What's a Coach to Say?

On Sunday, Nov. 7, the Colts lost to a team they know how to beat, and they lost pretty bad: 7 to 3. "What happened?" I asked a player. "Except for the first line, we just didn't get it together, and we made some turnover mistakes, and some unexpected goals got by." That's one answer.

"What happened?" I asked Coach Hall. "It was a rough game. We didn't play up to our potential offensively or defensively. The best thing to do is to put this one behind us, get back to work at practice Saturday and come out ready to play next Sunday."

"What happened?" I asked some parents. "It was brutal," "They didn't pass enough," "They don't shoot enough," "They don't look like a team that wants to win," "They need to focus on ... fill in the blank."

Coach Hall offered some specific highlights and lowlights of the game:

-Our first line scored all the goals. Ethan Fox, Cody Hanson and Coby Benson all had really good games. They played strong together, but they need more help.

- We had several turnovers that led directly to goals. We just weren't very sharp, and never really got much going.

-Our second and third lines struggled to get the puck out of our zone and to get shots on net.

-Our defensive communication was poor. When one guy made a mistake, the other guy wasn't there to cover up.

-We can't blame it on the refs. The other team got called for a bunch of penalties, but we were unable to take advantage of multiple power play chances. We even had a 5-on-3 chance late in the game, but we turned over the puck and the other team scored.

The truth is, these boys know how to play hockey and they can play better than they did on Sunday. They know how good it feels to play well together and to win. As parents we like it best when they win, but we'll settle for when they play well together. The coaches also want to see the kids play to their potential, and if possible, win the game.

So like Coach Hall said, let's put this one behind us and move on. Enough said.