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Post by aj0512 on Feb 1, 2023 11:14:10 GMT -5
The Firebirds make their final trip of the regular season to the Dow tonight. Another chance to win the I-75 Divide Cup...really nice opportunity to finally get back in the win column and get the team some confidence. Here's hoping they can put together a solid game tonight.
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Post by MidlandSpiritFan on Feb 1, 2023 13:48:29 GMT -5
This is as close to a “must win” in the regular season as you can get with the exception of having to win late in the season to avoid being eliminated from making the playoffs.
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twinsdad
2nd Liner
Rocky Hockey
Posts: 166
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Post by twinsdad on Feb 1, 2023 22:32:06 GMT -5
Yay!
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Post by aj0512 on Feb 2, 2023 9:58:08 GMT -5
Great comeback last night. Down by two and didn't give up. Wasn't pretty, but I'm just glad they got a W. You could tell getting that rivalry trophy meant a lot to the players, especially the veteran ones who had to play Flint 983745984 times last year and get beat in almost every one of them. The rest of this weekend could be rough, but hopefully they'll have some momentum heading into London.
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Post by donjohnson on Feb 2, 2023 10:26:24 GMT -5
I think it was important to remind themselves that they can score goals. When Mangone was all alone in the slot and hit the crossbar and then Lombardi scored on a breakaway the other way, I thought we were in for a long night and even said to my son that we could be heading home early tonight for school/bed. Even last night the Spirit had a ton of chances and just couldn't capitalize on the goals so it was great to see the puck actually go in. Our goaltending has been very good lately so if we can keep scoring, we're going to have a very competitive second half.
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Post by eric8199 on Feb 2, 2023 11:39:09 GMT -5
I think it was important to remind themselves that they can score goals. When Mangone was all alone in the slot and hit the crossbar and then Lombardi scored on a breakaway the other way, I thought we were in for a long night and even said to my son that we could be heading home early tonight for school/bed. Even last night the Spirit had a ton of chances and just couldn't capitalize on the goals so it was great to see the puck actually go in. Our goaltending has been very good lately so if we can keep scoring, we're going to have a very competitive second half. I agree with this 100%. Before last night, the Spirit had scored an average of just 2.3 goals per game in the last 10 games. You're just not going to win games in this league most nights only scoring two (or even three) goals, no matter what your defense or goalie does. They also averaged 4.6 goals against during those same 10 games, so it's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be in that situation. Now, the next thing we need to fix is taking penalties. They almost had to replace the door on our penalty box last night with a revolving one we took so many penalties. You might be able to hold off a team like Flint when you give them that many opportunities, but the Londons, Windsors, Sarnias are going to make you pay more often than not when you do that. And lack of sustained pressure means you're going to draw fewer penalties too, which means man advantage is going to be lopsided. Add to that how rough our powerplay has been recently. There's still a lot of work to be done, but last night should go a long way in the confidence department. I've felt all along that they needed a win to snap out of it, and they played like the team we saw early in the season in once they shifted into gear last night, so hopefully that's a good sign. |
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Post by spiritfan8 on Feb 2, 2023 12:21:06 GMT -5
Tough to apply sustained pressure when that many passes become turnovers. That was NOT the case before Christmas, and this is one area I’ll concede Pavel’s absence is making a difference.
The schedule ahead is brutal, so I’m not expecting a huge turnaround, but the boys showed me something tonight. That was the team I saw in the first half of the season, that simply did not quit.
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