Coach’s Corner

“Lakers back in loss column” is how the headline read in last Thursday’s Daily Bulletin.
Now if you were a reader, an avid fan, or just a person skimming through that edition, you may have thought, “Oh, here the Lakers go again.”
I know when I first picked it up and saw the headline, I was thinking to myself, “Was it that bad?” Some people may have thought, “What else is new?”
But if you were at last Tuesday night’s game against the Dryden Ice Dogs, you would have known it was far from that and a solid effort by the Lakers.
Yes, we lost 4-3 on the scoresheet against one of the powerhouses in our league. However, if you were at the game, you would have seen a Lakers’ team working hard, competing, and, from the second period on, taking it to the visiting Ice Dogs.
Many positives in my eyes came out of this game.
T.J. Pocock’s play between the pipes was good to see for the second-straight game. He made the saves he needed to give us the opportunity to be in the game.
Our continued improvement in team defence limited the high-powered offence of the Ice Dogs. As well, our power play improvements and scoring timely goals also has helped in the last five-six games.
Our team’s effort, attitude, and their willingness to work hard has helped in our success, too.
Now I know a loss is a loss, but if a loss is a good step in the right direction of improvement, I will be happy about our play at least.
Our second game last week was against the fourth-place K&A Wolverines—a team we are striving to catch in the SIJHL standings. To me, it is one of our top efforts of the season.
We had a little lull in the second period, but Jameson Shortreed made the necessary saves and our penalty kill came up big.
In the first, we played solid at both ends of the rink and, after scoring on the power play in the early part of the third period, our bench lifted and that momentum started what I believe to be our best period of the season.
The players deserve a huge pat on the back for what they have done in the past month.
If I didn’t forget to send last week’s edition of “Coach’s Corner” to the Times office, you would have read about our team making baby steps over the last few games and month. We have done well and hopefully have turned the corner for brighter things to come our way.
But we are not going to get overconfident! We will continue to work hard as the most important time of the year is approaching.
We have made strides in the right direction, and still need to improve in some areas of our game, but I am proud the players have showed the commitment and effort to buy into our plan and now are executing on the ice.
We have three big games this week. First, the third-place Flyers were in town last night, followed by a showdown here Friday night against the first-place Fort William North Stars, who have lost three of their last six games and will be champing at the bit to get back on track.
Then our third will have us travel to Sioux Lookout on Saturday to play the Flyers.
Hope to see you at the rink. Come out and enjoy a Lakers’ game!