Power(less) Play
An open letter to the coaching staff of the Bridgeport Soundtigers….Since the team’s inception, our Power Play has been rather anemic at best. Some commonly heard phrases around the rink when Adam announces are power play include “The AAA piss two minutes away” power play, or “why don’t you run 2 minutes off the clock, and give the other team two more shots on goal”. There’s no reason that we should feel so despondent about our man advantage; rather it should be something to get excited about! Instead of placing blame on the current coaches, here are a few suggestions:First, it all starts at the point. The “quarterback” of the power play has typically been one of the defenseman, or in many teams’ cases, a forward. Regardless of his regular position, this “quarterback” has to be someone who handles the puck extremely well, has great on-ice vision, and can be a leader on the ice. A guy like Robert Nilsson fits this role pretty well. Why not use him on the points more often? We’ve only seen him one game, but this kid Jamie Fraser seems like he might be a better choice as well. Second, make sure that you always have two guys who are willing to grind for the puck, fight for it in the corners, but still have the hands to make plays. Jeremy Colliton, Blake Comeau, Petteri Nokelainen, Frans Nielsen and Masi Marjamaki all come to mind. Keep these names in mind for a point made a bit later. The player in front of the net has to be better than Steve Reiger. Nothing against you Steve, but you’re just not cutting it. My vote would be to use a guy like Eric Boguniecki. He’ll take the abuse in front of the net, and has better hands. Want a radical suggestion? Use Kevin Mitchell. When Reiger is in front of the net he gets pushed around too easily, doesn’t always screen the goalie effectively, and is hardly in position for a good rebound. Mitchell can probably do these things more effectively. He knows how to read the goalie’s angles, where he’ll be looking at all times. If the coaching staff still wants to use Reiger in front of the net, its their choice, but at least educate the guy a little better. Sit him down with video of Dino Ciccerelli and Phil Espositio. Those guys knew how to stand in front of the net; hell Ciccerelli made it his career. The one thing they did better than anyone is lower their center of gravity. They always stood with their stick out in front of them, hoping for deflections of low shots, and making it impossible for anyone to move them out of the way. Ciccerelli wasn’t a big guy, the only player in the league with less stature was Theo Fleury, but he found away to create a presence in front of the net. Put this type of player in place, and you’re almost guaranteed more havoc in front of the net. Next suggestion, create more action/flow on the ice. Most of the effective power plays happen because a player on the ice isn’t accounted for. Our power play has always been too stagnant and predicable. Move around a bit. Make the guys on the PK work hard. If our point guy has good on-ice vision like I’ve suggested, he’ll find an open player quickly. Hopefully it’s someone who’s in good position to take a one-timer, not someone who has to stop the puck before he shoots. If we keep things flowing well, good things WILL happen. Sooner or later we’ll isolate a shooter and be in position to take some good shots. Final suggestion, be aggressive! When we have the extra player on the ice, use him! Any time the team on the PK loses the puck, we should have two of our guys on him. Show that we want the puck! We can’t treat the puck as if we’re afraid of it! These are just a few suggestions, I think we’d all love to see a more effective power play. At least change the perception that it’s waste of two minutes.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Monday, January 1, 2007
There Has To Be A Change Soon
Pathetic, underwhelming and wretched. This team is downright terrible. The shame of it is that they are loaded with talent and have no one to put it together.
There is so much to say I don't know where to start. So, let's start with the utterly ridiculous and work our way up the inane.
First, when the River Rats are ahead 7 - 1 the sound guy should NOT play "Rock You Like A Hurricane". I can't be the only one who knows that the Hurricanes are the parent club for the River Rats (especially since they announce it before the game!). Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Second, the games in the intermissions just keep getting worse. To have kids shoot on net is a great idea, to have Dave call one of them cocky and then has them shoot from farther away is terrible. This one only gets two "Dumb"s.
Third, it's about time that they start giving "Fan of the Game" awards to the people who have been around supporting the team. To see Andy Gardecki get it was truly one of the smarter moves. Giving it to people in the past like "J-Tizzle" who walked around slurring expletives was sending a terrible message. Now, on to the game:
The first thing that comes to my mind is "Where were we?" Although Mole cannot be blamed for the entire range of scores by the other team, one has to wonder why Thompson was never put in? Did Marshall give up and just tell Mole that he has to grin and bear it? Kind of odd coming from the guy who pulled Thompson after 3 goals a few games ago.
The Tigers were outshot 38 - 23. This has become a standard. The thing that is not a standard was that at one point in the game the Rats were scoring once for every three shots taken. Only two people on the Tigers were in the plus side of the plus/minus ranking: Regier and Boguniecki. The scorers were Boguniecki, Fraser (which looked very good...note to the Islanders - keep Rourke, Fraser did more in one game than Rourke did all season) and Tambellini (no surprise there). To the contrary, there were only two people on the River Rats in the minus and I think the waterboy was the only person who didn't get a point.
I was fortunate enough to read "The Lifeboat" blog, which is fantastic, and saw some quotes from Regier "You're going to see a whole new team in 2007" (We should be so lucky) and Wotton "The passion to work, it needs to be there, and it obviously wasn't today" (I can't reall the last time I saw him play and entire game with passion) And, of course, my favorite, Dan Marshall "The little things are building" (what team is he watching?).
Section 105 started the "Marshall must go" chant and I was glad to hear that it caught on (with any luck it will continue to drown out that blasted cowbell). It is time for some new leadership for the team. It's time for Dan to open his eyes and see that the team is terrible and there are hundreds of do-or-die fans, such as myself, who are tired of seeing it. What I think quite a number of fans would love to hear is some honesty. For someone to come out and say, "Listen, we screwed up and what we are doing isn't working. We will do our best to make changes and to go in a new direction. Not "the little things are coming along". Stop spitting in my hair and calling it rain.
My understanding is that the team had a knock-down drag-out meeting after the game the other night and, according to Regier, it cleared the air. Stevie-boy, if you think that a conversation after the game is gonna spark a winning streak you got another thing coming. I know that Garth Snow gave them a verbal thrashing, I know that Ted Nolan came to watch the game against the Bears and I realize that people feel its about the 'passion'. Wake up guys. Passion without viable plans and plays has never won games.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for different results. Does that sound familiar Dan? Look at who these people were and what their stats were under different coaches, now look what they are under you. See a difference? You need look no further than the Islanders to see that anything is possible under the right coach.
I am a die-hard fan and will never give up on rooting for the Tigers, but they also have to help themselves. Bite the bullet, change coaches and show everyone how you are serious about making this team better.
There is so much to say I don't know where to start. So, let's start with the utterly ridiculous and work our way up the inane.
First, when the River Rats are ahead 7 - 1 the sound guy should NOT play "Rock You Like A Hurricane". I can't be the only one who knows that the Hurricanes are the parent club for the River Rats (especially since they announce it before the game!). Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Second, the games in the intermissions just keep getting worse. To have kids shoot on net is a great idea, to have Dave call one of them cocky and then has them shoot from farther away is terrible. This one only gets two "Dumb"s.
Third, it's about time that they start giving "Fan of the Game" awards to the people who have been around supporting the team. To see Andy Gardecki get it was truly one of the smarter moves. Giving it to people in the past like "J-Tizzle" who walked around slurring expletives was sending a terrible message. Now, on to the game:
The first thing that comes to my mind is "Where were we?" Although Mole cannot be blamed for the entire range of scores by the other team, one has to wonder why Thompson was never put in? Did Marshall give up and just tell Mole that he has to grin and bear it? Kind of odd coming from the guy who pulled Thompson after 3 goals a few games ago.
The Tigers were outshot 38 - 23. This has become a standard. The thing that is not a standard was that at one point in the game the Rats were scoring once for every three shots taken. Only two people on the Tigers were in the plus side of the plus/minus ranking: Regier and Boguniecki. The scorers were Boguniecki, Fraser (which looked very good...note to the Islanders - keep Rourke, Fraser did more in one game than Rourke did all season) and Tambellini (no surprise there). To the contrary, there were only two people on the River Rats in the minus and I think the waterboy was the only person who didn't get a point.
I was fortunate enough to read "The Lifeboat" blog, which is fantastic, and saw some quotes from Regier "You're going to see a whole new team in 2007" (We should be so lucky) and Wotton "The passion to work, it needs to be there, and it obviously wasn't today" (I can't reall the last time I saw him play and entire game with passion) And, of course, my favorite, Dan Marshall "The little things are building" (what team is he watching?).
Section 105 started the "Marshall must go" chant and I was glad to hear that it caught on (with any luck it will continue to drown out that blasted cowbell). It is time for some new leadership for the team. It's time for Dan to open his eyes and see that the team is terrible and there are hundreds of do-or-die fans, such as myself, who are tired of seeing it. What I think quite a number of fans would love to hear is some honesty. For someone to come out and say, "Listen, we screwed up and what we are doing isn't working. We will do our best to make changes and to go in a new direction. Not "the little things are coming along". Stop spitting in my hair and calling it rain.
My understanding is that the team had a knock-down drag-out meeting after the game the other night and, according to Regier, it cleared the air. Stevie-boy, if you think that a conversation after the game is gonna spark a winning streak you got another thing coming. I know that Garth Snow gave them a verbal thrashing, I know that Ted Nolan came to watch the game against the Bears and I realize that people feel its about the 'passion'. Wake up guys. Passion without viable plans and plays has never won games.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for different results. Does that sound familiar Dan? Look at who these people were and what their stats were under different coaches, now look what they are under you. See a difference? You need look no further than the Islanders to see that anything is possible under the right coach.
I am a die-hard fan and will never give up on rooting for the Tigers, but they also have to help themselves. Bite the bullet, change coaches and show everyone how you are serious about making this team better.
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