How Do We Play A Full Sixty?

[Oaklandblue]

I'm going to deviate from the normal "Oaklandblues Top 50 Quips About The Team". Sorry to disappoint.

After watching the games up to this point, I have come to realize that, pound for pound, this team could go all the way. There is the right mix of speed, skill and size that realistically, we could beat any team in the league. Our record alone speaks to that along with the games where we've lost by a single goal or that went to a shootout or OT.

Now, I could sit here and single out players, like Berglund, who is having a horrible year thus far, and Stewart.

Chris seems to be confused by whether he is a first-rate forward or a fourth liner. When he plays to potential, Chris Stewart has the ability to be a top rate forward, bar none. This isn't me being nice, this is me telling the truth.

Bergy might be lacking a setup player. I've always considered him a sniper with size who, like Brett Hull, needed someone like Adam Oates. I'm not trying to compare the two, but simply to throw out there that the problem with Bergy, beyond having a horrible year, is lacking that one teammate that can spark the fire for him. It might also be possible that, with Bergy's declining stats that he might simply be out of gas.

Goaltending has been solid for us, with Halak and Elliott pulling duty and both doing a great job holding us into the fight. When we got hammered, it wasn't just by goals, it was across the board. No one played well in those games. No one.

In my mind when there's the problem that the team, in general, is playing uninspired, uncoordinated hockey to look to the coaching and ask "Seriously guys, wtf". Hitch's system works and is a great deal of our success. That's just a fact that even I can't deny. The problem is, the uneveness has me wondering if Hitch is too much the team's 'friend' and not enough the team's 'coach'. That's mentally where I am at now.

What do you all think and what things should the team be doing in practice/training/etc. that would result in a team playing a full 60? I don't mean just a specific player, but the team in general. You're going to have one player who is struggling, but that shouldn't bring down a team or unit and if it did, I'd fully expect the coach to bench them.

Thoughts?

[glen a richter]

Berglund volunteered to be the guy who takes it easy all season then turns it on in the playoffs. That's the only logical explanation aside from "he sucks".

[ViPeRx007]

So this is just a continuation of the infamous "Most disappointing Blue this season" thread, right? Perhaps just a more generalized version?

I'll bite this time because we are actually closer to the halfway point, and where it's more logical to make such a thread. The only thing I'm somewhat concerned about with this team is it's ability to beat the teams in California.

What is the Blues record against current Western Conference playoff teams anyway?

I think it's something like 4-5-2. Not awful. But this is the part that worries me:

Against non-California teams we're 4-0-2. That's pretty good.
BUT, we're 0-5-0 against SJ, ANA, LA combined.
(I did a really quick look through the schedule to get these numbers so I'm not sure if they're 100% right, but I think they are)

So...as long as we can avoid CA in the playoffs we're golden, right? The problem with that is that it's not going to happen. The road to the Stanley Cup is going to go through California at some point, possibly more than once if we manage to beat one of them. We have to figure out how to beat those teams. I realize we've only played LA and ANA once each so that's not much of a sample. 0-3-0 against SJ is pretty bad though; 2 of them weren't even close games.

I'm assuming that "playing a full 60" factors into the needed turnaround against these teams. I don't have the answer for doing that though. They almost just need a therapist; someone who can just get them out of their own heads, because they have the skill to beat them, they just don't seem to believe it themselves.

[Oaklandblue]

So this is just a continuation of the infamous "Most disappointing Blue this season" thread, right? Perhaps just a more generalized version?

It's more a 'We're going in the right direction, got the right people and yet are somehow missing something elementary', which is being unable to play sixty minutes a game. When we show up, we're second to none and play like "The Team" and trying to figure out what it is and what we may need to do to get to that next step. For a change that next step isn't about acquiring more firepower, better D or goaltending, the next step is in, again, playing a full 60. But where along this are we going wrong is the question I'm asking and what do we need to do to fix it so we come out and play a full game, every game?

[sseagle]

throw on a rubber and some desensitizer gel?

[ViPeRx007]

So this is just a continuation of the infamous "Most disappointing Blue this season" thread, right? Perhaps just a more generalized version?

It's more a 'We're going in the right direction, got the right people and yet are somehow missing something elementary', which is being unable to play sixty minutes a game. When we show up, we're second to none and play like "The Team" and trying to figure out what it is and what we may need to do to get to that next step. For a change that next step isn't about acquiring more firepower, better D or goaltending, the next step is in, again, playing a full 60. But where along this are we going wrong is the question I'm asking and what do we need to do to fix it so we come out and play a full game, every game?

Once a week, kill one player who is deemed as having the "worst week" on the ice by his peers.

That should light some fires under some asses.

[Oaklandblue]

So this is just a continuation of the infamous "Most disappointing Blue this season" thread, right? Perhaps just a more generalized version?

It's more a 'We're going in the right direction, got the right people and yet are somehow missing something elementary', which is being unable to play sixty minutes a game. When we show up, we're second to none and play like "The Team" and trying to figure out what it is and what we may need to do to get to that next step. For a change that next step isn't about acquiring more firepower, better D or goaltending, the next step is in, again, playing a full 60. But where along this are we going wrong is the question I'm asking and what do we need to do to fix it so we come out and play a full game, every game?

Once a week, kill one player who is deemed as having the "worst week" on the ice by his peers.

That should light some fires under some asses.

Right after this discussion, it is rumoured that Ken Hitchcock began watching "Re-Animator" over and over to learn the art of resurrection so that every Thursday, at 11am CST, just after Hitch has his B&B (Breakfast and Bourbon) that he sacrificially offers up Patrik Berglund and then, exactly three minutes later, resurrects him only to do the exact same thing exactly seven days later to Patrik, who views it as 'taking one for the team'...over...and over...and over again....

The Hockey Gods, occasionally pleased, rarely appeased and easily angered are genuinely confused by this.

[dmiles2186]

Part of me wants to say, 'As long as we win, I don't care if we play a full sixty,' but that's a lie. Obviously, when the team is rolling, it's easier to feel about them in the long run. I'm not sure if it's just part of the grind of the season that some guys are tired, or sick, or whatever, that's causing the ebb and flow in their play. I'm not sure if it's the mentality that this team knows they're in the playoffs and they take some nights off; though with the character of the guys on this team I doubt that's the case.

But to answer this:

In my mind when there's the problem that the team, in general, is playing uninspired, uncoordinated hockey to look to the coaching and ask "Seriously guys, wtf". Hitch's system works and is a great deal of our success. That's just a fact that even I can't deny. The problem is, the uneveness has me wondering if Hitch is too much the team's 'friend' and not enough the team's 'coach'. That's mentally where I am at now.

This could be the case. But I can't blame Hitch for that as he used to be the whip cracking coach and he wore out his welcome every else he went. That's always the catch with coaching. You fire a 'player's coach' a.k.a. 'friend' and hire a 'whip cracker' or disciplinarian. Once the disciplinarian wears out his welcome (ala Andy Murray), you fire him and get with a gentler soul (ala Davis Payne). I personally think Hitch probably has a mix of both in him and that's a good thing. So if a little uneven play is a side affect of that, I'm okay with it. As we witnessed last night, Hitch has a way to light some fires if needed. He's not lost that edge, he's just not showing it as much.