Where is my Pee – Wee coach when I need him … ?
Pee - Wee Hockey
It makes no sense to me that teams that are worth millions of dollars and employ hundreds of scouts – cannot get this goalie idea down pat. First there were the Flyers , bless their Pelle Lindbergh hearts …
They built a squad that had everything a Stanley Cup contender could have ; big forwards , big defence and talent to boot. Instead of looking back and checking their rear view mirrors and ensuring their trunks were closed , they carried forward and assumed that Bobrovsky held the metal door closed tightly.The team sped down the hockey highway and after reaching mile number 70 – the trunk , along with their rookie goalie , commenced bobbing and weaving a little too much.
Did the team stop , pull over and tighten the screws ? Did they give the young stopper a good talking to and boast his moral ? Probably not. Instead , as the season closed and the team sagged into the playoff wars – a never ending trilogy of padded ones entered the mix and one by one , game by game – the Flyers disintegrated to the golf course.
If the team had of stuck with Bobrovski , through thick and thin , it would have at the very least , given the team stability. Forwards and defencemen alike enjoy peeking backwards and witnessing the same masked character night after night. In the ever – changing game of hockey , sometimes things do not go a team’s way. Pucks hit refs, rebound off of posts and often – all a player can do is attempt to gain control in any way possible.The last thing a player needs is to see his team’s final stronghold as a revolving door. It is not much different than a family man becoming distracted at work because his wife is fooling around or one of his kids is experiencing drug problems.It is hard to concentrate on cutting the lawn if the living room is on fire.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are doing the same thing.
Dude ...? Whatcha doin' ?
They are more talented than the Boston Bruins. They have more experience winning Stanley Cups and they have more experience in general than the Lucic – led goons of Beantown. Why on earth would head coach Boucher commence tinkering with his goalie at this time of the season ? Dwayne Roloson had a bad game and a half. So what. Everyone has a bad day at the office now and again. By removing Roloson and putting Smith into the fray , Boucher has offset the machine that at one point was on an eight game winning streak. A sequence that would not have happened without Tampa’s best move at the trading deadline – the acquisition of Rolson.
Tampa had the momentum. They were speeding down the highway at full speed after game four. They passed the Flyers a while back , waving at the young Bobvrosky as he sat on the side of the road with a compass pointing towards the AHL. Although Roloson will not be heading to the minors anytime soon – it is not a good idea to leave him for a minute with the Flyers’ netminder.
Roloson should be sitting on top of the trunk of the Lightning’s Stanley Cup vehicle. Some clothes, tools or perhaps the family pet will be bounced onto the pavement along the way . Noone said the trip to the finals and a championship would be easy.
My Pee -Wee coach is still looking for his glasses that fell out years ago. That is why he keeps his championship trophies close by …
Rick Keene ' s Le Forum de Montreal 