Silos Stumble Out of Gate -- Great White Rumour Mill

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Subject: Silos Stumble Out of Gate

Author:
Saskatoon Sun

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Date Posted: 19:52:46 02/07/03 Fri

In the 2002 season's first half, the Saskatoon Silos rode the hot goaltending of Nik Khabubulin to the top of the Western Conference standings. It has been a different story so far in 2003, however, with Khabubulin struggling in two of his first three starts.

The Silos goaltender gave up 5 goals in a season-opening overtime loss in Charlottetown, making just 24 saves on 29 shots against. Following a road victory in Hamilton in which he gave up just 1 goal, Khabubulin again struggled in Saskatoon's home opener. The streaky Russian gave up 5 goals on just 13 shots before being pulled in favor of backup Jocelyn Thibault. Silos' coach Bob Hartley was obviously not happy following the loss.

"We need better performances from Nik than what we have seen so far", said the coach. "Defensively, we've played pretty well, but you can't tell by looking at the goals against column."

Another area of concern is the special teams, which have been anything but special so far. Saskatoon is near the bottom of the league in penalty killing, and only in the middle of the pack on the power play. During the preseason, both of these units were at or near the top of the GWHL, but that efficiency hasn't carried over into the regular season.

"The PK will improve when the goaltending improves, since the goaltender has to be the best penalty killer", stated the Silos' coach. "As for the power play, we need guys like 'Lex, Theo and Shanny to pick up the pace a bit, and I think we'll be OK there."

Getting Fleury to contribute in the near term will be difficult, since he is sidelined for 3-4 games with an elbow injury. In his absence, the Silos are hoping that Brendan Shanahan can get his offensive game going. The left winger has been fairly quiet so far in his short tenure with the Silos.

Saskatoon faces the undefeated Victoria Cougars at the Silodome tomorrow night.

Silo Siftings- In spite of losing 2 of their first 3 games, the Silos have taken seven of the nine 3-star awards in those games...Saskatoon GM Ken McKenna was rumored to have been shopping for a solid defensive defenseman, but no deal has been closed as of yet...G Nik Khabibulin suffered a slight injury in the home opener, but is expected to get the call against Victoria.

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