With the Hershey Bears game-less until the weekend, Head Coach Bob Woods was a VIP guest at Verizon Center last night. He and his Bears are thoroughly enjoying a 9-game winning streak and may well be threatening the historic victory achievements of 2006-07’s 51-17-6-6 campaign. They’ve won 18 of the 24 games they’ve played this season, and stand at 18-5-0-1, good for 37 points and a healthy 5-pt. cushion over second-place Bridgeport in the East Division.
They resume play this Saturday night, at home, against Hartford.
I had a chance to pose a few questions to Coach Woods during the second intermission last night, and foremost on my mind was newly named AHL Player of the Month for November Oskar Osala. Woods of course was on the ice during the entirety of Capitals’ training camp in September, and I asked him if he saw anything out at Kettler Capitals then that gave him an indication that his rookie left wing (16 goals in 21 games) could terrorize the American League as he has this fall.
“We saw with his skating tests that he was among the fastest of our young guys,” the coach told me.
“He has all the makings of a great player.”
How’s that for a fourth-round pick?
I pointed out that Osala wasn’t just a rookie in the ‘A’ but one coming over from Europe, needing to adjust to a whole new culture and a different-sized sheet of ice.
“That’s what’s been most impressive about him,” Woods told me.
From following the Bears a bit on John Walton’s audio calls I had the sense that the coach’s “4th line” had been more or less intact from opening night back in October. The coach’s trio of rookies has missed just a couple of games together, and Woods confirmed that he hadn’t broken up the combo to try something new with them the entire season.
“They’re my energy line,” he told me.
These are three rookies skating together, two of them straight out of Canadian Major Juniors. Amazing.
As is their production and two-way play. All three members of the line are putting up numbers in bunches, and all three are skating a +17. Perreault is averaging exactly a point a game (4 & 18), with right wing Bouchard not far off that pace (7 goals and 11 assists in 20 games).
And what of the knock of his rookie center’s size, I wondered?
“He doesn’t play small,” Woods observed. “He’s very hard to contain, and he’ll get stronger.”
I also asked the coach about his fourth notable rookie this season, Capitals’ first-round netminder prospect Simeon Varlamov. He got hurt early on in the season, and Woods admitted to me that the young Russian and been brought back from a grumpy groin a bit early. Now he’s all healed and putting up gaudy numbers: 9-2-0, a 2.31 goals-against, and a save percentage that in recent weeks has climbed above .900. Like Osala, Varlamov has had to adjust to the smaller North American sheet, which is a distinct challenge for a goalie in terms of reacting to new shooting angles.
“He’s been unbelievable ever since he got well,” the smiling coach told me.
5 Comments
Osala is fantastic and I’ve been thrilled to watch him in Hershey. Whenever he is given one of the three stars of the night (which happens quite a bit, as you can imagine). He skates out waving to the fans – then after giving his stick away – skates back clapping his hands in the air, acknowledging the fans. Class Act all the way!
What kind of ice time have those three seen? I can’t fathom that they’re putting up those numbers with true “4th line” minutes. It’s not possible…is it??
All I can say is- I can’t WAIT to see Varlamov play with the big boys!!!
Jeff, you’re right — there is a better balance of minutes among the Bears’ four lines than you commonly see in pro hockey, but it’s also true that the Bears’ big guns on the top line get choice ice assignments. There really is no “4th” line on this team, which is why I used quotes around the term.
Thanks for the clarification, PB. I’m almost relieved, as I think I would have spontaneously thrown up in disbelief/excitement.
Speaking of the vom, was that you on the far end in tonight’s free buffet? Looked like a good match apart from Kyle’s desperate need for attention. No easy solution to a tie in that sport, but you’d think they’d have prepared for the possibility ahead of time.
LGC.
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