That was definitely one of the Solar Bears games of all time.
I get that there was a holiday, and some roster moves, but the Bears came into a packed Kia Center on a Friday Night and played the first period as essentially a scrimmage. They could have all been double shifted, and they still might not be tired.
Yes, I will usually look at the leadership of the team. Being a coach in the ECHL is a tremendous amount of work. It doesn't then make sense to me, and I don't intend this to be mean, why the team would ever not be ready for a game? It's literally this season's marketing slogan. That's pretty much the job. All those hours, the research, the video, the discussions, the development, the learning, the bus rides, for what?
The only thing we know for certain about the next game is that the puck is round (or cylindrical, I guess), but the players should be ready to compete at their best from the start of the game.