Firstly, my apologies to all the Blades fans who have been reading these for getting this done so late. It is my intention to get these posted before the Tuesday following the Blades' weekend home games, but I am very busy and since this is something I am doing for fun, and for the fans, it is getting lost in the shuffle that is my ever changing schedule. So that these can be counted on in a more timely manner by you who are reading them, I will here on put them in my Sunday schedule and look to have them posted earlier because of that. As an FYI, with the Blades being on the road for the next 2 weeks don't expect a post from me-I might try and throw something together after I conduct my phone interview with the coach, but I doubt I will have anything worth blogging about...
Now that we are 8 games into the regular season, we can say there are some definite trends developing around this years version of the Everblades, the most disturbing of which is their tendency to let their opponent score first. It took until their last game this past week against the K-Wings before they finally were first to score.
Their power play and penalty kill made noticeable improvements this last week.
For those that were at Florida's open weekend set of games, their special teams were, in a word, lousy. They couldn't score, and they weren't doing a good job of clearing the puck and closing the shooting lanes on the PK. Poss has obviously worked the team hard in practice to change that because against the K-Wings, special teams was a primary reason why the Blades got the sweep.
They also got better at winning face offs as the week went on.
All of these things point to coaching and should give all Blades fan's hope that this coach could be the one to bring the Kelly Cup to Germain Arena...
Of their 3 games last week, Wednesday's stood out to me the most. I know that from a fan perspective it was a very boring game until the 3rd period (a friend of mine showed up to see the game, only to leave after the 1st period because it was "the worst sporting event I've ever been too"-don't worry, I handed it to to him afterward). That game the Blades fell behind early, played a terrible 2nd period, and stole it in the 3rd. Looking back at this game after the way they won the following 2, Wednesday's contest was a true reflection of the personality of this years Blades team-this team isn't going to fold at any point of a game.
They are going to fight to the bitter end (which they had to do in Saturday's game) and give everything they have, collectively, as a team...
My offer still stands: I will Tweet the Blades if you would like me too. As of now, I know many of you have read that particular post but I have gotten no response back as to whether or not some of you would like me to Tweet the Blades. I will leave the offer open until the New Year-either approach me at the games or leave me a comment here...
Sorry for not having more behind the scenes stuff for you this week, I promise to do better next time and not let it go so late.
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