Vs
Les' Loft
[ Recent Entries ] [ Archive View ]
Entries for December 05, 2007
You are viewing entries in Les' Loft for December 05, 2007.
How About Some of that Home Success on the Road?
Posted by Les Lazaruk on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 08:50:00 AM.
It's becoming obvious (painfully so when looking at the standings!) that the Saskatoon Blades are a different hockey team at home than when on the road.
For starters, there's the records...the Blades are 9-4-0-0 at Credit Union Centre...2-14-1-0 away from home. But, just as good of an indicator would be recent games against surging teams. Last Friday in Lethbridge, the Blades visited the Hurricanes who had won 14 of their previous 17 games. The result was an 8-2 humiliation...a game in which the club looked like it rolled over and died after giving up the early "Teddy Bear Toss" goal...alllowing four more before they even registered a shot on goal! Last night, Kootenay came in without having lost in regulation time since October 31st (11-0-1-0) when they lost 3-2 to...wait for it...the Blades at Credit Union Centre!! Sure enough, the Bridge City Bunch responded to giving up the first goal by winning 3-1.
What gives? While I feel the 'Canes are the best team I've seen this season (with all due apologies to the Calgary Hitmen who I have yet to see for various reasons), the Ice aren't that far back. Kootenay lacks the secondary scoring that Lethbridge has and that was a factor last night as, even though he scored the only goal for Kootenay, Steve Da Silva was bounced around like a rubber ball and his line-mates Andrew Bailey and Michael Stickland disappeared from the physical play. The supporting cast didn't step up! Kudos to Sam Klassen and Stefan Elliott for strong games on the blue-line for the Blades. Gaelan Patterson and Travis Toomey stepped up big-time in place of injured veteran centres Chris Durand and Justin McCrae and Braden Holtby was his usual rock-solid self between the pipes. His goals against-averaged has dipped below "3" and his save percentage is likely around .910. It was great to see Jyri Niemi back in the line-up...hopefully his injured wrist doesn't give him problems and he's able to stay in action the rest of the way! Congrats to the entire team for putting together a strong team effort and providing Curtis Hamilton with a fitting 16th birthday present!
But, this brings me back to the home success versus road woes conundrum for the Blades. On Friday, they'll visit the Brandon Wheat Kings. Will they be ready to play? Can they be ready to play? When I see them beat the likes of the Wheaties, Regina, Kootenay, Moose Jaw and Swift Current...all teams with better than .500 records...on home ice, that tells me the game plan and systems are sound. This group can execute them...they just have to find the heart and intestinal fortitude on the road for success to happen! Have confidence you can do it when the opposition crowd is booing you. Don't panic when the puck comes to you for a great scoring chance while you are being jeered from all directions. The game in Edmonton should've been won by at least three goals with any kind of luck and/or confidence around the Oil Kings' net. Alex Archibald is good, but he's not the second coming of Patrick Roy! Or even Vesa Toskala for crying out loud!!
The other thing to keep in mind is the schedule. While the Blades have played 17 road games and only 13 at home so far, the disparity between road games played and the number at home grows more in favour of the away side than closer to even. When the Blades are finished their game on Sunday, February 17th in Kootenay, they will have 11 games left...10 of them at home! They will have played 35 road games and 26 at home at the 61-game point of the season.
The Blades need to start finding the winning formula on the road as they seem to have at home!
Right now!!!