KAC 3 - 0 OLIMPIJA
RUSTY DRAGONS REAWAKENING
COACH COOPER ERA BEGINS WITH SUBTLE SIGNS OF PROMISE
LINEUP ANALYSIS
Forwards:
POLEI - BOYCHUK - MEYER
SABOLIČ - PETAN - MAHKOVEC
SIMŠIČ - QUINCE - KAPEL
PANCE - BERIČIČ - SODJA
MEHLE
How did my projections look? It was close! I had Sabla and Mahkovec on the 1st line and Polei and Meyer with Petan. Petan is indeed being used as a centre. Simšič and Quince are on the 3rd, but with Kapel instead of Mehle. 13/10/23 (nice Maths equation) remain on the 4th line.
It's only preseason, but I think it's very interesting how they've set this up. Keeping Sabla and Mahkovec together makes sense after last season; bumping them down to the second line to accommodate new reinforcements does, too. Polei and Meyer, 'thunder and lightning', joining Boychuk on the top line gives me visions of heady offensive magic in the future. Unfortunately none was found tonight, but it's early days!
Defensemen:
Crnović - Brennan
Mašič - Kirichenko
Gregorc - Halbert
Ćosić
I had a lot of people messaging me about Crnović on the top pair - I was surprised, too. When I first arrived in Slovenia two years ago, he was top pair with Žiga Pavlin. I don't think he will stick there this season, but it's a show of faith from the new coaching staff to someone who was not certain to return to the squad this season. I do think that, on the balance of probability, Ćosić is being kept safe in the preseason and he is more likely to replace Crnović on the top pair than languish as 7th D. Bohinc and Hebar weren't even on the teamsheet tonight, which should show you that things are far from being finalised.
Mašič and Kirichenko were not a pairing I projected together, as I felt that would be too offense-heavy / defence-light. Kirichenko impressed me with his rush defence tonight, though, so it could work. Halbert had a challenging debut on the 3rd pair, seemingly fighting the game rather than flowing with it. Playing on his off-hand side surely makes things more difficult.
POWERPLAY LINEUP ANALYSIS
PP1: BRENNAN, KIRICHENKO, BOYCHUK, MEYER, POLEI
I think this is a very interesting setup. Having Brennan, Kirichenko and Mašič as outwardly offensive D-men is a good problem to have. How do we best utilise them, if there are only usually 2 PP units for 3 PP QBs? Use two in one! More NHL teams have started to experiment with this and I think it's really cool that OLL are joining them under Coach Cooper. For one, having two defenders instead of one means that we have a better chance of nullifying shorthanded chances (the frequency of which were an issue last season). When they are both so offensively gifted, it allows for valuable flexibility without reducing the offensive capability of the PP unit. It's pretty much those two plus the first line here. The LHD/RHD combo is helpful, too, and rare on this team!
Quince replaced Meyer once he went off injured. I hope he's ok!
PP2: MAŠIČ, PETAN, MAHKOVEC, SABOLIČ, PANCE
Here we see a more traditional setup, one PP QB in Mašič and then the 2nd line plus Pance. I'm glad Pančo still gets featured!
GOALS
KAC looked more switched-on in general tonight, with crisper passing in particular. This passing into dangerous areas led to their goals.
GOAL KAC 1-0 - nice move as Halbert gets passed and a KAC forward sneaks between Beričič and Gregorc to receive the killer pass.
GOAL KAC 2-0 - powerful forecheck by KAC bodyblocks Brennan from the puck and opens up the slot pass for the goal.
GOAL KAC 3-0 - we take too long getting the puck out of our zone and immediately turn it over once we do, leading to a goal.
It's a shame we couldn't get on the scoresheet ourselves, but again, it's game 1 of the preseason, KAC are an excellent team, let's reserve judgment and see how the team looks as they warm up and gel together.
AREAS OF STRENGTH
- Evan Polei - threw his weight around and looked dangerous. Had a nice moment where his big hit in the neutral zone led to a high-danger chance for him in the OZ.
- Alex Petan - showed off some Trevor Gooch-esque skill in a lovely sequence of puck possession in the OZ. We will need him to lock down the 2C spot this year.
- Zach Boychuk - talking of centres, I thought Boychuk made a really intelligent feint-shot-pass on the PP. It might not sound like much, but I think that bodes very well for our offensive future. We were far too predictable last year and we need more mental zigging and zagging to throw our opponents off. Boychuk is already showing he has the smarts to do that.
- Clayton Kirichenko - looked better defensively than I expected. As our only true RHD, he'll have a big role to play for us this season.
- PP1 unit - I sincerely think the two D-men combo of Brennan and Kirichenko can open up a lot of opportunities for us and throw off some of the PK units that are overly-accustomed to 1D PP setups (no, not Harry Styles etc ^^).
- Luka Kolin - had a busy night and I think he did well under the circumstances. Let's not forget that last time we played KAC away, we lost 8-1 (with yours truly in attendance...).
- Rok Kapel - regular readers will know I was quite harsh on him during the Slovene Cup, but to be fair to him, he played well tonight. His pathing on the forecheck in the OZ and when defending the NZ was intelligent and led to a dangerous turnover in our favour. He played with good physicality, as well, and stayed on his feet while doing so.
- Coach Cooper's influence - it was subtle, but you could see it if you looked closely. Our (defensive) zone exit protocols looked much better than last season at certain points of the game. However, they weren't able to execute them to perfection - which is completely understandable at this stage. Stay with me now - protocols are popular in eSports as ways to essentially computer code players with 'if/then' statements. For example: if there are two forecheckers attacking you, then pass to this specific area. It simplifies complex systems and makes the team look fantastic if they are executed as designed. We weren't able to piece everything together tonight, but this is a promising sign for the new era (see below - any One Piece TCG fans amongst my readership?!).
Images from Elite Prospects and OnePiece.gg - read the speech bubbles right to left, if you're not a manga enjoyer!
AREAS TO IMPROVE
- Nico Meyer's health! 🙏 I really hope he's alright. He went down surrounded by KAC penalty killers and had to be helped off by Dr Cvetković.
- Team chemistry, especially offensively - it's a work in progress. Bringing in a lot of new players means fluidity needs to develop. We aren't there yet and played a bit disjointed tonight, but that's ok. We have time!
- Left-hander comfort playing on the right side of the defence - this will be something to watch throughout the season. With Lalonde's mysterious absence from the team, we only have one true RD in Kirichenko. Were Brennan and Halbert brought in with off-hand experience in mind? Will Bohinc feature there? Stay tuned!
FINAL THOUGHTS
I wish we'd seen a bit more out of the team, but it is only the very first preseason game. At this stage, it's better to make the mistakes now so they can be highlighted and corrected before the regular season starts.
Next up, they head to Slovakia for a tournament that will hopefully help the team gel together more. Next preseason game is August 29th, free entry at Hala Tivoli against EKZ Eisbaren, an Austrian Alps League team. I'll be there in my blue Kerbashian jersey, so say hello if you see me!
For any Liverpool fans out there - let's hope we see some Hugo Ekitike-esque goalscoring impact from our new signings in the upcoming games! 😱🤩
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