Some positive signs so far for the Petes
The Petes have gotten off to a 3-1 start to the 2018-19 season and while Saturday’s loss at the hands of the Hamilton Bulldogs was ugly, early on the signs have been mostly positive.
A big question mark coming into the season was between the pipes, where the Petes tandem of Hunter Jones and Tye Austin were both highly regarded but inexperienced. Jones has more than answered the bell early on, posting an impressive week one which earned him CHL player of the week honours.
The team defence overall has been improved as hoped under new coach Rob Wilson. The back end was able to hold both Kingston superstar Jason Robertson and Niagara standout Akil Thomas completely off the scoresheet thanks in large part to improved overall commitment to defence and a strong shadowing performance by Austin Osmanski. They were less successful holding the big Niagara line of Kaliyev, Saigeon and Strome on Saturday, showing there is still some work to be done.
An interesting development in the early going has been the shift of second-year forward John Parker-Jones to the back end. Parker-Jones has unfortunately picked up an early injury but did not look out of place at all on defence, immediately emerging as a key player earning significant ice time in key moments for the Petes.
Nick Robertson joins ParkerJones on the sideline after suffering a hand injury in the season’s opening week. Robertson is one of many players who may bring a brighter spotlight to the team this season. After his strong performance playing for Team USA, Robertson has started climbing the NHL draft rankings in this his draft eligible season.
While Robertson brings scouting attention to the team, there is also an increased focus from down the 401. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, by virtue of having been selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 draft and then lasting deep into their training camp, while showing off his signature craftiness, has become a social media favourite among the notoriously rabid Leafs fan base.
Peterborough even has a strong overseas following this season, with fans from Sheffield, England adopting the team as their own following the selection of their very own Liam Kirk.
Unfortunately, as a result of Der-Arguchintsev’s long stay at NHL camp and Robertson’s early injury, we haven’t seen the full complement of Petes forwards together for a regular season game as of yet. Perhaps this is the blame for a power play that has been largely out of sync in the early going.
Following the pre-season trade of Matt Timms, the team has been lacking crispness with the man advantage. Without a traditional power play quarterback, we’ve frequently seen a five-forward unit deployed by Wilson.
The special teams story hasn’t been all bad though, with the penalty killing units doing an exceptional job, killing over ninety per cent of penalties and chipping in four goals of their own already, thanks to a transition game outburst in Ottawa.
The special teams performance is a strong representative of the team as a whole in the first two weeks. There are still some issues to be worked out but overall the early results have been encouraging, with much more good news than bad.