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Day After Game Report: The Streak Ends, Lots to Think About March 9, 2025 | ||||||
Posted by: Bob Howard Credit: Binghamton Hockey.net | ||||||
March 9, 2025 - by Bob Howard - BinghamtonHockey.net
Point? Zemlicka knows what to do with his players to get under the skin of good teams who play a systematic game with a slight edge to run and gun it. They basically trained under the same coach in the SPHL, Bremner. He knew a good and strong fore-check was going to slow the Black Bears down, that stopping the high quality chances and limiting shots to the perimeter was going to give Greg Hussey and the Bobcats their best chance to win. Plus, it was the Blue Ridge Bobcats who had previously stopped two other double digit winning streaks this season. The Bobcats had confidence and a game plan. They executed it flawlessly and yes, they simply beat the Black Bears. To be fair they beat part of the Black Bears. Let’s be fully honest here. Who did they beat? Did they beat a team with Donald Olivieri on it? Or Jesse Anderson? Or Kyle Stephan? Did they win the game with a full squad of Black Bears? CJ Stubbs and Gavin Yates were gone before the end of the 1st period. So 4 of the 6 Black Bears top six were gone from the game going into the 1st intermission. I don’t think the game ends last night the way it does with the Black Bears with all their guns. BUT, that’s how it played out. Zemlicka’s squad got into the Black Bears heads. They frustrated the crap out of the Black Bears and that led them to be able to execute the rest of their game to secure the win. Not playing with a full squad or blaming referees is just excuses. The fact of the matter is, when the Black Bears were down, the Bobcats jumped on them and won. Simple as that. But here is where I will lose some of you. This was the best place, best game and best time to lose a game. And even if the Black Bears lose tonight, I am OK with it. The Black Bears were not going to win the rest of the season. No way with the competition in the league now were they going to win 25 and break the league record held by the Carolina Thunderbirds from their remarkable 2018-19 season. So if your going to lose a game, beginning of March, when 25% of your team is not in the majority of the game, is perfect.
So what does Brant Sherwood do with last night’s game? Probably not as much as you think. Yes, he will look at some video, he will point out a thing or two about the game for his players to learn. But the Black Bears are 39-5-1. They’ve had worse games then last night. So you cannot and should beat up the players or Coach Sherwood in that loss. In the larger picture of things, last night’s game doesn’t matter as much to the Black Bears. The best medicine for the Black Bears is that they can come back and win again tonight, the quick turnaround is sometimes the best thing that can happen for a team. Gavin Yates who scored the games first goal 1:20 into the first period will be back for tonight as he was on fire this weekend and if he plays, I expect the same from him. I mean he had 40 minutes off last night. CJ Stubbs should be back and that 2nd line has been rolling when together with either Stephan as center or with Chris Mott. Tyson Kirkby who scored his 111th career Black Bears goal last night is as determined to get the team back on track as Brant Sherwood. It will be a fight today for a victory as the Black Bears will not want to travel home thinking about 2 losses in row, something they have not experienced this season. A loss. Learn. Adjust. Execute. And Move On. The Black Bears will put their “Work Boots” back on at 4:05 PM tonight and get back to doing what they do best.
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