25 In a Row!

Last night we completed a 3 game sweep of the Dallas Ice Jets.  That makes 25 wins in a row for us!  They were a good team, very fast and very skilled.  It was a fun series!  Last night was a frustrating game for me personally, though.  I probably played my worst game of the season so far.  I just wasn't my usual self.  I made a few key turnovers, one that they scored on, and I wasn't intense enough, especially in the 2nd period.  Both of our coaches came into the locker room after the 2nd period and chewed out the leaders of our team, saying that our intensity wasn't there, and that we better pick it up right now and for playoffs because they think we are ripe to get beat.  I don't know why I had a bad game; it was just one of those games where not much went right for me.  For some reason, I had trouble making the right decisions.  I talked to our assistant coach after the game and he said he can't expect me to play great every game, but this team is only going to go as far as me and the other captains on the team take it.  I need to realize that, and, as a captain, I need to understand when things are going badly for our team within a game, step back, look at what's going on from a different perspective, and act accordingly, whether it's saying something to keep the team together or going out on the ice and leading with my play.

While 25 wins in a row is really impressive, I don't think it really means anything unless we win the last game of the season.  Just like in the movie Moneyball where the Oakland A's win 20 games in a row in 2002, but fail to win the last one of the season, I think our season would be a failure if we don't repeat as Thorne Cup champs.  We need to really buckle down and figure out what makes us play well when we play well and figure out how to do that for 60 minutes.  I think we played really well on Saturday because we were focused on finishing our checks, and everything else fell into place after that.  On Sunday, we said we were going to come out hitting again, but we really didn't.  We weren't as willing to put our bodies on the line for the win--and we still got the win--but it's definitely disconcerting going into the playoffs when we say we're going to play a certain way and we don't.  I need to realize that playing very badly for one period in one game is not the end of the world, but let the memory of what that felt like drive me to be better in the games in the upcoming weeks.  We only have 2 more regular season games, and then playoffs start!