Tuesday, February 5, 2008

KUM BY GOALIE

Tonight we had a great indoor practice, at least one good enough for me.   We got the strength work in with the trainer, too, which was a bit of a helpful surprise that did not really materialize as part of the plan today until the last minute.  Great, we need every team body movement we can perpetuate.  In spite of it being winter and all that cold jazz, the conditioning part is coming along much better this year than last.  I think our leadership is good in that area, too, thank goodness.

So what did I like about tonight?  Well, the energy and intensity was up where I like it, and really it has been for the most part lately.  The ‘attention to detail’ I am so manic about right now was in place and that made the overall look of the team 'shine' a little bit tonight, as in there were some good interchanges where both defense and offense played well.  That is something I always like to hang my hat on and build with, and I did some cheering and applauding while I was at the coaching. 

I like the feeling that it seemed like the 55 minutes was really all used well tonight and with no ‘down time’, those endless minutes when everyone might be standing around for any reason.

Yes, that what I say is all true, but what I’m really liking just now is the sense I got from our goal tenders, and that is that the two ‘starters’ are exhibiting a great deal of intelligence and passion or fire that they are bringing to the proceedings each time we practice.  This helps US every time.  The goalies can do so much to make the ‘engine’ run good. 

RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM

Maybe I just live in a dream world, who knows, but the sense I am getting is that this very good goalie energy is not all being consumed by the competition for the so-called first string job.  The goalie brigade in general, but in particular our top two are beginning to really play off of one another and not as much against one another or whatever comes with competing for the spot.  The ‘trickle down’ effect of that two-guy scenario will bring this team closer together and more on the same defensive page as well.  I want this team to play for both goalies as if they were both the #1, and rather than thinking one or the other should be ‘the guy’, or just waiting and hoping for me to choose one. 

Consequently to achieve what I would like I therefore needed and have promoted the concept of the goalies trying to come together as a team of goalies. This is in an effort to make it easier on everyone else playing defense.  I didn’t want everyone to have to revamp their individual Garrett game or thought process in order to play with a Tyson in the next game or even in the next quarter.  The two truly are quite different in so many ways, but that is okay or possibly even good in some of its aspects. 

Anyway, lately, and again maybe I am just hoping, I feel that the different Tyson and Garrett styles of play are beginning to complement each other more.   Within this process each one is therefore being molded somewhat better every day within our team defense, absorbing and using its methods and goals.  If this is in fact all really happening it is because they are making the effort to make it happen, and I do appreciate that part very much in any case.  It is not easy to always be a team player in all ways.  That is why simply the effort to do so is so important to me as a coach, and when it happens the value of same can be hard to measure. 

DEBATE AND TACKLE

Of course the process of becoming the real deal as a team is a very real endeavor, one that must be tackled hard because otherwise that progression can be a long, slow, or possibly even endless one.

Why do I want so much to have these two goalies both be “starters” as it were?  The answer to that is in many aspects to be sure, but the most obvious and important one is the schedule itself.  We have several sequences where two and three games of huge importance are back to back and then even back again, as in three consecutive days of games against teams that are very capable.  That is a lot to put on a single team and also on one goalie.  Besides, we still happen to have two or perhaps many more very fine and capable goalies and I like to keep the amount of talent that is NOT playing in games down to a bare minimum whenever possible. 

PEOPLE GET READY

I look at this team as an “all hands on deck” sort of an affair.  As a player you will need to always be ready if you are part of this team.  No matter where you might land in our depth chart or accounting process your time will probably come, and likely sooner rather than later because we are not oozing with numbers at all positions anymore.

NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP……….

I really hope we can have an outdoor practice tomorrow afternoon. I hope it is as they say and the field in Loveland is snowless or at least close to clear.

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