COACH’S CORNER with Stan Scott
The road trip to the NSW was certainly a long one for me, starting with the red eye flight on Wednesday so I could greet Michael Forney at the airport early Thursday morning.
The team arrived in Sydney on Friday, and after the long bus ride, we finally arrived in Newcastle feeling quite buoyant and confident that our preparation for the upcoming games would pay dividends. Michael was gelling well with the players and the general feeling was that we could compete with the North Stars.
I think the 13-2 score line suggests that we were not ready for that game. I am pretty sure most of our players were still on Perth time. We all have accountability for that very heavy loss, including myself. We are still playing two imports short but they will be here for the next games.
Newcastle was by far the better team on the night, but we needed some accountability for letting them play so well. 39 shots for 13 goals are not the type of stats that any goaltender hopes for, but our defence were not giving much protection, and our forwards were not pressuring the outlet passes, which led to lots of breakaways and scoring chances for the North Stars. Again, we had 11 penalties (10 minors and one 10-minute misconduct), which never helps when you play a significant portion of the game a man short.
My overall view of Saturday night:
I thought we were like the Titanic. We looked great until we hit the ice!
Sunday morning came, and again, the boys were back on the bus for the three-hour drive back to Sydney to face a rampant Sydney Bears, who had defeated the Canberra Knights 6-1 the night before.
With Bremner and Del Basso only a 50/50 chance of playing, my main focus was how I could change the lines to stop the defensive errors and still create some offence. My decision to put Kenny Rolph and Sam Wilson on the blue line raised a few eyebrows, but if you really look at it, I thought it made perfect sense. We needed composure on the puck in our end, as well as speed and better passing to the forwards. Kenny and Sam both ooze those qualities and they did a fantastic job along with Aaron Hoffman and Brad Young.
The dressing room talk before the game was not about the night before, rather it was about being accountable and about playing your role for the team in this game.
Having a solid puck moving defensemen allowed the forwards to do their job and really attack, and Michael Smart stood up in goal, playing a great game. Michael Forney, who was still struggling with jetlag, was fantastic. He put on a show of dazzling skills, drawing players to him then making precise passes to create scoring opportunities to those around him.
Jono Bremner proved he has natural scoring ability with a hat-trick against the top goalie in the league – that is some feat. He also shrugged off his injury to put in a very solid defensive performance.
The Thunder have a week off now and our other two imports will arrive in that time, so we should be at full strength against the Ice Dogs which will be a very tough challenge.
Stan Scott
Head Coach
Perth Thunder
© Photo: Rev William A Stewart AAPS