ZVOLEN 4 - 2 OLIMPIJA
Lineup changes
Same lineup as the first preseason game, except Horak is back in net.
I hope there are some Ratatouille-enjoyers amongst my readership:
(This meme is no shot at Kolin - as regular readers will know, I am a big fan of his, too!)
STARS OF THE GAME
* Lukaš Horák
** Nico Meyer
*** Žiga Pance
(see Areas of Strength section)
Quince was picked by Zvolen as MVP, which surprised me. He did the little things well but didn't make much of a flashy impact. Maybe I'm just missing the nuance that the Slovakians enjoyed! Something to note is that Zvolen are our latest signing Nate Halbert's previous team, so I'm surprised he didn't get the nod for MVP from them.
GOALS
P2 :
- OLL score a powerplay goal (PPG) as it goes Kirichenko-Meyer-Boychuk! Meyer sends a quick pass to Boychuk for the redirect into the back of the net.
- Zvolen score on a screened point shot, no chance for Horak.
P3:
- Zvolen score - I don't mean to be rude here, but it was a frankly stupid error on a change involving Gregorc and Kirichenko that gifted Zvolen possession and the goal. Whose fault it is is up for debate; Kirichenko looked like he was continuing up ice in the defensive zone (DZ), but promptly turned around to head into the bench. Gregorc's pass to where Kirichenko would have been was pounced on by Zvolen. One pass, one shot, goal. It's so disappointing to carry this blundering into this season, as the past two seasons saw an array of 'absolute clangers', as we'd say in English, thanks to botched line changes. This is only a preseason game, but this type of thing just cannot happen in the regular season and it needs to be cut out now. Aside from injuries, it's the worst thing to see at an OLL game - these goals are momentum-killers and game-losers.
- OLL score - 2:45 remaining and Kirichenko scored with a point shot that squeaks through low and left!
- Zvolen score - 1 minute later and we concede off the rush with two brilliant passes culminating in a great finish. It's unfortunate, but as we say in the gaming community, GGWP (good game, well played).
- Zvolen score - empty-netter. Our empty net execution needs work, but that's understandable at this stage.
AREAS OF STRENGTH
- We entered the offensive zone (OZ) with more speed and intent than last game
- Lukaš Horák looked like himself, AKA the best goalie in the league. He had an enormous double save as a powerplay (PP) was ending, to go along with his regular excellence in all areas. He even outdid himself with a Joey Daccord (Seattle Kraken goalie renowned for strong puck play) impression, launching a sharp pass downfield that, with help from Sodja, sprung Pance for a 1-on-0 rush chance.
- Nate Halbert looked more comfortable playing on his off-hand side
- Our top PP unit (Brennan, Kirichenko, Polei, Boychuk, Meyer) looked pretty spicy. Our 2nd PP unit didn't perform as well tonight, but we still looked like we were at an advantage, which is not something you could say very often last season when viewing our PP efforts.
- Žiga Pance - he just does so much good for this team and his effort consistently goes above and beyond. He busts a gut to block, intercept, hit, make space and shoot. A man who leads by example - hence my strong feelings that he should be captain this season.
- Nico Meyer was more impactful tonight, with some pickpocketing on the forecheck and some insightful passing on the PP.
- TJ Brennan was, too - he was very active in our offense and I just love the 'hockey style' of his white stick. I would say 'hockey sty', like the Canadian kids do, but I think that (even for me) that is a step too far.
- Alex Petan showed off some serious skill and jumped in to defend Marcel Mahkovec, which I loved to see. Get yourself a man who can do both, eh!
IT'S ONLY PRESEASON, BUT...
- There were too many stretches of offensive oblivion for us. This led to sequences where Zvolen were getting the puck on net every attack, while we floundered. When we did occasionally gain the zone, players like Polei fumbled the puck, compounding our difficulties.
- Where are the young defenders? Surely Bohinc, Ćosić and Hebar should be getting serious preseason game time? I'm not sure I like Coach Cooper's approach of favouring age over ability thus far in the defensive lineups. As they say in cricket, if you're good enough, you're old enough!
- Kapel missing a wide open back door net gave me flashbacks to last year, where he failed to convert chance after chance after chance. This man needs to start putting the puck in the net in these positions.
- We're taking too long to get started in games. While it's nice to see us grow into the game, slow starts have been an unhelpful hallmark of Olimpija hockey the past couple of years. New Olimpija must transcend old Olimpija (that goes for exposing/relying on our goalies too much, too).
- 4th liners can't be dishing out OZ penalties. Kumanović was getting physically dominated by their D-men and lashed out with a crosscheck. This cannot happen if you want to play more from a reserve role in the team and shows a serious lack of judgment/game sense. We're 2-1 down with 7 minutes left in P3 and you do this 😵 (for reference, taking OZ penalties is seen as a flagrant thing to do in any situation, let alone a pressure situation).
BANKSA BYSTRICA 2 - 3 OLIMPIJA (PENS)
Lineup changes
The defensive pairings get shaken up:
Brennan-Kirichenko
Mašič-Halbert
Crnović-Ćosić
Bohinc
Brennan shifts over to the left side and is joined by natural righty Kirichenko. Halbert moves up to join Mašič. Crnović slides down two places to the 3rd pair and Ćosić escapes 7th D-man jail to join the starting lineup. Bohinc, finally, makes an appearance. I remain baffled as to how Crnović has been starting over Ćosić, Bohinc and Hebar, but clearly Coach Cooper sees something in him that he likes. As a former defender myself (in football 😆), this is an area of the team I am drawn to, so naturally I have strong opinions on the matter.
I was a fan of Crnović's in the first half of last season, but the strengths of his game (loping carry-ins and fast skating) dissipated as time went on and I honestly thought he'd be heading for the door in the offseason. I think he can be a useful reserve player but, for me, it's a borderline travesty that he's starting over the younger guys. Ćosić and Bohinc are the future on D for Olimpija (I'm not entirely sold on Hebar, yet - but I hope the same for him); for me, the future is now!
"Yeah, yeah, Mr OHB man - it's only preseason, who cares what the lineup looks like?!" Well, as Maximus Decimus Meridius says in Gladiator, "What we do in life echoes in eternity". Pick the best team, Coach, so we can echo in eternity (i.e. make the playoffs)!
Oh, also, Kolin starts in net and Maks Bukovec (on tryout) joined the 4th line. 😐😂
STARS OF THE GAME
* Luka Kolin - played well throughout and turned up the heat even further when it really counted in OT and penalties, going flawless.
** TJ Brennan - two assists, silky offense and fluid skating galore. Received the MVP from the stadium team.
*** Rok Kapel - pleased for him to score after his miss yesterday.
GOALS
P1:
BB score - weak area denial in front of goal allows BB in to score. Meyer shouldn't be left as the last line of defence.
P2:
OLL score - Brennan with a gorgeous carry-in sends it back to Simšič, whose point shot is tipped in by Kapel! Happy for him that he has found the back of the net. Hopefully, his confidence and finishing will increase accordingly!
P3:
BB score - PPG, they are given a lot of space down the middle and get to pick a corner out.
OLL score - 49s left and Brennan's point shot gets tipped by Polei!
PENS:
BB - glove save, miss, pad save, glove save. Bravo Luka Kolin!!
OLL:
- Brennan X
- Sabolič scores on his signature fake-backhand-roof move (he's basically automatic at penalties)
- Meyer X
- Boychuk scores 5-hole to seal the win!
AREAS OF STRENGTH:
- Rožle Bohinc. Why hasn't this man been starting every game? I've said it before and I'll say it again - he has all the tools to be an elite defender for us for a long time. That will not happen if he does not play regularly. In particular tonight, I noticed his reach when defending and his smooth puck possession when facilitating zone exits. We haven't even scratched the surface of his point-shot capabilities yet, so let's give him a chance to develop through extensive playing time. Before anyone accuses me of finding a new Kerbashian, by the way, I have never interacted with Bohinc and he doesn't even follow OHB (I wish he would though 😅).
- Talking of people I wish would follow the blog, Jaka Sodja had a massive block to end P2. I have enormous respect for Sodja because he does this kind of dirty work with zeal. This respect is represented in the meme below, which may be simultaneously the best and worst meme made about Olimpija:
Sodja when he sees an opportunity to block a shot:
- Luka Kolin - it's a pleasure to watch his explosive lower-body athleticism in net. I like that Coach Cooper is alternating the goalies, as that is something I have been calling for in order to keep them both in top condition. Kolin was especially influential in OT and the penalties, but performed well throughout.
- The new top pair of Brennan and Kirichenko - I love how fluidly they inverted when in the OZ, showing some chemistry already. Both have more defensive acumen than their reputations as 'offensive dynamos' would suggest, meaning we should be good to keep these two together as our standout first pairing. Brennan's puck control in particular was highly impressive this game.
- Maks Bukovec - he's on tryout, presumably to replace Luka Vodlan in a reserve role, alongside Lovro Kumanović. Bukovec is a right-shot forward who has good size and imposed himself on the opposition with regular hits when he was on the ice. Sounds good to me, sign him up!
- Alex Petan showed off some serious skill, once more, with a fantastic skate-to-backhand sequence that was very well-saved by their goalie.
- I like our penchant for scoring late goals in these past two games!
IT'S ONLY PRESEASON, BUT...
- We've got to start hitting more! Finish your checks, boys! I assume there wasn't some kind of tacit agreement to play soft because it's preseason - yet we're playing like there was! Only Sabla and Bukovec showed any real intent to hit.
- Again, there was too much low-event / low-attack hockey from us in the earlier half of the game. Whilst we warmed up, we need to make an effort to start making things happen sooner rather than later.
- I'd like to see more zone entry with control and fewer dump-ins. Our forecheck isn't yet effective enough to make frequent dump-ins worthwhile. Entering the zone with control, or carrying the puck in, is more difficult but leads to much higher chances of scoring. I'm not advocating for complete avoidance of dumping the puck in, but we need to do less of that and trust our skill players (e.g. Boychuk, Petan, Meyer, Mahkovec, etc.) to do their thing.
- We're passing to the opposition a little too much. Now, you can debate whether this is just predatory anticipation and interception by the opposition rather than our lapsing, but either way, it needs to happen less frequently when the regular season arrives.
- The amount of penalties we conceded was ridiculous and our ill-discipline must urgently be cleaned up. Boychuk, as a senior player that others will look up to and a real captaincy candidate, cannot be getting a 4 minute penalty for misconduct (some kind of crosscheck to the face of a BB player off the puck). Simšič cannot then perform a massively obvious slash right in front of a referee whilst on the ensuing penalty kill, leading to a 5 on 3. Not clever from either of these two. This was followed by Mahkovec and Boychuk once more conceding penalties to even things out when we were on the PP. In fairness, the opposition were undisciplined, too, but just because they do it doesn't make it right for us to join them in the proverbial mud! If we cut out all these penalties (and 'start on time' a bit more), we might really have a good team on our hands this season.
VITKOVICE 3 - 1 OLIMPIJA
LINEUP CHANGES
Horák comes in for Kolin. Polei and Sabla are swapped out for Bukovec and Mehle, respectively. Sabla hurt himself on a reverse hit in the previous game and had to be helped off, before returning. I seem to remember Polei may have hurt himself along the way, too, but can't remember a specific incident. Anyway, hopefully this was an opportunity to rest up for them both, which happily gave Bukovec and Mehle big opportunites on the 1st and 2nd lines.
STARS OF THE GAME
* Lukaš Horák - have you heard of the phrase 'God giveth and God taketh away'? It's derived from the Book of Job in the Bible. Sometimes I wonder if God 'hath giveth' us sensational goalies like Horák and Kolin, but God 'hath' also taken away our ability to meaningfully defend them from consistent overexposure to shots. Anyway, gratitude is the most direct route to happiness in this life - I am very grateful for Lukaš Horák!
** Alex Petan - who needs Nick Bonino? Petan really jumped off the screen today with his skill, running rings around the Banska Bystrica players at times. He also linked effectively with his two young linemates, Mahkovec and Mehle. He looked the best skater on the ice pretty much every time he was out there. What a great piece of recruitment by the team this summer!
*** Marcel Mahkovec - just like with Bonino last season, Mahkovec is benefitting from a top-tier centreman on his line. He ran a beautiful give-and-go with Petan to score our lone goal.
GOALS
P2:
OLL score - a wonderful sequence from Mahkovec and Petan. Mahkovec hits Petan with a 'give-and-go' and Petan returns the puck perfectly, allowing Mahkovec to hit a high-danger area with speed and send the puck into the back of the net.
VIT score - I feel like I'm talking about Team Vitality, the French eSports team, with that abbreviation! At the end of a PP, VIT gain a 2-on-1 chance, take the pass and score. We let them through the NZ too easily, but, to be fair, the penalty killers were very tired by this point as the defenders had not changed for the entire two minutes.
P3:
VIT score - PPG, with 2 seconds left. Horak is furious. Gregorc and Crnović get exposed. It's good play from VIT, but I don't think either of these guys should be starting over Ćosić and Bohinc in the regular season (or now, to be honest).
OLL goal disallowed! 7:26 remaining in the 3rd period and Meyer tips a point shot in, but it gets waved off for being a high stick. Meyer and co. can't believe it, but the decision remains. I thought it did look slightly high, to be honest, but Meyer may have had a point that what looks high for him may not have been high according to the rules of the game (i.e. above the crossbar).
VIT score an empty net goal.
AREAS OF STRENGTH:
- Finally, we started hitting! Halbert was looking for collisions out there - not quite Lalonde's thundering hits, but good enough for me. Kirichenko threw himself around for a couple of big hits, as did Rok Kapel with a huge hit on the forecheck that send their defender flying. Quince joined in, too, as did Beričič with a violent open ice hit. I love watching Beričič when he's playing with menace.
- Talking of playing with a bit more bite, I loved seeing the vociferous defence of Horak when VIT players got a little too close, or tried to spray ice at him.
- The 2nd line (Mahkovec-Petan-Mehle). They popped off all game under Petan's leadership. Apart from their goal and their forcing of a brilliant blocker save by the VIT goalie, their most memorable moment was an Arsenal-esque passing sequence, including multiple one-time passes and a 'spinarama' 360 swing around. Sadly, unlike Jack Wilshere's famous goal, we could not finish the move, but it was still a real sight to behold. The goal that epitomised Wenger's football
- Žiga Mehle - I have been a proponent of playing him higher up the lineup and simply more in general, so we can properly see what we have in him. I truly think he could be a Matthew Tkachuk-type forward for us, playing with a physical edge, getting under the opponents' skins and scoring goals. Seeing him carry the puck into the OZ with confidence made me feel that my projection is a possibility, if (like Bohinc) he receives the requisite ice time. Coach Cooper's apparent predilection for starting older players over younger ones does not bode well for this, but it's 'early doors', as we say in Britain, so I hope he will see the light soon. It's not even that difficult a question, really - it's not a case of 'oh, well we'll play worse if I pick the young guys now, but we'll be better off in the future'. Picking the young guys now (e.g. Bohinc and Ćosić over Gregorc and Crnović, Mehle over Simšič) would make the team better right away! To me, it's an absolute no-brainer, but I concede that Coach Cooper has infinitely more hockey knowledge than I will ever have, so maybe I am missing some key information, or he's just treating the younger guys like NFL rookies and making them really earn their playing time.
- Talking of young players, Maks Bukovec, the man on tryout, looked good again. Euro Hockey Hub (on Instagram) did an incredibly interesting interview with Linz's venerable captain, Brian Lebler, in which he said that the most important thing for young players is to 'know who you are as a player' (Interview Clip on Insta). By this, he meant a Socrates-style 'know thyself', i.e. your strengths and weaknesses. You see the same thing in football development - focusing on improving your weaknesses often dulls your strengths, or at least stalls their further development (Joe Cole, the former Chelsea footballer, was an example of this - instead of promoting and accentuating his excellent dribbling skills, his coaches focused on turning him into a more 'complete' player, and his play suffered as a result. A similar thing happened with Jimmy Graham, the NFL Tight End, when he was traded from New Orleans to Seattle. Seattle tried to make him a 'complete' TE instead of just focusing on his standout skill, namely his brilliant touchdown-catching in the red zone, basically ruining him as a player along the way.) All this is to say that Bukovec seems to know who he is as a player - he isn't a speedster or very agile, but he's a right-shot forward with good size and length who plays physically and isn't afraid to put himself in the net-front mixer. I think he would be a great complement to Kumanović in the forward reserves.
- Like in the first preseason game vs KAC, the zone exit theory looked good but the execution was still not quite there. Still, it's good to see a tangible element of Coach Cooper's nascent impact, particularly in this area, as zone exits are so important for reducing chances given up and increasing chances created. I got really frustrated at times last year when other teams (e.g. Pustertal) made transitioning from DZ to OZ through the NZ look easy, whilst we struggled. Putting in the work now should reap rewards later in the season.
IT'S ONLY PRESEASON, BUT...
- We have to stop giving up so many rush chances. We gave Vitkovice a conveyor belt of them in the 2nd period, relying overly on Horakian magic to bail us out. You might say "Well, 'no harm, no foul' if the goalie saves all of them, right?", but I disagree with that. Better teams will take advantage of that.
- There were still some silly penalties. What Halbert is doing giving up an OZ penalty by fighting some junior player (he still had his full facemask on) is completely beyond me.
- I'd like to see more from Boychuk as our 1C. Not everybody can pop off every game, but Petan has really flashed at 2C and I'd like to see Boychuk do some of that, too. Simšič also needs to show something to keep his place in the team, in my view. He was very quiet in these three games, excepting the very silly penalty he took to put us on a 5 on 3.
This was a highly positive tournament for us, even though we only went 1-2. It's the preseason, so we're still going through clear growing pains as a new team, but we had three close games against good teams from a better hockey nation. There are things to work on, but there are some serious seeds of success being planted, too. Next up is August 29th at Hala Tivoli vs EKZ Eisbaren, see you there!
P.S.
I thought it would be cool to do an ideal lineup after seeing how the first 4 preseason games have gone. See below!
POLEI - BOYCHUK - MEYER
MAHKOVEC - PETAN - MEHLE
SABOLIČ - QUINCE - KAPEL
PANCE - BERIČIČ - SODJA
(reserve: Simšič, Bukovec, Kumanović)
BRENNAN - KIRICHENKO
ĆOSIĆ - BOHINC
MAŠIČ - HALBERT
(reserve: Gregorc, Hebar, Crnović)
Horák and Kolin split starts - Horak starts home games, Kolin starts away games.
Notes:
- I loved how the 2nd line looked last game and I think Sabla would suit the tough 3rd line alongside Quince and Kapel. I think it's imperative we give Mehle a proper run at playing on the top-6.
- Similarly, Ćosić and Bohinc deserve and require serious game time - here, they get it on the 2nd pair.
- Mašič and Halbert look fine together, but I would rather have them as a good 3rd pair and open up the 2nd for 14 and 86, above.
- The reserves are deliberately ordered.
