Kenai River Brown Bears v Dawson Creek Rage Pre-Game

This is the second of a three-game set between the Kenai River Brown Bears and the DC Rage. Last night Kenai edged the Rage 3-2. Both teams started out flat in the first period and got a fortunate couple of goals in an affair that definitely did not see the fast past action from last week's set of games against the Alaska Avs, and you can look for both teams to come out with a stronger start in tonight's game.

Assistant coach for the DC Rage, Matt Hughes, definitely feels as though the momentum was sucked right out of the Rage last night with Kenai's patient play in the neutral zone.

Meanwhile head coach for the Brown Bears Oliver David admitted that both teams were a bit flat coming out of the gate but that his team was able to control the pace and use their speed and skill to their advantage. When asked whether he anticipates his club will change anything with 60 more minutes of familiarity with the Rage, he said he doesn't plan on adjusting his team's game.

Keys to the Game:

Rage:

1. Establish the home-ice advantage. They opened the scoring last night but had the momentum sucked out of them five minutes later on Daniel Turgeon's goal. They need to get a quick one or two goals and keep the pressure.
2. In that vein, they need to re-establish the physical presence that forced turnovers in the series against Alaska, which was totally absent last night.
3. Outlet pass. Last night they had trouble exiting their zone cleanly and breaking into the offensive zone.

Kenai:

1. Keep the Rage to the outside, force shots from the point. Benton didn't see a lot of second chances last night and I thought at times he looked a bit out of position, and they'll want to keep that support for their netminder.
2. Win the cycle. The chances that the Rage did get last night started largely on their cycle game and freeing up space in front by forcing the Bears to commit too long to the cycle and bring the extra man in. They need to win the cycle early and break out.
3. Transition. Kenai had a great transition game last night when they did win the cycle early, and that'll be key for them to get a couple quick goals.


Officials:
Referee: Kevin Lindsay
Lines: Brent McLean, Michale Van

Starting lineups:

Rage:    Jared Crema and Bobby Turnbull manning the blueline, Dakota Mason centering Nolan Rossiter and Derek Johnston.
Kenai:    Erik Persson and Chris Rial on defense, Brett Lubanski between Matt Tompson and Doug Beck.

Starting goalies:

Rage:    Andrew Walsh, 0-4-0-0, 2.5.2 gaa, .938 sv
Kenai:    Josh Benton, 3-2-0-1, 2.26 gaa, .917 sv