The bottom line is that they are 7-3, 3-3 on the road and they haven't come close to having their full lineup or playing their best hockey yet. All the vets are still struggling to fi
The bottom line is that they are 7-3, 3-3 on the road and they haven't come close to having their full lineup or playing their best hockey yet. All the vets are still struggling to fi
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Great article Blake. This helps me with the point I want to make. As Blake pointed out, the Komets are not playing their best hockey. They don't have their full lineup and the vets are not producing. So here is my question to the blog...when do you put hockey first and wanting to beat the absolute crap out of another team second? I asked Blake in another thread who was on the IR. Here are the players who are not currently in uniform: Bertram to come off IR on Friday; Shaf = 30 day IR; Stayzer = ? (shoulder needs to be looked at); MacMillan suspensions - (if I have done the math correct not playing until Dec. 18); Boucher = ? with broken finger; and Syroczynoski still in Norfolk. I would assume that it will take Bertram and Huckalo a couple of games to be back into the swing of things.
So, before anyone decides to completely rip my head off, please read the question and think of your response...can we afford to lose anymore players through major penalties or suspensions during a game? I don't think we can...we are already struggling with scoring and to remove even one more person would not benefit the team as a whole. There will be a time and a place for payback and I'm sure the Komets are keeping a running tally in their minds about what is going on. Even though they are only about 10 games into the season, now is not the time for them to lose their minds. It is a long season. They cannot afford to dig a hole now and then expect nothing negative to come from it in a couple of months. So before we get upset at each other, the coach, or the players, let's remember that what they do today does affect their future. Trust me, the Komets will remember what has happened and strike when the time is right...for them, not for us.
But in the same question you ask.....isn't it important that the team provides some protection to their skill players....or we might see more of these incidents like we have seen to Shaf and Chaulk this season? If the other teams in the league think that is ok to head-hunt our star-players because the Komets are soft and won't do anything about it....is that a good thing?
Hit - I'm pretty sure that other teams don't think the Komets are soft. I think what happened to Shaf was definitely unfortunate, but you can't keep sending players out to fight every shift. Everyone knows that Shaf is not a fighter, so I can see someone wanting to defend him more, but when a team is already missing people, it would not be to the best interest of anyone to purposly take themself out of play for at least 5 minutes. As far as Chaulk goes, he can take care of himself. He has done it before. You don't see it a lot, but he will drop the gloves and go when he feel he needs to. My point is this...when you are mising people in the lineup, you must be careful. Taking 1 or 2 out for 5 minutes could be very harmful to the team in general. Others have to step in and step up to fill the void. Players become tired (especially when they are playing 3 games in 3 nights), and when people are tired, they are not as sharp as they would normally be. Will the Komets get their revenge, I wouldn't doubt it. But, I believe they will do it when the lineup looks more like the lineup it is supposed to be, minus the suspensions and injuries.
Andrea--Thanks! I do not think I could have said that any better. I sure don't have anything to add. I appreciate what you said.