You would have thought this road trip the team would have used it as an opportunity to get to know each other better since the deadline deals. Come together and play some solid road hockey vs three tough opponents. Sadly it ended up being a schooling in all three games rather than a chance to prove to fans and the league that we are a serious contender. A complete fail not because we came away without any points but it's the way we lost. This road trip will put this team back in so many ways. Confidence is now fragile, discipline is a serious concern, and the belief of being a one round playoff appearance like last year is more likely considering the way they lost.
The most concerning is the lack of leadership. Beginning with McCoy taking a very selfish penalty in the early stages of a game in Windsor in the first game of a very important three game weekend. Then the lack of effort on the back check from the forwards in Windsor and Sarnia. Then today they made an early effort to back check but you have to stay with your man not puck watch. And that proved costly as London players were able to take passes in the slot very easily and wasted no time to put the puck in the net.
The lack of discipline continues with several players on each of the three games Villeneuve in Sarnia, McCoy in Windsor and Mews today. You just can't play 30-40 percent of the game killing penalties.
We can blame officiating or injuries for losing but honestly we just can't use that as an excuse. Some players were just floating around the ice hoping the puck would bounce out for odd man rushes. You have to take care of your own end and play sound defensively and the offence will take care of itself. Being flat footed and puck watching and not engaging even physically in puck battles was just simply hard to stomach. Not many big hits or effort. Honestly London could have used a pylon in net and we would have still lost today.
The second half of the season players should now know the league and feel confident enough to play when called upon. Bruce today proved to me he just isn't ready to play this level. Sadly Blonda is not any better defensively and has struggled to contain the bigger forwards seen vs Windsor or London. This must be something he needs to work on as I don't see him as a type of kid that will play a heavier style in years to come. He needs to build strength and use body position to limit scoring chances. (If he can play like Beau Akey) Today he and Bruce got caught playing way too high and odd man rushes resulted which London scored easily.
We just can't afford to play undisciplined, selfish hockey. We had next to no offensive zone time and really had no really good scoring chances all weekend. The power play was ineffective, 5 on 5 we were a mess and chased the game and didn't battle. Molnar rushes up the ice today gets stripped of the puck at London's blue line and Wooley passes it up to O'Reilly for a breakaway. A play early in the second period when the game is close we played soft on the puck. The Wolves were changing as well as London ; send the puck into London's zone instead of holding on to the puck and then losing it. We are just not thinking the game.
Coughlan won't play a robust game anymore might be worn down, Villeneuve can't because he will take penalties because he doesn't know when to stop, Walton is floating around and is a one and done player down low. So easily pushed off or stripped of pucks. Pharand looks gassed. Delic just gives up and is invisible. Musty just can't figure it out defensively, his brain is just offensively focused and can't track guys in his own end.
We lost to big teams. Teams that punish you in the corners, finish hits and gives very little space to create. That's frustrating hockey in the second half of the season. We don't play that style and we can't penetrate as easily as we did early on in the season. Teams got bigger...Windsor picking up McNamara and Kennedy is huge. Brampton picking up K. Smith, Barrie has size on the backend, Oshawa as well. Brantford too. I sometimes think that we don't know as an organization what is more important at deadlines. Don't get me wrong I like Mews and Roberts but I still think we missed out on getting some role players up front. Dean, Zilliotto, Chitaroni, Street, DiGiantomoso really don't do much. Molnar is still suspect to me. We needed some role players with decent size and skill that play a gritty game. Moses from Sarnia, Sima in Saginaw, Horner in Ottawa, McNamara went cheap to Windsor, those are the type of role players we needed to find to add to the deals we made. I just learned from watching this weekend and confirmed to myself that we are missing way too much up front to be a factor in the second half IMO.
WJ
