Sorry for the delay in updating the blog but an issue behind the scenes arose yesterday that didn't allow me to write anything, I'll address that later. So we ended the season with a loss to the Ducks, a shootout loss to the Stingers, and a hard fought win against the Jets to finish with 6 points for the season and probably 5th place in our division. The way the playoffs look as of now our first playoff game will be Wednesday, April 6th at 9:00 pm probably. If we end up in the cellar we'll play at 7:30 on the same night.
Also the practice we had scheduled for this Thursday, the 31st, was moved to next Tuesday, the 5th at 7:45, due to the Brahmas playoff series. So this means we'll have an opportunity to work on some things Tuesday night before our game on Wednesday. We still have a "midnight" practice scheduled this Saturday night, the 2nd at 11:45 pm.
So for those that want to mark your calendar here are the dates you should be aware of.....
April 2nd, Saturday, 11:45 pm practice.
April 5th, Tuesday, 7:45 pm practice.
April 6th, Wednesday, 9:00 (probably) game, or 7:30. We should know our opponent by this Friday.
April 9th, Saturday, TBA, if we win Wednesday we should play the semi's this night barring the Brahmas don't bump us out with Game 5 of their playoff series.
April 11th, Monday, our leagues championship game if/when we make it this far.
I'll write a bit later about next season, Mike's wedding, and the issue that arose yesterday and why I delayed updating the blog. Have a good week and hope to see you Saturday night.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
Ah yes, the sweet smell of victory. A win makes any food or beverage taste so much better. We've eaten a bunch of poo all season so last night was a wonderful change of pace. Despite missing Mike, Paul, John, Zee, Steve, Todd, and even Chris the team pulled together and beat the Whalers. Sebastian and Dave subbed and played defense with myself. Glenn got a hat trick. Rusty returned and got 2 goals, with one being a gift from their goalie, and a new addition to the team, Jonathan made a positive impact with a goal. Another new member to the group is Stephen. Stephen works with a majority of the Whalers, so for at least a week, he has some bragging rights. The entire team played so well. David was a brick wall in net, not only stopping a good number of shots from the Whalers but also kept the puck out when we knocked the puck towards him ourselves.
I posted on here a few weeks ago that I could smell a victory on the horizon, well last night was that night. We even buried the blue jersey jinx I posted about too. This is our 3rd victory against the Whalers over the past 3 seasons. They are a solid, well disciplined team, who has always played us tough but clean. Next up is the Mud Ducks who we lost to in a shootout. Not to put any pressure on anyone but if we can get a win that would secure at least a 5th place finish in the division. Why is that important you ask? We have one more game against the Jets and they are in 4th currently, which is who we'd face in the first round of the playoffs.
I apoligize for taking our bye week off as far as writing on here so let me tie up some loose ends. David gave Glenn the player of the game puck after the last game. Then last night Glenn gave it back to David for his performance, a well deserved honor for both guys. Jonathan and Stephen will be finishing the season with us taking Paul and Brian's vacated spots. I have had the opportunity to sub on Mayhem in the silver league over the past few weeks. I say this for one reason, I have seen alot of players in silver that play in our lower bronze division. Next season this will not be allowed. Upper bronze can play in our division but thats it. So overall our league will probably even out a little more but I'd suspect a few ringers will be found within the league. We shall see.
Lastly, we finally have a practice schedule. The times and dates are not the greatest but they are scheduled. We will split the ice with another team but Mike and I have some drills that we want to run that should hopefully help everyone and depending on the other team maybe we can get a scrimmage going.....
Tuesday, March 22nd at 10:30.
Thursday, March 31st at 8:00.
Saturday, April 2nd at 11:45.
As I said, not the greatest times and dates but for those that can make it we'll make the most of it.
Wearing blue against the Ducks this coming Saturday, see you on the ice. As always, comments are encouraged but not mandatory.
I posted on here a few weeks ago that I could smell a victory on the horizon, well last night was that night. We even buried the blue jersey jinx I posted about too. This is our 3rd victory against the Whalers over the past 3 seasons. They are a solid, well disciplined team, who has always played us tough but clean. Next up is the Mud Ducks who we lost to in a shootout. Not to put any pressure on anyone but if we can get a win that would secure at least a 5th place finish in the division. Why is that important you ask? We have one more game against the Jets and they are in 4th currently, which is who we'd face in the first round of the playoffs.
I apoligize for taking our bye week off as far as writing on here so let me tie up some loose ends. David gave Glenn the player of the game puck after the last game. Then last night Glenn gave it back to David for his performance, a well deserved honor for both guys. Jonathan and Stephen will be finishing the season with us taking Paul and Brian's vacated spots. I have had the opportunity to sub on Mayhem in the silver league over the past few weeks. I say this for one reason, I have seen alot of players in silver that play in our lower bronze division. Next season this will not be allowed. Upper bronze can play in our division but thats it. So overall our league will probably even out a little more but I'd suspect a few ringers will be found within the league. We shall see.
Lastly, we finally have a practice schedule. The times and dates are not the greatest but they are scheduled. We will split the ice with another team but Mike and I have some drills that we want to run that should hopefully help everyone and depending on the other team maybe we can get a scrimmage going.....
Tuesday, March 22nd at 10:30.
Thursday, March 31st at 8:00.
Saturday, April 2nd at 11:45.
As I said, not the greatest times and dates but for those that can make it we'll make the most of it.
Wearing blue against the Ducks this coming Saturday, see you on the ice. As always, comments are encouraged but not mandatory.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Don't Bring Me Down!
Figured if I referenced an old ELO song people might read the blog. Although we took another convincing loss against the Indians, I still see us making strides at getting better. Bruce continues to show promise each and every game. Nice to see Scott join us for 2 games in a row, if he shows up for the next one that would make 3, and would officially be on a streak. Kat and Zee have a real chemistry on a line together. Now for some bad news.....
For those who haven't heard Paul had surgery to put 2 screws into his ankle to reattach the ligaments to the bone. As I write this it appears that the surgery went well but with healing time and rehab he'll be off the team for 6 months. He has already promised to come to games and do what he can once he's up to it. The other bad news and that probably deserves his own paragraph is Brian. The Marines feel that they need him more than us so he will be travelling around and be lost to us for quite a while. I know he's planning on posting on here so I'll let him post the details. Brian came to the team via an email to Chad looking for a team. I put on my best recruiter voice and convinced him to join us. He will hopefully be able to join us off and on as a sub but his ice time will definately be limited for a while.
Now back to some good news and other info. For those of you who were trying to figure out who that guy was at the end of the bench watching in street clothes the other night, well that was Al Lacaze. He broke both bones in his leg in our 1st season. It was great to see him out at the rink and hopefully we will start to see him around a lot more in the future. I know we had a full bench this past game. I'll take the blame for that. Sebastian and Dave (aka Kentucky) came out to try and help us out. At the time I asked them to play I knew we were short Paul, but I wasn't sure of a few others availability to play so to make sure we had enough for a couple of lines I invited them out. Little did I know that everyone was able to show up.
Lastly I want to talk about practice and research. I, and several others, go to a tactics class on Wednesday nights at 9:15 at Grapevine Mills/Polar Ice. They have also started a "chalk talk" session that will start around 8:30 in the locker room while everyone gets dressed. The chalk talk will focus on ice hockey terms, basic general rules of play, and will answer any questions you might have. The cost is $20. Also Nytex has a 1:30 stick and puck time most days now available. It is a chance to get out on the ice with only a few people around and work on skating, puck handling, and passing. It's always better to take a friend/buddy with you. Sometimes there are private lessons going on on the other side of the ice, but it's a good way to work on things on your own if necessary. It's $12. Lastly there is an I-League game on most Friday nights at Grapevine as well. It's $20. There is a game 3 weeks in a row and then the 4th week is usually a practice. The schedule might vary but these games are at our general level.
Lastly, the research part. If you really watch the NHL closely you'll see alot of teams using the "triangle offense" which is what we are trying to play on this team. Now trying to watch the NHL's fast pace is difficult, but not impossible. However I have found a great teaching tool online. If you go to silverleague.blogspot.com you'll see a post of the Whalers vs Jets youtube video. Now this silver league blog basically gives people a chance to just be ugly and a jerk to their opponents, so try not to get sucked into a pissing match on there. However watch the Whalers specifically on the video. You'll notice them work the triangle to perfection. You'll also notice them skating to the blue line, going towards the offensive zone, and either slowing down to go into the zone together or they turn on the blue line to keep skating. This is what we need to work on the most. Too many time, me included, we skate to the blue line and then stop. We have to keep skating. The Whalers post alot of their games on youtube so watch a few of their videos and see if you can tell what they are doing on offense. This is also good since they are our next game.
Alright, enough rambling, enjoy your weekend off this week and lets get ready to harpoon the Whalers next week.
For those who haven't heard Paul had surgery to put 2 screws into his ankle to reattach the ligaments to the bone. As I write this it appears that the surgery went well but with healing time and rehab he'll be off the team for 6 months. He has already promised to come to games and do what he can once he's up to it. The other bad news and that probably deserves his own paragraph is Brian. The Marines feel that they need him more than us so he will be travelling around and be lost to us for quite a while. I know he's planning on posting on here so I'll let him post the details. Brian came to the team via an email to Chad looking for a team. I put on my best recruiter voice and convinced him to join us. He will hopefully be able to join us off and on as a sub but his ice time will definately be limited for a while.
Now back to some good news and other info. For those of you who were trying to figure out who that guy was at the end of the bench watching in street clothes the other night, well that was Al Lacaze. He broke both bones in his leg in our 1st season. It was great to see him out at the rink and hopefully we will start to see him around a lot more in the future. I know we had a full bench this past game. I'll take the blame for that. Sebastian and Dave (aka Kentucky) came out to try and help us out. At the time I asked them to play I knew we were short Paul, but I wasn't sure of a few others availability to play so to make sure we had enough for a couple of lines I invited them out. Little did I know that everyone was able to show up.
Lastly I want to talk about practice and research. I, and several others, go to a tactics class on Wednesday nights at 9:15 at Grapevine Mills/Polar Ice. They have also started a "chalk talk" session that will start around 8:30 in the locker room while everyone gets dressed. The chalk talk will focus on ice hockey terms, basic general rules of play, and will answer any questions you might have. The cost is $20. Also Nytex has a 1:30 stick and puck time most days now available. It is a chance to get out on the ice with only a few people around and work on skating, puck handling, and passing. It's always better to take a friend/buddy with you. Sometimes there are private lessons going on on the other side of the ice, but it's a good way to work on things on your own if necessary. It's $12. Lastly there is an I-League game on most Friday nights at Grapevine as well. It's $20. There is a game 3 weeks in a row and then the 4th week is usually a practice. The schedule might vary but these games are at our general level.
Lastly, the research part. If you really watch the NHL closely you'll see alot of teams using the "triangle offense" which is what we are trying to play on this team. Now trying to watch the NHL's fast pace is difficult, but not impossible. However I have found a great teaching tool online. If you go to silverleague.blogspot.com you'll see a post of the Whalers vs Jets youtube video. Now this silver league blog basically gives people a chance to just be ugly and a jerk to their opponents, so try not to get sucked into a pissing match on there. However watch the Whalers specifically on the video. You'll notice them work the triangle to perfection. You'll also notice them skating to the blue line, going towards the offensive zone, and either slowing down to go into the zone together or they turn on the blue line to keep skating. This is what we need to work on the most. Too many time, me included, we skate to the blue line and then stop. We have to keep skating. The Whalers post alot of their games on youtube so watch a few of their videos and see if you can tell what they are doing on offense. This is also good since they are our next game.
Alright, enough rambling, enjoy your weekend off this week and lets get ready to harpoon the Whalers next week.
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