Re: Severe Ronaldstorm Warning: the Michigan Tech 2010-11 Season Thread, Part the Sec
So here is my general question of the week.
It seems like other teams, ( read cc, uno, etc) are pretty good 2 on 1 against us and we have given up our share of odd man rush goals. However when it's our turn on these rushes, we flub it away and rarely get a quality shot.We don't seem to move the puck well like cc did or we don't shoot well like uno did.
So my question is, what can we do to get more scoring on our opportunities. I think we get enough opportunities, but can't seem to get them home somehow.
It seems to me that practice and game experience are the only two ways to improve on anything. Our young players are still developing, and so while they may be adjusted to the speed of the game at this level, they haven't had enough experience to be able to do everything they want to do at that speed.
We had some young players lighting it up early, but then other teams start matching them against better defenders. The players must mature in kind to rise to a level of production against the top-line D.
As far as practice goes, that is where line chemistry and connection develop. The more time you spend working with your line, the more you know the other players strengths and tendencies. For example, the strongest line we had in recent memory was the Conner-Murphy-Desmet line, and they were together for a long time and those players were never out of the lineup. You start to throw injuries into the mix, it results in constant line changes, and nobody plays together enough to generate the chemistry that would result in crisp passes and timing. In theory, every line should be playing the same system and the same decisions should always be made in a given situation regardless of who is in what position, but each player has their own style and nuances, and thus the system varies between players. Also, if a player is playing on a new line or a new position, then they might not have enough experience to make the automatic choice or they have to think half a second longer, and that throws off timing.
So, practice hard. Have continuity of lines. And get our freshmen WCHA game speed experience and more work against top line defensemen. And then we will score again.
It all comes back to injuries, again. Injuries disrupt the chemistry, limit practice time, destroy line continuity, and force younger players to play roles in which they are not quite ready to play yet.
And we have a culture of injuries. I am not sure how that works, but after 3 years of the same thing, we have a culture.
