Oops, They Did It Again

Hershey blew another lead last night making it the 4th game in the last 6 where they have lost a lead in the game.

In those 6 games Hershey is 1-5 with losses to Hamilton, Portland, Binghamton, and bottom dwellers Norfolk and Rochester. In all of those games except the Bingo game Hershey had at least a 1 goal lead and blew it in every one.

Last night was no different. The Bears had a 2-1 lead and was dominating play and controlling the game until the final 4 minutes of the game. Rochester scored 2 goals in less than a minute to take a 3-2 lead that they made hold up.

Hershey has struggled mightily to score goals in the last 7 games. Dating back to the San Antonio game the Bears have scored only 16 goals in regulation. That is over a full goal a game lower than their season average of 3.6 goals per game.

The good part of all this is that they have only given up 24 goals in that period. That is a little over their season average of 2.9 goals per game but not a whole lot. So while we fans want to blame the defense and the goaltending for the bad streak it really isn't as much there fault as it seems.

The offense just isn't scoring. And quite honestly I think they have taken a step backwards from the past few months. No one wants to do the dirty work in the middle and it is hurting them big time. And the other problem I see is guys trying to make that extra pass all the time. SHOOT the damn puck. Mathieu Perrault is the worst with this and he needs to start shooting more, if he would I think the rookie line could return to their pre-Thanksgiving production.

Now saying all that doesn't mean the defense deserves no blame. At points during the season a defense and goalie have to step up and win some games when the offense isn't scoring and this team seems incapable of that. There have been some games where the defense comes up big and I thought last night was going to be one of them and then a minor collapse by a defenseman and a goaltender cost Hershey the win.

But you can't blame this team for not being able to win the low scoring games. In 05-06 the team was just as incapable. They only won 1 game during the season when they scored less than 3 goals and they won the Cup that year so all is not lost.

The solution though is simple:

Defense - positioning. Don't leave your position unless you KNOW your help is going to fill in. Communicate and talk to each other. And don't let players wander in behind you cause you are watching the play and not your man.

Offense - get traffic in front. Minker, Osala, Brennan (when your in), Reid, Laing, Pinner, Beagle, Bouchard, and even Giroux.....GET TO THE FRONT OF THE NET!!!!!! Minker has been doing a very good job of this lately and he has 6 goals in his last 8 games. You want more proof....call Brooks Laich and ask him what works. That guy isn't even as big as some of you but he gets to the front and gets the rebounds. Not only will the rebounds be there but the shots your linemates take will not be seen clearly by the goalie and have a better chance to go in.

And if you do those things you will win the Cup. It is as simple as that. Smart sound hockey. Even though this team is as talented as any you still have to do the little things to win. If you do the little things you will realize your goal of raising the cup!


My Three Stars of the Game:

1. Stefan Meyer - scored twice for the Amerks
2. Mike Brodeur - he made 27 saves and while he didn't need to be great he was good enough
3. Ref. Jeff Smith - that was an excellent game. He made 3 calls all night and it was nice to see the players actually get to play the game without worrying about crappy calls

Grading the Performance:

• Offense - B - They got some chances which is good. Actually they had some pretty good chances but by not bothering the goalie AT ALL they allowed him to see everything and he stopped most of them. The extra passes are starting to kill this team and there are multiple players doing it. I called out Perrault earlier but Bouchard, Bourque, and Coiner all did it too.
• Defense - B - This was a good game from them until the last 3 minutes. Even on the game tying goal I thought they did their jobs but the goalie didn't help. Deano, you can't let guys skate in un-noticed behind you. Keep your head on a swivel and see things. That goal still could've been stopped but the pass and the open man never should have happened.
• Goaltending - F - I was going to go D here but honestly 2 of those goals NEVER should have gone in. AND there were 2 other times where he almost screwed up. Early in the game a puck trickled through his legs before he finally fell on it and then while puckhandling in the crease he almost put it in the net and almost turned it over. The first goal was not his fault. It was a great deflection. The other 2 (especially the second one) he could have and maybe should have had.
• Power Play - A - They only had 2 opportunities but they converted on both of them. Which is good in my book.
• Penalty Kill - ? - They were only out there once and they kept them from scoring and actually had a great opportunity themselves to score but not enough information to make a grade.
• Overall - C+ - This was an A for the first 56 minutes but those last 4 minutes cost them 2 points in the standings. With Wilkes Barre winning the Bears are only 1 point up in the race for 1st and only 10 points out of 4th.

COME ON HERSHEY!!!! DO THE LITTLE THINGS!!!