As many of you know, I have often commented that our team has a tendency to play well in the fall, get cocky and then collapse in December. We then spend January putting it back together. I think our December Collapse came early this year. That may well be a good thing.
Coming off last weekend’s easy win, some of our kids came to Saturday’s game thinking that we were a bunch of superstars and that a mere B team was no match for us. The tone in the locker room was not confidence, it was smugness. And we warmed up as if the game was going to be a joke. Meanwhile, Troy came to play and out muscled us from the beginning. In response, we fell apart defensively. And then, faced with a very aggressive opponent, we started playing not just cheap but stupid-cheap. The penalties hurt us far more than they hurt Troy. At the end of the game, when we still had a hope of a chance, we ended up with 4 players in the Box for some pretty stupid (as well as blatant) infractions.
My expectation is that our kids learned a few lessons on Saturday. We lost to a team that was inferior to us in skill, and yet they looked like our betters. What we need to do is work harder, get serious, respect the game, and respect our opponents.
Today’s practice was a beginning. The kids who showed up (we had 11) worked hard and spent some time getting back to basics, especially in the defensive zone.
This week, we have a lot of ice. Coach Driscoll’s Skills Clinic will be held on Monday and Friday. And we have team practice on Tuesday and Thursday. Please check the calendar for times.
Coming off last weekend’s easy win, some of our kids came to Saturday’s game thinking that we were a bunch of superstars and that a mere B team was no match for us. The tone in the locker room was not confidence, it was smugness. And we warmed up as if the game was going to be a joke. Meanwhile, Troy came to play and out muscled us from the beginning. In response, we fell apart defensively. And then, faced with a very aggressive opponent, we started playing not just cheap but stupid-cheap. The penalties hurt us far more than they hurt Troy. At the end of the game, when we still had a hope of a chance, we ended up with 4 players in the Box for some pretty stupid (as well as blatant) infractions.
My expectation is that our kids learned a few lessons on Saturday. We lost to a team that was inferior to us in skill, and yet they looked like our betters. What we need to do is work harder, get serious, respect the game, and respect our opponents.
Today’s practice was a beginning. The kids who showed up (we had 11) worked hard and spent some time getting back to basics, especially in the defensive zone.
This week, we have a lot of ice. Coach Driscoll’s Skills Clinic will be held on Monday and Friday. And we have team practice on Tuesday and Thursday. Please check the calendar for times.
We will be coming up against some strong opponents quickly, so we really need to shrug off Saturday’s debacle, get our heads screwed on straight and get back to what has made us successful in the past: team play, inner strength and quiet confidence.
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