I had an interesting conversation last week with a friend about our Blue Tongues, the AIHL Finals and what it would take to not only make the playoffs, but have a truly good shot at winning it all.
There is no blue pill that will transport this team out of the Matrix. Yoda isn’t going to infuse the boys with the force and as much as we may like the idea, we wont be playing in a fancy rink with 1000 seats, good ice and glass.
What we will have is a team with potential and a very loyal fan base.
So what needs to change? What is it that this Blue Tongues team needs to do to go to the next level? Here are 5 changes which I believe will greatly benefit our team going into the 2011 AIHL season.
Improve Defense
They say offense wins games but defense wins championships. This could not be more true for our Blue Tongues. We know they can score goals year in year out, but the one thing that has been a weakness each season is the defense. Don Burke has been the heart of the team for years, but age has caught up with him and it’s time he stepped down, allowing a younger, more agile skater to take the spot. Last season saw huge strides in the game of Cam Trew who was by far the best local player in many games. Ross Howell and Ben Spillane were solid as always, although it appears that Spillane did not get as much ice time as he deserved. Bringing in import defenseman is a must for our team, although I believe 2 imports should be used for defense, one puck-moving defenseman to help boost the offense on the blue line and one who can shut down the other teams top scorers.
Rest Imports / Play Locals
It doesn’t take a genius to see that our teams coach likes to favour the imports over the locals. Understandably so, as the imports are indeed the better players. Saying that, last season we saw Mike McRae and Dallas Costanzo played to the point of near collapse while locals sat on the bench. Players lose effectiveness when they’re tired and imports are no exception. If our guys are tired, sit them for a shift or 2 and let the local lines play some. It is a risk, as the other team will try and match their lines and put out their offensive guns against our weaker lines, but that’s hockey. A benefit is that our locals get more experience and therefore hopefully improve more. We have some great players who get very little ice time, such as Ben Spillane. It appears to many that “Spills” is used more as the team enforcer than an effective player, which has bewildered fans for the last few seasons; especially those who have been following the Blue Tongues since before they moved south to the Coast.
Choose A Goalie & Have Faith In Them
Those who know me will know that the goalie situation with the Blue Tongues is a point of contention with me, as my previous posts have mentioned. I believe the team needs to have faith in their local netminders and show that by letting them play. 2 years in a row now we’ve sat in the stands and seen Luke Fiveash get shafted from the net; the AIHL finals in 2009 and midway through the season just gone. Using an import spot on the goalie position may appear to be a good idea on the surface, but doing so leaves wholes in the rest of the lineup, especially the defense. We already have 2 good goalies in Fiveash and Anderson, so maybe it is time we play them, have faith in them and start to build the team around them in net.
Coaching Change
There are probably over a hundred reasons why a coaching change could be needed on a hockey team. With the case of the Blue Tongues I believe it’s simply that a change is as good as a holiday. This team has a lot more potential than the stats and standings show. The coach deserves major kudos for how he has greatly improved his coaching over the last 3 seasons, however decisions on and off the ice have many fans wondering if maybe a new coach / leadership is needed in order for the team to move to the next level.
New Rink
This really is a given and applies to most teams in the league, but in many ways more so for the Blue Tongues. If you’ve not come up to the Gold Coast and seen our rink, you are in for a shock. The rink is simply unacceptable for a national league team. The ice surface is terrible, there are no shower facilities and overall, it is a health / safety risk. The problem is, building a new rink is costly and the team seems to struggle to bring in sponsors as it is, so getting the level of sponsorship needed to fund a new rink may simply be a pipe-dream at this time. Move the team back to Brisbane (Acacia Ridge)? That would definitely be a HUGE improvement to the facility issue however it would mean the team would be based back in Brisbane again, something I fear the current ownership would neither want nor allow.
Like Frodo and the Fellowship walking through Moria, we now face the long dark of the AIHL off-season. Let us hope the team does not have a cave troll.
The long dark now approaches. That painfully long period between the end of one season and the start of another. Sure, we have local hockey to keep us entertained and the NHL season kicks off in just a few weeks, but for the hardcore AIHL fan, this period is rather hard to take most years.
The 2010 season was one of ups and downs for the Blue Tongues. We saw some huge improvements from many of the local players, most notably Cam Trew who was standout most games and the return of favorites Dave Upton and Mark “smitty” Smith.
Luke Fiveash saw some great time in net up until Kalleitner was signed and regular locals Ross “Rosco” Howell and Ben “Tick Tock” Spillane were as solid as always, although fans would rather see the coach play Ben as a solid player rather than the grinder/enforcer role he appears to have been lumped with.
The 2011 season is a long way off but many of us, we’re already looking forward wondering what to expect. What imports will the Tongues bring in, what will local players bring to the game next season.
Will see see a change in game style maybe? New changes on or off the ice? These are all questions that go through a fans mind during the “long dark” of the off-season.
One thing is certain though.. we can’t wait for 2011 to get here!
While Luke himself would probably never admit it, he is a truly good player, and an even better guy. On the ice he is dedicated, positions well and gives his all during games. Off the ice he’s a genuine bloke who always takes time to stop and talk to fans and opposition players alike. He’s the kind of guy you want on your team.
Luke, a local of the Gold Coast who spent time in Canberra in seasons past came back up this way 2 seasons back, grabbing a spot on the Blue Tongues in the process. His style of play has always been really great to watch and in the 2009 season he manned the pipes well, taking the team right up to their first ever spot in the playoffs. To fans dismay however, after doing well all season Luke was benched at the playoffs, replaced by veteran goalie Milan Novysedlak. Luke, always the team guy did not complain and took what many fans to see as an insult with a smile. I remember at the finals asking him how he felt and his response was one of dedication to the team, not once saying a bad word.
The 2010 season rolled around and Luke was slated as the starting goalie once again, with CJ Anderson coming back to share the job from time to time. Luke played well and worked on his game. The team defense struggled at times, leaving Luke to take the responsibility and Luke was up the challenge. His team-first views came over once again when he willingly shouldered blame for losing games where as fans, we saw defensive holes the size of Alaska on the ice. After the unfortunate departure of Voldy Dashko, the team opted to sign import goalie Reese Kalleitner, and just like in 2009, the coach opted to bench Luke. For the remainder of the season Reese played every game, except the final 2. By those 2 games the Tongues were out of playoff contention and only then did the team look back to Luke, who was unavailable.
Nobody knows what the 2011 Blue Tongues will be like. As fans we do know who we would like to see return to the squad, and Luke Fiveash is in that list. Whether he plays an entire season or yet again is turned aside by the team is yet to be seen. We do hope he can stick the spot, because at the end of the day, you need positive players like Luke on your team.
As any hockey player will tell you, your best player in any game must be your goalie. That is the reasoning the Blue Tongues used recently to sign their 5th import of the 2010 season; Reese Kalleitner. Reese, an experienced netminder who has seen time in leagues across North America is said to bring stability between the pipes for the Blue Tongues…
at the cost of the defense?
The Blue Tongues suffered a major loss a few weeks ago when Voldy Dashko returned to Canada, opting not to return. Voldy was a monster on the Blue Line, and when paired up with local Ben Spillane provided what could arguably be described as the biggest, and most fearsome Defensive pair in the AIHL this season. Voldy and Ben provided a line of defense that would not just stop the puck, but on more than one occasion, would flatten the opponent in the process.
But… Voldy left, therefore opening up the 5th import spot, and the Blue Tongues had until July 1st to fill that, or play the remainder of the 2010 season with just 4 imports. Not long after, the Blue Tongues suffered another big hit, when both Adam Gebara and Ben Spillane got injured. All of a sudden, the Blue Tongues went from a solid team with outstanding defense to a shaky team with swiss cheese in the Neutral Zone.
So… put yourself in the teams position. You have 2 good goalies in Luke Fiveash and CJ Anderson, and a third capable backup in Mark Paulsen. You have just lost one of your best defensive players for the season, and 2 others short-term. You have an import spot…
You go and get an import defenseman, right? I know I would, and from discussions with many people at the recent games, so would about 95% of everybody else watching the games.
So why the Blue Tongues went and used their 5th import spot on Reese Kalleitner is absolutely mind-boggling.
Which brings us to last weekends games against the visiting Melbourne Ice.
It took all of 30 seconds for fans to stare in wonder as new import Reese got caught out of position and made one of the most sloppy saves we’ve seen all season. To his credit, he did improve over the Saturday game and looked much better on Sunday. But did he play any better than Luke or CJ have? No, I don’t believe he did.
For those 2 games last weekend, we were witness to a dominant Melbourne Ice team tear holes in our defense. Time and time again, the Blue Tongues made bad passes or got caught behind the play as the Melbourne team simply turned our neutral zone into swiss cheese. Defensively, the Blue Tongues were out-matched by a fitter, faster and more skilled team. We missed Voldy, Ben and Adam on the Blue line, and it showed.
Kalleitner, in his debut game stopped 31 of 36 shots and followed that up on sunday stopping 35 of 39 shots. Good stats if you look at the numbers. Great stats if you look at the actual games themselves. But 2 losses all the same… and losses that many are wondering, may not have happened if the team had filled their defensive issues, rather than pick up another goalie.
From where the fans sit, the jury is still out on Reese Kalleitner.
Blue Tongues fans tend to be a passionate group. We’ve been through some of the highest and lowest moments while following this team and while many have given up on the team over the years, there are those loyal to the bitter end who go to each and every game, spending their money, their time and giving their all to support the boys in blue.
Over the recent years there have been a few times where fans have looked upon this team and experienced “WTF” moments. From the signing and subsequent embarrassment that was Brian Lachance and Gaetan Royer, to the constant playing of less than steller Ben Maher, we’ve often found ourselves wondering why certain decisions are made by the coaching staff and upper management.
This weekend, the opening games of the 2010 AIHL season for our Blue Tongues, we yet again experienced that all too common sensation. Saturdays game saw Luke Fiveash pick up a 6-5 win for the Tongues, a win that while gets us the points also highlighted a major issue with the team… is getting scored on 5 times a night going to be constant? Sunday answered that question, as once again the Blue Tongues failed to stop the opposition from scoring. Luke Fiveash got the start for the game and let in 5 goals once again, off 20 something shots… stats that are not good by any stretch of the imagination. The defense was miserable for the most part, especially Don Burke, so showed he may be closer to retirement that he is willing to admit.
But that’s not the problem. Having a goalie that lets in goals happens in every team, in every league around the world. The difference between those teams is the Blue Tongues is that they have coaches who are willing to stand up and yell at their goalie to get the hell off his ice. Today, while a few hundred fans all started commenting that the coach should pull the goalie, Luke Fiveash let in goal number 4, then goal number 5… and by then it was too late, so they pulled him and gave up the empty netter.
I have never seen so many fans on the verge of pure anger as i did today. Not at the loss though, but at the absolute lack of coaching from Coach Sands, who simply took no action to try and stop the blood gashing from the netminding injury the team had incurred!
I believe it’s safe to say that the general consensus during most of todays third period was simply “Coach Sands… Pull the f****** goalie!!!!”
