forward to seeing how our team can further develop.