Frontenacs Line combos
Ever since the month of January line combos for the Frontenacs have been many and inconsistent. Which poses many problems for the team and their offensive abilities as a team.
The only line that never changes is the line of Ikonen-Bennett-Watson for clear cut reasons, those are they are by far the best offensive line the Fronts have in their lineup. However that line has not been as productive as it has the potential to be for the past 3 games now. Is it because Sam Bennett's lack of puck distribution? The answer seems very unclear but that is sure what it looks like as they were playing Owen Sound Attack last night Sam Bennett may of passed the puck a total of five times. Besides when that line becomes individuals and greedy it is for the most part a very productive offensive line.
The line of Pawley-Greenaway-Verbeek has been so far so good, saying that they have only been playing together for just over 8 games now. Ryan Verbeek was tossed onto the speedy line when Head Coach Todd Gill thought it was time to change things up when Forward Robert Polesello wasn't producing many points with Darcy Greenaway and Corey Pawley. Verbeek brings speed a quick shot and when need be a bigger body compared to Greenaway and Pawley who are both under 5'8.
This brings us to the point of forward Robert Polesello, ever since he came to Kingston months ago he has been yet to develop chemistry fully with any line due to being thrown onto different lines each night. This poses cause for concern as he is a very speedy forward and has plenty of skill to showcase that he is unable to play at full potential when he doesn’t know fully whom he has playing with him. Ever since Polesello had been demoted off the second line he has been playing with forwards Conor McGlynn and Sam Schutt. Which is a very odd line due to Polesello and Schutt having so much speed and having the center McGlynn being so slow he slows their play down. This only in turn hurts offensive production.
In saying all this Coach Todd GIll really needs to stick with his lines and put a hault on all these different line combos that he has been recently coming up with. With the team only having 15 games remaining left in the OHL season before the Fronts playoff run. Line combos have to stay consistent, especially heading down the last stretch of the season it is key to have proper chemistry and be able to have confidence in the lineup they have out there on the ice.