I think our squads age showed the first period. Everyone had fresh legs to start the game, and all the young guys were going full out, giving very little time to do anything with the puck. Our team could only manage 2 shots and all we did was dump the puck in to have younger legs disrupt.
As the game went on, and guys got tired, the skilled players started showing their edge, big difference in the 2nd and 3rd, suddenly we had puck control.
The coach said we were not fast enough in the 1st period, I just don't think a finesse game is going to do when legs are fresh on the opposite end. We need to be faster, and save the fancy stuff for later periods. Can't even remember seeing AM in the first, he certainly did not stand out from the pack.
Maybe it has something to do with the anticipation and 1st game jitters, the raw raw attitude works great for football and rugby, but for hockey you need to hit the ice level headed. Once things start going wrong, if you are too pumped and hyped up you are only going to get down on yourself. Level headedness lets you jump to an extra gear if you need it.
This is going to be a great test to see if they can adjust.
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