Great job by the boys last weekend,those two performances enabled us to secure our first 4 point weekend of the season.Its something we spoke about at practice the Wednesday leading up to the games and that was our focus for sure.
We spoke about starting on time and making sure we really took care of the first 5 minutes of each period and the last 5 minutes too.These are the crucial times in games when teams become vulnerable to mistakes through various reasons,usually due to lack of focus.
Mindset is so important in this game and can be the difference between winning and losing and I believe that has cost us a few times this season.On Saturday everything seemed to just go right and a performance like that has been a long time coming,but it was coming.We have played well on numerous occasions this year,but just failed to get the job done.Bad bounces cost us in previous weeks,but on Saturday everything just clicked and it was nice to see.
We pretty much played a perfect game in all 3 zones.The most pleasing aspects were the way we took our chances in front of goal and were really ruthless in our finishing.We also played a real good defensive game and gave Ross Miller an easier night than he has had in previous games.It was good to see Ross get his shutout and it was really on our minds in the last 7 minutes or so to lock everything down and play for him..
It gave us a nice lift having snapped our losing streak and we were pretty confident going into Sundays game with Raiders..That game on Sunday was another impressive win,what pleases me most was the way we ground the game out.We have lost a few leads late this season through poor game management,Chelmsford and Solent at home are examples of that,but I was really impressed with how the boys saw this game out and it showed me as a coach that we are learning as we move forward.
It was a game where we couldn't get into our stride like we did in MK and that's credit to Raiders who came to play.A major factor was also the stop start nature of the game in terms of the referee wanting to be the star of the show and calling the game a little too tight in my opinion.We just couldn't get 5 on 5 hockey for what seemed an age and it totally disrupted the flow of the game and it was really tough at times.
However the boys were fantastic on the penalty kill and got the job done and this was a massive factor in the end result.To be fair all of our special teams have been exceptional in the past few weeks amd long may that continue as its a massive part of the game and sometimes the difference between winning and losing.
As a group we are really hoping that this upturn in form is not a flash in the pan and consistency is what we are now working towards and looking for.February is a crucial month in our schedule and has always been earmarked as one where we really need to pick up some wins.Last weekend was not a bad start and I can promise you we will be working very hard to keep the wins coming.