Bernier Not Backing Down from Top Foes<\/p>\n
Kraken director of player development Cory Murphy is in Kelowna and has been impressed with the 2024 third-round D-man demeanor, physicality and zeal with which Bernier faces opponents\u2019 top lines at the Memorial Cup and throughout the winning run through the \u201cQ.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlex continues to play the same way he’s played throughout the playoffs, which is a really strong defensive game,\u201d said Murphy on Thursday. HE’s got tough matchups every game. He’s out there against the top line every game. He’s really embraced that role and done a really nice job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s semifinal will put Bernier on the ice plenty against Silvertips star center and 2024 Kraken second-rounder Miettinen, his wings on Everett\u2019s first line. Mietinnen was named WHL Playoffs MVP, leading all skaters in scoring. Memorial Cup play for Miettinen has been more about excelling in all three zones on the ice, while his linemates have carried more of the scoring. It\u2019s part of why Everett finished 2-1 in round robin play with a clear desire to get a Cup final rematch against Kitchener.<\/p>\n
Miettinen Stoked for the Weekend<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to have the chance to play in the semis,\u201d said Miettinen, who connected regularly with Kraken player development consultant Katelyn Parker up in Kelowna and throughout the WHL postseason. \u201cA lot of guys dream of that, and now I get to experience it. I think the tournament has been great for the team and me. I\u2019m still playing at my level regardless if it\u2019s not showing up on the scoresheet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy agrees and isn\u2019t concerned about the scoresheet either: \u201cWe talked about how many other things Julius does to the positive. He’s playing really well at both ends of the ice. And he\u2019s been huge on faceoffs. He took 30 faceoffs [Wednesday night in a win over Kelowna].m That\u2019s a really big part of what he’s doing. You see it in tight games like this, where it’s hard to generate offense sometimes against really good teams. He’s a leader on that team and with that line, still able to generate chances despite the tight checking. There’s not a lot of room out there. It\u2019s a really good experience for him to go through that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the local WHL franchise won its first league crown this season, Miettinen and his Silvertip mates have an opportunity to win the Memorial Cup to cap a historic season.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been doing the same things all year long,\u201d said Miettinen. \u201cWe\u2019re playing together as a tight five [on the ice] and trusting each other, not trying to do the other guy\u2019s job. For Friday, I think we will keep being confident in our game. We know what to expect of them, so there\u2019s going to be no surprises.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, just a big win and opportunity for two members of the Kraken\u2019s 2024 draft class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bernier Not Backing Down from Top Foes Kraken director of player development Cory Murphy is in Kelowna and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-702777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}