Key Word to the Playoffs: Momentum

No recap, I changed my mind. Mostly because the pre-playoff post should all be positive. Our FIRST playoff game is Saturday at 7:45. I'm not sure who we'll play yet, it'll either be the Sens or the Whalers(they both play tonight). So let's get right into it...

Momentum, it is so important in hockey. A team scores a goal, then gets another quickly, and all of a sudden they completely control the game. It happened to us twice against the Rampage, once against the Sens. It was in our favor in the Severe Icing game (before the fight). It happens in the NHL, and I'll post up a couple videos here to show what momentum looks like. The best example will be in this first video. Game 6 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals between the Anaheim Ducks and the Dallas Stars. Pay close attention to the time on the clock in the third.

The Stars score a quick two, and then it's lights out. The Ducks lose anything they had going for them, and could have easily given up another two or three in that period if their goalie had not stayed composed. Another example would be here Game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, between the Colorado Avalanche and the New Jersey Devils. This one didn't see a team getting the momentum after being down, but instead they jumped out to an early lead, and kept it through the rest of the game.

Both of these are examples of what can happen when a team gets momentum. As I said earlier, we've seen it a bunch this season. We need to be the ones to make it happen in the playoffs, or we'll suffer the same fate that the Devils and the Ducks met in these videos, the end of our season.

This Week

Well, I'm not going to talk much about the last game, it was brutal. Losing 8-0 always sucks, but it's even worse when you stop having fun. And I know, no one was having a blast during the third of that one. Excuses can be made, yeah we were down a couple good defenseman, had a player suspended and hadn't played in two weeks... But like I said, I'm not going to say anything bad. So moving on...

We have our final regular season game on Thursday at 7:15. Then the playoffs start this weekend, our first game will be on Saturday, and depending on the final standings we will play at either 7:45 or 9:10. So no, no first round bye for us (I know, I was shocked too). If we when that game we will have another on Sunday. Just so ya know, it is entirely possible that we could draw the Sens in the first round.

On the picture, the second logo down is our new logo. If you don't like it, deal with it. (I kid, I kid). Anyways, I'll see you all tomorrow, and have a "recap" up Friday as well as a post about our key word going into the playoffs, see ya later!

BBQ @ Steve's after Saturday's Game

*Not Steve's actual house

EDIT: http://cstephenmurray.com/bbq/ for all info

WE WILL ALSO HAVE A TEAM VOTE REGARDING THE FUTURE OF THE AVERAGE JOES

And here is all of the info, crudely copied and pasted from an email!

BBQ at Steve’s Place
This Saturday, Aug 15
6pm

RSVP for extra people
(we’d love to have them, just need to know)

Burgers, dogs, beans, potato salad, watermelon.

BYOBC+T (bring your own beverage, chips and tofu [for any non meat-etarians])

Address: 211 Rodeo Drive, Keller

Directions from Nytex:
West (L) on Mid-Cities
North (R) on Rufe Snow (2.5 miles—2nd major light)
West (L) on North Tarrant (about a mile)
North (R) on Rodeo (2nd right after 4-way stop)
House on R a ways after the road curves.

He also sent me an awesome map with the directions, but I can't post it off my MacBook, so when I get a chance I'll hop on a PC and get it on here.

Game 7 vs Severe Icing

I won't post an actual recap until they post the stats online. I just figured that some of you gus would want to talk about last nights events before tomorrow.

Game 6 vs Rampage

Well, I waited two days before posting this one, a 6-5 loss to the Rampage. It was needed to keep the language clean. The first period was great. So was most of the second. But that third period. This week there are no excuses. We can't blame the refs, we can't say the Rampage were a dirty team, at least not compared to previous weeks. The truth, is that the Joes just let the game slip away. There is 0 excuse for that. If an NHL team blew a 4-0 lead like that, you can beat people would be traded or fired, and they would make some of TSN's top 10 lists. Not the good lists either. I know you're thinking"But we're not the NHL". So what, we are still a hockey team. The rest of the league is gonna know about this. I really hope this is only a one week thing, because it is an embarrassment to have that happen to you. I really thought about it and tried to figure out how this happened. Don't take offense, but I think we just stopped skating. When we were up 4, we continuously went from an all-out offense, giving them an absurd amount of odd man chances, to trying some all out defensive strategy. But as soon as they took that 6-5 lead late, our skating came back, and we had some great chances. Like I said, I hope this is just a one week thing.

The Bad- Well, we sort of had the game in hand, and blew it.

The Good- The first period and a half we were dominant. We need to continue to play the way we were there. If we can do that for three periods, we could beat anyone in the league. Also, our subs who played with us were great, and it was great to have them.

The Great- Headed into the game, our three leading scorers were #8 Dan, #12 Peter and #55 Glenn. Glenn and Peter weren't even there, while Dan held it down in the defensive zone (though he had some GREAT chances). But we found scoring from other people. #40 Scott scored his first goal, #49 Taso had two, including a buzzer beater in the first. #93 Cat had one or two, and #91, yours truly had one 30 seconds into the game. Dave in goal once again played great, stopping 26 of 32 shots against.