Some folks in Wheeling seem to think that the Game Three win broke the spirit of the Road Warriors. Don't believe me? Check it out here. I, personally, think it's quite presumptive to think that about the team that earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference by being an extremely mentally tough club. After winning 19 games combined in November and December, call ups and injuries left the lineup looking vastly different and Greenville managed four wins in 12 games over the month of January.
That bump in the road did not knock the team off course, though, and the Road Warriors stormed back to win 17 games combined in February and March. All the while the South Carolina Stingrays were trying to chase them down for first in the South Division, and they, themselves, were reeling in Reading for first overall in the conference. They knew what their goals were, stayed focused, and fought hard to achieve them.
Sure, Wednesday's loss was disappointing because on the whole I thought Greenville out-played Wheeling. But that disappointment did not seem, to me, that it was weighing the players down. The mood at the team dinner after the game was subdued but there was no sense of panic. It seemed more like a quiet determination to regroup and get back to work. It was almost as if they didn't want to wait until Friday to hit the ice again. And I bet by the time the puck drops on Game Four, you'll see a Road Warriors team that's not disheartened, but motivated to play its best hockey.
No comments:
Post a Comment