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.
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.
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