GAME 32: HCP VS OLL

PUSTERTAL 4 - 5 OLIMPIJA (OT)

KERBASHIAN KEEPS US UP IN OT (sorry)

WINSTREAK UNDER "ANDRES TAVZELY" CONTINUES

Lineup changes

Červeny returns from a long injury layoff and is joined by the more mysteriously disappeared Lavoie. Kerbashian gets moved down to the 3rd line to centre these two, presumably because they all played together when Červeny was last active. I don't particularly like this 'demotion' for Kale, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Tomaževič, on a team-low -15 +/-, gets bumped up to centre Sabolič and Simšič on the top line.

Stars of the game

* The new 3rd line: Rudolf Červeny (G), Kale Kerbashian (GWG), Alexandre Lavoie (A). They scored a beautiful goal together and are quite the formidable group. Kale showcased beautiful movement and finishing on the OT goal, ensuring that, unlike too many times in the Karhula era, we got what we deserved. As I've been saying, give your best players the puck and good things happen!

** Lukaš Horák - he's pretty firmly cemented here, I'll admit. 4 goals given up, but two were PPGs (one tipped, one a perfect top corner shot), one was screened and another was tipped. Not much he could do about any of those. 36/40 (my count) in these circumstances was a great showing and I doff my cap to Mr Horak once more. I hope he victory-belly-flopped straight into some delicious Italian cuisine after this game, he certainly deserved it!

*** New-era winstreak - the Italian commentary team hilariously had Andrej Tavželj as 'Andres Tavzely'. They might not have got his name right, but they should remember his (correct) name - he's on a 3 game winstreak! Yet more dubious refereeing that pushed the game into OT didn't stop us from collecting another win. I like our momentum and I hope we can continue climbing the standings tonight against Vienna.

Stats

Another game, another shot chart showing the dangers of centrality. Is this an edgy politics podcast?! Both teams did a sound job of generating chances in the danger zones, accompanied by quite a few more speculative efforts nearer the blue lines.

Shots-saves at even strength:

P1- 10-9 (OLL GGG, HCP G)

P2- 9-12 (HCP G)

P3 - 7-7 (OLL PPG, HCP 2xPPG)

OT 1:0 ;) 

Pretty even throughout, although it is notable that HCP needed PPGs to catch back up with us. In particular, Mašič's entanglement with a HCP player that led to the equalising goal was poor from the referees. They had started to send both players to the box, which seemed fair, but at the last second decided to only put Bine in their and let the HCP player go free. I found that very frustrating, as there wasn't an explanation or a replay of what happened. A little tyke from HCP had a rant on the Olimpija Instagram post-game, saying we got all the decisions, but clearly this is not the case. It's a good reminder, though, for me and us not to be overly doom-and-gloom with the refereeing. We did seem to get away with a few slashes, for example. 

One amusing incidence which does inform us about part of the refereeing issues is that, as pointed out by friend of the blog ŽG, the refs awarded Mehle's goal to Sodja. Sodja hadn't even touched the puck! If they can't get that right, how can we expect them to officiate the game in a vaguely correct manner?! ^^

PP 1/3 - 33% is a nice number to be ticking away at. Anything over 25% is looking good.

PK 2/4 - 50% is not good enough, even if HCP were well-drilled. Adding up to 83% shows we need an extra 17% from somewhere to hit our 100% aim for the PP+PK.

Game flow

P1

1432 Bonino nearly banks one in, but it's well stopped by the goalie. He seems to always want to be behind the net, wrapping around and shoveling pucks in. I wonder if that's what he has been told to do, or if that's just what he's comfortable with?

HCP are much more effective in attack in these opening 10 mins.

It's nice to see the injured Žiga Pavlin as our assistant coach. He looks great up there on the bench!

814 GOAL HCP

A very impressive tip from Pustertal, no chance for Horak. Too much space and time were afforded to HCP, both at the point and in the net-front.

1-0

721 Červeny with a good hit in the neutral zone / blue line area. Make it hard for them to enter the defensive zone! Make them know they have to take punishment to initiate an attack! Well done and welcome back, Rudolf!

547 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Crnović from the point! Assisted by Bonino.

Crni walks the blue line and shoots centrally - Mahkovec draws attention in front of the net and his trailing defender screens the goalie.

1-1

216 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Žiga Mehle, assisted by Ege.

This somehow goes down as Sodja's goal, even though he doesn't touch the puck. Ege shoots from the point (blue line area) and Mehle deflects it in. 

1-2

119 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Červeny in his first game back from injury! Assisted by Lavoie and Gregorc.

We establish possession very well with a dump-in and retrieve. Lavoie circles the back of the net, bringing it up to the centre of the blue line for a shot, screened by Kerbashian.. Červeny shovels in the rebound! What an end to P1!

1-3

2s left - Mahkovec and Kapel manage a decent tip chance right before the end of the period. Suddenly, we are firing on all cylinders!

P2

1711 PEN OLL - Simšič for 'holding the stick'? He was the one who fell over!

Červeny, Bonino, Gregorc and Mašič are on the PK. Good clears and changes.

1509 GOAL HCP

Like so often, just as we've killed off the penalty, we concede. The puck gets thrown back to the net from a the top of the left circle and it goes in. Horak gets screened.

2-3

1155 Sodja screams past defenders for a high danger chance with a wonderful wide stick handle.

1119 Mašič threads the needle to find Červeny at the back post, how does that no go in?! I was up and celebrating!

1024 PEN OLL - Crnović trip. Crni is becoming Atwal-esque in his penalty-taking! He's on one per game the past few!

920 Horak is a little too eager to drop and play the puck - be careful there, lad! HCP nearly snaffle it!

854 Bonino and Simšič have a very favourable 2 on 1, but no goal to be found.

744 PEN HCP - too many men. 

PP1 is Bonino, Kerbashian, Mašič, Sabolič, Simšič. We lose the faceoff and it's 40 seconds gone before we set up. 1 shot.

2-3

P3 

1928 PEN OLL - Bonino high stick.

1815 PPG HCP - long range shot tipped in front again. Crnović is there but can't make enough space or lift a stick in time. I miss Pavlin!

3-3

800 PEN HCP - they call it a trip, but it was knee-to-knee contact on Kerbashian. I hated seeing that after his earlier injury troubles this season. 

725 PPG OLIMPIJA - We make them pay - Sabolič to Simšič in the high slot, fired home over the glove.

3-4

715 Mahkovec breaks free for a 1 on 0 chance but it's saved.

601 PEN HCP AND OLL - TURNED INTO PEN OLL - Mašič for holding. Both Bine and a HCP get caught up and fall over in the defensive zone. Both get sent to the penalty box area, before Bine gets pushed in and the HCP player gets pulled out and goes back scot-free. I found this infuriating, as it seemed like they both deserved it. No communication from the refs and no replays to analyse - presumably a tactical move from the home broadcast team.

459 PPG HCP - our worst fears are realised and they score from the unjust PP. We can't clear or change, they drag out their possession and find the back post with perfect top corner placement. As my Dad will confirm, I was absolutely fuming at this stage. Horak possibly committed to the butterfly too early, leaving the top of the net open, but it's a tough situation to be in.

4-4

2:10 PEN HCP for interference. They essentially run our goalie. Another soft response, but never mind - let's win the game, at least!

120 A net-front scramble can't find an Olimpija stick to connect with the puck.

OT

426 GOAL OLIMPIJA - No messing around, we win it in OT on the first shot! Gorgeous play by Sabolič and Kerbashian. They cycle beautifully, with Kale's intelligent gamesense landing him in acres of space to score 5-hole and look up cheekily at the wall of Pustertal ultras. :)) KK saves the day!

ENDS 4-5 AOT

Final thoughts 

After waiting so long for a win, we have three on the bounce now. We're finding ways to win, rather than our previous modus operandi of finding ways to lose. Unfortunate refereeing is not something I want to harp on about constantly, so apologies, but it does bear mentioning. Anyway, let's keep it going tonight against Vienna. Forza Zmaji!

GAME 31: OLL VS ASI

 

OLIMPIJA 3 - 2 ASIAGO (OT)

OLIMPIJA DIG DEEP AND GET THE WIN IN OT

MORE REFEREEING SHENANIGANS CAN'T STOP US 

 

Stars of the game

* Top-6 Right Wingers: Nik Simšič (GWG) and Rok Kapel (G). 12 with a repeat performance of his game winning goal, shot wide in OT all alone - that's an obvious one. Kapel's increasing contributions are less so, but worth celebrating. I'm still not sure exactly what's going on with Lavoie being out, but Kapel has started to step up in his absence. He made notable contributions today and was connecting good sequences of play together, which was great to see after what has been a challenging post-injury season for him.

** Lukas Horak (92.3%) - The usual! Kept us in the game when we lapsed defensively. Mercifully, these lapses seem to be reducing in frequency compared to the old era.

*** Marcel Mahkovec (A) - I thought #8 took the bull by the horns and the game into his own hands in the crunch time of the final few minutes and then overtime. He stickhandled past defenders with breathtaking ease and very nearly scored in each of those periods. Despite the lack of finish, this was an impressive showing. I hope he will continue to trust himself to take on defenders more often, because he has the skill to beat them. Mahkovec showing more of his skill could really open up our offense.

Main Discussion Point - Pance's Major and Game Misconduct

On the penalty kill in the 2nd period, Žiga Pance chases down a dump-in in the offensive zone and collides with an Asiago player, who falls into the boards and doesn't get up. Initially, the referees let the play go on, but like we discovered with the Červeny injury, waited till the offensive team's possession ended to stop play. I think they were entirely correct not to call anything at first glance. Unfortunately, they decided to be very amateurish and retroactively give Pance not just a 5 minute major, but also a game misconduct. Clearly, I feel for the player who had something of a freak injury and was stretchered off. I find it absolutely incensing, however, that just because the result of the play was bad, Pance must be punished as if the play was bad. The play was fine! As the referees initially assessed! Just because there is an unfortunate and accidental end result to the play doesn't mean you should then rewrite history and penalise the player responsible!

You see this kind of discourse in the NHL sometimes - ooh, the player who injured the player who is now out for X amount of time should also be banned for the same amount of time. How childish! How ridiculous! Hockey is a dangerous contact sport and injuries can happen on any play, just as they can happen doing the most unsuspecting things in life, e.g. Man Utd's Ryan Giggs tearing his hamstring reaching for the TV remote. Should Ryan Giggs' TV remote have been given a ban matching how long the player was out for? Life, sport and human bodies are too complicated for Biblical eye-for-an-eye penalty assessing. ICE League referees - I implore you, do not give in to the dark side of focusing on the results of a play rather than the play itself. The game should have been restarted in a neutral zone faceoff, not tipped on its head by a major penalty, 5 on 3 for 1:39 (that they scored from) and Pance being booted from the game. 

How is it boarding if the defender simply loses his footing and falls awkwardly under legitimate pressure? If there was no injury they would not have called it. They shouldn't call it just because there is an unlucky injury as a result. I wish Asiago #55 a speedy recovery. Luckily we still won in OT, but this decision cost us a point for a regulation victory.

It should go without saying that, on the flipside, if a dangerous play occurs but there is no resulting injury, the player responsible should still be penalised. If the officials want this league to be taken seriously, they must focus on the play, not the result.

Stats

No highlighting needed on this one. We are in yellow and Asiago are in blue. You can see on the left hand side that we are much improved at focusing opportunities into the 'slot', or the central pocket in front of the goal and between the two circles. Asiago had a fair few chances there, too, as you can see on the right. We greatly outshot them, though, so we did deserve to come away with the win.

Shots-saves at even strength:

P1: 9-6

P2: 9-5

P3: 15-8

OT: 4-2

Shooting %: 3/48 (the ICE league site had 49 shots but I counted 48)  = 6.25%. 10% is our average guide, so it looks like their goalie played well tonight and we were a bit unlucky. That we still came away with the win is a really positive sign for us to return to being a team that wins even when things go against them.

Save %: 24/26 = 92.3%. Great stuff from no.61. No further comment needed!

Game flow

P1

1731 GOAL OLIMPIJA - SODJA G, MEHLE A, KERBASHIAN A

The 4th line are only partially through a line change. This means Kerbashian is still on the ice alongside Mehle and Beričič. Kale, as he is about to leave the ice, turns into a key pivot on a fast neutral zone transition, freeing up Žiga Mehle to streak down the left side, followed by Jaka Sodja in support on the other side. Mehle saucer passes across to Sodja who fires in from the back post area. Wonderful stuff from all involved, but special mention to Kerbashian for setting and starting the play.

1-0

1630 PEN OLL - Crnovič trip. Can't afford to give these away so soon after a goal, and in the offensive zone too. Yuck. Less of this and more of your ghostly, flowing zone entries please, Crni!

357 Asiago hit the post after dissecting our defence. Two quick passes from the right corner leads to a slot chance from which we are lucky to emerge unscathed. I hope Horak thanked his post!

30 seconds left GOAL ASIAGO

They find so much space! Horak gets beated in a weird contortion. I'm not sure if that is how Miro Seppanen, the goalie coach, would advise handling that, but either way it is not Horak's fault. Unfortunately, on the replay it shows Kerbashian backhanded it to an Asiago player in the offensive zone and we had nobody back to cut their ensuing rush chance off. Now, I should mention that Kale has been very kind to me since he joined the team, so I accept I have some bias in his favour. With that said, I still wouldn't blame Kale without knowledge of the play they were setting up. This happens in the NFL quite frequently - it looks like the Quarterback (Kale as our 1st line centre is effectively our QB) has done something bone-headed and passed to nobody, when in reality, his teammates were not where they should have been. The other top line forwards may well have been expected to follow Kale in, but for whatever reason they did not. In fairness to Asiago, they did anticipate our plays very well tonight, snuffing out quite a lot of what we were trying to do. Regardless, it's a painful one to give up with 30 seconds left in the period and a surging offensive position.

1-1

P2

1705 PEN ASI - weirdly dramatic trip on Tomaževič, with the Asiago player going flat out. Not sure what he was trying to do there!

The powerplay saw 3 right circle setups, aka the thing we always do. We did do a cool shot-to-the-back-post, but it wasn't converted. Nice to see some new ideas, at least!

- Kapel is making more of an impact in his time on the ice. Helpful when Lavoie is out, for whatever reason!

614 PEN OLL - Mašič. 4 minutes?! 2 for tripping and 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct. Really? He stopped once and said something on the way to the box. Almost every player does this, but they aren't called. Seemed like a strange decision. Clearly the refs are terrified of the mighty Mašič! I know I shouldn't be so dismissive of the referees, but it really does feel like we are always the ones on the end of their B.S. rather than the other team... Talking of that, see below...

502 Horak stops one on the line after a gaping net for Asiago.

MAJOR PEN OLL + GAME MISCONDUCT - Pance for boarding. See 'Main Discussion Point' section at the top of the article for explanation and analysis. They wind the clock back after initially not giving anything. 1:39 of 5 on 3 incoming.

305 PPG ASIAGO - they score back door on the 5 on 3. They do well to elevate on the shot.

1-2

4 minutes left of the PP as it's a major....... 

1-2

P3

Thankfully we do a great job of killing it off and surviving at 1-2.

1510 GOAL OLIMPIJA - KAPEL! Mahkovec and Gregorc assist.

Gregorc shoots and Kapel gratefully accepts the rebound in the slot, beautifully beating the blocker.

2-2

1227 PEN ASI - hook.

We do a better job than usual on the PP of funnelling the puck into the dangerous net-front mixer area. Perhaps too close to the goalie's pads, though!

1030 Mahkovec stickhandles through defenders and it's well saved. Nice to see!

9 Lots of neutral zone turnovers.

Sabolič hits the post on a backhand!

Kapel does very well on a connected sequence, working hard to gain the zone, setting up his linemates in good positions and getting the puck on net when all else fails. Very teachable play! Clip that and show it in practice, Mr Tavželj! After his lacklustre start to the season, would you have expected Kapel to be the role model at this stage?! It's a pleasant surprise, to be sure!

330 Sodja and Zajc could have done a lot better on a 2 on 1. Pass, pass, fizzle. As the old guys on my row in the West stand like to say about 33 times a game, SHOOT!

We give it a good go in the final few minutes, but it's not to be and overtime beckons.

OT

I loved seeing Mahkovec take it on his own into the O-zone, nearly winning it all. Gorgeous stickhandling to beat defenders and a blistering shot that only just gets pushed past the post.

105 Ege 2 on 1 fizzles out. We need to put this game away!

50s left GAME-WINNING GOAL OLIMPIJA - Nik Simšič!!!!!!!

Just as I fear going to penalties, with my Dad watching the stream for the first time, no. 12 saves the day. In an almost exact repeat of his previous OT game winner, he swoops in alone on the right side and rips shot that takes the goalie slightly by surprise, rifling into the far post and in. He even has time to smile for the camera! What a king!

ENDS 3-2 OT

Final thoughts 

We stay 100% win rate in the post-Karhula era. We showed resilience to overcome adversity, with both Mašič's harsh double minor and the frankly ridiculous major + game for Pance. I like the direction this team is moving in. Now, it's still a tall task to try to ascend to an automatic playoff spot, but it's time to just keep it day-by-day and focus on what's in front of us. Why am I sounding like a coach all of a sudden?

GAME 30: OLL VS AVS

 OLIMPIJA 4 - 1 FEHERVAR

"SWEET, SWEET, SWEET VICTORY, YEAH!"

New era begins with a win!

Lineup changes

Simšič is up to the 1st line right wing, as Lavoie is out. Tomaževič is back to 3C and Kapel is 2nd line right wing. Hebar starts on the 3rd pair and Bohinc is 7th D-man. Zajc returns to the 3rd line.

Stars of the game

* Nick Bonino (PPG, G) - silky quality galore. Thank whichever deity you subscribe to that he chose to join us!

** Lukaš Horák - although we did a better job of keeping the opposition to longer-range shots, Horak was there to smother any chances when they did get more dangerous ones. His only conceded goal was on a heavy screen that didn't give him a chance to react. After a few games below his lofty standards, he is well and truly back.

*** Andrej Tavželj - our offensive movement flowed a lot better than it had been prior to this game. We incorporated more movement and deception, both of which are important to shot and goal generation. The powerplay didn't magically change to something other than 'uhhh give it to Sabla on the right circle', but it's unfair to expect a sea-change at this stage. Regardless, he did a great job stepping in to the interim HC role and deserves his flowers, as they say.

Stats

If you'll forgive the scrawling, what have I been saying?! Look at our three goals in the slot (in yellow on the left, circled in green). Is it any surprise that creating more chances down low results in more goals? No! Well done, fellas! 

On the flipside, you can see how we largely kept Fehervar to long-range efforts, one of which they scored from. Conceding one goal per game is absolutely fine with me! Similarly, on the right hand side (highlighted in green) we also had more dangerous opportunities closer to the net. It's funny that both right circles were foci for shot generation. Checking the ICE League website shows it wasn't just one guy over and over, either. It was a full range of our top-6 and middle-6 forwards.

Shots-wise, it was a tight game - but the tables turned after our recent run of games. This time, it was us having higher quality shots, as the image above shows.

Save % 30/31 = 96.7. Vintage Horak is back, baby!

Shot % 4/29 = 13.8. Slightly above average, but the shots were in high quality areas, so I'm not concerned with a big regression incoming.

Goal breakdowns

1st goal - 1-1

Beautiful, sweeping movement by Rok Kapel to open up space for Mahkovec, fresh off the bench, to fire one in from the right circle. This was clever play, as secret agent Marcel stole behind a puck-watching Fehervar. For all Kapel has been switched around the lineup and for all his poor analytics, this was really positive and I hope to see more like this from him.

2nd goal - 2-1

I have to confess that I was at a family meal out during the game last night, so I didn't watch it live. The highlights today very kindly leave out the 2nd goal, so I'm afraid there's no analysis for you or me! Bonino scored, assisted by Simšič and Mahkovec.

3rd goal - 3-1

Gorgeous work by Bonino, as he engages heartily in a PP faceoff, sees the puck squirm away while others have lost sight of it, and slinkily throws the goalie this way and that before sliding it 5-hole. I hear this guy played to a decent standard prior to coming here?

4th goal - 4-1

Simšič flicks the puck along the boards, Kale helps it along, Sabla turns behind the net and flings it back into the net-front mixer. Two Fehervar defenders clumsily try to get rid of it, but they disrupt each other and Nik gleefully returns to finish the move he started, pouncing on the opportunity and forcing it home.

Points:

Bonino PPG, G

Mahkovec G, A

Simšič G, 2A

Kapel A

Sabolič A

Mašič A

Interim Coach Transcript - Andrej Tavželj post-game

"I was really happy that we showed emotions at the beginning. That was the biggest sign for me that we were ready. I never doubted that they don't care, more or less they were afraid to play. I am really happy that they changed that kind of mindset and that they were ready to go and ready to play. I am really happy for them because I know it was hard for them all this time now, loss after loss, and again I have to say it. It's really hard to see the coach go, but for sure he's still in our minds. He gave his all. The guys believe we can do that. I'm happy for the guys that they showed themselves they can still play in this league and beat anybody."

Final thoughts

What a start to the new era! Fehervar looked like they were down a few players; they'd just lost 2-7 at home to Pustertal. Clearly they were more vulnerable than they'd ever been. Still, as Mr Tavželj said, it was great to see some emotion, some smiles and some goals. I hope we keep this energetic, deceptive and high-movement style in the next few games, too.

GAME 29 - RBS VS OLL (+ COACH KARHULA FIRED!)

 

RB SALZBURG 6 - 2 OLIMPIJA 

WHITE FLAG WAVED AGAINST THE RED BULLS

ISOLATED MOMENTS OF EXCELLENCE CAN'T MAKE UP FOR TOTAL SALZBURG DOMINANCE

Lineup changes

Tomaževič is demoted to be the 13th forward, bringing Kapel up to the first line and Kumanović to the 3rd. He came on and played, so was this some form of punishment? Kapel has been a disappointment this season, so it's not like he had forced his way onto the 1st line.

BREAKING - a big lineup change is mentioned in the final thoughts...

Highlights 

- Goalscoring sparks: Žiga Pance and Jaka Sodja. I love these two. Every single game you will get maximum effort from them to make an impact, no matter the circumstances. Pance pounced on a breakaway chance, going bar-down (or 'bar-deezy' in Toronto-speak) to open the scoring for us, something I was worried would not happen. Sodja then scored with a crisp wraparound. Both proper NHL goals. Well done, fellas. Can more forwards get in on the act and follow their examples, please?!

- Physicality on show: Rožle Bohinc and Arvin Atwal. Both provided crunching hits at our blue line. Atwal even had to fight after his (clean) hit, dropping the RBS player who challenged him and bloodying him. Please, sir, may I have some more? Now, both of them just missed out on preventing goals later in the game, but by then it was pretty irrelevant and neither were entirely their fault.

Lowlights

- Take your pick! Horak conceding 6 goals is never something I'll get used to. He must have had an injury in those games he missed, because he is not his usual superhuman self. I am not blaming this loss on him at all, but there were some uncharacteristic mistakes (e.g. missing his signature whipped glove save on a wide angle shot).

- Letting in response goals and letting in multiple goals in quick succession. Initial 2-0...

What's wrong?

Such an all-encompassing question isn't easy to answer, but here's my initial take. We are not driving play proactively anymore. The other team dictates the game and we try to find moments to respond. This means that star players like Kerbashian and Bonino are not getting the puck on their stick enough. My hockey textbook told me that 'stars' average only 1 minute 30 seconds per game with the puck on their stick. I don't think Nick and Kale are getting past 1 minute at the moment; consequently, our team and results suffer.

It is simple stuff, but you need to get your playmakers in possession of the puck. Other players need to make space for them and the coach needs to draw up set-plays to give them room to improvise and work their magic. As a team, we need to gain more possession and use it more effectively by unleashing our best players. Both 9 and 63 do good defensive work, but we need them going forward.

Stats

PP 1/2 = 50%.

PK: 3/5 = 60%

Overall, special teams were ok. We would obviously like the PK to be higher there. Clearly we should aim to not give away so many penalties, too. Simšič's needless slash for the game-breaking RBS PPG, for example.

Shots-saves at 5 on 5:

P1: 11-6 (0-2)

Salzburg much more clinical with their chances, as you can see.

P2: 8-6 (0-1)

More even, but a PPG conceded and actual play-driving and shot quality are firmly on RBS's side.

P3: 5-8 (2-2)

Finally some signs of life, with a PPG and G. Unfortunately, RBS scored twice in their 8 shots to kill any chances of a monster comeback.

Save %: 25/31 = 0.806

Well below Horak's usual standards, leading me to believe he is still recovering from or playing through an injury.

Shot %: 2/25 = 8%. Just under average.

Check out the blue on the left side (us) and the yellow on the right side (RBS). They have a cluster of slot chances, whilst we are pretty much empty there. That's the difference between scoring 6 and 2!

Game flow

P1

1635 huge hit from Bohinc at the blue line. Wait, Olimpija players are allowed to hit the other team?! :O In all seriousness, this is what should happen! Prevent their zone entries and dump ins by lighting them up when they're exposed in the neutral zone/blue line area! This is hockey, people!

1523 Stretch pass to Sabolič leaves him 1 on 0, but he goes for the same backhand move he always does and it's saved. Why do we play like the other team haven't scouted and prepared for us? We are in a professional league. Recognise what you have put on film and consciously prepare to iterate on it and deviate from it. This is the NFL's bread and butter, and why coaches like Bill Belichick have such success. 

Those coaches are telling a never-ending, inverting and rotating story with their gameplans and set-plays week to week. They weave their tales in and out and all around, mesmerising opponents and intentionally setting up plays. Now, hockey is not American football and I'm not asking our coaching staff to match BB, but let's not pretend the other teams don't have their goalie coaches reviewing exactly what our forwards like to do. Mahkovec has been guilty of this before, too, going to the same penalty move again and again. For all my Far Cry 3 enjoyers out there, did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?

1133 GOAL RBS

The puck is put on net, the man in front causes disruption and stabs it home off the rebound.

1102 GOAL RBS

We just about make it 30 seconds before letting in another. I wasn't finished writing up the first goal in my notebook! A wide shot beats Horak's (usually all-consuming) glove. Uncharacteristic.

2-0

843 FIGHT! Atwal hits a RBS player into the boards, which I thought was relatively clean. The refs didn't call anything. An RBS player steps up to challenge Atwal, who gladly accepts. Atwal comes out on top after weathering a few shirt-grab-jabs. Big punches land and RBS's boy is bleeding. Both get 5 mins for fighting. I'm surprised there's no extra instigator penalty for RBS 96, but ah well. It stays 5 on 5. 

137 PEN OLL - Crnović slash.

P2

1404 PEN OLL - Hebar hook.

1108 PEN RBS - crosscheck. We immediately lose possession to RBS in our own D zone. It's not even funny anymore.

858 Atwal lays out to block our usual high danger chance given up at the end of our powerplay.

Ege gets held but then penalised for diving?! A confusing sequence. I wrote 'Schweine' in my notes.

751 PEN OLL - Mašič trip. So they'll call that one but not give diving the other way? Ok ICE League refs :)

Bohinc, Gregorc, Bonino and Pance are on the PK. Nice to see Bohinc get some special teams time. What a player he'll be in a few years!

635 PPG RBS - Horak makes the pad save but the rebound goes straight into the open arms/stick of the man at the back post.

3-0

- There is no rhyme or reason to our play. We are rarely proactive and mainly reactive to our opponent and our own errors.

2s left - PEN RBS - trip on Beričič. Very pleased to see Miha playing hard to the end of the period and not just giving up with a few seconds left. He is rewarded with a powerplay.

P3

1806 PPG PANCE!!! RBS have a shot chance and possession shorthanded, but this opens them up to a breakaway on a turnover at the blue line. Pance streaks away and scores bar-down! Yes!!! We are alive!!!

3-1

1703 PEN OLL - slash by Simšič. 

1644 PPG RBS - the tiny momentum we had is lost thanks to a needless and sloppy penalty. Another wide angle shot hits the roof of the net.

4-1

1603 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Sodja takes matters into his own hands, shooting, collecting the rebound and scoring the wraparound goal by himself. What an effort! Mehle on the slightly unintentional assist, but good work disrupting the net front. Just as I said in the last report... ;)

4-2

745 GOAL RBS - a stretch pass releases an RBS forward for a 1on0 with Horak. He finds the space between Horak's closing blocker and pad. Not his fault, we can't let that happen.

5-2

- We have so much time in our D-zone that by the time we get a rush / breakaway chance we need to do a line change and the man is left on his own. Quite depressing to watch.

- We never really sustain positive play anymore. We just seem to be hoping for isolated moments against the flow of play, which is never a solid foundational idea to base your teamplay on.

- Previously we were playing well and losing, now we are not playing well and losing! :(

320 GOAL RBS - RBS cut us aprt with a move in from the right and pass to the back post. Bohinc is caught outside without inside leverage at the back post, meaning he couldn't life the guy's stick. Learn from it! If only this was a team full of kids, then we could focus on the learning aspect. Sadly we have quite a few 30+ year olds who should know better!

6-2

Final thoughts

Here's how December's games have gone: W, L, L, L, OTL, L, L, L. Fehervar up next. Yikes! 

Our list of injured players has something to do with that: Pavlin, Ćosić, Bičevskis, Červeny and Zajc(?). That's our defensive 3rd pair, two starting centres and a key scoring winger.

We have completely lost our identity, like a shoal of fish getting manipulated and speared through by oceanic predators. Can Coach Karhula be our Aquaman? At least you can rely on Olimpija Hockey Blog to ask the important questions. If only the team would stop ghosting me when I ask to do interviews!

BREAKING - As I was finishing writing this, Coach Karhula has been fired. Turns out he won't be our Aquaman. I wish him the absolute best - he was a really great guy when I met him. I am truly sad that he couldn't turn things around, but you could see it in his eyes in the post-game interviews. He was miserable and out of answers. The team announcement is below; I really hope we have some quality coaches lined up because this group of players deserves to be set up much better than they have been in the last month or two.

For those who are celebrating this, I would advise it's bad karma/juju/vibes to be doing so. A man losing his job around Christmas time is never good. A retrospective on Coach Karhula's time with us is generally a very positive one. We started off last season atrociously, but he turned it around and we got into the play-ins, taking a strong Pustertal team to the very brink. Then, we started this season off very well. Unfortunately, the losses mounted up and the teamplay was progressively deteriorating, necessitating 'a new voice in the room', as the NHL likes to say.

Let's not forget, though, how many injuries we have had this season. They are a key part of our current derailment and to pretend it is all Coach Karhula's fault is silly. Our line synergies and chemistries never really got to cook up because the lineup kept chopping and changing due to injuries. Unfortunately, we didn't show enough when we did get a settled lineup again to prevent a coaching change. 

GAME 28: KAC VS OLL

 Short summary - KAC 3 - 1 OLL

This was the first game I missed this season as I was flying home for Christmas. Here are some thoughts following a viewing of the highlights.

- First goal conceded looked like Bonino got tripped by the referee, losing possession and initiating a rush chance that was converted. Good skill by the KAC player but I would have liked to see more physicality there. If you can't match their stickhandling, you can just hit them...

- KAC hit the bar once and the post twice, so a 3-1 win was well-deserved.

- The game was almost exactly even, shots-wise. The difference, as usual, is in the quality of those shots.

- On the ICE League's fantastic tracker, you can see that KAC in yellow have more chances closer to the net than Olimpija in blue. It's simple stuff, but if you get closer it is usually easier to put the puck in the net. If you are kept to the outside and long-range, it's harder to do so. Žiga Mehle is one player who stands out to me as someone willing to do the dirty work of going to the front of the net and put his body on the line. Tomaževič and Pance also do this. We will need more players willing to drive to the net to create more offense.

- Lavoie got set up with a couple of high-danger chances, or 'good looks' in hockey parlance. Sadly the ketchup bottle dried up for him again. Looking forward to more saucy goals in the near future.

- Nice to see Blaž Gregorc score on a point shot screened by Beričič. I always like to see good work from the 4th line and we need more goals from our defenders.

- 2nd goal saw good effort from Atwal to close down on the shooting attacker, but sadly it was not enough. A great pass from KAC and excellent work finding a pocket of space (even if we should have made it harder on them). I feel we lose synergistic zone control very easily when other teams cycle quickly through us. Now, this is the entire point of high-speed offensive movement, but it's something we need to work on.

- 3rd goal was a big commit to an o-zone possession that got turned over and rushed the other way. Very tough on Horak but this is what leading late in the 3rd does to you - it opens you up.

Coach Karhula transcript:

"It was a pretty good game, from our side at least. Even game. We came back, like a 1-1 after 50 mins or so. It's just one small mistake and they capitalise (on) that and it sucks because it wasn't the first one goal game loss this year(?). So, just a little bit short but we have to keep working".

Glad to see that players were not being blamed, and the focus is on 'we'.  We have lost a lot of close games this year, but that's more than 'it sucks'. You have to searingly analyse why that is happening. Not everything is in our control, but we have 'deserved' to win too many games that we end up losing. Winners win even when they aren't playing well. Unfortunately, we don't even seem to win when we play well!

GAMES 26 + 27 - SUMMARY OF SADNESS

Teddy bears can't save a miserable weekend

Olimpija lose convincingly to the bottom two teams in the league

Coach, players, fans - nobody is enjoying themselves right now

Two summaries below. I have full notes for each game but didn't feel the performances deserved a full run-down. I'm not about to do a 'I've spent so much time and money on this team' rant just yet, but it's getting closer!

Game 26 Summary - OLL 2 - 3 PIV OT/SO

Highlights

- Luka Kolin played magnificently. 

- Pance dropping the gloves. He got ganked (to use some League of Legends terminology (according to Google, it means to use underhand means to defeat an opponent)) by a snot-nosed PIV defender, who then seemed to inquire 'whatcha gonna do about it?' Pance firmly answered that question by throwing off his gloves and landing three big punches to his face, leaving him squirming on the ground. If you can't take the heat...

- Lavoie continuing to find the back of the net (and to work well with Bonino).

- Some more good work from the 4th line, with a goal from Beričič (assisted by Ege and Sodja).

Lowlights

- We played a dominant first 6 minutes and looked like we would be in for a blowout win. From that point on, we let PIV come back into the came and take control. While we had opportunities to win in OT, we did not manage to beat them in a shootout. It should not take that long to beat the bottom-ranked team in the league. We should not be losing to the bottom-ranked team in the league.

- A small moment, but I didn't like the call to send Bonino back out immediately for another penalty just after he scored one in sudden death. His first one was so smooth, his second was jittery. A minor but potentially key error. Use your other players! Kale and Sabla were ready and waiting!

Main takeaways

- Not good enough. Why is Coach Karhula talking about 'playing the full 60 minutes' when we can't even play a full 10 or 20? This can't just be the players, because earlier this season we looked dominant.

- We look quite disconnected. Players are doing good things in isolation but it's not fitting together.

- The powerplay is driving me crazy. The only idea we have is to cycle a bit and then find Sabla on the right circle for a one-timer. The most cursory study by the other team's goalie coach will find this out. The goalie is always ready for this, meaning it does not have a high chance of working. Yet it is all we end up doing, over and over and over. Hire a PP coach! Find someone who knows how to teach literally any other option to the players! 

Game 27 Summary - OLL 2 - 6 INN

Highlights

- Sodja scoring the Teddy Bear Toss goal :)

- Lavoie finally scoring on one of his long range efforts. The ketchup bottle theory seems to apply to him - he's unstuck and now scoring freely!

Lowlights

- Conceding PPGs galore. This was not necessarily all our fault, as the refs where whistling like crazy, but our PK became very porous all of a sudden. We have the best PK in the league by 2.99%, per the ICE League website (a friend helped me discover this - how did I not know they had so many stats on there?!). It did not show up today.

- Conceding another SHG - such a gut punch. It just can't happen.

- Just getting dominated by a 2nd bottom team. We were kept to the outside almost the whole game, while they scored their goals in the danger zone. See the ICE League's shot chart below, available at: https://ice.hockey/zahlen-fakten/spielstats?gameId=2120ca11-a475-43ca-ad9b-7486cbce625b&divisionId=15864. In particular, look at the three blue goals on the right hand side - all right in front of the net. Our chances tend to be from much further away. Consequently, they are less dangerous.

Main takeaways

- I'm glad I was sat with some friends because this was a pretty soul-destroying watch. Where do we go from here? With KAC up next, it doesn't look good.

- Obviously Innsbruck played well, but we can't be making a bottom-two team look this good. Not with the squad we have now.

- See above for powerplay woes.

- On a personal note - the guy sitting behind me who refused to take his feet off the back of my seat. Who hurt you? Don't be so ***** to a fellow fan. It's actually less effort to be nice to other people :)

Final thoughts

Coach Karhula keeps exhorting the players to 'play the full 60 minutes' and 'play the game till the end'. He has also mentioned having "the smartness to do the little things - let's see if they learned" (this was the pre-game Pioneers interview on stream). With the greatest respect for a nice man and a good coach, who is responsible for teaching these guys to do these things? It's not really on the players' 'smartness', it's on the coach to explain things in a way that sticks. As a teacher, I obviously do not like when the coach/teacher is fully blamed for a player/student's performance. We do have a lot to do with it, though. 

Something I have learned as an early career professional is to stop abrogating responsibility and start taking responsibility for everything within my control. No more excuses - what can I do better next time? Obviously we do not get a full insight into the team and its dynamics through the coach's clipped interviews, but where is the responsibility in Coach Karhula's output? It seems like he is consistently blaming the players, when the best coaches always take responsibility themselves - even when it's not really their fault. That kind of situation creates a virtuous cycle, where players want to do better not just for themselves, but for their coach. The one we are in now, where players are getting blamed, creates a vicious cycle. Team morale gets worse and worse, alongside performances. In this scenario, changing coach is the easiest lever to pull - whether that is right or wrong. 

Unless we see a shift in performance and consequent team vibes / morale, I don't see how this can continue as we sink in the standings. It's now 10 losses in the past 12 games.

GAME 25: HCB VS OLL

 BOLZANO 4 - 3 OLIMPIJA

DRAGONS OUTPLAY FOXES BUT UNFORCED ERRORS CONTINUE

ANOTHER ONE WE DESERVE TO WIN BITES THE DUST

Lineup changes

- I've heard all sorts of contradictory stories about why Horak isn't travelling with the team. To be honest, I am happy with Kolin starting away games. We need to manage Horak's workload better if we plan on making it to the playoffs. It's also nice for Kavčič to travel with the team as a backup.

- The lines have been thrown in a bit of a blender following the bad performance last game.

- Simšič is playing wing again, Bonino and Lavoie have been moved up to the 2nd line. 

- Tomaževič is down to the 3rd, Mahkovec is up to the 1st.

- As for defenders, Ege is demoted to the 3rd and Ćosić is promoted to the 2nd, alongside Gregorc. This means we have two lefties, but clearly Ege is in the doghouse.

Stars of the game

* Luka Kolin - excellent play tonight, again really impressive in place of Horak. Our losses are certainly not down to our goaltenders.

** Nick Bonino and Alex Lavoie - what a fine duo these two have become. Of course, it's not surprising that having a double Stanley Cup winner on your line will help you out, but Lavoie has really started popping with Bonino on the ice. I look forward to seeing more of this duo.

*** Robert Sabolič - scored a Captain's goal to help drag the team back into contention. I miss Pavlin but Sabla can be a fine stand-in (if he is a bit more careful with his mid-game interviews...). If you need any English lessons, Sabla, hit me up!

Stats

Shots-saves:

P1 10-10 (GG for HCB)

P2 10-17 (GGG for OLL)

P3 2-13 (GG for HCB)

These numbers are pretty amusing. A really even first period? 2-0 for HCB. A seemingly-dominant 2nd period for HCB? They concede three unanswered. It was only the monstrous 3rd period that bore out the pressure indicated by the saves and lack of shots for Olimpija. Despite that, I still think we should have won - and would have won, without some bone-headed turnovers.

PK 3/3 = 100%

PP 0/1 = 0%

Special teams did well once more.

Shooting %: 13.63. On the higher side.

Save %: 40/44 = 90.9. A quality start from Kolin (anything above 90% counts).

Game flow

I wrote a lot of notes but I'll keep it to the basics for expediency's sake.

P1 

1704 PEN OLL

Ege hook. Good start, Wyatt ;( 

Crnović, Ćosić, Bonino and Pance start on the penalty kill. Look at that forward experience!

1448 Kolin saves the usual goal chance we give up as the penalty expires.

We've started a lot more dangerously and look a lot more solid.

945 GOAL BOLZANO

Crnović is pickpocketed fumbling at the boards and Atwal yet again fails to take the stick of the man at the net front, who scores.

Here's a quote from a hockey textbook I just got from Mladinska Knjiga (please sponsor me, Emka - you and Hala Tivoli are my favourite places in Slovenia): "the defender should take the opponent's stick first and then look to respond to the loose puck...when the puck is in the net area, the priority is stick and body position". That's from Hockey Plays and Strategies by Johnston and Walter, 2nd ed. Apparently the guys could do with reading that!

1-0

859 GOAL BOLZANO

Here we go again... HCB make it look easy - Ege and Simšič are roundly beaten on a rush.

Remember what I said about expecting double figures if we defend like we did before? Strap in?!

2-0

4 Offensive link up play looks crisp - we're just getting cooked the other way. We have to find a better balance between this offensive creation and commitment and defensive presence and solidity. If in doubt, Coach, simplify...

2 Bolzano make a big hit at the blue line - proving you are allowed to do it in this league, we just never partake...

2-0

P2

1940 Atwal lifted a stick! Praise be!

1619 GOAL OLIMPIJA

After many Kolin saves, Sabolič takes the bull by the horns and beats the Bolzano blocker after a fly-by screen from Mahkovec. Well in, skipper!

1258 GOAL OLIMPIJA

Lavoie sets it back to Bonino, who one-times it into the top corner! That's an NHL play, as the announcer go 'Mr NHL'. Mašič ends up getting the goal credit as it rippled his jersey on the way past, but make no mistake - this was Bonino's. Boom!

2-2

That's two goals on 4 shots this period!

739 Kerbashian is tripped but no call. Possibly evening out an earlier non-call on a Bohinc trip. Not sure that's how you're meant to call it though, refs... 

Stream goes into slo-mo and becomes quite trippy for a couple of minutes.

227 HCB hit the post.

31s left GOAL OLIMPIJA

Valentine takes a puck back towards his own goal and slips over, and Kapel greedily snaps it up and dishes it out to Zajc, who rifles it home. This is beautiful karma for his uncalled boarding of Kale in our last game!

2-3

0s left... As time expires, Ege crosschecks a HCB forward entering the zone.

PEN OLL - Ege crosscheck.

Thanks, Wyatt! (Not trying to rag on the guy but come on now)

2-3

P3

1839 Net front hack and whack - Bonino gets down on the floor and blocks it with his chest!

1415 2nd line is flourishing with Bonino's range of passing - Lavoie is an especial beneficiary. Simšič not so much.

1339 GOAL BOLZANO

Gregorc turns it over in the neutral zone with a weird soft pass. This leads to a 2 on 1. Ćosić and Kolin get beaten 5 hole. Unforced errors continue.

946 PEN OLL

Beričič holds on a rush to deny a shot.

601 - we get our second shot of the period after nearly 14 minutes of play...

246 GOAL BOLZANO

A Bolzano centre breaks a stick on a faceoff, but we let HCB keep possession, regroup and cycle - they score on a post screen. So deflating.

4-3

146 PEN HCB

High stick.

HCB hits the post on the empty net and then misses.

Empty net for 6 on 4 but we just pass it around for ages, even with less than 10 seconds to go. Not infuriating at all!

Final thoughts 

This was better - but frustrations remain. It must be nice to have the kind of consistency and resilience as Bolzano, where you had the nagging feeling that they'd come back and win. Olimpija deserved at least a point and overtime, but we crumbled in the 3rd period. That 2-13 shots-saves (at even strength) is damning. 

It's nice to play well and lose, and much better than playing badly and losing. However, the table doesn't care if you do or don't - it's still a fat zero points acquired. After a strong start to the season, we have rapidly fallen back into the play-in scramble that we were in last year. Time to start digging ourselves out of it, as the playoff race has heated up and taken off without us these past few weeks.

VSV Post Game Transcript from Coach Karhula

 

Interview Transcript

"Very, very (disappointed) - we talked about it this morning. We've been playing so good, like we did today, and then we get these brain farts and opponents get these huge chances, and the home team was able to capitalise at the end.

Really disappointed. Even in the third, I thought we were quite good. One goal lead after the PP. We had a couple of posts, had some good chances, kept the pressure then two big mistakes and it's 6-5 suddenly. But you get what you deserve - if you make these kind of mistakes, at some point, they're going to make you pay."

Comment:

I liked this a lot - it shows he has his finger on the pulse of what's happening. I wonder if he also addressed the Horak slash (like I did in my match report) with the team privately. I enjoyed the Joker-esque 'you get what you deserve' and especially the identification of these infuriating 'brain fart' lapses. It's been a hallmark of the Olimpija team under Coach Karhula's leadership, unfortunately. 

How much of it is the player's failing to fully learn his systems, or his failure to teach the players his systems fully? As a teacher myself, this is a very hard question to answer. Maybe we need more frequent line changes to keep players fresh both mentally and physically, or some kind of psychological assistance for the team through meditation practises or simply just having access to a sports psychologist.

GAME 24: VSV VS OLL

 VILLACH 6 - 5 OLIMPIJA

DESPITE FLOWING OFFENSE, DRAGONS GET BURNED LATE BY RIVALS IN EXCRUCIATING FASHION

SODJA STEALS THE SHOW FROM BONINO, WHOSE DEBUT PARADE GETS RAINED ON WITH ANOTHER LATE CARINTHIAN LOSS FOR OLIMPIJA

VILLACH'S EAGLES SLICE THROUGH US LIKE HOT TALONS THROUGH BUTTER

Lineup changes

Probably the biggest lineup change of the year - Nick Bonino comes in for the injured Bičevskis (best wishes for a speedy recovery, Maris) on the 3rd line. This serves a dual purpose - not putting too much on Bonino right away and conserving the nascent chemistry on the top line (and the others, I suppose!). 

Another big one is welcoming Žiga Pance back as the 13th forward - presumably a move to ease him back into game action.

Stars of the game

* Jaka Sodja (SHG, 2A) - I have him down for having two assists, even if Flashscore doesn't. Would anyone have guessed that our former NHL player would have his thunder stolen by some electric play by no.23? I will take full credit for the 4th line erupting this game, despite my report saying I wanted more from them coming out about 10 minutes before the match started. His shorthanded goal had me shouting to the rooftops - well played, sir. 

** Nick Bonino (PPG, A) - Even if assistant coaches were telling fans to 'not expect too much' from Bonino straight away, he looked pretty dominant. Savvy puck play both with and without it added a lot to our game, as did numerous faceoff wins. If this is how he looks when a bit rusty, I cannot wait to see what he looks like in full-flow. Welcome and thank you for joining us! 

*** Rožle Bohinc (A) - A left-field choice, perhaps, but one I am fully behind. Bohinc had a lot more ice time tonight than usual and looked like the only composed and effective defender out there. If I was a scout, I would love the way he looks on the ice - he seems to have all the tools, but he also has the kind of size that doesn't really exist in our team aside from Pavlin. He seems like a prime candidate to get picked off by a higher league but I sincerely hope he stays and that him and Hebar form a seriously bright defensive future for us.

Now, would you like the good news or the bad news? :))

Positives easily lost amidst the maelstrom of negatives:

- Performances of Sodja, Bonino and Bohinc detailed above

- I really loved seeing Žiga Mehle getting powerplay time, along with Bonino, Kerbashian, Sabolič and Mašič. I feel like we have an Alexis Lafrenière situation with Bonino's old New York Rangers here. Mehle needs this kind of specialist ice time to develop his confidence and his game. Beričič and Sodja, the other 'kids', get voluptuous amounts on the penalty kill and look fantastic whenever they do so. It's time to let the final 'kid' consistently have a go on the powerplay. I really hope Coach Karhula continues this.

- Happy to see Lavoie score his first non-empty-net goal. Keep them coming, Monsieur!

Now for the post-mortem negatives:

1. What a waste of an excellent offensive performance. The team must have read a knock-off copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, because "attack, but do not defend" was a tenet of their play tonight. It has to have been plastered all over the locker room in Microsoft Word printout form and rhythmically chanted pre-game, judging by the way things went down. 

Now, I admit that some games do spontaneously mutate into shootouts, imitating life's great game of evolution. This game reminded me of something much less admirable, however. To me, it mirrored those kind of hockey fights you see where the two players just lock onto each other and hammer punch till they both drop. This is essentially what happened tonight, except we were 3-5 up and then let them punch us in the face three more times with no response.

I have been reading a Warhammer 40K book about a Psyker, essentially a witch with psychic powers. In that book, a Psyker mind-wipes an entire regiment of soldiers to make them forget about the location of an extremely dangerous enemy, so that they won't try to fight it again. Our defending was such that it made me think Villach may have had a Psyker in the stands, who compelled us to forget entirely how to defend. I'm sorry if this comes off a bit dramatic, but an absurd game demands absurd explanatory theories!

2. Talking of fighting - if someone touches your goalie, fists should fly. For all I have criticised Arvin Atwal (and there's more coming for him and Wyatt Ege in this article), you can always rely on him to protect our goalies. Tonight, no. 26 of Villach was allowed to brutally slash Lukaš Horák in his nether regions and the most he received was a light push from Bine Mašič. Horak was convulsing on the floor in serious pain and Olimpija players seemed to be just kind of standing around like NPCs. I understand the desire to get the 5 on 3, which we did score from, but some things transcend those concerns. Now, maybe I missed something off-screen on the stream. But the question remains. Why are we so soft? 

Someone is going to have to tell me if this is just European hockey, because this wouldn't slide in the North American hockey I watched prior to moving here. Please forgive the impending brutal reference, but if what happened to Horak happened in the AHL, the guy who did it would resemble one of the post-Hiroshima puddles on the ground that used to be a human being. I'm not suggesting we go that far, but do something! How is Horak supposed to feel when our complete lack of a response sends the message to other teams that they can essentially do what they like with our goalie? When he constantly puts his body on the line for the good of the team, but nobody will do the same for him? I certainly wouldn't feel good, or motivated!

Ok, we were on the powerplay with our finesse players, but come on now, boys! Nobody is even throwing a hit afterwards! I have never played hockey, but if someone did that to my goalie in football, as a defender I would be gagging for the next opportunity to marmelise them in a tackle! I feel like I have to stop myself from launching into a Duane from Buffalo rant about the Sabres (although I certainly would not be talking about the owner; Mr Lefebvre has been fantastic to us). Please check Duane's rant out or Google it if you haven't already, it's true sports fan passion https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/1937880. 

Safe to say, this was enormously infuriating and doesn't reflect well on the team at all. Without Žiga Pavlin around, who is there to be the one that stands up to protect teammates? The kid line of Beričič, Mehle and Sodja certainly looks after each other when they are out on the ice. Stick taps to them.

I hope you can feel the fury simmering off me, because that is truly how I felt when I saw what happened. The least we can do for our star goalie, who for two consecutive seasons has single-handedly kept us in games, is to show we will not tolerate any physicality towards him. Relying on the refs is not enough.

Stats

Doing a pokey stats section post-eviscerating diatribe seems a bit silly, but I'll do it anyway.

Shots-saves at even strength:

P1 - 11-11 (VSV GG, OLL GG)

P2 - 6-14 (VSV G, OLL SHG)

P3 - 6-8 (VSV GGG, OLL PPG)

Period 2 was statistically our undoing, as usual, but it was really Period 3 where it all fell down. I will run down the goals in Game Flow, but it's worth asking why Period 2 seems to always be a downer for us. Is it that other coaches are better at making adjustments than we are?

Special teams:

PK: 3/3 for 100%

PP: 1/2 for 50%

Another excellent night for special teams - unfortunately it was the 5 on 5 play that killed us!

Points:

Sodja SHG 2A

Bonino PPG A

Mehle 1G 1A

Ćosić G

Lavoie G A

Bohinc A

Kerbashian A

Beričič A

Game flow

P1

1505 A point shot for us (I missed who was involved) gets deflected and trickles into the post and wide.

1317 First Bonino impact - a deft interception in the neutral zone that turns into an attack. An auspicious start - and it would get better!

1026 GOAL VILLACH 

2nd line and 1st pair - a sharp sideways pass gets deflected in at the net front. Who let that forward in there uncontested? On the replay, it's Atwal who is late picking him up. In fairness, it's good movement from Villach to find space but it doesn't look good for the nearest defender (Atwal) or centre (Simšič).

1-0

921 GOAL OLIMPIJA 

Within 1 minute, we respond! Ćosić scores from Mehle and Sodja. Sodja enters the zone, dropping it back for Mehle. Mehle had rippled the side netting, Sodja picks it up again, goes around the net and ricochets it off a defender and Mehle - falling nicely for Ćosić to blast home! The 4th line boys are back in town!

1-1

840 GOAL VILLACH 

Another response within a minute, but not the good kind - the same thing happens as before but now it's Ege who fails to engage the net front attacker. Another deflection from a side angle! VSV are going for the 'if it ain't broke' approach!

6 - we watch VSV players skate right into our zone yet again. Hit someone! Has anybody watched what happens when NHL players try to hold onto the puck for ages in the offensive zone? Someone like Radko Gudas obliterates them! Talking of him, Trouba and Gudas will be quite the battering for opposing forwards after the trade from NYR to ANA!

431 Great counterattack - Atwal bounces it off the boards to Kapel, who hits a streaking Mahkovec. No.8 tries to fly across goal and backhand the puck, but he can't elevate and it's a good pad save.

354 Zajc's shot is saved at the back post.

3 GOAL OLIMPIJA 

Beričič drives the net and the rebound goes to Mehle who scores! Sodja on the secondary assist.

2-2

139 Very back and forth stuff, with nice offensive moves by both teams.

119 We let their best player, John Hughes, walk right into the zone.... thankfully his shot gets blocked. You are allowed to hit the opposition, fellas! 

P2

1925 PEN OLL - Mašič for interference.

1856 SHORTHANDED GOAL - SOOOOOODJAAAAAAA!!!

23 makes it 2-3! Sodja pickpockets an attacker in the neutral zone and screams away for a 1 on 0 break - he beats the goalie high above his glove. What an individual effort!!!

Barely 2 minutes in to the 2nd period and Sodja is on SHG and 2A! Finally it's us getting a SHG and not having one scored on us!

2-3 by 23

Pance is back but looks rusty.

15 Some roiling seas in the neutral zone - it's the Age of Pirates, with cannons blasting and pucks being taken this way and that.

1459 PEN OLL - Kapel trips someone.

I like how clear the ref announcements are on the stream - well done to VSV.

Bonino is on the penalty kill, replacing Bičevskis there too.

1251 GOAL VSV 

Just after the penalty expires, we switch off and let VSV in - two of their forwards arrive uncontested into the slot and back post. No coverage means Horak has little chance. Poor play from us, even if there were some tired legs out there. We wasted the PK's hard work.

3-3

1224 VSV nearly get another with a net-front scramble.

11 Our defence is in full 'knife through hot butter' mode. GB points out to me that Bonino has won all of his faceoffs so far.

739 GOAL OLIMPIJA

Bonino's first point in green and white! Bohinc and Bonino combine to assist on Lavoie's first non-empty-net goal for the club. Bohinc initially sent in an interesting rebound puck off the back board from the point. The puck comes back to Rožle, who then sends it into the Gretzky-zone behind the net for Bonino. Bonino does his best Great One impression and backhands it sumptuously for Lavoie to tap home. Very classy stuff. Can you tell this guy played 45 games in the NHL last year?

3-4

5 I like the look of Bonino matched up on John Hughes, who suddenly doesn't look so good. This could be his role on the team - a matchup nightmare that smothers the opposition's best creative player. 63 snuffing out the leading lights of the ICE League would be a lovely sight to see.

Lots of high danger chances being traded.

Bohinc and Atwal are playing together, as well as Mašič and Ege. Not sure what's going on. 

1 A flurry of VSV chances occur. Get. It. Out. The. Zone.

3-4

P3

1820 Lavoie through on goal on a 2on1, but VSV's goalie makes a crisp blocker save.

Pance makes a painful block - oh-oh, hope he's ok!

PEN VSV - hooking.

PP - Bonino, Kerbashian, Mašič, Sabolič and Mehle. I love that Mehle is getting some PP time!

VSV's penalty killers acquire the puck and chase down Horak's net. He makes the save, but isn't sure where the puck is. He stands up, only to release the puck and have to make another save. Whilst splayed out, no.26 of Villach brutally slashes Horak in his nether regions, leading to contorted rolling around in pain. Nobody really does anything about this. The refs then review for a major penalty, but decide on a minor for slashing.

PEN VSV - slashing - see above.

Now it's a 5 on 3 for 1:37. 

With 23s left in the 5 on 3...

1552 POWERPLAY GOAL OLIMPIJA - BONINOOOO

Kerbashian and Lavoie serve up a back-door PPG for the new man! After setting up one, he now gets a back door rebound himself!

3-5 

Now we need to do what we haven't before and calm down to close out the game. It's not so easy in a shootout, though...

1352 GOAL VILLACH

VSV open us up and beat a sore Horak. Our defensive coverage swarms onto the initial zone entrants, which means we neglect the second wave incoming. 

I just wrote 'chaos' in this section of the game.

922 Kale hits the post! Sabla steals the puck in the neutral zone and springs Kerbashian through on goal.

8 Atwal is doing his best Darnell Nurse / Cody Ceci in the playoffs for Edmonton last year - it's real turnstile hockey, getting breezed past.

634 Great effort by Kerbashian to burst across the ice to nullify a turnover rush that looked very inviting, as we had made a line change.

256 GOAL VILLACH

VSV get their THIRD side pass/back post deflection goal of the evening. Glad to see we have made adjustments to stop this from continuing to work! Now we are tied and disappointed that we are not likely to end up with the full three points, but we'll take it in overtime. Surely?

5-5

130 Horak makes a high danger save.

118 GOAL VILLACH

For goodness' sake (the polite version of what I exclaimed to myself) - Horak gets screened by multiple Olimpija players and lets in a soft goal.

6-5

49s left  PEN OLL - too many men. I just wrote "shambles" in my notes. Coach Karhula doesn't look happy and I am certainly not either.

ENDS 6-5

Final thoughts

We are destined for another play-in scramble, just like last year, if we can't find some consistency. How come we can play a tight game against a much better Fehervar team, but leak goals like there's no tomorrow against Villach? They've been ascending in the table, but come on now. At the height of our powers, this team definitely deserves to finish in an automatic playoff spot. Whether we do or not is completely up in the air at the moment.

I hope the players will reflect on this game and decide that they do not want to be known for buttery soft defence. I am conscious that I should avoid overreacting to this one game after some good performances, but we cannot be losing in this fashion yet again - shipping three unanswered goals to close the game. This is the second time that we have let this happen to a Carinthia rival - both Villach and KAC. Villach, like KAC, have now passed us in the standings. Yuck! 

On to Bolzano on Sunday. If we defend like we did here, expect double figures goals. I wish I was joking. If I were Coach Karhula, I would strongly consider scratching Atwal and Ege and bringing in Hebar and Bohinc. That would mean a full set of left-shot defenders, but a message needs to be sent here that these well-paid North American defenders, who looked sensational in the preseason, are not doing what is expected of them. They didn't manage the bare minimum tonight: engage the guy in front of the net and lift his stick a bit so they can't keep deflecting in goals. Here's how this new-look D would line up:

Mašič-Bohinc

Gregorc-Hebar

Ćosić-Crnović

This would give the young guys some big development opportunity and the scratched veterans a chance to work out what's been going wrong.

Right, that's enough from me now - this took all day to marinate. Enjoy your weekend!