THE VIRTUES OF LOSING:

I’m glad I’m writing this a day late, sine it gives me an opportunity to reflect on both games at the same time. Unfortunately weekends are a time of chaos for a family man, so I’ll have to keep it short, and leave the detailed post till Monday.

A loss such as the one we endured on Friday can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, and I hope this was the case for the HABS this week. After a spanking, a team usually head one of two ways: start pointing fingers at each other and cause chaos in the locker room, or come together and support one another and get over the “hump”. If last night’s game is any indication of this teams character, they have come together and decided to work with one another. I saw people stepping up last night that didn’t even used to body check. I saw Kostopoulos, who has a dismal loosing record in fights (as per hockey fights.com) standing up to a formidable giant of an opponent who has a fist the size of a steering wheel.

It’s good to see the team is not giving up and sliding on a slump. Even though we have been winning every other game, this team remains on the bubble, and after each loss we come back and show we’re not ready to give up and go on a three month slide. That’s the good news. The bad news is that after each win, we don’t come out hungry for that next one to try and get on a winning streak again. Our next opponents are not going to make this any easier on us, given they’re coming off a loss and will be hungry hungry hippos.

For now, we should build off of this momentum, and I’m not talking about the momentum of winning. There are more important things going on other than getting two points right now. We are on the verge of building a team that in my opinion can be a legitimate challenger to the cup, and yes I say this even after seeing the game on Friday. Sometimes bad bounces knock the wind out of your sails (nothing one can do about bad luck) but team spirit and work ethic is something we can control, and this is the momentum we should be building on. I say it’s good time for the roster to get out and play a game of paintball before practice…get the camaraderie, which is at an all time high, locked in to that higher zone…where champion teams live.

We’re on the bubble, but this team has every indication that it wants to go the way of the champions…do it…and start with a win against the Sens.