One of the offensive creators for this extremely talented Chicago Mission roster, Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll looked solid in my viewing of him. He made a very nice touch pass in the slot to leave the puck for an onrushing teammate to walk right into and rip home. Early in the game his ability to create was on display and he did so in such a nonchalant fashion. He has nice spatial awareness on offense and can slink away into a bit of space and get a quick shot release off to put the puck on net. His work was not just limited to playmaking in the slot, he used his body out front to provide screens and move defensemen out of the way to allow more shots to get on goal and generate more offensive chances.

Just a physical beast all over the ice. Was simply too much for this North Dakota team to contain. When Shaeffer wanted to bring the puck to middle ice, and control the lane to net, he was going to create dangerous chances. Had a few grade-a chances in and around the net, and didn’t cash, but he was rewarded on the 2-0 goal where he threw a backhand in from the corner that somehow beat the North Dakota netminder. On breakouts, I consistently saw Shaeffer in good soft spaces where he could act as an outlet for his team. He had numerous carry exits where he was in great position to gain the center ice line with not much of a contest.

A pair of penalties and a goal from Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll wrapped up a pretty typical game from him, showing off his offensive talents while also getting involved in the physical side of the game. I thought he was a very effective player for Chicago even when they were struggling to get into the game. He was using his size to disrupt plays, light a fire under everyone’s seats, and help get his team back on the puck high up the ice. He was able to fight his way into good areas of the ice and get some good shooting chances away. He generates such power on his shots that the opposition has to react to him when he’s on the puck, and he was able to use that to his advantage and sell himself as a decoy before laying the puck off to someone trailing him on a couple of occasions. He showed off some very good vision and he was aware of where everyone on his team was, using his body to retain the puck effectively before hitting the open man without having to take his head off the opposition.