For those who don't follow the Pat Siedlecki's blog.
Here is a reply I made to a poster on there. Also if you don't follow Siedlecki's blog, who are you following...hehe?
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Sacher kind of lost his positioning on Samuelsson's third goal (Edmonton's last). He thought he was covering that post but he left a huge hole. You could see by his reaction that he knew it as the goal went in. I can’t say either goalie cost us this game though.
You said “The coaches need to make some drastic improvements in their passing and "breakout plan," as they are both extremely poor”. The Canes ability to transition from defending in our zone to going on offense is horrible at best. Off the glass and hope and pray is their strategy.
I agree that it was the worst defensive effort of the year for at least one of our big minute munching Cane defensemen. The Oil Kings skated through, or were left standing alone, in the slot with virtual impunity.
When I watch the game live it happens so fast I don’t see a lot of the small things and such so I am not able to really comment on a lot of things. Getting to PVR last night’s game and re-watch and slow-mo some stuff made me realize how absolutely terrible we are in our own end. The kids have no confidence whatsoever and simply do not know what to do in their own end.
At live games I kept blaming it on them running around all over the place etc. as I am not a hockey coach so I don`t see the small details. What I noticed in last night`s game is the kids seem so concerned with being in the right position in the defensive zone all the time that there is no real puck pursuit. The Oil Kings made it look like they were on the PP for most of the night. They can pass it around at will do whatever they want in our end.
Not to belittle any single player, but last night one of the newly acquired D-man minute muncher had an awful game. On the Oil Kings first goal he let the winger blow right by him and did not impede his way to the net at all. On another goal he tried to make a huge hit at the blue line and got nothing but air so the Oil Kings scored an easy one. On another goal it was a 2 on 2 rush and he decides to try and dive on the ice and sweep the puck away. He misses and another goal. This D-man seemed Ok in his first few games with the Canes but ouch, last night was bad. I don`t blame him because I am sure he is just trying too hard and trying to do too much to help this team. With our overall poor play in the D-zone, what can a D-man really do sometimes but try to do it all.
You asked “As the fourth game in five nights with another to come tomorrow, can the Canes find the mental and physical strength to be successful?” Just want to comment on the ridiculous schedule the Canes have this month. This kind of schedule can cause injuries to these kids due to mental and physical fatigue. The league needs to make sure this 5 games in 6 days, or actually in only 5 and ½ days as Pat S said, never happens again. They play tomorrow at @ 2:00 after probably getting to sleep about 3:00 AM late tonight. I believe it is also a ridiculous 6 games in 8 days, with lots of travel in between. Just brutal.
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Ok enough of that….On to some positive stuff.
It is really nice to see Duke playing like an early first round pick. He is a much better player than he showed early on this year. He seems to have found his groove.
Wong is the team MVP so far.
Which NHL GM is going to be smart enough to pick Watson in say the 3rd round of the NHL draft. Man can that kid fly and this year he has a much better finishing touch than he did last year.
There is no quit in these kids. They put in the same effort from the first minute to the last, never mind what the score is.
I hope for the player`s sake this team turns things around in the New Year. They deserve a far better result than they have had so far.
canesrock
An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it.