AHA-I'm not impressed

[boblee]

Recently the Academy of Holy Angels trecked up north to play the Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning. I was hoping to see a great game, being the number 6 ranked team was heading up North. By no means was the game close. GRG controlled the game from the opening faceoff, coasting to a 5-3 win. (2 late AHA goals) To say the least I was not impressed. Overrated anyone? <p></p><i></i>

[brookyone]

I haven't had the chance to watch AHA yet this season...but hope to catch them in action at some point. I just have a little trouble believing they won't be there as strong contenders come section time with what I know are several of what I consider excellent or skilled players. Maybe slow starting...who knows for sure. Time will tell. <p></p><i></i>

[hockeygymnast]

HA has Shattuck on their schedule 1/24 @ Shattuck. They will definitely have their hands full with SSM; they are an impressive team. <p></p><i></i>

[hockeyfinatic]

Holy Angels will and is a good team. Last year they went up north and lost to Roseau. Roseau was not that good of a team come the end of the year. I would expect nothing less than a great team at AHA this season and I think we will all agree when January rolls around.<br>This could just be one of the downers of having kids come from different associations. It takes time for them get to know how each other play. The head coach is well respected by the girls and he and the rest of the coaching staff will have them ready come playoff time. <p></p><i></i>

[ghshockeyfan]

One game does not a season make.<br><br>Team situational (injuries, etc.) affect the performance of a team.<br><br>I always reserve judgement until I know the whole situation, as it's easy to quickly jump to attack.<br><br>I also believe that a team needs to be rated taking its "full-strength" capability in mind. Meaning, if a team struggels due to injury, etc., you don't knock them out of the rankings, think they are terrible, etc.<br><br>AHA will be ready come Feb. We may very well see them at the X playing for a AA championship too... <p></p><i></i>

[Brett11]

Very fair comments by everyone.<br><br>It is worth noting that three of their top players are injured. Two of those injured did play, but were only half strength. Their best defenseman did not.<br><br>Grossman is still mixing and matching players to find the best combos, both up front and on D. He doesn't care if he loses some games earlier in the season if it helps him later in the season, when it counts.<br><br>I thought GR looked better than their record, but other than some AHA defensive miscues, I thought AHA controlled most of the game, not GR.<br><br>GR did win, congratulations to them. <p></p><i></i>

[boblee]

Maybe injuries made the difference then, i do not know. I don't see, however, how you can say that AHA dominated the game. GRG had more shots and the puck was in the AHA end much more. No need to make excuses, I was just wondering what the problem was. Injuries were the answer, thank you. <p></p><i></i>

[JJhockeySS]

First I want to say that I was really impressed with Emily Erickson of the Lightning. I had a chance to coach her a couple of years back, and what a great player, and class act young lady she is. Although it lead to our demise, I was very happy to see her play at a very high level on Saturday.<br><br>I think that there are some very good points here, and fitting. I would say we played far from our best game, but that is to be expected this time of year. Last time I checked if your going to have an off night, better it be in December than February. I would anticipate we will have 3-5 more outings like this in the next 6 weeks. Not because our kids aren't talented or aren't working hard, but because it is our style. We spend the first 4-8 weeks evaluating kids, and how they play in different situations. Giving them a chance to be successful, before we make decisions on what style best is suited for them. I would say in any game we have played to this date, we would be lucky to put together 2 quality periods, let alone a whole game. Our goal is to play our best hockey as a team during the last 3 weeks in Feb. We have a lot of work to do between now and then to get to that point.<br><br>As GHS said rankings done by people who look at the whole picture, potential, talent, where teams will fit in over the long haul. I would say be careful if you are going to judge a squad from watching one performance. The people who vote are willing to watch thousands of girls games, and players over the course of the year. <br><br>This post wasn't meant to take anything away from the lightning, they were the better team where it mattered(scoreboard) on Saturday, and congratulations to them. I hope they have continued success the rest of the season. We definitely learned a lot about our squad on that trip, and hope it will serve us well on our journey through the season.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[JJhockeySS]

Boblee,<br><br>I don't know that injuries were the difference, every team deals with injuries and illness over the course of the year. I would never make excuses like that. The teams that are rated the highest are the one who have the depth to perform consistently even when faced with injuries and illness.<br><br>I'm not sure I want to open up the whole debate on who dominated the game, but I will say this I have watched the tape 3 times since Saturday. Here is my assessment: I thought we were flat, and not prepared to play the physical grinding kind of game in the first period. I felt like GR controlled play in the first which ended 0-0 (even though AHA led in shots 10-7, GR lead in scoring chances 4-3). <br><br>I felt like we controlled play in the 2nd, but made some costly errors that lead to goals against us. The shot count on the game sheet was in favor of AHA 14-7, watching the tape I had us with 21 shots, and 14 scoring chances. I felt this over emphasis on O in the second lead to our Defensive breakdowns. I graded the team/kids at a B+, coaches D for not getting the players to adapt and put a body on Erickson.<br><br>Third period again I had a differential between the game sheet, and what I counted watching tape in shots. Game sheet GR 12 AHA 8 shots, I had us leading in shots 14-8, and scoring chances 7-3. Again I felt that the kids played the game style we asked them to, but we just could seem to finish, partially due to solid GT play, and partially due to that we had a hard time navigating traffic in front of the net. Overall I felt the kids played hard to the finish, and we never felt like we were out of it, even though at one point we were down 5-1. I graded our 3rd period effort as a B. I think we need to finish better, and be more effective around the net, but I wouldn't say that GR dominated the game or coasted to the win. I do however give them credit for taking advantage of opportunities, and playing a good game.<br><br>My end evaluation would say the game you saw had more to do with coaching style, and some coaching mistakes rather than anything else. Pat Rendle had his kids prepared to play a great game Saturday, and they did. <p></p><i></i>

[ghshockeyfan]

The truth is never an excuse in my mind.<br><br>Should be fun to watch the AHA team come together as the season progresses. It's no secret, as alluded to above, that private school teams take more time to find synergy due to not having prior interaction, history, etc. as community based teams have developed as they've moved up through the youth ranks together.<br><br>Add injury/illness/more youth/new players than normal, etc. - and that adds to the difficulty of the coming together of a team, especially a private school one, I believe. <p></p><i></i>

[The machine took my quart]

AHA is well coached and has strong players. I am sure they will make the section finals. I would not look to find what was wrong with AHA though. This is a common trap that people look to when a ranked team losses. GRG is a very good team as are many teams in the North that get no respect. You can't have your best game everynight and everyone will be a loser at some point this year, get over yourselves and overanalyzation... <p></p><i></i>

[ghshockeyfan]

Amen.<br><br>About overanalyzation (I'm the best at this surprise, surprise). <br><br>Also the comment about N MN Teams is dead on - they deserve more respect than they get!<br><br>Any metro team that goes north for a set of games knows this. <p></p><i></i>

[JJhockeySS]

I agree the northern teams are often underrated, and don't get the pub the deserve. I hope I didn't make it sound like I was down playing either team. We got exactly what we were looking for this weekend, 2 good games, some good lessons learned, and a great hockey experience. We played in two great rinks as well. Luckily we came out of the weekend 1-1, we very easily could have come home with a pair of losses.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[boblee]

JJ-I really liked your evaluation...When I think back I remember a lot of AHA scoring chances where they just shot it right into the GRG goalie. <p></p><i></i>

[JJhockeySS]

Boblee,<br><br>Ahmen, you are right on the money. Let's just say there may have been some playful ribbing on the bus ride home, on how we seemed to put more than a few marks on her jersey emblem! Bad news for us we have Windhorst tonight, hopefully our aim won't be the same.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[brookyone]

A little off topic perhaps but if I'm not mistaken, GRG will soon get another opportunity to prove their metal vs. Bemidji...this Thursday I think. <p></p><i></i>

[GivinYaTheBusiness]

GRG has impressed me a few times this season. I love the way Erickson plays, and with Newton back from a broken (foot?) they are looking strong as ever. <p></p><i></i>

[The machine took my quart]

I wish there we more cross over games between N and S. I guess it is up to each coach, but it is awesome to see good teams like NSP and AHA make the long trip. I wish I could have seen the game against GRG. If they are as good as I think that game with Bemidji could be a biggie... I have seen Erickson and Newton but not since last year. Their team I would think is even better with the new Walker girl. I wish their stats would be posted somewhere? Those girls are good and need to prove that they deserve Northern respect in the cities like I mentioned and GHS as well. <p></p><i></i>

[GivinYaTheBusiness]

<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.greenway.k12.mn.us/GHS/Activ ... /index.htm#" target="top">www.greenway.k12.mn.us/GHS/Activities/g ... <!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>All the Lightning stats one could want are posted on here...game scores, personal stats, etc. <p></p><i></i>