SWEET, SWEET VICTORY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9iYm9PEAHg Why hasn't this been played at the Super Bowl yet??
Bolzano's Foxes after losing the series 4-1:
https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/dora-dora-the-explorer-boots-oh-man-oh-mannnn-gif-5485872 Did Dora the Explorer reach Slovenia back in the day?
OHB SEEING AN OLL SERIES VICTORY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS:
OHB SEEING A SERIES VICTORY WITH ĆOSIĆ ON THE FIRST PAIR:
https://giphy.com/gifs/papajohns-pizza-shaq-papa-johns-MvZJtkjJN81Cgx2X9F Please appreciate that I managed to find Shaq in the same shirt for these. Or not, maybe he only has one shirt.
Game 5 - HCB 1 - 4 OLL, OLL win the series 4-1!
I'll keep this brief, as it's been a bit of a nightmare past couple of weeks for me. Nothing too big/bad/serious, thankfully, but just the stuff that kind of ruins your days. At least the hockey was great!
2 goals each from Mahkovec and Boychuk sealed this one, alongside wonderful goaltending by Tokarski. What a statement to burn the foxes in their own stadium for the series victory!
Series in Review
- Looking back, that Game 1 comeback set us up so well for the rest of the series. It went hand in hand with the mentality and belief that CC has instilled in this squad. As we say in the eSports world (yep, I used to be in the content team of a world champion eSports org! Good times! (I had to keep myself occupied in Montenegro somehow lol)), there was a clear 'coach diff' in our favour and HCB were clearly suffering from 'mental boom' / 'tilt' by the end of Game 4, where they really lost their heads. This didn't make Game 5 a done deal, but CC's coaching and the team's self-belief came up huge over this series. Very, very different to the lifeless Coach Karhula performances in the pre-playoffs two years ago (AT was thrown in the deep end last year, I don't blame him).
- Also, I wanted to draw attention to the HCB coach walking off at the end of the series without shaking hands, just like their team always walked off without waiting for the end of game awards in our home games. Bad leadership, bad role models, deservedly defeated.
- Tokarski let a couple of easy ones in early on and then never looked back. If Tokarski has indeed been signed for next season, imagine a Horak-Tokarski goalie tandem when Hory is healthy... That would easily be the best in the league.
- ZG was right about Tok's few DEL performances overly depressing his value and making him a great swoop for us.
- Reading this about Logan Thompson in The Athletic made me think it applies to Tokarski as well:
- Thompson doesn’t fill the net with his natural stance. He stands extremely hunched over, compact and coiled, showing the shooter more net that most goalies, then springs into action. Thompson reads the shooter’s body language and stick positioning to anticipate their next move, which is a vital skill for that style. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7129537/2026/03/19/nhl-goalies-quality-start-vezina/
- I told you so - Ćosić was on the top pair for the entire of this series and we won convincingly 😎
- Well done to Mr Ulčar and his backroom staff - Reid McNeill and Dustin Tokarski have been two huge home run hits as injury replacement signings and surely must be staying with us next season.
- McNeill may not be right-shot, but he seems an upgrade on Kirichenko. I expected Clay to be out for much longer, but he's actually back in for this series. How will the defence, which is quite stacked now, line up?
- ZG argues for keeping the pairings the same, after the good performances vs HCB.
- Ćosić Brennan
- Halbert McNeill
- MacW Gregorc
- Kirichenko 7th D, as he was out for a while.
- When I told ED about this, he said Kirichenko on the 3rd pair or lower would be a crime 😆 He said he would mix and match Kirichenko, Brennan, McNeill and Halbert on the first two pairs. He would opt to place Ćosić and MacW together on the 3rd pair, to "teach them some manners and protect Tokarski". I also enjoyed his "Gregorc and Crnović on the 4th pair just for the domestic players quota".
- Let me know in the comments what you guys think! We'll find out tonight, I guess!
EDIT: They have released the pairings:
McNeill Brennan
Halbert Kirichenko
MacW Gregorc
Crnović 7th.
Comment: Ayayay, no Ćosić. McNeill and Halbert looked great together, but I suppose the Halbert-Kiri synergy from the regular season won out. Clearly CC still does not fully trust Ćosić, even to be 7th D. Pretty disappointing, but at least Drozg is back and Mehle is 13th F.
Mr Ulčar and his team after signing McNeill and Tokarski as injury replacements:
Dustin 'Ticker' Tokarski when he sees the other team:
https://www.redbubble.com/i/photographic-print/ITS-TIME-TO-STOP-FILTHY-FRANK-by-jenkii/24847051.6Q0TX https://www.hkolimpija.si/en/igralec/144125/ Filthy Frank, I miss you.
Oh-oh, it's HCP!
In all honesty, I think we will run HCP much closer than previously. With CC and our new, supercharged squad, I have confidence. The new coach and players have not had the shellshocking experiences with HCP; we even have Petan from them (although that didn't work one bit with Ege and Atwal last year, but the less said about them, the better). With the aforementioned upgraded mentality and belief that CC has injected into the team, we have as good a chance against them as we would have had against Graz (who we were going to play if KAC had gone through, as expected).
Yet, HCP did just sweep RBS convincingly. I do not expect to get the away wins we got vs HCB, but then I didn't expect us to get those, either. I was wrong last time I predicted this, but I'll happily be wrong again if we win - I think it will be a Game 7 series with home wins and difficult away games. The beauty of sport, as I said before, is how unpredictable it is. Let's strap in for the ride! (Please let us solve Pasquale, I can't stand seeing him play like a rat and win LOL.)
Even if we don't get past HCP, it'll have been an extremely successful first season of this new 'project' under CC. Let's hope that gives them some freedom to play in a flowing fashion, instead of the fusty freezing up we have done against HCP in the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment