You Think You're Tough

You think you're tough!
Tonight we faced off against a team that has an undefeated record, and was supposedly the toughest and hardest hitting team in their division. I was supposed to be looking at a blowout game. (us getting blown away) My biggest concern was that someone might wind up getting hurt. Well there was no blowout. We did most of the checking, and spent way too much time in the box. I think we had a lot of calls that were questionable, but there wasn't much I was allowed to question. This was the first game in my many years of coaching that I was at the bitter edge of the dreaded 15 penalty limit. This was a first for me that I can remember. We were called for lots of stick work and two extremely questionable minors. Suddenly we had become the tough guys even though I disagreed with many of the calls. My concerns about checking all year became all but a faded memory. We did check very well tonight, in fact I thought that we would be called for a few late hits, but we were actually called on tripping and slashing when our players were really going after the puck. The game was lost 6 to 3, but I think we gained by the way our team played right up to the last second. We took our lumps and played on. I wish we had not played one and two men down all night, but I think we did much better than anyone expected. Being a tough team has never been my goal, being a good team has. This game was bizarre right from the start, and got even more weird as the night went on. In my opinion we did lose fair and square, but we also played uphill with a lot of grit, not something I would shoot for, but impressive none the less. There was a lot of things I wish we had done better, but now that we have gotten through this I can't Imagine the team being intimidated by any other team we will be facing. I never want to see someone go to the box for a dumb penalty, but there will always be a few games where every slight hint of an infraction will be called. “2 and 10” Serve your two minutes then serve your ten. Because you can’t leave the box when your two-minute penalty is up we put a player in the box to serve the two-minute minor. This player is hopefully someone that can leave the box and immediately get into the game. This player you put in to serve the minor could come in handy if you have the right circumstances. Your total time in the box will be twelve minutes. Better yet, avoid hitting from behind. If you injure a player or push them headfirst into the posts or boards you get a major plus a game misconduct. That means your gone for the rest of the game and someone serves a major in your place. That’s five minutes your team plays short handed and you miss the next game already on your regular schedule. Worse than all this is what can happen to the player who gets hit. Board checking can be treated as a major or a minor. There is a difference between a good clean check and a violent check. Check clean to get control of the puck.I don't think the refs did a bad job, but I do think they tried to tighten up the calls in an effort to keep the game under tight control. I have seen some mean teams in my day, but we're not one of them, of course now that everyone thinks we are maybe I shouldn't say anything different. I thanked the refs for the job they did, and walked away with just a hint of a grin. Play fair, play well, and play smart. Go for the puck and try to stay out of the penalty box. Be tough in the fact that you keep working hard regardless of the opponent or score. That's tough. I guess we are a pretty tough team after all.