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?
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