Pond Hockey in Hades

 It's clearly obvious that this team can play some hockey, however (you knew it was coming) the consistency just isn't there.  In addition, I'm a bit baffled at this team's inability to dispossess other teams.  A little improvement in some areas, and this team could set the stage for years to come.

I suppose that at this point, you could call me a nag.  How many times does someone have to repeat something before that happens?  Whatever your answer, I have surpassed that number.  I don't even want to talk about the horrifically abysmal passing anymore.  It's silly, and stupid, and catastrophic.  This has to be the first issue addressed.  Thankfully, it seems to be a periodic issue, mostly appearing early in games, and isn't ubiquitous.  It does, however, make life really hard on Quick and Cal (Petersen).

Is Satan, not Miroslav, allergic to down?  Do you think Hillary would know his size?  Either way, someone needs to get the lord of the underworld a warm coat because Wagner scored.  It's a good thing too, because up until that point, he had been having a terrible first period.  He wasn't alone, but his performance had been especially frustrating.

Not everything is doom and gloom though.  Somehow, this team is finding the net, even when they seemingly haven't earned it.  JAD, The kid from the Valley, and Solomon Grundy (Anderson-Dolan, Moore, and Grundstrom) are playing lights out.  Caution; Break this line up and we are all at risk.  In fact, they exemplify one of the main strengths of this team.  When we aren't coughing up the puck and failing to clear the zone, our bottom six are routinely outplaying the other team's bottom six.   Kopitar and Brown seem to have found some scoring rhythm.  Austin Strand probably shouldn't see much time back in Ontario as he has been excelling in moving the puck and facilitating the break out.  Since I've already proven to be a nag, I'm going to reiterate that this team is fortunate to have two net minders that can stand on their head to keep them in games.  

There is much to look forward to, and if this team can get rid of the kind of mistakes that would get a PeeWee B player benched, this could be a mostly fun season.

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