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In Hainsight: Players to Keep an Eye on Tonight |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Montreal’s prospects jumped on the ice bright and early today to get ready for tonight’s game against the Sabres. The lines and pairings used during practice will likely be the ones on display tonight and they are as follows:
Heineman-Beck-Roy
Farrell-Kidney-Mesar
Simoneau-Mysak-Guindon
Xhekaj-Davidson-Parker Jones
Trudeau-Reinbacher
Ortiz-Mailloux
Demin-Tourigny
Dobes
Miller
I’ll be keeping an eye on Emil Heineman who had a great camp last year until he got injured and made a great impression at the end of the season when he played some games with the Rocket. Post practice, the Swede spoke to the media and explained that his stint in Laval was of great help to him, allowing him to get used to the size of the ice and the fact that the action comes at you faster. In his second rookie camp, Heineman wants to be more of a leader, and he wants to be a 200-foot player, but still, a player who can shoot from anywhere on the ice. Clearly, he wants to showcase his offensive skills, and that should give us a good show tonight as he lines up with Owen Beck and Joshua Roy.
On the second line, last year’s 26th overall pick Filip Mesar will be playing alongside Sean Farrell and Reily Kidney for this first game in Buffalo. The young Slovak explained that playing in the OHL last season has allowed him to learn to play on the smaller ice but also get used to the physicality of the game in North America. He wouldn’t say that going to the AHL is a foregone conclusion for him, but clearly, he’d like to turn pro tonight. At the same time last year, he was also keen on making the jump. Asked if he’s missing his friend Juraj Slafkovsky at this years’ tournament, he replied that he’s with a great group of friends right now and that during the season, he spoke to Slafkovsky about once a week, chatting about their experience in their respective league.
As for Riley Kidney who’ll be centering the second line this evening, he said that he put the emphasis on getting bigger and adding some muscle to his frame this summer. Keen to make a good impression, the youngster spent 6 weeks in Montreal, training in Brossard under the supervision of Adam Nicholas, who he qualifies as “the best skills coach I’ve ever worked with”. Tonight’ test against the Sabres should give us a chance to see what Kidney had added to his toolbox.
Speaking to the media, the Rocket’s head coach Jean-François Houle once again stated that the coaching team has not insisted to much on defensive systems and the likes so far, he wants the players to go out, have fun and really show what they can do. The table is set now and all they can do is wait for the puck drop at 7:00 PM just like us. Tune in to the game on RDS.ca and enjoy a look at the future!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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