Wayzata HS Hockey

GOPHERFAN119 · Post by **GOPHERFAN119** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:16 pm

As the regular season draws to a close. I thought I would reach out to others on this forum and ask for their reaction to the team this year. I have not been able to attend any games this year. I have been following the team via the newspaper. I did have the opportunity to watch them on FSN over the holidays and beat Benilde. I thought they looked very good. As of late, they have had some challenges and lost a few games against Mtka and Edina. As the sections approach, what are our chances ? How far will the team advance ? I hope for the best. What will the outlook be for next year ? Thanks so much. Go Trojans !!!

GVvikes · Post by **GVvikes** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:38 am

I saw them play Hopkins at home and at Edina recently, they are a good all around team with no standouts, against Hopkins there were a few plays where they failed to headman the puck coming into the zone with his right winger at full speed causing the offsides, one teamate was really upset and skated to the bench abruptly and a few Wayzata youth coaches near me were yelling to move or pass the puck throughout the game, a few selfish players I thought, the goaltending is good but not spectacular, the head coaching might be this teams biggest liability as this team seems to play with not much emotion which can be crucial at playoff time. Not very much student fan support at either game.

WayOutWest · Post by **WayOutWest** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:15 am

GVvikes wrote:I saw them play Hopkins at home and at Edina recently, they are a good all around team with no standouts, against Hopkins there were a few plays where they failed to headman the puck coming into the zone with his right winger at full speed causing the offsides, one teamate was really upset and skated to the bench abruptly and a few Wayzata youth coaches near me were yelling to move or pass the puck throughout the game, a few selfish players I thought, the goaltending is good but not spectacular, the head coaching might be this teams biggest liability as this team seems to play with not much emotion which can be crucial at playoff time. Not very much student fan support at either game.

This is a pretty accurate assessment, in my eyes. I've watched a good portion of the games, and a few things stand out. The forwards are not very crafty, and a few of them are much too selfish. Most goalies merely need to square up to the puck carrier, and stay locked on him, and they'll be fine. There have been very few passes to a player positioned at the open side of the net.
Defense has been their strong suit. They have a very solid corp, back there. Goaltending has generally also been very good, albeit a bit softer in the last few games. Hopefully, they'll shore that up before playoff time. This team does not score fistfulls of goals, so they have to be good defensively to stay in tough games.
Coaching is absolutely the biggest liability of the team. The selfishness issue has been present the entire year. I don't know why this hasn't been addressed. They are also not very disciplined when it comes to not taking penalties, which frequently gets them into trouble.
As for next year, what I have seen of the JV looks pretty solid. But, the Varsity coaching staff has been handed great talent in the past, and has managed to squander it. To be honest, I just don't think the coaching staff is very good, nor do they garner the respect of their players. I think a coaching staff change is really all Wayzata needs in order to be a perennial force. Until that happens, I wouldn't expect much.

Papa Bergundy · Post by **Papa Bergundy** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:12 pm

Living close to PIC, I have seen a fair amount of games and I have to agree with everything being said.

Call it bad luck, but the Trojans seem to have a knack for taking penalties at the wrong time. Some games it has cost them, and others it has been a real morale killer in between periods. There penalty kill is poor at best and they take a healthy amount of penalties, a terrible combination.

Two weeks ago I would have said they have a good shot of making a run at the section championship. I'm definately second guessing myself now with their recent showings against Tonka and Edina. [combined 13-1 score].

This Thursday's game became all the more important, as they will more than likely face off against Hopkins in the first round of sections. I'm also sure they would love to win for confidence, and to get the 4 seed and avoid playing at the always tough Hopkins Pavillion.

Don't count them out, but don't pick them as a favorite. It's been the tale of two seasons to this point, I'm curious to see what team will show up come playoffs.

Blueline10 · Post by **Blueline10** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:53 am

The Team started strong -- but has been struggling of late. The Head Coach seems to have a difficult time figuring out how to prepare the team to win late in the season which of course is the most important time. Unfortunately, it's probably up to the kids to provide leadership since I don't believe the Coach can as shown by years of underachievement by Wayzata teams!

nofinish · Post by **nofinish** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:15 am

I would have to agree with previous posters about the coaching. I saw the Edina game at PIC and Wayzata had no answer to Edina's top line. I did not see the recent rematch with Edina but evidently the coaching staff did not come up with a better game plan. In sections they should beat the teams below them but will not challenge the top teams.