Different year, same old problems.
The Bow Valley Midget AA Timberwolves’ misery continued as they fell 5-4 to CRAA Blue on Jan. 9, at Cochrane Arena. The loss means that T-wolves (4-17-5, 7th North Division) are now winless since Dec. 5.
Mattais Twoyoungmen, Chris Sambrook, Dawson Javorsky, and Christian Dees were on the scoreboard for the home side.
Twoyoungmen, Jaeden Dowling, Jean-Pascal Leclerc, Spencer Chapman (two) all recorded assists.
“We’re having the same problem that we’ve had all along,” said T-wolves head coach Erik Krigel. “The boys have to want to win.”
What has the team been working on in practice to rectify the situation?
“We’ve been tweaking systems and working on the defensive zone,” Krigel said.
“We’ve designed some drills with the purpose of getting better quality scoring chances and more shots on net. If you go back six games and look at the ones prior to that we were getting outshot two-to-one every game, now we’ve closed that gap, so the shot clock isn’t a problem anymore, but finishing still is.”
At the age that his players are at, many face other distractions outside of hockey, does Krigel think that some of the player’s are more interested in the romantic notion of being hockey players instead of actually putting in the effort it takes to win games?
“You see kids that are here for the jacket as we call it,” he said. “Do I see that on this team? No, everyone is here to play hockey. They’ve all played competitive hockey their whole lives.”
Krigel believes the team is more than talented enough to compete with the rest of the league, but that there is a need to create in each individual player, “the desire and the will to win.”
“We should not be content with taking another loss,” he said. “One thing about us, is that even though we don’t have a good record, we’re still striving to win. We’re not trying to find our identity anymore, we know what is it. The atmosphere is the dressing room and the bus rides after games are amazing. This is a season where even though the win-loss column looks bad, the team camaraderie is great, there’s no poison in the room.”
Does Krigel feel that since everyone gets along so well in the dressing room that it might have bred a level of complacency within the team?
“That might be a problem,” he said.
“Yes, a coach wants a team to get along, but a certain degree of people being at each other can be healthy.”
No matter what happens for the rest of the season, Timberwolves are guaranteed a playoff spot come March due to the fact they are hosting this year’s North Division post-season.
“Hopefully something clicks in the last eight or nine games going into the playoffs,” Krigel said.
“We’ve got a tournament coming up in Lethbridge which looks like we’ve got a good shot at, so hopefully we can get something done there, and build up our confidence.”
