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 use of a camera flash at hockey games has been the topic of debate for some time, and is nothing new to those who have been around the sport for some time. Afterall, there’s nothing worse than being faced with the blinding flash of a camera when you’re streaking into the offensive zone on a breakaway.
I have spoken to a number of players from our local team, the Gold Coast Blue Tongues about this topic and surprisingly only a few of them found the camera flash irritating. The majority said they had no major issue with it, as long as the camera flash was not used when the players were facing the direction of the camera, which is interesting as you can’t get a good face on shot of a player unless they are looking in your direction.
The main argument about using a camera flash is that it allows you to take higher quality photos with a much faster shutter speed. Understandable, even I can see the logic here.
Theory put to practice
I decided to take this whole camera flash argument to the next level and look at the actual outcome of using a flash; the photos.
So, I have endearvored to answer 3 questions:
- Are the photos better quality?
- Are the photos clear and realistic to what a person at the game sees?
- Overall, to flash or not to flash, which is better?
Photo Comparisons
Below are 3 photos. They were taken by 3 different photographers, each with their own cameras. The first 2 are taken without the use of a flash, the 3rd uses one.
No Flash - Taken through netting
Photo 1 Summary: This photo was taken by Blue Tongues fan “Smashy” and surprisingly, was taken through the netting at the game. Considering that, the photo definitely passes the first 2 points in that it’s great quality and realistic. There is a slight blur, however that is expected with non-flash photos in the Gold Coast rink (which has shocking lighting). The colours are also very good. All-in-all, this photo passes the test with high marks.
No Flash - No netting
Photo 2 Summary: This photo was taken by Blue Tongues photographer Sasky Stewart on her Canon digital SLR. No netting was in place, so the ability to take higher action shots gives her photos the edge over Smashy (photo 1). Saying that, considering the lighting in the rink, this photo is actually very good. There is slight pixelation which is caused by post-processing in order to lighten up the photo slightly, but is a good quality image considering. From purely a hockey photo point of view, this photo has it all, clarity, action and realistic colours as compared to the rink.
Flash Used - No netting
Photo 3 Summary: This photo was taken by photographer, Jaime from Australian Charity Photos. It is clear right away that he uses a flash for his photos as the colours are much more vibrant and the image clarity is much clearer. Unfortunately, the colour vibrancy is much too high, and therefore actually works against the photo. The ice surface, which is supposed to be white/grey comes over as a horrible shade of green and looks like the guys are skating on a lake of vomit. The shadows of the players are much too intense. The actual photo looks like it’s been taken with artificial light… which is where it fails. Good quality white balancing and post-processing could rectify much of this problem, however we don’t know if the photographer does that or not. The clarity is great, however as far as hockey photos go, this falls right at the bottom of the pile. Is it better quality? Yes, give or take. Is it realistic? No, not at all.
To Flash or Not To Flash?
While clarity and brightness are great, there must be a line which a good hockey photo does not cross. Photos 1 and 2 may be slightly lower quality, but at the end of the day, they are by far the better images. In our opinion, if you’re going to take photos of a hockey game, for the love of the hockey gods, leave the flash at home!
