R2005F Week 1: Hooligans 10, Reapers 1

About the best thing that can be said about this game is that we weren't mercied AND we avoided the shutout.

Mr. Metcalf netted the lone goal, and for the entire first period, we played even with the opposition. In the second period, the floodgates opened, and the result was a rash of goals against. New Reaper goaile Shaun played admirably, but the Hooligans were just too much for us on this hockey night, and he was left to face a steady stream of odd-man rushes. When we did have offensive opportunities, more often than not, the Hooligan netminder stymied our forwards and shots from the point.

Hopefully, the Reaper squad can recharge and regroup for next week's opponent, the Handy Skaters. Here's some items we should take heed, and I'm certain you all have some thoughts on how we can improve our team play — so by all means, please add to this non-exhaustive laundry list.

• Turnovers at center rink (the area around the red line between the high slot dots) and blind passes into the center of the rink from way deep in the opponent zone nearly always results in an odd man breakout for the opposing team. I know I've repeated this admonition ad-nauseum, but I will continue to do so until we get it right. If you are uncertain what to do with the puck at center rink and are being pressured, fire it in deep. If you must make a "blind" pass when you're deep in the attack zone, when in doubt, use the goalie skates as a target. This is Hockey 101, at least the goalie skate target, the other deal with center rink is critical because of the nature of roller hockey vs. ice hockey (i.e., more difficult to pivot and change direction).
  
  
• Forwards need to skate hard for the duration of their entire shift, and if possible, change it up frequently. Skate hard on the forecheck and backcheck, and good things will happen with a counter transition game.
  
  
• Defensemen need to communicate with eachother and with the goalie.
  
  
• Forwards need to backcheck, or at least slow the enemy attack through the center rink.
  
  
• Let's not get deflated when we're down more than a few goals. Keep playing for next goal, no matter the score. It's natural to have some spirit extracted from you when the score starts getting ugly, but focusing on next goal is a good approach. And in this game, it's not entirely impossible to string together in quick succession a sequence of next goals that gets us back in the game.
  
  
• All skaters should develop an awareness of where everyone else is at (i.e, one D-man plays puck in corner, other covers the slot area, or forward hanging back when a D-man makes an offensive rush) and anticipate plays better.

I wish not to single out individual play — I believe we're all hustling hard for the most part. We keep working and we'll continue to improve. But if we play better as a team, it will elevate our increased ability in individual play into a greater probability of victory. Which is much sweeter to taste than defeat.