BOLZANO 4 - 1 OLIMPIJA
DRAGONS OUTFOXED
Lineup
The forward lines are as stacked as they've ever been, with Simšič and Pance flanking Beričič on the 4th and Sodja the odd(ja) man out as 13th forward.
The defensive pairings are similar, with MacWilliam joining Gregorc on the 3rd pair. Quite why Crnović is still chosen over Ćosić (who was healthy for this game) and Bohinc continues to be beyond me. As I've said in blog posts passim ad nauseam (to use a Latin phrase from the legendary current affairs magazine, Private Eye https://www.private-eye.co.uk/), both of those guys would benefit from game time and both of those guys offer more than Crnović does.
From the team's FB page
Goals and chances
P1
44s left HCB - Bradley finds space between Gregorc and Polei, puck-watching, in the slot. Their best scorer is left open in the highest danger area and the result is predictable.
P2
1710 Meyer forces a turnover in the neutral zone and finds Boychuk at the back post on the ensuing rush. Boychuk hits the post.
305 HCB PPG - Walk in to the space in the low left circle during a 5 on 3 and score far side.
P3
1418 We get a PP and set up once. We nearly get the lone shot we take on goal.
1111 HCB PPG - they pick out the top corner from the high slot.
557 OLL - Polei scores. Petan does well to fake a shot to get the blocking player to move early. His real shot goes past and is deflected by Mahkovec. The goalie, who has had extremely little to do up to this point, pad saves it but Polei is there at the back post to put it in. Naturally, our sole goal would be a long-range shot because God forbid we ever create offense in central or dangerous positions. Not getting shut out, as I thought we would by this point, is a big deal, but it's sad that it's a big deal.
Finally we look alive on offense, but it's taken us 55 minutes out of a 60 minute game to do that. It's too late.
2:31 we go empty-net for 6-on-5.
1:04 We do better than usual on 6-on-5, but they score an ENG.
END
We had 14 more penalty minutes today, just like last game. Just like last game, you can't expect to win - especially with two lengthy 5 on 3s.
Standings update: We remain 4th with 53pts. HCB are one point behind us in 5th place, with 3 games in hand. RBS are also a point behind us in 6th, with 1 game in hand. AVS have overtaken their Hungarian brethren FTC for 6th place on 42pts with 1 game in hand. If we keep losing in depressing fashion, 6th place becomes available for AVS/FTC. If we can regain some form, it is open to us.
We have been caught up and overtaken on goal difference already, from a position where we looked unassailable. Using the ICE League site's table, we are now joint-4th in goal difference and falling, with Salzburg one goal behind us. We have still scored the most in the top-6, but as you can see, we have also conceded the most by far.
In the last 5 games, we are 10th out of the 13 teams in the league (5pts in 5), per FlashScore.
In the last 10 and 15 games, we are both 9th out of 13 (13 pts in 10 games, 18pts in 15 games). In the last 20, 25 and 30 we are 6th. This clearly speaks to a monumental drop off in form that has not been corrected. We did suffer a lot of injuries, but I don't ascribe this downturn to them - it's the system that is no longer functioning as intended. Robust systems can slot reserve players in and keep going. We have not been able to do that. The main reason for this is that our basic passing and link-play is still not up to our previous standard. Could there be a sickness going through the team? Or is it just the lack of synergy with guys who've been out of the team a while?
Before the rants begin, though, let me give you some positives and negatives:
++ HCB are a good team and it was an away game.
-- If we have intentions to both make the playoffs and make some impact in the playoffs, we are going to have to do better against good teams. Right now, we are not good.
++ PK was very good again, surviving a full 2 minute 5 on 3 but conceding on another 5 on 3.
-- 5-on-5 continues to be very weak. When our PP has sunk down in effectiveness, this leaves us with a properly anaemic offense. Paired with a leaky defence, the results are essentially foregone conclusions at the moment.
++ We did have some more classic Coach Cooper intricate zone entries. It was nice to see his impact visible in the game...
-- ...but we almost always gave the puck away virtually immediately after those carefully-curated zone entries.
How much thought we are currently putting into our play in the OZ:
https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/funny-cat-cat-tongue-smiling-cat-similing-funny-cat-tongue-gif-14787572273979504208 Not a big cat guy, but I do enjoy this meme.
Bolzano to us after their consistently clever play:
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/370867422/Megamind-peeking
As Paul McCartney sang, we are back to where we once belonged - Karhula-era Olimpija! Here's how:
- Our PK is good, but our PP just passes around the perimeter ineffectually.
- We are doing nothing at 5-on-5 for incredibly long stretches, before showing some signs of life in the late stages of P3 when it's too late anyway.
- At least Karhula and AT blooded the young players, like Ćosić, Mehle and Bohinc. We're doing the same sh*t as before, but with a far more expensive squad that is preventing those guys from developing! If we were getting consistently good results, packing our team with veterans who may move on next season would be understandable. That we are doing this and losing while playing bad hockey is tantamount to neglecting Olimpija's future, which I believe resides in players like the aforementioned Ćosić, Mehle and Bohinc.
- Granted, Karhula hockey happened for much longer and had lengthier losing streaks. Yet, as sumo wrestlers always say in post-fight interviews, if our goal is to play 'our style of sumo (hockey)', we are not doing that at all. We are a warped version of our original CC selves that burst onto the scene so dramatically. All the colour has been drained out of us and our hockey, even in our recent wins. They've become grind-y, struggle-dominated affairs instead of the flowing, effortless hockey we played before. Everything deteriorates eventually, but we barely got half-way into the regular season and it happened!
- I find it hard to understand how we started so well but have failed to adjust to keep ourselves playing the attractive hockey that it seemed like we would be known for under CC. I will ask him just that if I get the chance in January or February in another YT interview. I don't know if I'll even ask for a player one as well this time, as I want CC's to be longer and it really matters that I get this right.
I sympathise with CC a bit here. The players are suddenly not doing the fundamentals well (e.g. passing and holding onto the puck) and are continuing to make poor decisions that cost the team penalties. Looking at you, 89 + 43:
- These guys are both 36 years old, aging veterans in the hockey world. They should know better. TJ in particular is in danger of becoming more of a liability than an asset at this rate, with his recent penchant for penalty-gifting.
- (EDIT - I took out a comment about being role models here on some good advice from a friend, who said that it was too personal. It wasn't intended that way. Although I have to think about that constantly as a teacher, I appreciate that I shouldn't apply that to others now.)
- I'm not trying to be mean to Boychuk here, but his podcast, the Athlete & Artist Show, bet on Jake Paul to beat Anthony Joshua in their recent match. I don't care if this was just for content, if you share it in that po-faced way, that's your position on the matter. Let's just say his judgment cannot be viewed as brilliant at the moment, either. (I do not recommend betting at all, especially on some American idiot who rightly got pounded into dirt by a real boxer.)
Seeing AJ demolish Jake Paul, smiling while doing so:
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/029/831/spongebobmeme.jpg
I have had students who forget the basics, as the OLL players have seemed to do. It's a tough one as a leader of a room of people. Sadly, as I have found out, the guy in charge is always the one responsibility falls upon, even when it's not really their fault.
Here's what I would do, if multiple students of mine worryingly started to mess up basic elements of what we were doing: I would try to introduce some fun back into proceedings, reduce the pressure of the system and encourage individual creative expression. To balance that, I would do some foundational repetition.
For example, if a critical mass of kids was showing that we had forgotten some basic times tables in Maths, we could play a few different fun games involving multiplication, but balance that with doing the hard work of writing out some difficult times tables in full. This would be after testing to find out each individual's particular weaknesses.
Teaching Maths and teaching hockey are not that different. How could you make this balanced approach work in hockey?
You could attempt to spark the team with some encouragement of creative play by doing some freestyle offense v defence drills, like the 1v1 Oklahoma Drill in American Football (see this video for a funny parents vs. kids version https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1087433283582285).
The Oklahoma Drill is so storied because it reduces the game down to its very essence - one man must defeat another man, on offense or defence. It's a great spectator event and fun to take part in, so it would hype up the boys when they need a bit of confidence and enjoyment amidst the Warhammer-esque grim darkness of our recent form.
This could be paired with some fundamental drills after breaking down video on who needs what. Maybe for offense that is neutral zone link-play, plus some offensive zone passing, with a focus on getting into central areas. For defence, it could be trying to take what works so well on the PK into 5-on-5, alongside some rush defence..
Obviously I am not a hockey coach and don't plan on being one, but as a leader of a team myself, that's the type of thing I would do. It may not be that simple, but sometimes it is.
I presume CC's goal is to perform well enough to return to North America as a HC. If so, he's going to need to dig deep and re-form this team from the ground up in his image. The initial image has faded away to nothingness.
Olimpija's hyper-hot start in September:
https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Fading_Memories_(Legends_of_Runeterra)?file=01SI047.png I miss Legends of Runeterra so much. Why do online card games always have to die?
P.S. The ECHL strike situation is getting pretty interesting, with the league underhandedly trying to misrepresent the player union's position and trick guys who don't know how union representation works into thinking they are being held hostage by the union. See below for the union's release on what is far more likely to be the reality of the matter. The truth tends to bend when you are profit-motivated (the league) versus when you are people-motivated (the union)!
P.P.S. ZG pointed out that MacWilliam may get suspended for his hit to the head of an HCB player and posited that at least this would mean Ćosić might get some playing time!
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