The reason the song is the inspiration for the title and theme of this post is that, like a person who binges themselves on food or drink, random thoughts have been piling up inside my head since my last entry. It seems like every time I've meant to sit down and write something for the blogosphere, someone or something pulls my attention away and I have to wait until another day. It's like sitting down to start watching a movie and having your mother call you on your phone and since you haven't talked to her in a month you have to answer and spend an hour talking to her.
But now that I've found some time so sit down and pound away at the keyboard it's time to purge everything that's been building up. Let's start with the Road Warriors' opening weekend.
- What a sight it was to see such a great turnout on opening night! Obviously the end result was not what anyone wanted or expected to see, but to me that part is irrelevant. There was so much going on in Greenville that night and yet the second-largest crowd in GRW history came out to celebrate the start of the season. It makes me believe that there is a very bright future for this team in this great city.
- As for the on ice product The Road Warriors should be 1-1-0 after the weekend. The 44 shots on goal on Saturday night against Reading were the second most the Road Warriors had ever taken in a regulation game. I'd venture a guess that of the 44 shots at least 15 were high-quality scoring opportunities. Most nights that is more than enough to win, but Joe Palmer stood on his head that night. Unfortunate, but it shouldn't discourage the players or the fans. On Friday against Wheeling maybe it was a case of nerves, maybe some overconfidence set in from scoring the first goal 47 seconds in; I'm not really sure one way or the other. But I think, like that wacky 8-6 game against Gwinnett last year, that you can write off a 6-1 defeat as an aberration for this team. It won't be the norm.
- It's good to get in to divisional play now, and I think it's good to do it on the road. Gwinnett will be the team facing the pressure to go out and perform well in front of a big crowd on opening night. The Road Warriors get the pleasure of going out and playing the role of party crashers. I think the first 10 minutes of Friday's game will be critical. If the Road Warriors can stem the tide of the early energy and momentum, maybe even grab a lead, I think they should be in good shape.
- Coach Stork was quick to pull the trigger on getting fresh bodies into the lineup from Friday to Saturday last week. I'll be curious to see if there's any continuity in the lineup or the line combinations from last Saturday to this Friday.
- I'm especially curious to see if Brendan Connolly is moved back to center from wing where he spent much of opening weekend. With his speed he is certainly a dangerous weapon on the wing that could stretch the defense on breakouts and plays through the neutral zone. But is he comfortable there? Last season he led the league in +/- at +28 and had 50 points in 45 games while playing primarily as a center.
- Can Jerry Kuhn rebound? I would expect him to start on Friday night and be given a chance to improve on his 30-for-36 effort on opening night against Wheeling. He showed at the end of last season and in the playoffs with Idaho that he can come up big in pressure situations. He'll need to find that resolve and mental toughness if he wants to make a bid to be the Road Warriors #1 goalie.
- Is it possible that Jeff Prough can stay hot early on? He has scored all three of Greenville's goals so far, and had the Road Warriors managed a win or two last weekend he would have been a candidate for Player of the Week. Obviously he'd trade in the individual success for a couple of wins for the team, but three goals in two games is still an impressive way to begin the season. Plus the Arena at Gwinnett Center is only 15 miles away from his birthplace of Snellville, Georgia so I'm sure the desire to perform well will be amplified a bit for Prough.
- For those of you who don't know (i.e. looked at a TV, picked up a newspaper, or browsed the internet this week) two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon was killed in a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend. I was deeply saddened by the news because of the tragedy and because Indy Cars were one of my first loves in sports. One of my earliest sports memories is watching the 1992 Indy 500 with my Pap and jumping up and down for joy when my favorite driver, Al Unser Jr. won in amazing fashion. I was able to attend my first, and only, Indy 500 with my aunt and uncle in May of 2000 and it is still the most memorable sporting event I've ever been to in person. I have a deep respect for the way those drivers risk their lives every time they step behind the wheel of a car and I pray that Wheldon's death will affect some safety improvements that will make deaths like his much less likely.
- The tragedy of Wheldon's crash also struck me because it brought back to mind a night where I witnessed a professional athlete's career end. On Wednesday, November 11, 2009 the Johnstown Chiefs were hosting the Reading Royals. With just over four minutes left in the third period Johnstown's Mike Knight, a defenseman, was going back into his own end for a loose puck. He was pressured by Reading's Olivier Labelle who gave Knight a slight shove just above the goal line. Knight lurched forward, fell, and hit the boards head first. He was the Chiefs' captain, their best defenseman, and he would never play again because of the injuries sustained from that hit. Knight was there all three years I worked in Johnstown and, to this day, remains one of the classiest and most professional men I have had the chance to work with. And when I think about what happened to Knight, and Wheldon, it certainly makes me appreciate how much these men risk to play a game that they love and give us an amazing form of entertainment.
- On our first episode of "Between the Pipes" there was an interesting discussion that came up when I brought up the Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday to Dean Stork and T.J. Reynolds - my guests. It revolved around family and how difficult our chosen profession can make things around the holidays. For those involved in professional hockey - as coaches, players, or support staff - certain sacrifices have to be made to pursue the dream. It so happens that the biggest American holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, fall right in the heart of hockey season. Games are always scheduled around these holidays, too, because they almost always draw well. That means those of us who work in the sport have to forsake our family traditions for the game we love. Now our jobs aren't nearly as important as the doctors, nurses, EMTs, and police officers who also have to work on the holidays, but the time away from family can sting just as much. Now I was blessed to work in Johnstown, PA for my first three years which was relatively close to my extended family in Pittsburgh. So no matter how close our games were to Thanksgiving or Christmas (they were never actually on the holidays) I could make the 60 mile drive west, spend time with the family, then come back for work in plenty of time. Last year that all changed with coming to SC. Luckily we had a week off around Christmas so I could drive the 600 miles home, but Thanksgiving was no such luck as we were on a road trip. This year it looks like a trip home for Christmas is out with two home games right around the big day. It was a weird conversation with my mother this past Monday as we discussed spending the holiday apart for the first time. Maybe if I'm persuasive enough I'll convince them to come spend a Southern Christmas this year!
- Some of you reading this may know that I had planned to run in the Greenville Half Marathon on October 29. I had been training since April and had run more this summer than I ever have in my life. The highlight of the training was finishing the Paris Mountain Trail Run 11K in an hour and six minutes. I was on target with my training through September, but then training camp hit. Hours at the office got very long and I started missing training sessions. The missed workouts piled up quickly and before long I hadn't run in two weeks. So I tried to give it a go tonight and log seven miles which is my longest training run. I couldn't nearly finish and am certain that I cannot be ready for 13 miles in one week. It's quite frustrating that I won't be able to run a half by the end of the year like I wanted, but now I've got something to shoot for in 2012.
Until next time, take care!
No comments:
Post a Comment