Re: Declaring Our Independence: UAH 2010-11, Part the First
Shot totals can be misleading, since I recall more than a few shots that didn't get counted because they were blocked or got redirected before reaching the net. Saunders stood on his head early to keep us in, and they slacked off a bit until late in the second as we got into an actual rhythm. Still you're right, we certainly were out shot, but being out shot doesn't mean losing. I've watched Detroit put up 50 shots in a night and get blown out by a team with half the shots.
The energy was, for those first 35 minutes, far better than we've seen at the VBC and the shot choices were better when they took them. I'm not saying that we glimpsed greatness, just that this team could be taken far more seriously on the national stage. If we played consistently for 60 minutes and with that improved energy? We might be far closer to .500 than we are right now. We've yet to see the guys put in a 60 minute game though. Either they start late or finish early. Shortened benches don't help, but it doesn't explain it completely either.
We certainly need to just shoot the puck more, but at least a couple times we actually fought for it around the crease. That's an improvement over what I've seen all year. Normally we just allow their goalies to cough up rebounds and then skate off with it rather than attempting banking it in. We've been bad about keeping a guy on the door step to cause havoc. We really should, but usually we have three behind the goal line, and then our D gets had by a 3-2 the other way.
We're never going to be a high shot team with this line up and a defensive minded coach, but we need to start getting more aggressive with the shots rather than just looking for the perfect shot. As the saying goes, if you put the puck on net eventually good things happen. Too much of our time was spent passing (poorly) between the blue line and boards rather than ever taking a shot, it was just far worse in Saturday's game than Friday's. We also had more than a few fans on the puck both evenings which were good shots, and no I don't have an explanation as to why we missed those.
Puck control was an issue both nights, as it always seems to be. We're not crisp in our passing and we're allowing them to poke check us too easily. It's not helping the number of times we allow it to slip behind the blue line when we do have pressure. We consistently don't sustain pressure because of these mental slips.
What is the point of dumping if you're not going to chase? Not that we're fast enough to play dump and chase and win against many teams. Worse, we tend to just line change and give up the puck so we're constantly on our heels. We had a couple of times where a forward moved in with a good opportunity but without any support and it caused a turnover and another shift back in our defensive zone rather than in the offensive zone.
(I'm on cold medicine and rambling... sorry if this wanders kind of aimlessly.)
Shot totals can be misleading, since I recall more than a few shots that didn't get counted because they were blocked or got redirected before reaching the net. Saunders stood on his head early to keep us in, and they slacked off a bit until late in the second as we got into an actual rhythm. Still you're right, we certainly were out shot, but being out shot doesn't mean losing. I've watched Detroit put up 50 shots in a night and get blown out by a team with half the shots.
The energy was, for those first 35 minutes, far better than we've seen at the VBC and the shot choices were better when they took them. I'm not saying that we glimpsed greatness, just that this team could be taken far more seriously on the national stage. If we played consistently for 60 minutes and with that improved energy? We might be far closer to .500 than we are right now. We've yet to see the guys put in a 60 minute game though. Either they start late or finish early. Shortened benches don't help, but it doesn't explain it completely either.
We certainly need to just shoot the puck more, but at least a couple times we actually fought for it around the crease. That's an improvement over what I've seen all year. Normally we just allow their goalies to cough up rebounds and then skate off with it rather than attempting banking it in. We've been bad about keeping a guy on the door step to cause havoc. We really should, but usually we have three behind the goal line, and then our D gets had by a 3-2 the other way.
We're never going to be a high shot team with this line up and a defensive minded coach, but we need to start getting more aggressive with the shots rather than just looking for the perfect shot. As the saying goes, if you put the puck on net eventually good things happen. Too much of our time was spent passing (poorly) between the blue line and boards rather than ever taking a shot, it was just far worse in Saturday's game than Friday's. We also had more than a few fans on the puck both evenings which were good shots, and no I don't have an explanation as to why we missed those.
Puck control was an issue both nights, as it always seems to be. We're not crisp in our passing and we're allowing them to poke check us too easily. It's not helping the number of times we allow it to slip behind the blue line when we do have pressure. We consistently don't sustain pressure because of these mental slips.
What is the point of dumping if you're not going to chase? Not that we're fast enough to play dump and chase and win against many teams. Worse, we tend to just line change and give up the puck so we're constantly on our heels. We had a couple of times where a forward moved in with a good opportunity but without any support and it caused a turnover and another shift back in our defensive zone rather than in the offensive zone.
(I'm on cold medicine and rambling... sorry if this wanders kind of aimlessly.)
