Dear Readers.... (yeah, i'll admit it, I couldn't write that with straight face)
No recap yet, Im in a ranting sort of mood.....(hint: There is a point to this rant, please read my entire 15 page ramble and allow me to miss apply my whole theory. Please read?)
Practice makes perfect?
For as far back as I can remember I was told that I may stink at something but, if I keep trying, I will get better. I was told:
"Dont worry Nick, with practice, you will hit the toilet"
or..
"A wrist shot is easy, you will figure it out."
and my personal favorite...
"If you keep working with those free weights you will have six-pack abs."
Ladies and Gentleman, I have news for you. I still miss the toilet (and the net). Sadly, because my Alkaline levels are so low, I cant figure out the wrist shot motion. And I still dont have "dreamy" washboard abs.
What gives!
You know what this says? The adage is crap. Garbage. You are either good at something or you're not. You had the skill from the start, it just needed refining. The only reason you get better is because you understand the concept of not only what your goal is but how to achieve it more effectively. Not because you practiced. It's why Bobcat's practice sessions never brought home a trophy...no amount of practice would have been good enough. We stink. Allen Iverson was right. Practice? Who needs it?
Did you know that I have a perfect example to prove my theory that practice only gets you so far???
When you think of how I get the ball out of the zone...what do you think is my bread and butter? Do I pass it up the middle or up the boards?
Its religious. Up the boards. Up the boards. Up the boards. It doesnt take a brain surgeon to understand where to stand. Its not like a monkey could do it(well Koko probably could with some practice) but its not a hard concept. It's my go to move. My "oh crap, Im in trouble, get it out" move. One job! Stay in front of your point guy. Be available for a pass up the boards. Be an outlet for your d-men. Not hard. So why every week, do I, see the same crap play? Its infuriating. Everyone else seems to get it. Every week I say the same thing..."im going up the boards, be ready". Help me out! I "practice" with you every week. You should get how we should play together as teammates by now.
Now dont get defensive (no pun intended). I can hear your defense again now..."not all those passes are good"
Well, Brendon, really? Of course they aren't all perfect. Some of those passes stink worse than Borges' hockey gloves. This has nothing to do with either of our skills. It has to do with your constant pursuit of always having to be behind your guy at the point. It has to do with either your complete lack of hockey sense, laziness or constant pursuit of the hope of a breakaway. Nothing like the smell of a stat, eh?
I've got news for you, you have been playing long enough to know what you should be doing out there. Im not going to rip someone for a physical mistake. Bad passes, Bad shots...it happens, its acceptable. We all had several of those tonight. But the same mental mistake week after week, over and over again? Really? How many times does it have to be said?
For the 100th time, stay in front of your man at the point! Its your one job in the defensive zone. I feel like you're smart enough to realize that.
23 comments:
that wasnt worth the time.
as usual, no hard feelings brendon, but i had to get this off my pecs.
Nick, you spoke for all of the Dark team on that subject.
not bad Nick.
I have a question.
Why do people expect to stand in front of a goalie and not be touched or stick checked??!!
I got a new flash you "If you stand in front on my goalie - I'M GONNA MOVE YOU!!"
If you don't like it - don't stand there.
If you start getting frustrated - TO BAD.
I stand in front of goalies all the time and I have not once said a word about contact when I'm there.
Why - because I expect it. Why do you think they call it "One of the diry areas"
It's stupid that people actually think that they can stand there and not be touched or get aggrivated when you start to battle for stick position.
Mike, not sure who you might be referring to specifically but. Couple of things to keep in mind:
1. Since we play with minimal contact, that has to apply in front of the net as well. We can't have guys battling too aggressively. Obviously there will be some degree of contact but it has to be controlled.
2. Speaking personally, the battling for position doesn't bother me when it's in front of the net. But too often it's making contact from the top of the circles, or someone literally grabbing your stick (bob), or people slashing at your stick when the ball is not even in play. That to me is what gets frustrating.
well, the missing phone has been found...
its in saugus...sigh.
slashing the stick is legal as long as it doesn't break. Johnny you've seen enough nhl games to know that. If you're crashing the net (even from as far out as the circles) stick contact is allowed. That's the only area IMO where body and stick contact is allowed whether the ball is there or not.
If he can't touch your stick till the balls on the way, then you'll always be open. But if he ties up your stick before the ball is on it's way, then thats a smart play cause then i won't pass to you. It's legal.
3-19-11
Bobby was Better Than Thomas Last Night
5 Brendon - I blame his horrendous defensive ability on playing with Johnny for so long. Who’s the fool that ever thought Johnny Riley actually played good defense? Or defense at all? They need to sit and actually watch him play a game. Back to Brendon. He ran fast and got unintentional assists all night.
4 Eric (not Fiore) - Proved that having a 15 year old Mylec perforated plastic blade, held on the stick with duct tape, is all you need to be a top player in Saugus.
3 Mark and Nick - It’s really unfair to give one credit and not the other. These two have become the “Brett and Johnny”(don't know if that's a complement or not) on the defensive side. Who would have ever thought that Nick would get along so well with a Saladin.
2 Brett - Showed that he can score when he wants to, but sees it as more of a challenge to get the terrible players he plays with to score.
1 JB - Seeing as Jared couldn’t hit the net all night (I think Nick had more shots on net) JB showed he can carry a team on his incredibly wide shoulders.
Honorable Mention:
Mike W - With the economy effecting everyone, Mike Ward filled in nicely for the recently laid-off Ashley.
Bobby - Seems to save his biggest saves for overtime.
wpr...are you saying reggie and I dont get along?
reggie and I go way back baby!
Slashing the stick is not legal in saugus. Whether they allow it in the NHL is irrelevant.
And you are not allowed to tie guys up without the ball being in the area. Otherwise people would just tie Crosby up the entire time he is on the ice.
johnny you can't just right off the rules from the nhl that you dont like or else offsides is irrelevant too.
I said from the circles in when your crasing the net is legal. Johnny just be stronger on your stick and stop complaining when someone doesn't let you score. I know it's something different for you.
You were so focused on getting goals for yourself last week you didn't care about the team. You demanded for the ball from Frendon, who was all alone in the slot with the ball. On a three on one, you went to the middle with the ball to give yourself a better angle to shoot instead of going wide and looking for the pass(you got broken up cause all 3 of you ended up right next to each other) Stop complaining about legal plays cause your frustrated that no one is giving you easy goals and start concentrating on our team winning. You're turning into Jared and just focusing on goals. I think Jared tried harder to get back on D than you did last game.
Brett, if only you knew what you were talking about. I will address your assinine comments one by one:
1. calling for the ball from brendon - anytime I call for a pass it's only to let the guy know that he has options. If he decides to shoot it's perfectly fine with me. On that play, despite being alone with the goalie brendon was right in front of him with nothing to shoot at. I was running from a better scoring angle so I wanted to let brendon know he had options. After the play I did not tell brendon that he should have passed it, because that's his call to make.
2. On the three on one I thought pass all the way, and got the pass off to my teammates, pretty close to where I wanted it.
3. Apparently you are a mind reader now. I cared about the wins on Saturday. I stayed back a lot in order to cover defensively. And when I was subbing there were quite a few times I saw odd man rushes against us with you hanging out in the offensive zone.
4. And finally, yes, I can establish the rules for Saugus as I see fit. The goal is for guys to have fun, but not get hurt. What you are proposing, not only am I quite sure is illegal in the NHL, but will lead to more problems for us, and the games need to stay clean.
1. so somehow you feel the pain of the stick when someone hits it. pretty sure slashing the stick doesn't hurt anyone. No one is lifting their stick up high and chancing injury. Only you did that last week.
2. Apparently there was more than one 3 on 1 you botched. The one i was talking about, you tried shooting from 5 feet inside the zone instead of letting the play develop and letting your guys get open.
3. I'm a winger. Not my position to cover for you 50% of the game no matter how loud you yell for someone to cover you. Don't go so deep and you'll never need someone to cover for you. Problem solved.
4. on the 3 on 1 you're talking about. So you're saying that you meant to air mail a pass, nowhere near your players, off the boards, have them go retrieve it and then shoot? that's your idea of a good pass? Or passing it to where you wanted to? Wow, someone can't say they made a bad pass.
5. Frendon doesn’t need to know that you’re just crossing the red line, 30 feet behind him, and that you’re open for a pass while he‘s about to shoot from the perfect spot. If he made that pass to you while in the position he was in, it would have been one of the top 3 worst decisions Frendon ever would have made while playing in Saugus. And that’s saying something. How bout yelling SHOOT!! Not “here I come Frendon, gimme the ball cause I haven’t scored a lot tonight”
It is what it is Johnny. You'll never admit you made a bad play when someone calls you on it, and that's fine. I just don't want you thinking that you're fooling anyone that it's mine and frendon's fault for not getting back for you. If you're getting too tired playing Center, i'll play center for you and you can jump to wing.
and i realize you said when you were on the bench you saw me "hanging out". my comment was a response to centers in general.
Griff has caused too much injury slashing a stick catching fingers and ankles. Plus not all of us are as loaded as you and can afford to buy a new stick every week. There's a reason why Brendon didn't want to use his stick in MTL.
Don't remember the 3 on 1 that you're talking about, but on the one I'm referring to, I put the ball where it needed to go. Passing to a spot where my guy could get it.
And if I make a bad play, I have no problem admitting it. I had a one-timer I whiffed on Saturday, and there was a play I took a wrist shot right into JB's shin guards. But the 3 on 1? I have no problem with that play.
And I don't try to go deep in the offensive zone often, but when I do pick my spots another forward has to cover. Hockey 101.
But if you really want to play center, then fine: go right ahead. I have no problem playing wing. I have a feeling we won't be seeing you rush the puck too much though.
It doesn't happen much but I have to stick up for Brett. You said he was hanging out in the offensive zone and not getting back. That is a load of doody!!!
I remember 4 or 5 plays where I stole the ball or intercepted a pass and Brett came out of nowhere to lift my stick and steal it back from me.
You should be thanking him because on those plays you were at center and he was wing. He saved your butt!
Trust me I remember because I was not happy about it. I forgive you though Brett.
Frendon's silence is genius, allowing the spotlight to focus elsewhere. Either that or his internet is down. I'm not sure which.
I never said that he played no defense, I said that there were plays where he didn't get back.
And Borges, enough with the strong language on the site!
And FWIW, no need to thank anyone. Even though the center primarily is back to cover, if two forwards are down low then the third one has the responibility to drop back. Overall, Brett does a very good job on that, I've been sayig it for a while now...
Thanks JB.
So Johnny admits that i got back alot, but i didn't do it enough for his liking. So Johnny wants the wingers to play back more than the center. Good strategy.
And Johnny, of course i wouldn't be rushing it in if i was center. That would be your new job as the winger. My new job would be to sit in the slot and complain everytime someone touched my stick with the slightest bit of force. I'll be practicing yelling my new line all week: "COVER ME!!!!!!"
Frendon, you shouldn't even bother coming into the zone just so you can cover me when i get trapped behind the net on every play and you don't have to listen to me complain about how you didn't cover me on 1 out of 100 times.
brendon, i wrote this mostly because I was frustrated but also because last week you said you would "stay out of it"
I decided to test that. You passed...so far.
Give it time.
Or, you knew I was right and realized there was no way you could defend such inexcusable hockey play.
Post a Comment