Some of these are easy to write. Some are difficult and some are darn near
impossible. This one falls somewhere between
difficult and impossible. The 99 Chiefs
have just completed 3 games in 3 days and the results were not what we had hoped for. 2 losses and a tie is all we have to show for
our efforts and we head into the Christmas break wondering what has happened to
this juggernaut.
I use that term loosely, by-the-way, but we have shown, at times, that we have what it takes to win games. Sometimes, however, whatever “it is” cannot be found.
On Saturday, we travelled to Hamilton for a match against the Reps. They beat us the last time we played, but I thought it was a winnable game. This one seemed to be quite similar. We controlled the play for large stretches, but could not find a way to beat their goalie. Leading 1-0 after 1 and applying some serious pressure in the early part of the second only proved to be frustrating as the Reps took advantage of one mistake and scored on a 2 on 1 break. Minutes later they took a lead on the powerplay and shortly after that they scored again on a Chief line change. Bingo, the Chiefs controlled the play for nearly the entire period and still gave up 3 goals. This was a sign for the remainder of the weekend. On the positive side, we definitely can play with the best teams in the other division and we did not quit in this one scoring late to lose 3-2. At some point we will get a few bounces and the wins will arrive.
The “at some point” will have to wait at least one more day as there were no good bounces again on Sunday as we hosted the Kitchener Rangers. The Chiefs scored first, once again, but the Rangers answered with 4 before the Chiefs could respond. I can’t recall many specific things about this game other than the final score of 4-3 and the fact that it was ice cold in the building. I do recall some good music being played over the sound system.
As teams continue to get points and catch us in the Standings, it becomes increasingly urgent for us to at least tie a game or 2 shortly in order to maintain our 3rd place position in the league. Nobody wants to play London in the first round, but if the slide continues, this will be the situation. The Sting are close behind and every point is going to matter from here on out. A point is what we achieved on Monday as Chatham scored with 30 seconds remaining to force a tie. The only thing stopping the Chiefs from winning this one was the man between the pipes in the Chatham net. He made several outstanding saves, including one with 10 seconds remaining. It was a frustrating end to the weekend but, as we try to stay positive, we can look to the following:
1) Santa Claus is coming to town
2) We are in every game. We are controlling the play for large stretches of most of the games.
3) Everyone is working hard and I do not see any quit
4) Breaks will come as long as we don’t stop working
5) We have a nice break here to regroup
6) We have 5 games remaining with teams below us in our division
7) Everyone still gets along (it seems, anyway)