Can You Feel The (Tyler) Love Tonight?

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dmiles2186
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Can You Feel The (Tyler) Love Tonight?

Post by dmiles2186 »

More bad puns (just like Payne!) to follow I'm sure. Blues hire new goaltending coach.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/mornin ... ing-coach/

COLUMBUS, Ohio - There was a new face on the ice this morning at Nationwide Arena. His name is Tyler Love.

Love is set to take over as the Blues’ new goaltending coach, a spot that was vacated when Rick Wamsley became the head coach in Peoria. Eddie Belfour was speculated to be Wamsley’s replacement, but then left the organization abruptly last week.

The arrangement with Love isn’t finalized yet, but it’s apparent this is the guy the Blues want to bring in.

“I got a call from Chris (Mason), just kind of letting me know that the coach (Davis Payne) would be calling me,” Love said. “I talked to Davis on Friday and had about a 10-15 minute conversation with him. Then Larry Pleau called me on Sunday and we discussed things briefly. He called me back about an hour later and let me know, if I wanted to, I could come down and start working with the team. It happened pretty quick, but it’s a great opportunity, so I’m so excited. It caught me unexpected, but I’m very grateful.”

Love runs World Pro Goaltending Center in Calgary, where he’s trained Blues netminder Chris Mason for the last couple of seasons. He’s worked with a number of NHL goalies over the past decade, including Montreal’s Carey Price, the Rangers’ Chad Johnson and Ottawa’s Mike Brodeur.

This will be Love’s first coaching job with an NHL.

“I’m really busy in the summer, but then you kind of disconnect because they got to their teams and they have their own coaches,” Love said. “But I’ve never had the opportunity to spend time with them on the ice during the year. You never get a chance to tweak anything that you’ve worked on. Mostly on the phone because that’s as much as you can do.”

Mason has raved about Love in the past and says he’s looking forward to working with him in-season.

“The (organization) was brainstorming and I mentioned Tyler’s name and left it up to the coaches and management to decide,” Mason said. “I’m really glad they’re giving him the opportunity.

“It’s a unique situation to have someone come in who you’re familar with. He knows my game and my style and things like that. We work well together. It just makes the transition a lot easier. I know he works hard and he’s really excited.”

********

Mason will make his seventh straight start tonight against Columbus. Mason is 14-3-1 with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .935 save-percentage in 18 games against the Blue Jackets.

Today, Mason was named as the NHL’s No. 2 star for last week. He was 3-0, stopping 66 of 68 shots for a 0.67 goals-against average and a .971 save-percentage.

The three stars in order:

1. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin

2. St. Louis’ Chris Mason

3. Minnesota’s Guillaume Latendresse

********

The Blues will have the same lineup for the third straight game tonight, meaning forward Cam Janssen and defenseman Darryl Sydor will be healthy scratches.

Forwards

Paul Kariya-David Backes-T.J. Oshie

Andy McDonald-Patrik Berglund-David Perron

Alex Steen-Jay McClement-Brad Boyes

Brad Winchester-Keith Tkachuk-B.J. Crombeen

Defensemen

Eric Brewer-Erik Johnson

Barret Jackman-Roman Polak

Carlo Coalaiacovo-Mike Weaver

Goalie

Chris Mason

********

Heading into tonight’s game, the Blues have only five players on the team with a plus-rating, and it might surprise some fans who has the highest rating: it’s the team’s leader in ice time.

Defenseman Barret Jackman, who is averaging a club-high 22:46 on the ice, is a +4 this season.

“Oh thanks, I’m screwed now,” said Jackman, not wanting to be jinxed.

Too late! Jackman has been a plus in each of his last five games, for a total of plus-6. In 36 games this season, he’s been a minus 11 times.

“It’s always good,” Jackman said. “You don’t want to put too much into plus-minus because sometimes it’s just when you step on the ice. But it is nice that number is going up, getting goals when I’m on the ice . . . and Roman (Polak) and I are able to play well defensively and limit chances against.”

Jackman was a +23 as a rookie in 2002-03, but the past two years haven’t been as kind to him in that department. He was a -17 in ‘08-09 and a -12 in ‘07-08.

********

Center Patrik Berglund is taking steps to improve his face-off percentage.

Berglund, who is winning only 40.8 percent of his draws this season, went through a rut recently in which he won seven face-offs and lost 29 during a five-game stretch.

He went 0-for-7 against Columbus and 1-for-7 against MInnesota before wrapping up the three-game homestand on a high note, 5-for-8 against the Rangers.

Berglund took some extra reps this morning in the circle.

“Bergy is still at a stage, like the rest of his game, where he can get really hot some nights and you just feel it,” said Blues assistant coach Ray Bennett, who monitors the face-off drills. “But if he goes cold, the one thing we talk about is, he can’t go through a night where he’s 0-fer on the night. He’s got to do something to change it up, to make the guy he’s going against think it’s not always the same thing. As an example, in the offensive zone, maybe he’s just got to shoot it to the corner . . . maybe it’s a tap ahead, just push it through the guy’s legs . . . just do something to make the guy you’re going against think differently.”

********

During Columbus’ morning skate, Blue Jackets goalie Mathieu Garon was hit in the wrist on a shot by teammate Milan Jurcina. Garon immediately skated off the ice holding his wrist. He is slated as the starter tonight and said he still intends to play.

Here’s the morning skate blog from the Columbus Dispatch, which has the Garon injury and some other items from today’s practice.

JR
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Re: Can You Feel The (Tyler) Love Tonight?

Post by glen a richter »

Meh, I wanted them to sign CuJo for the position.
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Re: Can You Feel The (Tyler) Love Tonight?

Post by dmiles2186 »

JD said (and it was reported by a few media outlets) that CuJo wants some time off and doesn't even know if he wants to coach at all. So sounds like it wasn't even an avenue worth exploring at this point. Maybe in a few years.
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Re: Can You Feel The (Tyler) Love Tonight?

Post by gaijin »

We've got this coach, and he's called Tyler Love...
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Re: Can You Feel The (Tyler) Love Tonight?

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I believe in a thing called Love.
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