Dec 21, 2011 | Scott Brown | 347 views
December Progress Update
Well 2011 is quickly coming to and end which means our regular season is half over!!!! The meat of the regular season is upcoming and we will be gearing up for the playoffs.
Hello Ranger Red players and parents, well 2011 is about to end and 2012 is just around the corner, we will be entering our second tournament of the season at the North Toronto Christmas Tournament which will be taking place from December 26th to December 31st. More info will be emailed to each parent before the end of the week.
I want to take this time to reflect on the first half of the season, we began our season playing Cambridge to a 3-3 tie, not bad for throwning lines and defence pairings together after a few practices and the coaching staff trying to get fimilar with all the new faces. We got off to a slow start after that but the main thing was the players were working hard, some days we were good and we just came up a bit short and other days, well lets just say it wasn't our day.
Throughout the first half of the season while the coaching staff were banging our heads together wondering when we were going to get our first win of the season we always had confidence that it would come. We always knew if the kids came to the practices and games listened and followed the game plan our season would turn around. The last 5 or 6 games prior to last weekends game vs Waterloo, both Bob and I have preached to the kids that hockey is like a puzzle, if one peice of that puzzle is missing, the puzzle in incomplete. Our team was not built on finese players, we drafted kids that could skate, play their position and kids that both Bob and I thought we could help develop.
To have this team play a well balanced game we need all peices of the puzzle to work (fit together) which will bring the wins our way. As I mentioned, 5 or 6 games prior to the Waterloo win there was always 1 peice of the puzzle that was missing, either the goalies and defence were there and the offence was missing or the offence and defence was there and the goaltending was missing or the goaltending and offence was there and the defence was missing and this was never so noticable as to our game against Hamilton Cyclones (10-2 loss). But there was another peice of the puzzle that was missing on that game, normally during our "pre-game" pep talk we have the kids fully dress and "focusing" on the game but in Hamilton most kids were more focused on who was missing, who was late, who was going to play defence etc. Our first 5 to 7 minutes demistrated how important, no matter what else is going on around us that its important to be focused and prepared. although the score didn't reflect how we played for the remained of the game but starting out unfocused hurt us tremedusly.
In our "pre-game" speech against Waterloo we reminded them that focusing menatally prior to game time is an important peice of the puzzle, this is a difficult thing to teach and and maybe impossible to do but I have to tell you, each any every player was quiet, staring either straight ahead or at the floor, no music, no talking....just focus on the task at hand. I stood their, not saying a word, just looking around the room at each player, I left the room went to the bench where Bob was standing and said "Their focused and ready to play...this is our game today" and well we all know what happened there.
Bob and I are very pleased and proud of all players over the past month and a half, they have all come along way since our first practice. Having said this we still have an uphill battle for the remainder of the season, everyone is in mid-season playing form, ready to play. The teams that have all their peices of the puzzle together on game day (pre-game focus, offence doing their job, defence doing their job and goalies doing their jobs and of course the coaching staff doing our jobs) will be the teams that will be successful.
From all the coaching staff of Bob, Joanne, Tyler and myself, we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please be safe over the holidays, enjoy your time with friends and family. See you in the new year for a very exciting second half.
Coach Scott