9-2 loss. Tentative to Tenacity - Our next step vs. Jr Sharks on Saturday.
One important context point jumps out: this was Regular Season Game 1, and the we faced the Sharks’ 14A-1 team, not the 14A-2 team who we played in the pre-season and won by a large margin. The schedule also shows that San Jose had already beaten Capital Thunder 6–3 and Tri Valley 5–0 in preseason, while the Sabercats had an 8–4 preseason win over Vacaville.
We have legitimate offensive talent—Sasha, for example, entered the regular season as the team’s leading scorer with 21 points (11G, 10A) through four pre-season games adding two more today. The lesson isn’t simply that the Sabercats “aren’t good enough.” It’s that individual talent has to translate into five-player execution against a deeper, more experienced opponent. This is our next step and I think we can get there over the next several weeks. We had multiple scoring chances from several players today, but we looked tentative at times and unsure of ourselves for most of the game. Moving from Tentative play to Tenacity is important and gaining a belief in self will translate into more team success.
Notice that in the later part of the second and during the last part of the third many players started to asset themselves more and the Jr. Sharks became far less effective. Eli stands out as someone who simply decided he had enough and became far more aggressive shutting a number of their players down. As did Martin and Damian. This is a very positive sign.
Cat Hat went to Fritz with an amazing performance despite the score facing 38 quality shots. He not only played lights out today, but had a very solid night in net during practice as well.
Sasha got the second star for his two unassisted goals and his encouragement to his teammates and helpful insights on an important line adjustment giving us a new look halfway through the game. He is sitting 10th overall in the league.
Third star went to Teo for outstanding play on D. Special note. Owen playing in his first game was composed and gained some valuable experience today. This will come in handy as the season progresses.
Bouncing Back
A tough one against a very experienced San Jose Jr. Sharks team, falling 9–2. The score is difficult, but it also gives us a great opportunity to learn.
This was our first regular-season game, and we were playing one of the most experienced teams in our division. We actually competed well in the first period, trailing just 3–1, but the second and third periods showed us what happens when a team is able to sustain pressure, win loose pucks, move the puck quickly, and attack with five players.
Our own season stats show that we have players who can create offense and make plays. The challenge is putting those individual abilities together consistently as a team. This is especially true against a team with the depth, experience and pace of the Sharks.
The biggest lesson isn’t the 9–2 score. It’s learning what it takes to play for 60 minutes against a team like that.
Compete for every puck. Support each other. Stay connected. Manage pressure. Don’t let one shift become two, or one bad period become three.
You don’t measure a team by how it responds when everything is going well—you measure it by how it responds after a difficult game. We play the same team Saturday and this will be the actual measure of this teams character.
Take the lessons, leave the score behind, and come back ready to work. One game doesn’t define this team. How we respond will.
Heads up. Stay together. Get better. 🏒💪
