What’s the attitude you are going to take? How will you conduct yourself? Will you turn complacent, or reach another level?
All of these, and many other questions, will be answered by the Borderland Thunder when they return to the ice here this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against the K&A Variety Golden Hawks after almost a three-week break over the holidays.
Each player went their own way, but all will return once again and head coach Dave Allison, before the break started, was hopeful they all will come back with extra motivation built into their psyche—not extra weight around their waistline.
“You just want them to have some common sense,” Allison said. “You want them to sort of get away from the snowball that builds everyday to come everyday to the rink, people putting expectations on them, and sometimes it’s nice to get away and sort of reflect that the expectations that we are putting on them are quite easy.”
Those sentiments seemed to have found their mark with his players.
“Maybe for the first three or four days you can really relax, but you still got to get back at it because it can only take you one week to get out of shape, and then it takes three weeks to get back where you were,” noted Thunder defenceman Kurt Hogard.
“There’s a few days for relaxing and having a good time with your friends, but you can still always go to the gym, and stay in shape, and go skating,” echoed forward Riley Dudar.
“And when we come back, we’ll have to work really hard to get back into game shape.”
How players come back from the break also will be a selling point for Allison, who, along with Thunder GM Brent Tookenay, will have some crucial decisions to make in the days leading up to Sunday’s trading deadline.
“It’s up to your professionalism,” said Allison. “I mean, you’ve got to realize that we have a lot of players here and if you want to play, then you better take advantage of that opportunity.”
Half of the season already has been inscribed into the books and the Thunder, with a 21-4-1 record, sit only four points behind the first-place Fort William First Nation North Stars.
The Dryden Ice Dogs sit in third place in the SIJHL with an 8-17-0 mark, followed by the Golden Hawks (7-18-1) and the last-place KC Bulldogs (1-18-3).
And the way things stand right now is pretty much how the Thunder expected things to have unfolded.
Much like the criminal record of Todd Bertuzzi, it has become quite clear of the obvious separation that has occurred in the SIJHL between the Thunder and the North Stars (23-1-1), and the rest of the teams.
The Thunder have yet to lose against Dryden and the Bulldogs while the North Stars’ only loss and tie came against the Thunder. And things probably will take on that same tune for the second half of the season.
“We expected to be here. We’re right behind the North Stars and the other three teams are below us, and we only have four losses on the year, so we’re in an excellent spot,” said Hogard.
“Usually one team is ahead and the other teams beat each other,” Hogard added of other leagues. “But sadly it’s not like that. It would be a better league if it was, because then every game would be different.”
“We’re got a great opportunity here because I think our team has improved from the beginning of the year,” noted Allison. “But you can’t improve unless you work hard. You can’t improve unless you get things done every day, and have small increments of improvement.
“You’ve got to be pretty pleased with where we are right now, and we’re just looking for them [the players] to come back healthy and in decent shape, and then it’s just a sprint to the finish,” he added.
And if Allison gets what he’s looking for from his players, then the rest of the league will be eating their dust, so to speak.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
