What the hell was that ?!?!?!?
Or should I say ... who the hell was that out there in the white Silvertips sweaters tonight ?
I've been pretty easy on the boys during this latest stretch. There's been lots of injuries, lots of guys recuperating from the various tournaments, lots of road games, etc. Plenty of excuses that are too easy to fall into.
What I saw tonight was the complete antithesis of what Silvertips hockey is all about. On the way home, I heard Keith lamenting about how we outplayed Portland but had trouble finding the net, so it was a "good loss". What game was he watching? Even the call in show guy and the callers seemed to be saying the same sorts of things ... we outplayed them, but the bounces aren't going our way. 'Scuse me ?
Hockey is a game of little battles. We won about 10% of them tonight. I lost count of how many loose pucks we got beat to tonight, especially in our own end. Seriously, a puck dribbling around near the circle in front of our net, and our guy is jogging to it, while the Winterhawk is sprinting. Result? Quality scoring chances against. Dump and chase is a decent way to gain the zone, but if you're going to do it .... friekin CHASE IT, please!!! Seems like if we dump it in, and the puck doesn't bounce right to of our sticks, we give it a half-assed forecheck and then retreat. There were 2 or 3 (Mitch twice, and Baranka once that I can remember) instances where the d-men faked a dump in, pulled it back, and stickhandled into the zone. Guess what? Portland sucks, and they gave us the zone, and we got a few good shots out of it. However, the rest of the team enjoyed the show too much and didn't hustle in for those gorgeous juicy rebounds. How many times tonight did you see our guys skating with the puck, get challenged, and instead of working through the check ... shy away and either get their pockets picked, or make a ****ty pass? How many long, cross ice passes did we attempt that got picked off and turned into 3 on 2's? (Long passes are the hallmark of a tired and/or lazy player). On Portland's 3d goal, the 2 on 1 (which was a beautiful play ... and the only goal that Portland actually "earned" tonight), how ugly was the defense on that one? 99 times out of a hundred, Silvertips hockey breaks up that pass with the defender going down to block it. Tonight? The defender was playing the shot not the pass as he should have been, and when the pass was inevetiably made, it was a lame stick swipe to block it. Result? Basically an empty net goal against.
I'm tired of watching our D give up the line without a challenge, and seeing the team sag, sag, sag and still not cover the slot or the trailer or the guy who is camped out back door. How 5 guys can be collapsing into the crease and still leave the opposition wide open is beyond me.
This comes down to coaching and motivation, in my opinion. Kevin needs to impress upon the players that when you're in a downturn (2-8 in the last 10) and even more importantly, when you're down in the game, winning the little battles will eventually win you the war. Sprint to the loose pucks. Attack the offensive zone by carrying it over aggressively (bulldoze guys if you have to), dump and chase with a purpose, forecheck hard, backcheck harder. Get in front of shots, and don't let the other team make a pass or take a shot without geting POUNDED immediately after. Doing the little things correctly and with tenacity over and over will turn into big things happening.
Tonight, we played about 6 minutes of SilverTips hockey. That stretch between about 12 to go and 5 to go in the 3rd. We won every race, challenged every pass, and were aggressive as hell. The result? A goal, and the crowd getting jazzed up again. Beyond that, the team was snoozing and despite what the radio crew had to say, was totally and completely outplayed and outworked by Portland, a team that we all know "SUCKS" :)
When we play our game, like we did for that short stretch, we're un-beatable. Let's get back to playing aggressive SilverTips hockey. Whoever that was on the ice tonight ... please give the sweaters back to the real Silvertips.
Rant over.
They are in a funk all right..
They will just have to fight their way through it. Hromas played hard and Baranka 3 times tried to take it the whole way by himself. They must be very frustrated, as they have learned how to win but this is their biggest losing streak and they have to find their way out of it. Fans will have to deal with it. No point in blaming anybody.
