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I was expecting something more scathing….
I don’t think that was too unpopular opinion…. I mean we know that we were thrown together at the last minute….we had two systems that were shown too us six minutes before the game we hadn’t run… i think when we stuck to them ice blacks found it hard to be at their peak….they just had more speed than us….
The fact that we could disrupt the ice blacks in the first period was testament to our passion….
I mean sure they looked disorganized… but that is because we got in their way … they had just been training together they should have done better..As far as not taking shots…well what can I say impeccable positioning in the first period by me hahah…… I just lost concentration in the second and third periods… drifted too deep and lost my angles, given that I have just come off knee injury.. .and that is the fourth time I have used those pads I didn’t feel too bad… there were however three shots that if I had kept my stick on the ice i should have stopped…..
In the third period also most of the goals were scored when the ice blacks were allowed to walk around the net…But sure I will take your opinion on my goal tending…. I won’t pay you though so we will call it amateur eh?
I tried tempering my opinions so I wasn’t standing too high up on my soap box. Again, I think the first did flatter Dunedin though. I think their (IB) problems were more a function of them trying too hard to play a system and less a function of a passionate attempt by Dunedin to disrupt their system. In some case, individual efforts were able to disrupt so kudos to those people but I think the IB’s were just rusty having played with a number of them in the past. Training rogether is different than match fitness. The IB’s finally got rolling though and a superior system took over. Obviously the trick is to be able to play against those systems with your own and to adjust when required since nzihl teams will play in a similar manner.
I’ll save most of my goaltending tips for when I can actually show you what ways you can improve. Massive disclaimer though…and I mean massive; just because I know what you should be doing does not mean in any way shape or form that I know how to actually do it myself. If all my theory translated into me being able to perform that theory, I might not be a half bad goalie. That would be a good day! In any case, you did play deep in your net. You did seem a bit shell shocked in the 2nd and 3rd. You had some good first shot saves however the key against a good team is recovery after the initial save. Bearing in mind new pads that don’t let you move the way you want and knee problems, being able to recover quickly is probably the hardest thing to be able to do. You and I both need some work on it. In training shall we say 5 butterflies for every bone-headed thing we do? That should act as a deterent or at the very least, we will be fit enough to recover well in the future.
Wow, you really know how to make a first impression with your possible new team mates don’t you? I really like the way you come down and criticise us right away even after the fact we were put together at the last minute and did get a systems run down 6 minutes before the game. Think you could maybe point out any positives from the game for us? Or was it just the Ice Blacks all the time? That is a rhetorical question by the way. I know that the entire team that played that night were very happy with our performance and the Ice Blacks players and coaches were also impressed with our team.
"battered_and_bruised":2l5917hw wrote:Wow, you really know how to make a first impression with your possible new team mates don’t you? I really like the way you come down and criticise us right away even after the fact we were put together at the last minute and did get a systems run down 6 minutes before the game. Think you could maybe point out any positives from the game for us? Or was it just the Ice Blacks all the time? That is a rhetorical question by the way. I know that the entire team that played that night were very happy with our performance and the Ice Blacks players and coaches were also impressed with our team.
[/quote:2l5917hw]If you re-read my comments, I did mention the fact that the team was thrown together. I’ve played enough hockey to know that its impossible to compete 60 minutes with a team that plays a system well. Doesn’t matter who the individuals are. Many of those IB’s are Stampede players. Ask Stefan and Ziggy what happened when we didn’t play as a team against the Red Devils. We were beaten soundly. With the lack of preparation, its impossible to compete against a well prepared team. Jeff prepares his team well. I call a spade a spade. As I said, there are encouraging signs however there’s lots of work to be done. Lots of work meaning lots of preparation. Anyone who thinks there isn’t work to be done shouldn’t consider playing at a high level. Everyone knows Dunedin will be the underdogs. That’s not a bad thing. However criticism and working on those things is the key to improving. That’s my opinion. I’m neither a liar nor a sugar coater and I hope to get the same in return. If you don’t like my comments Ryan, that’s fine. I don’t think you are taking them in the correct context though. I don’t make them though because I’m worried about making friends or hurting feelings. From the first training to the last, I will try improving myself and my team in any way I can. Sometimes its a pat on the back and sometimes a kick in the ass. Again I said I thought there was some good individial efforts however team play wasn’t there in an organized fashion. For whatever reason, and I’m sure there are many legitimate ones, for those 60 minutes, it wasn’t there. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.
tis true that the ice blacks werent at their best in the first period, but they have been training together for a long time now and irregardless of the intentions of the match at hand, a games a game and we held them out for the first period, imagine had they been playing like that against mexico or china in the first period? like aaron said, we were a bunch of games shoved together at the last minute with a game plan that we learned 5 minutes before the game.
Our game plan worked incredibley well in that first 20, where after it was their fitness and conditioning that came to the fore. As the famous quote by some roman or greek said: “What can a soldier do whom charges when out of breath?”"thirteen":2xskttxf wrote:“What can a soldier do whom charges when out of breath?”
[/quote:2xskttxf]That would be Vegetius in De Re Militari, probably the principle work of ancient warfare. His seven principles of war have been applied by virtually every army commander in recorded history.
Interestingly, this quote originates from a short chapter entitled “Preparations for General Engagement” (at least, that’s my best translation of the latin!), most of which is directly applicable to ice hockey.
I completely understand the lack of training together and being told a gameplan 5 minutes prior. That’s what I’ve been saying. You were beat for those reasons and others. Fitness is certainly a part but not the sole part in my completely individual opinion. It’s a public forum and I’m simply expressing what I saw. Equal amounts of fitness would have made the game closer but I think they would have won anyways for the reasons already stated. I’m not bad mouthing the team, just saying what I saw. I don’t think its some giant revelation that a team who didn’t get to train to a system got beat by a team that did. Other comments support it as well. I just rationalised my statements more than others.
Let’s also point out that if the Dunedin team ahd beaten the IBs, there would be something drastically wrong with the IB selection process.
probably would be a problem. That being said, the IB’s are going to be similar to every team in the nzihl. They are all nzihl players plus every team will have imports who should arguably be better than the IB’s. That’s the competition the Thunder must compete against once a team is picked and training.
One would hope the Ice Blacks are a better team than any NZIHL team…..having good imports don’t make a good team… i.e Red Devils as soon as Kaszla couldn’t play they got munched in the final…. of course they are all NZIHL players were else would they come from… you would hope however they were the best NZIHL players all on the same team…
And that team that played on Saturday wasn’t the Thunder… it was a bunch of guys who got thrown together….
I think if in Canada you grabbed a bunch of guys who could play hockey and threw them together… you would hope Team Canada would eat them alive….. I know Ice Blacks don’t equal team Canada.. .but presumably the guys you could pick to play them would be comparably below the national equivalent….
true however the red devils are a poor reference in my opinion. Kaczala did play but from what a number of them said afterwards was that no one came to trainings prior to the final (they had something like 6 weeks off between games) and they didn’t seem to have the heart to compete (for any Devils players reading this, please don’t take this as motivation for next year)
” title=”Wink” /> Imports, if they are any good, should be able to slot themselves into a system more readily because they’ve played within them more often. Adding 5 players who should be well skilled individually and can play into a system should greatly improve a team. Last years Devils playing at their best against the IB’s would be a pretty close game (assuming the canty players could play for both teams…laws of physics relaxing for a couple hours).
Reiterating, my poor mans Don Cherry analysis was about that one game and that game only. It has no bearing on individuals ability nor their potential to play differently in the near or far future. It’s not an indictment nor a prediction. I was simply watching Dunedin players, many whom I assume would trial the Thunder. I’m just saying there wasn’t much of a system played, for numerous reasons unrelated to playing ability, on that day. Also reiterating that I saw some encouraging things. I have no reason to believe the Thunder will look and play the same on game night when the season opens. Preparation can do wonders!
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