Mar 25, 2013 | Dave Thomson | 1129 views
Loss in Alliance East/Central Finals
Team Blue suffered a heartbreaking 2nd loss in St. Catharines on Sunday, which also ended the series with St. Catharines on top as Champs.
Team Blue was challenged by an unusual bench configuration that had us running 2nd period style line changes in periods 1 and 3. The game was also quite physical, and when we notched up our own physical play, we found ourselves punished for matching the style of play, winding up on the Penalty Kill far too often in a game where we needed to generate offense.
We went down early in the game, due to some minor errors in the D-Zone that the Hurricanes were able to convert into goals. Players got down in the 1st period, but eventually found the spark to battle back, ramping up their play in the 2nd and 3rd. Cliner broke the tension with a jam in the 3rd, but we peaked too late in the game to recover.
The players did bring improved focus and team play as compared to Saturday. As a result the coaching staff was generally pleased with how the players performed. Unfortunately we had difficulty capitalizing on our opportunities. In world with slightly taller and possibly wider nets, it might have been a different game. While the Game Plan stressed lower shots, the temptation seems to be to shoot high on smaller goalies. We need to cut out fancy moves and get more pucks and bodies to the net.
St. Catharines played very well in the series. It's a level of competition we have not seen since the Preston tournament. A stronger Team Blue game on Saturday would have been key to extending out the series. The Hurricanes have set the bar on how we need to play in the Alliance Championship to be successful. I'm confident that Team Blue is able to rise to the occasion. We have the talent if we can bring the desire and the discipline.
The players understand that we will need to work hard in practice now to get ready for our rematch against the Hurricanes. We need to get back to basics like cross-ice puck movement, fewer dangles, cleaner line changes, hard accurate shots on net, and bodies in front of the net ready with sticks on the ice.
I will be booking a barn in Siberia so that Team Blue can work on a Rocky IV style comeback training montage.