Long story short... I stayed home tonight to take care of my wife, who is recovering from surgery (she's doing great, thanks for asking) so I had to watch this one from the comfort of my recliner.
What a stinker... I have no idea what is wrong with this team but if Rob Sumner doesn't figure it out pretty quickly this season is going to slip away.
Open thread folks... you tell me what you thought about what you saw tonight?
Hockey Challenge 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
14 comments :
i didnt think that the 1st period was to bad. After that it was just pathetic. that 3rd period was the worst period of hockey i have seen them play. all around lousy game. They are just playing uninspired hockey right now and you have to blame the coaching for that. Pickard even had a rough night at WJC camp.
on a more positive note that was a great snipe by Jacobs. beauty
I thought they played better than the previous 2 games but giving up the shorthanded goal turned the game in Spokane's favor. Third period was just a bit of a meltdown but the damage was done before that. This conference is going to go rgiht down to the last week of the season so lets not give up just yet, things can turn around jsut asa fast as they went bad. Be positive, its a lot better than last year.
First period looked good but after that there just didn't seem to be the commitment. This team needs to recommit to playing as a team. I'm hoping after the Christmas break they can put some heart and soul into the game and play some inspired hockey. As the first poster said, last night was indeed pathetic!!
Agree with the posters above, the first period was great, and the short-handed Spokane goal that put them up 3-1 was the momentum killer.
Spokane has the TBirds figured out, because they're predictable. Same plays, same on the power play, same when they're struggling, etc.
Watch when the Chiefs go on the power play tonight; two of their forwards rush to the front of our net and set up a screen, so now Salmon has to look through two Chiefs and their respective TBird defenders. How's he supposed to see anything now? There is minimal effort to get the Chiefs out of there, so of course they score easily.
A few times I watched Chiefs move to a position anticipating a pass, and each time they were able to steal the puck.
TBirds need to learn some new techniques or something. I don't know.
On a bright note - Sutter had a MUCH better game last night.
Sutter was hit and miss for me last night and appeared to be part of the meltdown last night. He played the body at points (2 hits in one shift) but looked absolutely nervous on the power play.
Bobbee looked to be benched in the third as they moved Fleming up to get more ice time.
Ramsey is not playing with the same ferocity as he did last year when he showed up.
3 shots in the third period. ugh.
After birds went down by five goals they may have been better served to put Doty, Elliot, Hickmon and Lund out there to at least hit things and give them playing time.
After the game
*****Disclamier*****
This is only my Opinion
*****Disclaimer*****
The game last night was just aweful. People can sugar coat it as much as they want "They had a good first period" or "the kids are doing there best" but the fact remains this team is not improving over the year as we expected and in many cases they are reverting to old habbits.
1. At the beginning of the year we were playing a more even game of carrying the puck in to the zone or dumping it in. It appears that we have reverted back to always dumping it in. I'm sure some of this has to do with most teams bunching up the middle to block the users from breaking through but the dump game only works if you can actually reach the puck which we can't.
2. Coaching hasn't improved. I have been giving Sumner the benefit of the doubt for last year since we were rolling out a young teams and the beginning of this year but watching all the mistakes as of late I'm losing my patience with the overall development of the team. I hear many people cry out to have Turner take over but to be honest I want new blood in there from the top on down. Just because Turner and Jim are assistants doesn't mean they aren't contributing to the overall problem. Also in last nights game the T-birds were stuck in there own zone during even strength and only had 4 players on the ice. Rouse was injured during his last shift but nobody took his place. This is a rookie coach mistake plain and simple.
3. Defense is lacking in a HUGE way. I decided after your last post to watch Sutter. I really wish I didn't because he is absolutely aweful. Some people say you can't teach size but in Sutter's case I don't thing you can teach defense either. I mean someone that big who is affraid to actually lay a body on someone? I fealt bad for Ramsay because he seemed to spend most of his time trying to tell Sutter where to be. It seemed that on almost every single Spokane goal that Bobbee and Bonsor were on the ice. Fleming's only contribution to the game last night was to take a high stick to the jaw to gain us a 4 minute powerplay and Bonsor left his skirt on the ice when Johnson passed him (I can't blame Salmon on that goal at all, it was just sick). Fleming appears to be out there because he is a first round pick and someone (Russ) is trying to justify that pick.
4. The offense was on vacation. It appears that the coaching staff has favorites or is trying to ride one or two lines more heavily then the others. I'm all for that if the team has a stud line but we don't in any way shape or form. We have 3 below average lines (that might being a bit harsh and It should probably be average lines but last night has me a little tainted). In building a line you need to put them together to accomplish something. Atleast our 4th line is actually hitting people which is what that line is supposed to do but they aren't even putting them out that much. Wells needs to learn how to pass the puck and Noebels needs to shoot more and not pass as much.
With all this being said I have to give props to two players. Not because they both dropped gloves but because they appeared to be the only two players on the ice that were even trying to get the team motivated and were putting an effort out ther. That being Ramsay and Lund. I get why Ramsay isn't the captain since he spent such a large amount of time at the beginning of the season injured and appears to just now be getting up to speed but he also appears to be the only player not affraid to get in the face of the other players and that "C" should be moved over to him. As for Lund, even though he appears to have been moved to a lesser line (doesn't seem to be favored at the moment) he's still doing his job night in and night out.
I think that's a pretty honest assessment at this point.
I would only strongly disagree with one part... and that is on Lund. Lund might be trying hard... but trying hard and doing nothing is still doing nothing. He has decent speed in a straight line, but beyond that he isn't showing me anything. Quite frankly at this point I'm not sure he would have a place on this roster next year unless I see something more. He is 18 years old now and unlike Sutter who is 18... Lund has been here for 3 years and doesn't appear to be getting better.
Sutter isn't playing well and my thoughts on Monday weren't meant to be a defense of his play but to say that maybe our expectations should be adjusted.
People keep talking about how bad the defense is, mainly sutter and ramsey. Don't get me wrong, they haven't been good, but what about the offense? We really only have three guys scoring, lockhart, gallimore and Jacobs, and all three are really streaky. You can't rely on winning games, when u score a goall or two a game. I think they need to find more offense to take pressure off pickard and the defense.
It's everything it's not just one thing. Defense is very bad and filled with weaklings who can't skate or hit. The team can barely generate any quality scoring chance. The PP has been terrible since Sumner made sure Becanic wasn't coming back. The PK is lazy and not aggressive. The coaching is pitiful and the players dont want to play for Sumner, the front office thinks the fans are idiots. I mean what else can you say. Is some of the comments frustration of course, but why are we frustrated, in sports you have two options produce results which you can look into our rafters and see that isn't the case. Or build a team that shows improvement every night until they become productive.... Which is what we are being spoon fed but it's not happening.... Any sports franchise would have done some house cleaning at the top years ago. Tickets and marketing i think have done a lot of good things to try and get people in. Now it's time for the hockey side to actually hold up it's end. Nobody wants to see a team that is being embarrassed every night. Anyways thats enough for now if they can't show any effort at home on a Saturday against Portland then this team obviously never will.
oiIf you are going to call players out, atleast sign your name to the post...."Defense is very bad and filled with weaklings who can't skate or hit."....
I do agree that there are a lot of things that this team needs. They need to figure out a way to get more shots. They need to figure out a way to limit the shots against them. They need to figure out a way to play with emotion the whole game and not just a period.
I just don't know if these things can be fixed without really shaking things up. I think the team has good solid core of players but they are missing some key elements. They don't have an offensive play maker that really scares the other teams. All the other teams in the U.S. Division have atleast one. We saw how a top notch offensive player can change the game last night(Johnson's shorthanded goal).
Thunnex,
Sorry can't give you a comment on the game, see I lost total interest in the team about 10 plus games ago. Roughly the last time Austin Baecker played. Don't want to be one side, because I'm long time friend of his dad.Why is the coach not using him at all. You have to tell me what is he learning up in the stands? After 12 games his plus minus seems to be even. I thought it was pretty rude of coach to not even let him play in his home town in Kelowna. Oh, a game they lost. The kid had friends show up for what, see him on the stands(joke). A friend of his on facebook posted (joke)Tried to update you on NHL 2010, but it couldn't because you were an inactive player.You may say he's lacking this or that, but how you not going to learn if your not in the game.It's getting to a point the coach better do something soon or Seattle will once again be looking outside comes to playoffs
Maybe the problem with the team is that everything in the 11 comments above is completely true... I'm beginning to think we should just stop playing home games.
Well everything above can't be true. the comment about the pp being bad ever since Becanic left? Are you kidding me? They sucked on the PP with Becanic and are now consistently a top 5 pp team since he left (#4 as of 12/16/10)...maybe you should check the facts before spouting off. By thw way, how did Vancouver's PP do with Becanic on their coaching staff? Normally a top 5 pp, they are ranked 15th. And Baecker? I've seen him play and I've seen him practice...he is slow, slow and slower. He needs to improve his foot speed or opposing teams will use him like a turnstile. They said when they traded for him he was a project at this level, but you can't teach size so he's worth the gamble. I hope he works out. Seriously, this team doesn't have much talent and they talent they have is young. To be doing as well as they are is probably because of coaching, not in spite of it. This team's problem is lousy drafting. When's the last time they picked an impact player in the first round? Hickey, six years ago. That's a horrible track record.
Clearly the problem with this team is they don't know how to play in their blue jerseys. After the break when they make the change we should see lots of wins in the show! ;-)
Post a Comment