Game On! March 9 [1:00pm] & 10 [6:00pm] ISNB

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Game 22: Van Wonders v. Blacksheep

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Game 23: East Van Specials v. Blacksheep

Where
Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm and again Monday at 6:00pm . I'm salivating. Two game road trip to the North Shore. Hey, why not sharpen your skates?

Wear
Sunday afternoon we skate in the new white threads we just bought. The Van Wonders wear the imposing colour red. Monday we wear the opposite of the East Van Specials home colour, which is a mystery to me. Bring both sets of wools.

Us
A one game winning streak lifts the mood of the team doesn't it. I like winning. Let's do it as often as we can.

We come into this weekend with the ability to control where we finish in the standings and ultimately who we play in the first round of the playoffs. Our winning percentage against the teams in our division is .312%, a good batting average but poor for what we are doing. That being said we have only lost 8 of 21 games all season, which is damn impressive. The teams in our division are all beatable when we play 'Blacksheep Hockey'. The games that we have won are the games that we have controlled and we have done that by aggressively pressuring the puck in all areas of the rink. Ken Hitchcock has preached this system since he was 450lbs. The players who are in our division have a difficult time making a 'smart' pass or play when somebody is charging directly at them. Am I wrong? One bad pass leads to broken plays and turnovers.

Butterflies create hurricanes. The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or prevent a tornado from appearing). The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale phenomena. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different.

If we as a team can be as organised to, post this butterfly on the Internet, have everyone read and understand a team concept and execute that concept- when the concept is to pressure the puck, skate hard then get off the ice so the next guy can do can do the same thing- we are going to have a HUGE team advantage on our opponents.

Them
The two teams we are playing are both above us in the standings and these game represent the last time we will see either team until the playoffs. The Wonders are a 10-10 hockey team. They score more goals than we do but give up many more. The big statistical difference between the two teams are penatly minutes (258-156). Of the 10 games they have won they have taken less penalties than their opponets in 9 of those games. Take note. This stratagy is how they win hockey games. Lets not pretend to be ignorant of that fact.

The East Van Specials are the class of our division and a group that we met in the second game of the season. We tied 1-1. In the seeding schedule at the beginning of our season we were neck and neck with them in Divisoin 8 but they were chosen to be bumped up to drop the Maroons down from Divison 7. Without question we are as good a team as them. The ace up their sleeve is named Andre Parfniuk. This ringer is Wayne Gretzky. Everyone else on the ice (both teams) is Hayley Wickenheiser. Hardly sporting, but I'm sure he has his reasons. The next leading point getter on their team has only one more point that Gary. If we shut down Wayne and play our game the Specials will be confused and take penalties. That's how they are beatable, Division 7 style.

Remember, chant and visualize. Butterflies create hurricaanes. See you Sunday.

Are you playing in these two games?

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Are you playing in this game?

Click on the green "comment" link right below.