We lost in the late game at the Ice Arena last night against the Predators. They scored two goals within a few minutes during the first period. They had the stick on us during the first, it was much more even from there on. Shot count for the night was 16 -17 (their way) with them winning the first period and the Knights getting more real shots after that. In fact, they only really had one good shot in the last two thirds of the game when I was caught having to deal on my own with a two person rush and it ended up ringing off the pipes. We had a handful of good shots in periods two and three, with the puck almost trickling over the line with less than a minute to go being the least lucky.
We stay on top of the league for penalties, with Aaron taking two and Tom another. I think it's fair to say that neither was at their best to start with, though both put in good games and were responsible for the majority of our attacks. Andy probably played the most tightly of us all. Henry returned from his latest O/S jaunt and played a good solid game, much of it in D when it became obvious that we needed another D because Tom was struggling and Jonesy and Chris were playing their hearts out rotating through centre on the first lane. So our D had two neophytes (Henry and me) and the need for softer than usual minutes for the others that joined us there.
We had a new skater, Beau, who is very very fast but, like everyone starting out with us, needs to learn his required positioning and not chase the puck so much. Dan and Lachy did ok, each of them making an effort to keep the pressure on while in the opposition zone (and Lachy having at least one good shot on goal). In my view, everyone contributed to what I saw as a reasonable game on our part. In fact, we had a generally higher level of skill and speed than the opposition, but lacked on the teamwork (especially during the first). Although we played with the most number of players we have had to date (11 plus Bec the fill-in goalie) we were still missing two good defencemen (Mike and Cam). Almost all of our shots were blocked simply by good goalie body positioning, same as had happened during the previous game and shoot out. We do miracles getting the puck to the goal, and then shoot it straight into the goalie! I know we're better than that.
What was disappointing was that we didn't play as well as our team could. If we had, I reckon we'd have had a lot more shots on goal - and then it would have been up to the Puck God. Things being as they were, however, (and maybe because I'm an Edmonton Oiler fan and thus used to looking towards distant horizons) I was pretty upbeat after the game. The potential is there and it's pretty huge. That's my view, anyway.
As for my game, it had its ups and downs. The main positive is that I actually played, albeit with an extra tight strapped knee. First shift was great. I hadn't even got to the face off circle for my second shift, however, when I twisted wrongly somehow and was imobilised by the 'discomfort', I returned to the bench on one leg as soon as we'd cleared the puck from the zone. I gave it a few minutes, did four more shifts in the period. Did about the same in the following two periods. Had no further issues with the knee. It was a scary moment though!
My game itself, I was happy with it. I spent the whole game in D. Iced the puck twice in the first period, both unnecessary icings. I think I iced it once each period after that, and both instances were forgiveable and one wasn't called. Right at the end of the second I was trapped alone in our zone with a mass breakout happening, two of them coming down the centre and the puck carrier on my left wing. I was busy positioning to coral the single skater towards the boards and leave his shooting to Bec, while also covering the two centres and threatening to intercept or block them if the puck was passed instead of shot. Somehow they managed to screw that one up themselves but I was happy with my positioning, considering it was a three on one.
I was happy with various aspects of my game, in that they showed an increasing utility in defence. In no particular order, highlights included - advancing to the blue line when the puck was in their zone a lot more, carrying the puck from our zone to theirs on one occasion and a shorter distance on another, covering the slot and, when necessary, the crease and not having a shot unleashed when I was doing so, combating in the rear corner boards until a team mate cleared it, keeping the stronger skater on the outside if I was tracking them in, a couple nice clearing passes, a tough battle in defence of our blue line which resulted in at least four players on the ice and me staying on my knees with hands above my head to ensure didn't get done for handling the puck, retreiving and holding the puck when it was cleared from their zone a couple times before passing it in for a second go, playing solid minutes, close to twenty at a guess. Having my lower than ideal conditioning level be sufficient to keep me fit and agile to the end. Not having any goals scored against us while on the ice.
And that's about as good as it can get for a new D on a losing team!
GP 2 G/A/Pts 0/0/0 +1 1/1/0
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