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http://www.crashthecrease.com/2009/12/01/sens-set-to-face-the-lords-of-the-regular-season/
I like the title personally.
Sens set to face the Lords of the regular season
This is what a lot of us circled on the calender when the schedule first came out. The first thing the Ottawa Senators had to do was compete hard in the first 20+ games of the season and put themselves in a playoff spot by December 1st. Check. They’ve played hard, they’ve competed hard, almost everyone is contributing, things are healthily moving forward.
Now comes the test. Starting tonight the Senators will travel to California and Arizona to face the Sharks, Kings, Coyotes and Ducks – in that order. Five teams, five challenges, five opportunities to make even more headway. However, this is also the part of the schedule that could send the Senators reeling. These are five very different teams, but each represents a fairly major challenge. Tonight it begins with the San Jose Sharks – the Lords of the regular season. A team so amazingly similar to the Sens of old, it’s actually kind of scary. They have the vaunted top line of Marleau – Thornton – Heatley, the Sens used to have the CASH line of Heatley – Spezza – Alfredsson. They have up and comers like Joe Pavelski, Torrey Mitchell and Devin Setoguchi up front, the Sens have/had Mike Fisher, Antoine Vermette – and when they were really stacked, they had Havlat in there as well.
Problems arose as things went forward though – whether it be injuries or just the inability to score when the chips were down. Problems that followed the Senators – follow the current inception of the Sharks as well. How can we take the Sharks seriously when they’ve failed in every single opportunity they’ve had in the post-season? Not even a birth in the Finals?
Almost everyone on the planet picked the Sharks to at least represent the West in the Cup Finals last season – with most picking the Sharks to win it all. That didn’t happen – instead a rough and tumble Ducks team did away with them in the first round. The term ‘chokers’ reared its head again and Doug Wilson realized that it was probably a time to monumentally change up the dynamics of the team.
Enter Dany Heatley – marred in a summer of controversy and the victim of tremendous backlash from Ottawa fans – and hockey fans in general. Wilson saw an opportunity here that probably hasn’t happened very often in hockey history: a player publicly announces that he wants out of a city – but he holds the trump card: the No Movement Clause. Are you kidding me? Rehashing what happened doesn’t help anyone, suffice to say that as of this very moment, both teams are happy. Milan Michalek has brought an element of speed, aggression and skill that hasn’t been since the days of Marian Hossa – who was ironically traded for the very same Dany Heatley. Jonathan Cheechoo has been pretty much a bust unfortunately, but there’s still hope that his hard work may eventually lead to goals. The 2nd round pick that SJ sent Ottawa seems destined to be re-traded. I have zero inside information on that, it just seems like a very Bryan Murray thing to do. Trade that 2nd and say…a disgruntled young D-man like Brian Lee and see if you can acquire yet another piece to help your club. Then the conversation changes a little more when talk of the trade pops up. It’s wasn’t just Michalek and Cheechoo, it was also Player X! Everyone’s happy.
So…after all that, how can the Senators stay focused tonight? Well, it’s pretty simple, they have to adhere to their game plan like it was the Gospel. They cannot deviate for one second – and just as importantly, they cannot continue to take needless penalties. If there’s one thing that you can count on, it’s the fact that the Sharks will score on one out of every 4 power players they receive. Obviously there are factors on every given night. Some nights they might run cold, your D might block the lanes properly, you goalie might stone them – other nights they might destroy you with their big guns up front – and on the back end.
The Sens need to do what other teams used to do to them: clog up the neutral zone, get on their star players, don’t give them too much room and give Nabokov fits by crashing the net. This California swing will be a huge challenge and a major indicator as to where the Senators – and coach Cory Clouston – are right now. After all, they face the Lords of the regular season tonight – a win would set them off in the right direction.
I like the title personally.
Sens set to face the Lords of the regular season
This is what a lot of us circled on the calender when the schedule first came out. The first thing the Ottawa Senators had to do was compete hard in the first 20+ games of the season and put themselves in a playoff spot by December 1st. Check. They’ve played hard, they’ve competed hard, almost everyone is contributing, things are healthily moving forward.
Now comes the test. Starting tonight the Senators will travel to California and Arizona to face the Sharks, Kings, Coyotes and Ducks – in that order. Five teams, five challenges, five opportunities to make even more headway. However, this is also the part of the schedule that could send the Senators reeling. These are five very different teams, but each represents a fairly major challenge. Tonight it begins with the San Jose Sharks – the Lords of the regular season. A team so amazingly similar to the Sens of old, it’s actually kind of scary. They have the vaunted top line of Marleau – Thornton – Heatley, the Sens used to have the CASH line of Heatley – Spezza – Alfredsson. They have up and comers like Joe Pavelski, Torrey Mitchell and Devin Setoguchi up front, the Sens have/had Mike Fisher, Antoine Vermette – and when they were really stacked, they had Havlat in there as well.
Problems arose as things went forward though – whether it be injuries or just the inability to score when the chips were down. Problems that followed the Senators – follow the current inception of the Sharks as well. How can we take the Sharks seriously when they’ve failed in every single opportunity they’ve had in the post-season? Not even a birth in the Finals?
Almost everyone on the planet picked the Sharks to at least represent the West in the Cup Finals last season – with most picking the Sharks to win it all. That didn’t happen – instead a rough and tumble Ducks team did away with them in the first round. The term ‘chokers’ reared its head again and Doug Wilson realized that it was probably a time to monumentally change up the dynamics of the team.
Enter Dany Heatley – marred in a summer of controversy and the victim of tremendous backlash from Ottawa fans – and hockey fans in general. Wilson saw an opportunity here that probably hasn’t happened very often in hockey history: a player publicly announces that he wants out of a city – but he holds the trump card: the No Movement Clause. Are you kidding me? Rehashing what happened doesn’t help anyone, suffice to say that as of this very moment, both teams are happy. Milan Michalek has brought an element of speed, aggression and skill that hasn’t been since the days of Marian Hossa – who was ironically traded for the very same Dany Heatley. Jonathan Cheechoo has been pretty much a bust unfortunately, but there’s still hope that his hard work may eventually lead to goals. The 2nd round pick that SJ sent Ottawa seems destined to be re-traded. I have zero inside information on that, it just seems like a very Bryan Murray thing to do. Trade that 2nd and say…a disgruntled young D-man like Brian Lee and see if you can acquire yet another piece to help your club. Then the conversation changes a little more when talk of the trade pops up. It’s wasn’t just Michalek and Cheechoo, it was also Player X! Everyone’s happy.
So…after all that, how can the Senators stay focused tonight? Well, it’s pretty simple, they have to adhere to their game plan like it was the Gospel. They cannot deviate for one second – and just as importantly, they cannot continue to take needless penalties. If there’s one thing that you can count on, it’s the fact that the Sharks will score on one out of every 4 power players they receive. Obviously there are factors on every given night. Some nights they might run cold, your D might block the lanes properly, you goalie might stone them – other nights they might destroy you with their big guns up front – and on the back end.
The Sens need to do what other teams used to do to them: clog up the neutral zone, get on their star players, don’t give them too much room and give Nabokov fits by crashing the net. This California swing will be a huge challenge and a major indicator as to where the Senators – and coach Cory Clouston – are right now. After all, they face the Lords of the regular season tonight – a win would set them off in the right direction.
