MEGA CATCH-UP: 25-26 G2, G3 + G4!

 GAME 2: OLIMPIJA 7 - 2 VILLACH

DRAGONS FRY EAGLES WITH SAUCY OFFENSE

SEVEN DIFFERENT SCORERS COMBINE TO SEND VILLACH PACKING

VSV at the start of the game:

From https://www.amazon.com/American-Pride-Eagle-Sunset-Freedom/dp/B0B19VBVWF

VSV by the end of the game:

From https://www.shutterstock.com/image-generated/surreal-artistic-image-anthropomorphic-patriotic-eagle-2633373081

(As a Brit, I cannot help but make fun of Americans - please forgive me. Making fun of them and Villach at the same time is just too good an opportunity to pass up!)

Lineup Changes

None!

Stars of the game

* Coach Cooper - Ok, VSV nearly got back into the game at 3-2. But having seven different scorers in a demolition job of Villach points to the coach behind the team. Thank you for this offensive sea-change, Mr Cooper - even if you don't pick the young defenders I'd like you to 😉.

** Lukaš Horák (41/43 for 0.953) - Even if it was an offensive masterpiece, you need your goalie to bail you out of dangerous situations. As ever, Horák did this with aplomb and flair.

*** TJ Brennan (G, 2A) - This man just can't stop scoring points! He looks very dangerous from the left circle on the powerplay, which is kind of crazy to say for a defender.

Goals

P1:

OLL - I laughed ruefully when Simšič scored, after I had called for him to be dropped into a reserve role. To be fair, he didn't know too much about this goal. Gregorc's point shot hit him in the back and deflects in. Quince on the secondary assist. Flashscore got it way wrong - Halbert didn't touch the puck on this, yet they give him the main assist over Gregorc!

OLL - A beautiful mid-air bat in from Pance on the PP, assisted by Boychuk and Sabla. The puck rebounded off the goalie and Pance swiped and sniped after Sabla hit Boychuk with a redirectable shot-pass from the blue line. A great way to end P1.

P2:

OLL - PPG! Brennan slides the puck cross-ice from VSV's left circle to Petan on the right, who fires a one-timer that squeaks through the goalie's blocker/pad area and into the net. Auf wiedersehen chants start at 3-0 up in the 2nd period, which worries me (as a superstitious former cricket player). Let's save those for the 3rd period, please! Mašič on the secondary assist.

VSV - The hockey gods didn't like the early chants and VSV start to work their way back into the game. A point shot finds its way through the wall of defenders. Horak had made a string of saves but we could not achieve a zone exit.

VSV - Oh-oh. 3-2! They're not saying goodbye just yet! VSV are going through OLL like a hot knife through butter at this stage. Another point shot gets blocked, but falls helpfully for a Villach forward, who swings around and scores over Horak's glove. Horak appeals to the refs vociferously for what I thought was offside. I asked him about it after the game and he very kindly responded as follows (edited for clarity): "The Villach forward touched it with his hand, so he had to play it. The fact that another VSV player took it means it should be a whistle... But because it happened in the neutral zone, we can't get the call changed". Very sharp eyes from Horak, as you'd expect for such a talented goalie!

OLL - PPG! A nice one-two-three attempt by Polei, Meyer and Boychuk ends up missing Boychuk and squirting over to Brennan on the far post, who rifles it high and home.

P3:

OLL - A rush chance sees Beričič and Brennan do a one-two pass, with Pance as a third option for the 3-on-1. Beričič hits it hard and the puck ricochets off the goalie's left hip and in.

OLL - A wonderful spin pass by Quince finds Meyer steaming in for a backhander in front of goal. Brennan on the secondary assist.

OLL - Crnović chucks the puck through traffic and scores. Another player I have called to bench, typical 😂. Seven different scorers tonight! Quince and Beričič assist.

Near-Misses

None in particular that I noted.

What I liked to see:

• Multiple times today we saw the three forwards on a line working in near-perfect tandem. Being in sync with each other is so important for generating chances going forward and denying them going backward. I tip my hat to Coach Cooper and his team for instilling this.
• Obviously, I loved to see us crush Villach in this fashion. Apart from a minor Alex Ferguson-esque 'squeaky bum time' in P2, we were dominant.

What I would like to see:

• I'd simply like to see us retain this style of play throughout the season. It's a real treat to watch and it will take us very far.
• As above, please can we save the 'Auf wiedersehen' chants for P3, or when we are greater than 3-0 up? It felt like tempting fate and it nearly came about when VSV were storming back into the game at 3-2 down.

Final thoughts:

This is a massive win and confirms that it wasn't just Vienna's ineptitude that heralded our offensive outburst. We are top of the league and have a goal difference of +12, miles ahead of all the other teams! Graz will be a tough away game, but if we're scoring like this I think we should win!

 

Addendum: it's been that long, I forgot to say that P2 coverage was kindly sponsored by JB and P3 was also kindly sponsored by NR (both bought me a yellow Cedevita 😆🙏). I've met NR before for our roundtable discussions, but it was super cool to meet JB for the first time and watch the game with those two. Many thanks for making me feel like a minor celebrity! 🤣

GAME 3: GRAZ 3 - 4 OLIMPIJA (OT)

DRAGONS GRIND DOWN GRAZ WITH COMEBACK WIN

OFFICIAL STREAM CUTS OUT BEFORE BRENNAN'S WINNER

Graz 99ers at the start of the game:

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH-G_aIBlFw

Graz 99ers by the end of the game:

From https://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=1170564

(These are Mob Psycho 100 references, a manga that I stopped reading lol)

Lineup changes

Sabla is out for a few weeks, unfortunately, so Bukovec goes into the top line to replace him. I am surprised Mehle did not get this chance, as he is more suited to the role, but he is included as the 13th forward.

Ćosić remains 7th D, as does the top pairing of Mašič and Brennan.

Stars of the game

* Miha Beričič - For me, the most visceral and beautiful moments in sport come when you see a player succeed purely by 'wanting it' more than their opponents. For me, Miha's goal was the key turning point in the game, coming just as it seemed Graz might start running away with it. It came about because he wanted it more than the Graz players around him. This was run-through-a-brick-wall type behaviour and I love it. 

** Lukaš Horák - One sequence where he pulled off a double-double save, followed by a snow angel to cover up a high-danger chance in front gives you an idea of how Horák makes the nigh-impossible look mundane. We are spoiled by having him as our starting goalie. 

*** TJ Brennan - Call this man King Midas because everything he touches turns to gold, save for his white stick! OT winner - just such a shame the new streaming service cut out before we could witness it. 

Goals

P1:

G99 - A good save from Horak leaves the puck behind him. Mašič is there to corral it safely, but Brennan accidentally high sticks Bine in the face, allowing a G99 forward to sneak in and tuck it away. An unfortunate one.

P2:

OLL - Boychuk enters the zone with control and passes it wide to Meyer. Meyer shoots, hits the post and Boychuk knocks in the rebound. Bukovec is just happy to be there ^^. 

P3:

G99 - Graz throw the puck on net from a wide angle and Halbert is in the perfect/worst position to deftly deflect the puck into his own net, with no-one else around him. A bit of a freak goal. I'll be honest - I don't know the protocol here. Is it always to keep your stick on the ice, even in this kind of situation? Or should the D be more aware of the situation and let it pass? It should be noted that it was Crnović who made a very poor clearance attempt, which let Graz have the chance to put the puck on net and get the deflection goal. 

OLL - A monstrous effort from Beričič, with help from the rest of the 4th line. Pance keeps the puck in the offensive zone and force through a chance. It goes Sodja-Halbert-Beričič. On his second try, Beričič fires it into the roof of the net. Halbert and Sodja on the assists, but Pance was crucial in creating this goal, too.

G99 - Gregorc gets absolutely undressed by G99's Currie in a 1-on-1 and Currie scores past Horak. Sometimes, there will be moments of magic from the opposition. I do feel, however, that it's worth asking a question. That question is: 'Would Rožle Bohinc have handled that better?'. My feeling is that yes, he would have, with his greater reach and physicality. If you don't play the best players available you will inevitably get punished for it. Two of our goals so far came down to Crnović and Gregorc. Ćosić and Bohinc will make mistakes, too, but I firmly believe they'll defend better overall than the current 3rd pair.

OLL - A long-range wrist-shot from Meyer finds its way in, sneaking in between the right post and the goalie's glove. Mehle took a nasty crosscheck to his lower back to create the lane for this shot (give him the 1st line role going forward!!!).

OT:

OLL - Brennan scores from Graz's left circle! Simšič's decoy move drags one G99 player out of the equation, then Quince finds Brennan on their left circle to fire it in. Boom!

Near-Misses

P1:

1309 - G99 have the back post wide open but miss.

28s - Horak slips and has to jump sidelong, flat out to try to save a shot. I think the G99 shot goes off the crossbar, but it's tough to see on the replays, even from different angles.

P3:

1246 G99 force Horak to make a double-double save, plus a 5th save in the sequence, a snow angel (cover the puck-type save).

What I liked to see:

• Marcel Mahkovec was anticipating very well in defence, tracking back and opening up fast transition options. 
• I loved the 4th line effort goal, as described above.
• I also loved witnessing some Horakian greatness, which has become the usual for us but is not something we should take for granted.
• Seeing 3/4 of our goals scored and assisted entirely by new members of the team. Another sign that the summer recruitment went well - and this was without any 2nd line magic!
• Talking of that, the alternating popping of the 1st and 2nd lines is so nice to see. One picks up the slack when the other is having a quieter day, leading to the sustained success we are seeing so far. 

What I would like to see:

• I recognise that I'm turning into a 'play the kids' commentator, but I really do think Beričič deserves to be elevated to the 3C role and that Sodja and Mehle should join him there (when we have a full squad). You might query whether it's a big difference to swap Simšič-Quince-Kapel to the 4th, but to me it matters. The latter are arguably more suited to a 4th line role, while the kids on the 3rd would benefit from more ice time and more development for their (and Olimpija's) futures. The exact same thing applies for the 3rd pair swap between Crnović and Gregorc for Ćosić and Bohinc (I cannot promise that I won't bring this up every game until it happens, sorry 😂).
• A working streaming service that shows the full game, with pausing, rewind and no in-game adverts.

Final thoughts

This was a really resilient win against a Graz team that was making this a slugfest of a game. Two of the goals we conceded were rather flukey ones, so we should not worry too much that it was an OT win and celebrate how far we have already come in this short season. Graz are a very good team and we beat them in their house. The hyper-positive start to the season continues unabated!

GAME 4: OLIMPIJA 6 - 1 PIONEERS 

PIV'S STRONG 1ST PERIOD AWAKENS THE DRAGONS

PIONEERS BURNT TO A CRISP BY 3 POWERPLAY GOALS

Pioneers at the start of the game

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/mormon-memes--210050770097817440/

Pioneers by the end of the game

https://nowstar.net/god/prayers/native-americans.htm

Lineup changes

Halbert, Gregorc and Ćosić each move up one pairing, as Mašič is out. Mehle, as I had hoped, has been put on the 1st line. Kumanović comes in as 13th forward, while Bohinc is 7th D.

Kolin makes his first start of the season - I wonder if solely using him for the weakest teams will characterise his match time this year? I met Horak on Saturday, so now he knows what I look like I'd better be careful not to call for splitting starts too often 😆 (obviously I am just kidding, he's a very nice guy).

Stars of the game

* TJ Brennan (2 PPGs, A) - Two PPGs in quick succession opened the floodgates for a demolition job win. It boggles the mind to think back to two years ago when we couldn't score a PPG to save our lives - now we have a defenseman scoring PPGs for fun! TJ is currently the leading scorer in the entire league, both in points and goals.

** Luka Kolin (18/19 saves for 0.947)  - He played very well tonight, as usual, and provided the 'cherry on top' moment with a hilarious forward-roll to celebrate the victory in front of the West Stand. I saw that he consulted Horák before doing it, I would have liked to listen in on that conversation - presumably, Horák banned him from stealing his belly flop routine! I also enjoyed the debut of the 'danes ne' for Kolin, instead of 'dneska ne' for Horák.

*** Nate Halbert (2A) - He joined Brennan on the first pair today and looked at home. He defended a dangerous rush chance brilliantly, perfectly toeing the line between being forceful and not conceding a penalty. He also continued to exhibit his confidence in the offensive zone, with some smooth skating and distribution, resulting in two apples (hockey slang for assist). I take back what I said in preseason about not wanting him on the PP! He looks great going forwards and backwards! 

Goals

P1:

PIV - Crnović moves way up the ice to pinch/hit a player, but is unsuccessful in keeping the puck in the OZ, which frees up a volatile rush chance for PIV. The 4th line can't get back in time, so it's a 2-on-1 that sees a PIV forward receive the puck right in front of the net. He roofs it blocker-side. This was well-taken by PIV, but this is also not how you should be treating your goalie. Do not give these guys this opportunity. I concede that I am not hockey omniscient, so this may have been someone else's assignment that was missed, but it certainly appeared as if Crnović was freelancing way up ice for no good reason, leaving a humongous gap to be exploited. In fairness, Ćosić was unable to prevent the pass on the 2-on-1, but it would have been easier for him if his defensive partner was not somewhere in the Gobi Desert instead of by his side. I hear Rožle Bohinc is available to more successfully partner with Ćosić...

OLL - With 1 second remaining in the period, Evan Polei and Marcel Mahkovec catch PIV sleeping and punish me for chancing an early exit for the toilet! Polei carries the puck in and backhands it to Mahkovec in front of the net for a one-time shot that goes in blocker-side. This is another great sign that we are turning things around offensively, as it has been us in past seasons who are caught out very late in a period. Now, we are the ones catching others out! Halbert was on the secondary assist.

P2:

OLL - With 4s left in our 5-on-3 PP (PIV were ill-disciplined tonight and it cost them dearly), Petan finds Meyer behind the net. Meyer cleverly misdirects the defender stationed on the left post, shaping his body to make it look like he will take a low pass, before actually hitting Brennan on their left circle. With the space vacated, TJ scores past the PIV left post. Brennan was not using his usual white stick and returned the black one he used to Miha Beričič, which was a funny moment.

OLL - No misdirection here - TJ scores from the same place (do we have to start calling it 'TJ's office', like the Washington Capitals call the right circle 'Ovie's office', after Alexander Ovechkin's preferred scoring location?) in the 5-on-4 PP, with 17s left. This time, it's with his own stick! What a turnaround - after this short sequence, we have a comfortable two-goal cushion. Polei should get credit for taking away the goalie's eyes, but it's a wonderful shot from TJ into the goalie's top left corner. Mehle is credited with the assist on Flashscore but it's actually Halbert who passes it to Brennan.

OLL - The sequence isn't over, yet! Just as Pečo is finishing his call on the 3rd goal, we score again! It's beautiful work by Gregorc and Sodja to set up a charging Pance with a clear chance in front, which he lethally converts through the goalie's 5-hole (between his legs).

OLL - Flashscore gets another one wrong! Kirichenko gives it to Mahkovec, who passes on to Petan right in front. Petan pivots and sneaks the puck under the goalie's right pad for another PPG. It was poor defending, but you've still got to put them away!

P3:

OLL - Brennan finds Boychuk, who shoots from long-range. Polei is towering in front of the goalie once more and deflects it in.

Near-Misses

P2

1847 - Meyer misses the puck at the back post with the net invitingly open.

1115 - Mahkovec hits the post in the 5 on 3.

What I liked to see:

• Žiga Mehle on the top line - he was carrying the puck in to the OZ, fighting through traffic and hits to give his linemates a better chance at scoring. It seemed obvious to me that he would be a better fit to replace Sabla than Bukovec, but I am still grateful that the change was made as some obvious defensive changes have not!
• Going 50% on the PP and 100% on the PK - if good teams aim to have both combine for 100%, we are doing pretty incredibly to be ticking at 150%.
• Continued offensive dominance in P2 + P3 - as Pete Carroll, currently of the Las Vegas Raiders but formerly of the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL, used to say: it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish. Now, he really did have issues with getting his teams to start on time, but the point remains. We're in danger of getting used to this offensive mastery already, but ensure you savour it for all those times in previous seasons where it felt like Olimpija couldn't buy a goal. Now, we are top of the league, have double the goal difference of the next highest scoring team (18 to Bolzano's 9) and have a defenseman as the top points-scorer and goal-scorer (TJ Brennan, with 6G 4A for 10pts).

What I would like to see:

• Obviously, you can't complain too much at a 6-1 win. I would like to see Olimpija start on time a bit sooner in their next game against Innsbruck. For the vast majority of P1, Pioneers were dictating the flow of the game. Maybe it was just a bit of a hangover from the Graz OT win. Regardless, we woke up and dominated in P2 and P3, so all's well that ends well.
• The speakers need to stop having issues! It was a crying shame that we couldn't hear Pečo's calls in all their glory. Also, it would be nice to hear what the refs are saying at some point this season. 
• Maybe this is what the coach wants, but Crnović's high pinching was not successful and left rush chances open, one of which they scored on. If this is the system, fine - but try younger players who may be able to execute it better than Crnović is doing, currently.

Final thoughts

PIV controlled the first period, but only came away with a goal to show for it. As Jeff Reinebold of Sky Sports NFL would say, "the most important player on the field is Mo Mentum". With that last-second goal in P1, we curried Mo Mentum's fickle favour and set the Pioneers ablaze for the remainder of the match.

Innsbruck seem similarly-lowly as Pioneers, so that should be a 5th win in a row to start the season. Fehervar will be more of a test, but we have passed them all with flying colours so far! What a dream start to the season we have had. It's early doors, as we say in the UK, but I do believe that the front office team, headed by Mr Ulčar as CEO and Mr Butara as President, deserve their flowers here. They look like geniuses for how their summer recruitment and coaching hire have borne fruit thus far. We've got to 'keep 'er going', as Canadian hockey players like to say, but this squad clearly has the potential to seriously challenge for the league title this year, as TJ Brennan said in his ICE League interview. What more can we ask for, as fans? 

P.S. Check out this link for the new stats that the ICE League are providing. I think their Expected Goals stat is way off, but at least they're trying. 

https://www.ice.hockey/stats/spielstats?gameId=26

25-26 GAME 1

OLIMPIJA 8 - 1 VIENNA 

DRAGONS DEVASTATE THE CAPITALS

OLIMPIJA EXPLODE FOR 8 GOALS IN HOME OPENER

PLAYERS AND STAFF BOTH NEW AND OLD COMBINE TO BRILLIANT EFFECT

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/game-of-thrones-bts-video-safely-burns-dragon-fire plus the two logos

imgflip.com featuring Vince McMahon (WWE co-founder)

LINEUP CHANGES

• Unfortunately, it's back to the OG preseason game lineup, with Bohinc and Mehle out and Ćosić 7th D.
• Curiously, Mašič joins Brennan on the top pair, breaking up what I thought was the clear best partnership of the preseason in Brennan and Kirichenko. Maybe Kirichenko was still not 100% after his illness.
• Bukovec is the 13th F over Kumanović, which I think is the right decision. Bukovec very obviously makes an impact every time he's on the ice, which is difficult for a 4th liner.

STARS OF THE GAME

* TJ Brennan (2G) - TJ was poetry in motion at times tonight. When was the last time that an Olimpija player's skating was drawing audible gasps from the crowd? Scored two quality goals amidst all his intelligent link play. He is living up to his 'offensive dynamo' billing and then some!

** Marcel Mahkovec (Smash Attack G, 2A) - agonisingly hit the post early on, but scored a beauty of a penalty shot that opened the floodgates for the rest of the game. He looked so dynamic out there, back into the Young Player of the Year swing of things. Assisted twice, too. Other players scored more goals than Marcel tonight, but it was the nature of his performance that elevates him here (also, a Smash Attack goal is obviously worth more than a normal goal 😂). Voted MVP of the game.

*** Coach Cooper - not a player, but had his fingerprints all over this offensive transformation. I never thought I'd see the day that OLL would play possession-based attacking hockey, yet here we are. What a way to start the season, after some up-and-down preseason outings.

Other noteworthy performances - Robert Sabolič (2G, A), Evan Polei (2G), Nico Meyer (3A), Alex Petan (3A (2A officially, but I think he deserves credit for one more)). Note how 3/4 of these guys and 5/7 of this entire section are new additions to the club! Lots of hat-trick avoidance fines to be handed out, too. Maybe that's just a British thing, though... 

Finally, a goalie is not in my stars of the game - but only because Horák didn't have much to do. He did have a wicked assist on the chance that created Mahkovec's penalty shot, though. See below for more!

GOALS

P1:

0-1 VIC - A pretty sensational side-on backhander from Randy Gazzola, formerly of Asiago. Horak was also partially-screened on the shot. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the opponent!

1-1 OLL - Alex Petan's brilliant neutral zone (NZ) turnover springs Mahkovec, who shoots for a rebound that is put in by Evan Polei. Great teamwork by the 2nd line. I'm trying not to gush too much here, but I really love having Petan on our team. Being able to rely on a centre to make plays like the one he did here just makes attacking + defending so much easier for us. How he doesn't get given the secondary assist here is crazy to me (hence why I gave it to him in the Stars of the Game section).

P2:

2-1 OLL - Mahkovec scores on a penalty shot. Let's not forget how he got it, though: Horak scythed a pass down the centre of the ice, a bit like a goalie trying to score an empty-netter, which left Mahkovec with a 1-on-0 rush. He got hooked from behind and the refs rightly gave the penalty shot. Marcel did his favoured low-left rifled shot (above the pad but below the blocker) and hit the back of the net.

3-1 OLL - An absolutely gorgeous passing sequence that goes in a triangle from Meyer to Boychuk to an oncoming Nate Halbert, with Sabla providing net-front presence. I didn't see Halbert as a big offensive player, but checking his stats, he has assisted quite a bit in the past few years. This time, he finishes a passive move, scoring a beauty. I loved his big-screen celly, going 'who, me?'. A top-tier choice from a stay-at-home defenseman who left the house for a great goal! 

4-1 OLL - Just like in preseason, it's Meyer yet again on the forecheck, what a Brad Marchand-esque pest he can be for opposing defenders! (This is a huge compliment, to be clear!) His adept harrying of the defender causes him to tie himself in knots and fall over, allowing Meyer to make an equally excellent carefully-weighted pass across the net-front onto Robert Sabolič's stick. Once it's on there, you know where it's going: into the roof of the net!

P3:

5-1 OLL - PPG from TJ Brennan. He finds space in Vienna's left circle, collects the pass from Nico Meyer (again!) and then himself, before shooting high and finding paydirt, to use an NFL saying.

6-1 OLL - Mašič finds TJ Brennan at the back post with a scintillating cross-ice pass. This goal was assigned to Nik Simšič by the in-stadium team and Zack Boychuk by the TV commentators. Fellas, TJ is the only guy on the rink with a white stick 😅. Sabla gets a secondary assist. This one brought an 'arriba!' from Pečo on the announcement, which I enjoyed.

7-1 OLL - It's the 2nd line combining yet again! As Pečo's velvety vocals are still ringing out in the stadium for the previous goal, Petan and Mahkovec cleverly ricochet the puck off the boards behind the net, leading to Mahkovec setting up Polei across the net-front for another back-door goal. What a performance from these three tonight! 

8-1 OLL - A Sabolič PPG classic as Kirichenko finds him slinking into Vienna's left circle for a one-time slapshot. See, when you don't make it your sole powerplay move (like most of last season), it can work sometimes! Petan on the secondary assist.

NEAR-MISSES

P1: A 2nd line move sees Mahkovec hit the post on a 2-on-1 pass from Petan. Clearly, we weren't lacking for goals in the end, but this could have made it three sumptuous goals from the 2nd line!

WHAT I LIKED TO SEE

• Flowing team offense - do I need to explain this after we dropped 8 goals? I'll keep it brief. We were attacking in waves, finally putting together the passing sequences that we had been attempting and failing in the preseason. This was beautiful to watch.
• Clayton Kirichenko - his physical presence continues to grow. I love to see someone properly hit another player, not just 'love tap' them as we have tended to do in the past. I also enjoyed Kirichenko's attempt to catch the VIC goalie out with a feinted dump-in shot from the blue line that nearly went in, hitting the unaware goalie on the shoulder.
• Lukaś Horák's puck play - his morphing into Ederson/Alisson continues with that gorgeous long pass to spring Mahkovec for a free rush chance. Doing this comes with more risk, but it seems like he's found a perfect balance of knowing when and when not to risk a play like that. I didn't think Horak could get any better or more admired than he already was, but it's happening before our very eyes!
• Maks Bukovec making an impact in limited ice time - Olimpija have had too many passengers in recent seasons and Bukovec ensuring he is making plays with every opportunity he gets is a great example for others to follow. Whether it was a ferociously successful backcheck or a crunching hit into the boards, I was happy to see him flashing in the time he was afforded.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE

• Let me preface the following thrice: I'm not trying to be mean here. +/- is a fallible stat. Coach Cooper very clearly knows what he's doing. Yet, this is my blog, so you'll get my opinion. For me, either Rožle Bohinc or Jan Ćosić should be starting over Aljoša Crnović. This is shown in part by the latter managing to get a -1 rating in an 8-1 game. That's pretty hard to do; he was the only player to do so. I wish him the best, I really do, but at the moment all I see him doing is blocking the development of players with much greater potential than what he's shown so far at 26. Now, I understand that putting two young players together may not be what Coach Cooper wants out of his 3rd pair, hence why I am accepting Gregorc's place there (at least for now; I would prefer Ćosić and Bohinc to play together on the 3rd pair). But please, please can we start 86 or 14 over 44? He is a solid reserve player but I think we are doing the team's current and future prospects a disservice by not giving our talented young D-men more ice time. In fairness, they did play Ćosić with Gregorc occasionally, but I don't see why you wouldn't just start him or Bohinc over Crnović. One key thing I was looking forward to this season was tracking the development of our young defenders. They can't develop to their full potential if they don't play. My apologies if you are bored of me talking about this already, but I am a man wedded to the truth and I shall let no man put that asunder! (Red Dead Redemption 1 mission title reference for any gamers out there)
• Talking of selection, please play Žiga Mehle over Nik Simšič. We can find someone else to join Marly Quince on the penalty kill (PK). Simšič has offered nothing offensively for most of last season and this entire preseason (they wrongly assigned him one of TJ Brennan's goals, ironically), while Mehle looked like he was gearing up to start making a big impact in the preseason. Again, it's not just prioritising future potential here - Mehle offers more than Simšič right now!
• One more move, but down instead of out: Bine Mašič had a great assist, but looked relatively shaky defensively. I would like to see Mašič go down to the 2nd pair again with Halbert, pushing Kirichenko back up to the 1st.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well, the game started rather inauspiciously, with a delay to re-drill the goal holes in the ice. This brought sighs of 'classic Olimpija'. Thankfully, the old Olimpija was swept away after that. What came to replace it was truly astounding. Vienna were not great last season, but this was not some seemingly-awful team, like EKZ in preseason. The Capitals hung with us in the competitive 1st period, ending 1-1. It was our waves of offensive pressure that broke them down in the 2nd and 3rd periods. 

You can tell that we have populated the team with Canadian players because there was so much silky passing and skating on show. Most important, though, is the Canadian coach at the helm of this Olimpijan ship. Yes, I'm still nagging about some finer points of the lower-lineup team selection. But I think we all must tip our hats / kapo dol to Coach Cooper, as this was a sublime performance with which to open the season. Now, onto VSV this evening to see if we can replicate this system of play against a tougher opponent...

CURSED TRIPLE REPORT

BROKEN GLASS, BROKEN STREAMS, BROKEN DREAMS!

Let's start with the two strange, curtailed games before the meatier description of the Rosenheim game.

Broken Glass

OLL 6 - 1 EKZ 29.8.25

In person, I found this game very boring. Obviously, it was nice to see us scoring goals aplenty, but EKZ looked awful. This was a far cry from the hyper-competitive preseason games in Slovakia. Friend of the blog ED did point out that it's a good sign for us to be really crushing weaker opponents, something which has not proven easy in previous years. The goals just kept flowing in. I loved seeing Mahkovec slow down a puck mid-air, allowing Ćosić to enter the zone and set him up for a beauty of a goal. 

A big hit involving Nik Simšič dislodged the plexiglass and couldn't be replaced in time, so there was an impromptu penalty shootout in the middle of the 2nd period, despite us being 6-1 up. I was glad that they essentially mercy-killed the game, as it was a bit like watching a heavyweight boxer beat up a kid. 

However, given our good performance against Rosenheim (see below), perhaps this was less a case of EKZ being horrendous and more that we were just lights-out on the night?

One final thing - I noticed Horak was being a lot more adventurous when playing the puck. This opened up rush opportunities for the likes of Marly Quince. Sadly, he couldn't muster the quality needed to score off the chance, but it's a positive sign to see every possible offensive edge being pursued under Coach Cooper. It certainly speaks to his NHL experience, as this is something that those teams are working on. Really, it's a few years behind a similar development in football, where your old workhorse, put-your-foot-through-it keepers like Shay Given and Joe Hart made way for adept ball-players such as Ederson and Alisson. I wanted to mention Simon Mignolet, David de Gea and the death of the shot-stopper here but we'd better stop before I dive down that rabbit hole. I barely even watch football anymore!

Broken Streams

G99 4 - 1 OLL 6.9.25

The second strange game. Unlike the Slovakian free Facebook streams, 6€ went to 'Sport Europe TV' for this preseason game. They are the new streamer for the ICE League games this year. I have to say, it was an even worse performance from Sport Europe TV than EKZ. Unlike last year's streaming service from the ICE League, you cannot pause/rewind/fast-forward anymore. This is a pretty massive downgrade, as I used to start watching games late and then fast-forward through the period breaks. I wonder if this is a way to force people to watch the adverts; the adverts they showed on entering the stream auto-paused themselves when I went to another tab. The latter suggests the former is a correct assumption. 

The main thing, of course, is that the connection was lost for the entire second period and half of the 3rd period. One benefit of the new service is a live chat, where OLL and G99 fans came together to complain and make jokes about the situation. We were all stuck on the same men's outfitter advert, Jeremy's in Graz. I feel for them, as their brand will now be associated with negativity for all the frustrated viewers.

I have already contacted the company for a refund, as should everyone who experienced that rubbish. They had better sort this out quickly, otherwise we'll miss the entire tranche of away games due to infinite loops on adverts and lengthy losses of signal. Bring back the old one, please! By the way, this is a good example of Cory Doctorow's theory of 'enshittification', that online technology/services start good and then deteriorate into bad ones. Last year was good, this year is bad.

Anyway, no goals in the first period, then we all missed the second and half the third. By the time the stream came back on, it was 2-1 to G99. No idea who scored for us. Lukaš Horák very kindly updated me with the scoreline when the stream was down, so my thanks go to him. Not just the best goalie in the league, but the best goalie-journalist in the league! 

With 5 mins to go, G99 scored a good power-play goal (PPG) to go 3-1 up. We got a power-play (PP) soon after this. Halbert, not the usual PP quarterback, carried the puck up the neutral zone, with a deft feint around the penalty-killers, before launching a pass back into an oncoming Alex Petan. No offense to my fellow Brit, but why are you putting that much heat on a pass in this situation? I do not blame Petan at all for failing to control it. G99 pounced for a 2 on 1 rush and scored a shorthanded goal (SHG). This killed the game. Please do not put Halbert in as PPQB again. He's a good, strong defender, but he does not appear to have the touch required for PP work (insert New England Patriots owner massage parlour scandal joke here).

In short, the game seemed closer than the scoreline suggested. I was very grateful to receive some insider info that Kirichenko and Meyer were sick, with an illness going through the team. In light of that, they did well to keep it close till the last 5 mins. Mehle replaced Meyer on the top line (wish I could have seen more of how he did with that opportunity) and Mašič moved up to replace Kirichenko on his off-hand.

Broken (Rosenheim) Dreams

OLL 3 - 0 Rosenheim 4.9.25

Lineup changes: Bohinc starts, Mehle is on the 3rd instead of Simšič. Pretty happy as I had called for both of these to happen!

Stars of the game

* Luka Kolin (shutout)

** Zach Boychuk (2G)

*** The Entire Penalty Kill

See below for further descriptions.

Goals:

P1

• OLL SCORE 1930 - 30 seconds in and we score! Boychuk redirects a shot from Brennan. I half-missed this as I was writing about how well the Rosenheim fans had travelled. They were really loud and you've got to respect the commitment for a Thursday night preseason game.
• OLL SCORE 3 - Meyer with the pickpocket on the forecheck leads to a Sabla-to-Boychuk redirect goal. Hey, if it works, why not keep doing it?! Bohinc gets a secondary assist, but it's Meyer who created this opportunity.

P3 

• OLL SCORE 24s left - Pance hits the empty net off a faceoff win by Petan.

Strengths

• Luka Kolin - looked very sharp tonight and continues to push the envelope for a more even split of starts with Horak this year.
• Robert Sabolič's promotion to the first line worked well. His chemistry with Boychuk and Meyer looked smooth.
• Žiga Mehle was consistently attacking the middle of the ice with speed through the neutral zone. I loved to see this, as we need to build more carry-in zone entry attempts into our offensive repertoire. Dumping the puck in repeatedly will not work on its own and players like Mehle must be given the opportunity to try to create more dangerous offensive 'looks' for us.
• Zach Boychuk - talking of him, it was great to see him take the reins on the top line with two skilful goals. Petan was quieter this game, but Boychuk took over. Those two compensating for each other's quieter games could lead to sustained offensive success this season. It goes without saying, but that would be massive for a club like us, that has great goaltending and penalty kill units, but which has generally struggled for goals in the last couple of years to fully take advantage of those existing strengths.
• Nico Meyer - I love his forecheck pickpocketing. He's like a quiet demon out there for opposing defenders, appearing when you least expect him to. He also knifed through the neutral zone coverage multiple times, setting up good chances (even if no one could take advantage of them). For those concerned about his lack of size, this is the upside of that - he's more agile and stealthy than anyone else out there.
• Clayton Kirichenko - I supremely enjoyed seeing him hit with real intent in the defensive zone (DZ). Somebody had to replace Lalonde's menace!
• Talking of menace, Evan Polei's dirty work on the boards and on the forecheck should be commended. As former NFL coach Jon Gruden would say, he's the 'straw who stirs the drink' - without his physical link play, the rest of the offense stops working so well.
• Penalty Kill - I counted 5 penalties that we gave up (the refs were a bit soft tonight) and we still went 100%. It's great to see us continue on like last year's league-leading PK.
• I really enjoyed seeing Miha Beričič's clever PK coverage, staying near the boards in the neutral zone and then pouncing on a lazy backwards pass by the Rosenheim PP. I've said before that I love supporting Team Liquid in Valorant eSports because their coach instils clever play in the players. I am glad to see some of that is happening for OLL under Coach Cooper, too.

It's only preseason but...

• We looked really impressive tonight. We could have done more in P2 and P3, but you can't argue with a 3-0 win. 
• In P1, we manufactured high-danger chance after high-danger chance. Given how starved we have been of these in the past, it was beautiful to see.
• We had a lot of blue-line point shots with fly-by tip attempts today. This obviously worked well, with two redirect goals off the ice, both by Boychuk.
• Tian Hebar needs to put on more weight to see more playing time in this league. This is a bit rich coming from me, a proud member of Skinny Nation, but it's a fair comment to make. He was getting bumped off the puck in the defensive zone by forecheckers too easily to be realistically selected over Bohinc, Ćosić, Gregorc and even Crnović. Jure Povše wasn't able to bulk up sufficiently to avoid losing possession frequently and was sadly let go, so let's not go down that route again.
• Keeping the defensive pairings together for the PK is an interesting idea from Coach Cooper. In previous years, we have slotted together the toughest defenders. That can have its advantages, but I also see the benefits of using the same pairs as you normally would. The synergy builds faster this way, even if seeing Mašič on the PK does worry me a bit. On this note, I enjoyed seeing Marcel Mahkovec join Alex Petan on the PK, as it shows the increased trust in his defensive abilities. I have been impressed by them, so I am happy to see Marcel being rewarded with extra ice time for the hard work he will have put in.
• It was nice to see us have a good shorthanded chance, with Quince and Kapel. Usually, we are the ones giving them up!
• Our OZ set plays off the forecheck look smooth. Coach Cooper is clearly a talented coach, even if I have set up our relationship to be a bit antagonistic thus far, given my strong differences of opinion to him in terms of defensive team selection. 

Overall

All in all, these three games were a mixed bag - but generally positive. Smashing EKZ and comprehensively defeating Rosenheim are obvious, but staying close with G99 up till late in P3 with an illness-hit squad is also something to celebrate. At full health and strength, I think we could beat them. Let's hope we see 2/2 wins on opening weekend, versus VIC and VSV.