Fanuck Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 And how many times have you seen him play? See how he did in skating at the junior trials? He's not slow by any reasonable measure... or are you just parroting what others have said, like so many did about Horvat's skating? Matthias is faster than most players, including Gaunce. But that's about the only thing he's better at -- Gaunce is much more well-rounded including physically, both skill-wise as well as between the ears and in the heart. Matthias brings speed and will drive to the net on occasion but brings little else and is why he is replaceable and likely gone in the off-season. I was at the mini-camp in Brossard Quebec when Gaunce was trying out. I watched every practice/scrimmage they had there and I can tell you he was noticeably slower than others on the ice at the time. I also watched him numerous times live when he played with Bellville and actually got to see him play a few times for Erie (not in Erie, but elsewhere in the OHL). So I think I have a sample size of real-life experience of seeing this player with his peers and I can say his size/positioning made up for an obvious lack of foot-speed on the ice. That said, I haven't seen him live for quite a while and I don't know how he's progressed since being under the guidance of the Utica coaching staff other than seeing the stats/highlights on their website. Mathias was a more dominant/prolific scorer in jr. ironically also for Bellville and he had a career year this year with 27 points in his 7th year as a pro player. I think there may be some similarities to be drawn between Gaunce and Mathias which may be good or perhaps not depending on how you look at the two players. Not to change gears too drastically, but Shinkaruk was also at the Brossard world jr. camp at the same time and he was fast, I mean he was as fast as ANY of the players there and we are talking about some elite prospect in Hudon, McDavid, Domi, Drouin, Lazar, ect.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stawns Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 I was at the mini-camp in Brossard Quebec when Gaunce was trying out. I watched every practice/scrimmage they had there and I can tell you he was noticeably slower than others on the ice at the time. I also watched him numerous times live when he played with Bellville and actually got to see him play a few times for Erie (not in Erie, but elsewhere in the OHL). So I think I have a sample size of real-life experience of seeing this player with his peers and I can say his size/positioning made up for an obvious lack of foot-speed on the ice. That said, I haven't seen him live for quite a while and I don't know how he's progressed since being under the guidance of the Utica coaching staff other than seeing the stats/highlights on their website. Mathias was a more dominant/prolific scorer in jr. ironically also for Bellville and he had a career year this year with 27 points in his 7th year as a pro player. I think there may be some similarities to be drawn between Gaunce and Mathias which may be good or perhaps not depending on how you look at the two players. Not to change gears too drastically, but Shinkaruk was also at the Brossard world jr. camp at the same time and he was fast, I mean he was as fast as ANY of the players there and we are talking about some elite prospect in Hudon, McDavid, Domi, Drouin, Lazar, ect.... i watched quite a few Utica streams this year and he was always noticeable to me. In my opinion, he is the real dark horse in the prospect cupboard. I think he and Bo will be the leaders of this team for a good decade. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ihatetomatoes Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) I was at the mini-camp in Brossard Quebec when Gaunce was trying out. I watched every practice/scrimmage they had there and I can tell you he was noticeably slower than others on the ice at the time. I also watched him numerous times live when he played with Bellville and actually got to see him play a few times for Erie (not in Erie, but elsewhere in the OHL). So I think I have a sample size of real-life experience of seeing this player with his peers and I can say his size/positioning made up for an obvious lack of foot-speed on the ice. That said, I haven't seen him live for quite a while and I don't know how he's progressed since being under the guidance of the Utica coaching staff other than seeing the stats/highlights on their website. Mathias was a more dominant/prolific scorer in jr. ironically also for Bellville and he had a career year this year with 27 points in his 7th year as a pro player. I think there may be some similarities to be drawn between Gaunce and Mathias which may be good or perhaps not depending on how you look at the two players. Not to change gears too drastically, but Shinkaruk was also at the Brossard world jr. camp at the same time and he was fast, I mean he was as fast as ANY of the players there and we are talking about some elite prospect in Hudon, McDavid, Domi, Drouin, Lazar, ect.... When I first saw Gaunce play after he was drafted I pretty much blew him off at having any chance to play in the NHL as he looked so slow. You have to have some pretty amazing qualities to your game if you can't skate. Thst being said I could not believe how much faster he looked this year in camp. I haven't really seen too many Utica games but I think Gaunce is a lot like horvat. Hes smart enough and physically talented to realize his weakness to work on it and making it a strength. I think a lot of it has to do with how cerebral he is and how he just needs to adapt to the pace of the game. With Horvat you could see it. I'm not really sure if Horvat is that much better of a skater then last year but he just understood how much more pace he had to play at to keep up vs playing in Juniors. Gaunce plays the same type of Cerebral game thst Horvat does with just less skill. I don't think skating will be a problem for him in the future Edited May 1, 2015 by Ihatetomatoes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stawns Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 When I first saw Gaunce play after he was drafted I pretty much blew him off at having any chance to play in the NHL as he looked so slow. You have to have some pretty amazing qualities to your game if you can't skate. Thst being said I could not believe how much faster he looked this year in camp. I haven't really seen too many Utica games but I think Gaunce is a lot like horvat. Hes smart enough and physically talented to realize his weakness to work on it and making it a strength. I think a lot of it has to do with how cerebral he is and how he just needs to adapt to the pace of the game. With Horvat you could see it. I'm not really sure if Horvat is that much better of a skater then last year but he just understood how much more pace he had to play at to keep up vs playing in Juniors. Gaunce plays the same type of Cerebral game thst Horvat does with just less skill. I don't think skating will be a problem for him in the future I wouldn't say Gaunce has less skill than Horvat, at all. I'd say his skating is the only thing that truly separates them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanuck Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 I wouldn't say Gaunce has less skill than Horvat, at all. I'd say his skating is the only thing that truly separates them. Would it be fair to ask, is skating not considered a skill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keredz Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Gaunce is once again, a scratch for Utica tonight in game four. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuktravella Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 why is green pressboxing gaunce dammit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
people please Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Green doesn't like the young guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derp... Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Well they didn't get it done, so now we can say why did he do that lol. Baer with 3 apples though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuktravella Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 thats not true green is great at teaching young guns how to play well look at his record in portland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaBamba Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I'm pretty sure Green knows more about what is going on in Utica then I do. Scratch away sir. Show him it takes more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amish Rake Fighter Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) Anybody know if it was a healthy scratch or was he banged up? I don't really know where to look for that, Burke's twitter maybe? edit. nope Edited May 2, 2015 by Amish Rake Fighter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwags Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hope Gaunce gets a chance in Game 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Anybody know if it was a healthy scratch or was he banged up? I don't really now where to look for that, Burke's twitter maybe? edit. nope It is a bit curious... Maybe one of our Utica members can help fill in the blanks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 And Gaunce looking like he'll get in tonight: http://www.uticacomets.com/round-1-playoff-notebook/ 12:17pm: Morning skates are in the book, and not much looks different. Neither team had many players skating this morning, looked like just the scratches from last night. Expect Markstrom vs. Binnington (duh!). Just guessing, but you might see a line-up change for the Comets and see a fresh Gaunce in the line-up. Other than that I don’t expect much difference for either team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRAZY_4_NAZZY Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 After sitting, he gets two goals..so far 2 for 2 in shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keslerific Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 After sitting, he gets two goals..so far 2 for 2 in shots. He can be a beast when he is pushed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Now that's a response. Love how the coach gave him first unit powerplay time too. He gives him the opportunity to bounce back strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkyard Dog Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Green pushing all the right buttons on Gaunce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amish Rake Fighter Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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