With my Novice team in the finals, I didn’t get to watch all of the game. I predicted an Oiler 3-2 final, although expecting victory, I was not surprised. Apparently, reading over at Lowetide in the comments of the game section, Dennis pointed out that Gagner took the late draw that caused a goal.
I know I am only a first year Novice head coach, but with a few minutes left, if I am in my own zone, I do not put my weakest players out there in a game where I am either struggling to hang on, or fighting to win.
Sam Gagner has a 43.3 face-off win percentage on the year. Both Brodziak and Horcoff are substantially better. Since I didn’t see the game, I don’t know what the shifts leading up to the faceoff was, nor do I know for sure whether it came off an icing and Gagner had to take the draw. Either way, this team plays a passive game. A very passive game.
Take a look at these stats.
PP: 22nd
PK: 27th
Shots for: 29th
Shots against: 25th
Win% trailing after 1st: 24th
Not only that, but our face offs are 26th in the league. We don’t have the puck, we don’t pursue the puck, we don’t win the puck, we don’t carry the puck. We don’t play an offensive style, we don’t aggressively play the game when we are ahead, we fight for a tie and a late winning goal, or to get to OT and get a loser point or fortunate win.
Hopefully the system changes. The playing personnel changes, but the coaches seem to consistently coach them into a grinding style, which must be tiring after a while. Ask Hemsky.
