Up the hill we go

“One goal is all I wanted, but lets see if we can get one more before the clock runs out” with the clock running down in the third period, we had only scored one goal and our opponent was way out ahead on the scoreboard. I knew this division would be tough, but this is the level of play we need to face. Anything less wouldn’t cut it, so up the hill we go. We need to work on our passing and pressure the puck more. There was too much overloading along the boards and not enough hard shots from the points, but the team did work hard and battle well for the puck deep in the offensive zone. Hesitation on shooting and passing cost us a few opportunities, as did our inability to break out quickly. That’s the down side, but the upside was the effort the players put into the game from the first face off to the final buzzer. The team delivered the second goal of the game as requested. When our starting goalie stepped out onto the ice I noticed that he only came up to the waist of the goalie at the other end of the rink. “Are you ready for this?” I asked him. He smiled and nodded. We split the net tending between both our goalies, who both made some great saves. We definitely have the talent, now we need to put all together as a team effort. I saw some very good things out there, but I also saw some mistakes, of course that’s how you learn. Each time we play we need to make fewer mistakes and play smarter hockey as a team. One goal was all I wanted, but the team delivered two.