G25, ODI: FEHERVAR 3 - 1 OLIMPIJA
Game Notes
P1
OLL PPG - Quince from Mašič and Meyer. Quince deflects Mašič's shot.
P2
AVS - Quick pass to left circle and one timer beats Horak's glove.
OLL DISALLOWED - Meyer back to Masic shot one timer top right circle and Mehle beautiful net front screen and mop up goal NO GOAL - WHY - OUT OF CREASE
430 Bukovec forces a turnover and gets a free rush, but his 5-hole shot is saved. What a moment that would have been for him.
P3
Mehle gets called for a non-existent hook, I guess he's not allowed to play tonight.
AVS PPG - high slot screenbeats glove
We take a too many men penalty with 10 minutes left. Great.
AVS PPG - a shot from the left circle goes in high.
MacWilliam takes a holding penalty with 3:47 left and 3-1 down. Game over - I switched my PS5 on and started playing The Outer Worlds 2 in frustration.
Thoughts
We're not much of a comeback team, are we? We kind of just lose if we go down by a couple of goals. That's pretty sad. AVS are a team that plays very good lockdown hockey with a lead, but they shouldn't have acquired one, given the poor decision on Mehle's goal.
I absolutely hated watching this game after Mehle's goal was overturned (it was made worse by our history of finding it very difficult against AVS, as well as their horrendous abominations of Christmas jerseys). He wasn't in the goalie's crease, so there should not have been a goalie interference call. To make things worse, after the game they punished MacWilliam for one of the only exciting plays that was made. He was given a one game suspension by the league for his open-ice hit on an AVS player. Apparently, this AVS player was "puck-focused" and thus the hit was dangerous, as it was to his head/neck.
Firstly, they might want to get a younger guy to judge this - the hit was to his shoulder. Secondly, isn't every player puck-focused? What a ridiculous thing to use as a reason. Thirdly, isn't it one of the first rules of hockey that you keep your head up over the middle of the ice? Even I know that, having never played myself. This was one of those moments where an older defender teaches a younger forward a lesson. I understand and commend the league for obviously making efforts to protect its players, but the good theory has taken form with bad practise. The league has become so soft and tiki-taki with penalties over the past month or two, with this post-game suspension for a legal, unpenalised hit the icing on the cake. These guys understand the risks, let them play proper hockey - otherwise, the fans will tire of this sickeningly soft approach.
See below for further discussion...
G26, AMO: OLIMPIJA 6 - 3 VILLACH
DROZG DRIVES OLIMPIJA OFFENSE
DRAGONS FOIL LATE EAGLES COMEBACK ATTEMPT
Stars of the Game
* Lukaš Horák - Sadly relinquished a shutout effort in the late 3rd period, but I tend to ascribe that to the team defence switching off, rather than Horak. Amongst his usual excellent work, he made a massive pad save to prevent VSV from catching up to 5-4 with 2:27 to go. If you don't like me putting Horak number 1 almost every time and overvaluing goalies and their contributions, you will be very unhappy to hear that I have won fantasy NHL leagues 4 times in 3 years, mainly based on stacking the maximum amount of goalies and papering over everything else (it's unironically kept me going through some deeply unpleasant times 😆).
** Marcel Mahkovec (G, A) - Marcel got us off on the right foot with the opening goal. Featuring Mahkovec more worked out - as ED reminded me, I wonder who suggested that?
*** Bine Mašič (A) - We got another assist from him, but it was the McDavid-esque coast-to-coast skate-and-shoot on the PP that had people's jaws to the floor. This was a glimpse of full-force Mašič, the one who made me wax lyrical about him being a 'Rolls-Royce player' after he joined us mid-way through the season almost two years ago. It was like catching a glimpse of your ex looking hot - I want to see more! (Advisory warning: this is a joke, avoid such behaviour at all costs!).
Goals
P2
OLL PPG - Mahkovec from Sabla and Kirichenko. Kiri to Sabla for a one-timer in the left circle; Mahkovec is there to put the rebound in. Nice to see Sabla have a positive impact, as he was looking a bit lost at sea in the past few games since his return from injury. It was reviewed for a potential kick-in, but it stood as a good goal.
OLL - Boychuk from Drozg and Gregorc. Pečo wasn't finished announcing the goal and there's already another! I barely saw this one - on the highlights (why doesn't our jumbotron do replays?), Drozg threaded a sensational pass through the goalie's crease and into the welcoming arms of Zach Boychuk.
OLL - Petan from Brennan and Mahkovec. Petan scores a lovely lifted backhand over the goalie, who had gone into snow angel/starfish mode on the floor, hoping to cover the puck somehow. This goal was given some luck by ED, as he had just come over to have a chat with me! Petan really did get fantastic elevation on his backhand there, even an upright goalie would have had serious trouble with that.
OLL - Sodja from Mašič and Pance. Pance enters the zone wide, shoots and Mašič gets the first rebound. His backhand is saved, but Sodja gets the second rebound and scores as the goalie ends up on the floor again. What a second period for us!
P3
OLL - Quince from Gregorc and Mehle. Mehle does some good work behind the net and along the boards, keeping the play alive. He switches it back to Kirichenko at the point and moves into the slot. Kiri returns it to him. Mehle, in turn, gives it to Gregorc on the blue line - his shot is deflected in by Quince, who is becoming rather adept at these kinds of goals. Still loving the fishing rod celebration he does on the jumbotron.
VSV - Pečo was in the middle of announcing again, this time it's VSV with a net-front mess leading to a goal. Sad to see Horak's shutout attempt go. I always get a bit nervous for him in P3 with a shutout on the cards, as I really want him to get it.
VSV PPG - A dubious Quince holding penalty leads to a blue line point shot that goes right in.
VSV - Pečo is announcing yet again during another goal! Let him do his work!! ^^ VSV go wide and shoot over Horak's glove. Cooper later said in the post-game locker room video that he wasn't sure if these garbage time goals were Horak's fault or the rest of the team's. This was a pretty saucy backhand goal, to be fair.
OLL ENG - Pance with a gorgeous swivel-and-shoot in the NZ into the empty net. We shouldn't have needed this, but I was still very happy it was Pance who scored it. Pure class, as usual.
My reaction to Žiga Pance's spinning empty-net goal:
Scouting: Jan Drozg
ZG and I were discussing his purgatory with a KHL team holding his rights but no prospect of playing a couple of months ago. We said it would be expensive to buy him out, but we really hoped it would happen, even if it felt unlikely and that somewhere like Switzerland would be a more likely destination for him. Well, maybe the topsy-turvy last few weeks of win/loss/win/loss/win/loss pushed Olimpija to try a Bonino-esque swing for the fences. The entire community seems joyous and buoyed by this, so thanks go to the leadership team for making it happen (presumably Mr Lefebvre had to reach into his pockets, alongside expert negotiating by Mr Ulčar and Mr Butara, amongst others).
Now, it was only one game. Yet, luckily for you, dear readers (and unluckily for pretty much every girl who has ever expressed a romantic interest in me), I am very judgmental. I think that, on this evidence, you can see why he got drafted by an NHL team and also why he didn't make it to the NHL. He played and skated faster than everyone else, but he also held his frame quite high into contact, meaning he immediately got stopped in his tracks under any extended physicality. The book on him after one game will be that you get your hands on him, MacWilliam-style, then you can stymie his offense. When unimpeded, however, he looks very dangerous. Still, it was his first game for quite a while, given the drawn-out deliberations over his KHL team holding his rights but not playing him. I'm sure once he's back up to full speed that he'll be even more impressive. Please find the more detailed notes below:
P1
1243 Looked dangerous and twitchy on a 1-on-1, got past the defender with ease. His shot was saved, but it was a difficult one for the goalie.
1228 Made a snappy pass to the right circle to set up a one-timer shot attempt.
He lost the puck in the NZ at the end of his shift, but it was later recovered.
(Miha Beričič interlude - at 910 left in the end of the PK sequence, he disrupted the PP, chased the puck down, made a big block, chased the puck and disrupted them again. What a man!).
44s He got stood up in the OZ by a VSV defender. He didn't have much momentum, but he was still stopped in his tracks in a key area.
P2
He made a quick NZ to OZ transition.
1513 He moved north very quickly again, DZ-NZ-OZ. He made a beautiful turning backhand pass to Ćosić, whose shot was saved. ED suggested to me that Ćosić should get some PP time, as he moves with the puck better than someone like Kirichenko, who is mainly there for his blue line shot. I'd certainly be in favour of giving him a go, as would ZG, I'm sure!
1130 Two insightful passes across the ice, one DZ breakout and one NZ to OZ transition.
906 Assisted on Boychuk's goal with a brilliant pass to the back post from behind the net on the other side.
6 He kept the puck flowing and was active on the boards, then contested the NZ fiercely.
239 Rapid OZ entry and shot on goal. Drozg moved around like a shark on the hunt here.
P3
Why isn't Drozg on the PP? I suppose they probably didn't have enough time to integrate him and thought it would cause more trouble than it was worth, in terms of synergy.
1110 Drozg made a searching shot low into the goalie's skates from a wide angle. He seems to be skating and playing faster than everyone else.
824 Drozg shoots agonisingly wide on a centring pass from Boychuk. Scoring that would have been a great way to cap off your debut!
751 He closed so quickly on a VSV attacker in the DZ to stop a shot when he had identified that the nearest defender, Bohinc, was out of position with another attacker and was thus unable to contest it. This was probably the most impressive moment for me, the acceleration he got from what was basically a standing start was outrageous. Skating gets you drafted, it seems!
Even the way Drozg comes back onside in the OZ is faster than everyone else. He whipped around one skate over the blue line in a tight circular motion and was back in, hunting down the puck.
110 Drozg got out-muscled by a VSV defender in the OZ, providing little resistance. Extremely ironic coming from me, once described by a student of mine as "a stick, but a handsome stick", but maybe he needs to hit the weight room? ^^
Final thoughts
Who are we? Which is the real Olimpija, the AVS game or the VSV game? We can start answering that by saying that the refereeing decisions were fairer in this one, which helped quite a bit. As we think about this, I am going to bless you with a Catullus (ancient Roman poet) reference in a hockey article. Possibly, the first of its kind. Are you ready?
I read another interesting hockey article this week, this time about how the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning have decided to play riskier hockey to compensate for their many injuries. The article mentioned that using the centre of the ice is more risky. Perhaps this is obvious, but it sparked a thought within me: is it hypocritical for me to ask OLL to play with more carry ins and use the centre of the ice more, when that is classed as 'riskier' hockey? Especially since I've been calling for them to play better defensively/not give up so many rush chances? I think they are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as using the centre of the ice more often can be seen as a logical follow-through on Coach Cooper's system of offensive possession. Endless possession on the outside of the OZ needs to have some element of central ice to it, otherwise we'll find scoring difficult. Let me know what you guys think, anyway - we should probably have taken a leaf out of TBL's book when we were struggling for a healthy team and tried using the centre of the ice more. Thankfully, it seems we are getting healthier, with Polei and Halbert hopefully nearing their returns.
https://jhanhky.substack.com/p/jj-mosers-glow-up-is-a-product-of
Following on from that, I watched a wonderful video on YouTube this week by a guy called Nakey Jakey. He does long-form videos on gaming and wider culture. I highly recommend you watch the whole thing if you like indie games, but from about 36 minutes on he reflects on the last 10 years of his channel. I am far from a multi-millionaire YouTuber, but his thoughts echo my experience. In particular, he emphasises the value that following through on the "I wonder if I can try that?" thought brought to his life. That is exactly what I did in starting this blog - only 1 year in, it's already paying dividends (not with actual money lol, but with experiences, friendships and mental health-type stuff). He also said that his videogame criticism comes from a place of caring so much about it that he spent time making something to discuss/critique it. That is also exactly what I have been doing - I deeply care, appreciate and love this organisation. I hope that shows, even when I am criticising something to do with the team. (He also mentioned how it's confusing how often the work you put so much into isn't as popular as the work you put less effort into, which is something else I have experienced quite a lot with this blog!)
https://youtu.be/snNIZGuo92c?si=PReotJgXLUfLeV43
Finally, wasn't it strange that Pečo got interrupted three times during goal announcements by other goals? He's got the Midas touch, but for both teams, it seems! I've enjoyed seeing him get more involved in the period break activities. More Pečo = more interest, at least from me.
P.S. I found it strange that Mehle was in a reserve role whilst Bukovec was on the 3rd line wing. For context, I like both players, but think Mehle should be higher up the lineup than Bukovec, at this stage. Mehle did swap onto the 4th with Pance, which reunited the 'kid line' from last year (bringing thorough enjoyment from me), but I wonder why that drop happened. He played well and should have had his goal counted during the last game, plus I think we really need him as a net-front guy on the PP with Polei out. One reason I can think of is that Bukovec's positional play is really outstanding. I love seeing him marshalling his fellow troops when he's on the ice, which is quite impressive for someone so young. I hope it's a positive selection on Coach Cooper's part, rewarding Bukovec, rather than a negative one, punishing Mehle for something. I think CC"s selection does show that he doesn't trust Mehle - I will ask him why whenever I get to interview him (hopefully January).
P.P.S. The Smash Burger advert that frequently shows on the jumbotron during period breaks with the three scantily-clad female models always annoys me. Since when have you seen women dressed like that walking around the street? Never? Since when have you seen women dressed like that about to smash multiple burgers each into their mouths, then driving off in a drop-top Porsche? I get that adverts are inherently aspirational, but it's just not realistic. I would suggest replacing them with some big units from the Olimpija fanbase, guys who look like they could easily put away a few burgers. My enjoyment would go up significantly if they included the type of guys we have plenty of in England:
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