If you can’t understand what is wrong with your team, you’re lost already:
“We’re looking at a team that only scored 200 goals last season. You don’t win in our league with 200 goals. We need some goal scorers.” — His Royal Mavesty (Rhymes With), in today’s Mavda
Somewhere there is a town where the local fishwrap employs actual journalists who can do actual analysis and actually challenge the factually challenged on their bullflop.
Ding’s knee-jerk response would be to point out the Frontenacs had a goal scorer, Josh Brittain, and traded him to Barrie, which despite the addition of said goal scorer, went out four straight in the playoffs. The Ottawa 67′s had goals scorers out the proverbial wazoo and they’re done for the season.
The eight teams still alive in the playoffs scored an average of 251.25 goals this season. They allowed an average of 207.5.
The Frontenacs scored 200, so they were 51 below the average of a second-round team offensively.
The Frontenacs gave up 278 goals, so they were 71 goals worse than the average second-round team defensively.
Of course, the best defence is a good offence. The Frontenacs had such a bad goal differential in part since they had such a poor concept of team play, especially at organizing an attack. You can have all the finishers in the world, but if the team’s constantly hemmed in behind its own blueline because of poor organization, the puck is not going to get on those goal scorers’ sticks.
Meantime, the Niagara IceDogs, who scored a whopping 213 goals this season, and the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors, whose 229 must make them an offensive juggernaut, are still alive in the playoffs. The Saginaw Spirit found a way to finish third in the West while scoring only 235 goals.
The Belleville Bulls allowed 102 fewer goals this season than Kingston. Goalie Mike Murphy was a big part of that, so was having a defenceman such as P.K. Subban and so was having a lot of two-way forwards.
The bottom line: When you have a quality organization with good people running it, good coaching and accountable players, the goal scoring will take care of itself. It doesn’t take the losingest coach-GM in major junior hockey to figure it out, but somehow the losingest coach and GM in major junior hockey cannot figure it out.
Not astute at all,
LK
Championship clubs are built from the backend out, you cannot win anything if you allow more goals then you score, which has been the case for wuite afew years. The problem is that there is so much wrong with this club because of poor draft choices and poorer trades is that a single draft will not fix. All we can do is sit back and watch and hope Glimour will bring in his own people instead of working with what has proven to be inept in Kingston.