Written by Coach Oly
Our first playoff game was Thursday in Calgary. We had another little break before the game and worked on a number of things during the week. The boys were excited to start the playoff series and came ready to play. The Canucks took advantage of a Power Play and opened the scoring in the first period. Kreklewich answered back quickly with an unassisted goal to tie the game up at the end of the first period.
The second period of the game was a battle back and forth, both goalies shut down scoring throughout the period. Patenaude gave us the lead on a Power Play goal from Hurtubise in the 3rd period. Hurtubise turned around and scored less than 2 minutes later with assists from Patenaude and Kreklewich. Our Captain Hurtubise had our final goal of the game
unassisted to give us a solid 4-1 lead. Canucks scored their final goal on 6 on 4 Power Play/Empty Net man advantage with 12 seconds left in the game. Altogether, we had a good game. We took the lead, we committed to our systems and we worked hard to earn the win.
We had our second Playoff game on Friday in Calgary. We got an early Power Play goal from Chad Hurtubise to start the game. Energy was high and the outlook was good for the Dragons in the beginning. Unfortunately, we quickly fell into the emotional side of the game and lacked discipline throughout the game. We took too many penalties and got away from the style of play we as coaches have been teaching and preaching since we assumed our roles. We were able to refocus after the second period and gained some momentum in the third period with a goal from Evans, assisted by Young and Taupert. That was quickly ended with another penalty and a misconduct, a call we didn’t agree with for a number of reasons. We lost the game 4-2.
I would like to see us refocus and come out today with a bigger commitment to our style of hockey and the way we are teaching/coaching. We have to be more disciplined and not fall into the penalty trap if we want to win and move forward. We had a meeting to that effect and a good practice yesterday in an effort to refocus the team. We hope to see all of our fans this afternoon!
Photo by Broken Curfew Photography