Hard work pays off

Saturday afternoon at the Iceplex, the team arrives forty minutes before game time. The night before we focused on taking advantage of loose pucks in font of the net. Bang, knock em in and keep fighting for the puck until the whistle blows or the puck goes in the net. We spent all of last week’s ice time trying to correct some problems we saw at the last game. Saturday we hit the ice ready to play some hockey. The team left the locker room, and they looked ready. It showed on the ice. The battles in the corner produced a lot of opportunities in front of the net. Our team took advantage of most of them and we were on the board early. For most of the game our defense held the other team in their own end where the forwards pressured the puck along the boards and in the slot. By the second period fatigue was starting to set in on some of the lines, but nobody was about to let up. Both goalies stood their ground well defending our net. Our net tenders are proving to be a valuable asset that allows our defensemen to play more offense.
The checking looked better, and the shots had improved over the last game. We still need to improve our passing along the boards, and our breakouts need to flow a little smoother.
Speed still seems to be our biggest issue up front, but I still use Christmas as a goal date for reaching our fast game. Unfortunately with the limited ice, we had to spend more time on our positioning than increasing our speed and endurance, but it’s still early in the season for most of our players. The players who skated with us over the summer are moving pretty good on the ice, now it’s time to bring the whole team up together. It was a good win, but there are more games waiting, and other teams to face. It’s a good start to the season, but we still have a lot of work to do to get where we need to be. The team is starting to come together on and off the ice. This is a good thing that will be a big positive for us. What I liked most about this last game is that everyone was giving us their best, and that’s how you need to play this game if you want to excel. I also noticed a strong presence of orange in the stands and in the locker room. Nice job team!