I don't follow hockey anymore, but last NHL season I couldn't help but to notice the tremendous turnaround made by our local Washington Capitals team. By late November, it appeared their season was in the tank. Coach Genn Hanlon was let go on Thanksgiving Day of all days.
The Caps brought in Bruce Boudreau as their new coach, who I believe has turned out to be the finest hockey man in the NHL coaching ranks since Scotty Bowman. The Caps went on a tear almost from the get-go of the new coach's tenure. The Capitals improbably won their division on the last day of the regular season, after playing stretches of dazzling hockey.
In the playoffs, the Capitals drew their old nemesis, the Phildelphia Flyers in the first round. The Flyers went to a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series. The Flyers were not as skilled as the Capitals, but what they lacked in skills they made up for in toughness and a willingness to fight for every puck, and to pressure, pressure, pressure when they were on defense, and to hit the stuffing out of anything that moved. The Caps responded with some toughness of their own, but with Alex Ovechkin leading the way, the Caps out-hockeyed the Flyers to roar back to tie the series at 3 games apiece and force game 7.
The Flyers', (or rather Broad Street Bullies') grit proved too much for the Caps, though, and the Caps lost the series 4 games to 3; closing out a still-wondrous season.
A Flyers fan, interviewed by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, said of the Caps, "You guys came in [to this series] a bunch of figure skaters in pads and helmets. We taught you to fight and play hockey like men. You're welcome."
I think of that Flyer fan's assessment when I think about the Stanford women's soccer team. The Cardinal has as much or more soccer talent, skills, crisp passing and savvy movement as any women's soccer club in the country.
But will they fight, scrap, and claw for every loose ball? Will they pressure, pressure, pressure the ball all over the field when on defense? Will they deliver, time and again, the hard, crunching (but within the rules) tackles that will knock equally talented opponents off their game? Will Stanford do the grunt work that will break them out of the pack of excellent soccer teams and onto the podium of the National Champion?
All I can tell you is they have what it takes.
You're welcome.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Thoughts on the Stanford Women's Team
I don't follow women's soccer that much, but a friend of mine follows this team closely so I started to keep track of their doings.
Stanford is a team with loads and loads of talent and athleticism at every position. They are tactically very sophisticated. I really believe top to bottom they have the best strikers in the nation. I was amazed as Stanford made UNC, of all teams, look slow and flat-footed for much of the second half of the recent match between the two sides.
The problem with Stanford historically is they tend to tire as they get well into the meat of their conference schedule, especially when they have to travel. They try with some success to get a second wind going into the conference tourney, but then by the time the NCAAs roll around they are pretty much spent, and they crash out in the early going. That, to me, goes to conditioning, which implicates the coaching. Coupled with some questionable substition patterns, and some mystifying bootball tactics that seem to surface when the going gets tough, and there are thus real question marks in the coaching department.
We'll know if these coaching issues are resolved if the team is stronger once they have gotten through most of their conference schedule.
This team has more than enough talent barring injuries to win their conference, and there is no reason personnel-wise they can't get to the College Cup ("Final Four")and win the thing.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. They have the players to get it done. But do they have what it takes behind the training-ground whistle, and in the coaches' area at the games?
Stanford is a team with loads and loads of talent and athleticism at every position. They are tactically very sophisticated. I really believe top to bottom they have the best strikers in the nation. I was amazed as Stanford made UNC, of all teams, look slow and flat-footed for much of the second half of the recent match between the two sides.
The problem with Stanford historically is they tend to tire as they get well into the meat of their conference schedule, especially when they have to travel. They try with some success to get a second wind going into the conference tourney, but then by the time the NCAAs roll around they are pretty much spent, and they crash out in the early going. That, to me, goes to conditioning, which implicates the coaching. Coupled with some questionable substition patterns, and some mystifying bootball tactics that seem to surface when the going gets tough, and there are thus real question marks in the coaching department.
We'll know if these coaching issues are resolved if the team is stronger once they have gotten through most of their conference schedule.
This team has more than enough talent barring injuries to win their conference, and there is no reason personnel-wise they can't get to the College Cup ("Final Four")and win the thing.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. They have the players to get it done. But do they have what it takes behind the training-ground whistle, and in the coaches' area at the games?
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