Last post I said that until morale improves all you will get is naked male hockey players. Well the images I came across scared even me so you’re safe for now. But still no Grinders girls for you! wedensday night at 10:30pm vs The Cougars was NOT the showing that we had wanted.

Congratulations gentlemen, The Grinders are now the most penalized team in the division.

Proud, I am not.

We came out with a short bench, 10 skaters. It went without saying, keep the shifts shorts and stay outta the frickin box.The tempo of the whole game was rather lax, so we could have been in there. And in fact we were for the first period. we made it through with no scoring from either team, but we realized that if we were going to make an impact we had to step things up, all things except the cheap crap. Oh!!!! Thats the problem, we should have been more clear about that at the bench during the intermission. Okay gets lets step it up, more passsing, more skating, more speed, more shots, and LESS crap.

Our fault, never mind.

And then it started, Flutter-by master Bob Bradley gets a tripping call. Thats his first penalty in 10 games, so then it must be alright for the rest of us, right? Apparently we thought so:

Santa goes on to take two unsportsmanlike penalties and a high sticking penalty for a total of 8 PIMS
Nickason takes a tripping and high sticking for 6.
Geiber, Andy and Tanchak take a measly 2 PIMS each just to fit in.

Some familiar names in there to be sure: Santa with 40 PIMS, Nickason with 10 PIMS, Geiber with 14 PIMS, and Tanchak with 14 PIMS. All of our PIMS leaders sitting in the box at one point or another during a 4-0 loss.

One of the penalties, our player mugged theirs in the corner. And the Cougar skated away.

Another; after a harmless redirected shot that careened around the boards our player rode a Cougar into the boards. And the Cougar skated away.

A slash! and the Cougar skated away.

High sticking! and the Cougar skated away.

They gladly accepted the power play, dominated the flow, dominated the game, scored 4 goals and skated away.

We bitched, we whined, we went to the dressing room and blamed the refs. And the Cougars drove away; with a win.

too muchch crap, too little respect.
My $0.02

Well pointed out Glen…skate away.

Boys, let’s take this opportunity to get a little perspective. We are the most penalized team in the division. It should be about getting a good competitive skate in and having fun. no need to get soo worked up we have to sink to other teams levels (or they sink to ours) where the games become more about retaliation than having fun out there.

It is usually only a few idiots on every team that causes the games to sink to that level. Let’s let them take the penalties and skate away from it. The refs know who they are and if they see it going on all game, will hopefully take care of it.

Where do we go from here? How do we turn games around so they are about having fun again? How do we set the tone for future games that helps keeping the other teams in the same spirit? I’m not sure. A good start is to change OUR attitude on the ice…a tap on the pads for a good play, encouragement when the other team stops at the whistle, sportsmanship. Hopefully that will start rubbing off on other teams. we have to start somewhere fellas…lets consider this rock bottom and go up from here.

What are everyone’s thoughts?

Wow - I didn’t realize how badly you guys need me! I’m away for a few games, and this is what happens? I’m told I have a calming influence, but this is ridiculous!

Seriously though, this was noticeable even 5 games ago; we’re taking penalties all by ourselves with little or no obvious provocation. From the sounds of things we’re becoming that team that we always complain about - bitchy, whiny, and cheap. Let’s turn it around!

sounds embarrassing…..the whining that is….i’m 80%, so watch out ……..scream at each other and deal with me…the ugly me ….PERIOD!

Not sure what Frank means……

Back to the game tomorrow night…The Burnaby Jets are the least penalized team in the division…probably the league, so a good game to turn over a new leaf.

They do have a lot of scorers that we need to pay attention to #3, 4 ,9 and 11. Forwards are gonna have to make sure we all pay attention to defense and help on turnovers, and eliminating outnumbered rushes.

Lets skate hard boys and get our asses back to .500!!!

Great performance last night boys!!! We played such a great game, moved the puck well, defended exceptionally well -forwards got back and picked up the trailers, no BS on the ice…well, except for Guy who said “something’s just not quite right” and promptly took a roughing penalty….No, I have no idea where that call came from….

Anyway, what a great way to start off the rest of the season, with a win, a new attitude, and stellar play!

If we didn’t take at least one the chief stripes would have figured we were putting on a show just for him. Better me in the box than Santa.

No doubt Guy, hahhaha…it didn’t look like you did anything. What happened?