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One Hartmann and his Sheepdog
It’s almost been a month since my last blog and since then the Caps have had a heck of a journey with some major high’s and as with all things Caps, the odd low. Who would have thought back in deepest darkest spring 2011 that the Edinburgh Capitals would rack up a four point weekend come October. On Saturday the 22nd of October the Caps scraped a 3-2 win in Hull before returning to Murrayfield to beat Fife 7-4 twenty four hours later. The Caps had four valuable points for their most successful weekend of 2011. For any fans of the “bigger clubs” the feeling Caps fans is akin to how you must feel when you witness your team holding silverware aloft! Since then we have tasted defeat at the hands of Belfast, Braehead, Coventry and Sheffield but have also beaten Braehead at home and Dundee away last Saturday. We are for the foreseeable future going to be a small fish in a big pond, but we are no longer a team who can simply be brushed aside.
Notably the win in Dundee occurred last week and was achieved with Craig Holland in goals, our back up netminder. Affectionately known by Caps fans as “Sheepdog” due to his hair style he was simply outstanding for the Caps. Perhaps his most impressive period of play in a Caps shirt was during the second period when he faced 19 shots in total allowing only one goal. The Caps dug in and having let the lead slip twice the game ended 2-2 after 60 minutes. For Caps fans there was a real sense that the team had ground out a point and anything else was a bonus, the players were visibly tiring by now. However our player of the season so far Rene Jarolin scored in overtime to send the relatively large set of travelling fans home happy. Jarolin may have scored the winning goal, but Holland was the real star of the night and that was notable by the way he was greeted by his team mates at the end of the game and indeed by the fans as the chant of “Sheepdog Sheepdog” rang out.
A word on Jarolin however, one look at the Elite League statistics gives you an indication of just how good a player this is. His partnership with Richard Hartmann on the first line is a pleasure to watch and when you add a re-invigorated Bari Mackenzie (second season with the Caps having signed from Solway) it matches up with most sides and often out plays those they face off against.
We returned to Murrayfield on Sunday 13th November for a match with the Belfast Giants in the Challenge Cup. It was a dead rubber game, the Giants had qualified and the Caps were out. Already minus Craze (Goalie), Petrina (Defence), Holecko (Forward) we also lost Sladok (Defence) prior to the game with an ear infection. The score was irrelevant, the Caps lost heavily as forwards were asked to double shift and we had a young forward playing defence to make four on the blue line. It was close for a while, but then from 4-2 up the Giants never looked back and scored another four unanswered.
I have one gripe about the match and it wasn’t the score, the Giants deserved the win. As a hockey fan of (sadly as it shows my age) more than half a century now I have seen us stifle talent in this country through an over reliance on those from “over the pond”. During that time I have watched the virtual demise of the British netminder at te top level of the UK game. A British netminder was the norm up until the 90’s, now it’s rare in the top tier. We are actually blessed this season with no fewer then three starting netminders being from our own shores, Craze (Capitals), Murphy (Giants) and Lyle (Devils). Every team however has to have a back up, and those guys sign up for a life of bench warming. Sure, they have the opportunity to learn from the number one at the club and the coaching staff, but essentially they are getting a free season ticket to watch the clubs games. It’s not for everyone. So they must crave ice time, it’s the best way to learn. I have already watched Nathan Craze improve just through extended ice time. No practice session can compare to the intensity of the game.
So my gripe, I fully expected to see the Caps face Andrew Dickson of the Giants on Sunday. For the Giants sure, they could argue they wanted to top their Challenge Cup group, but what better opportunity to ice someone who pledged their future to the Giants ahead of staying with the EPL’s Invicta Dynamo’s where he may have been the starter. I watched him literally open and close the door to allow the skaters on and off the ice throughout the game on Sunday, Caps fans chanted his name, Giants roared into the lead and even at 6-2, 7-2 and then 8-2 with plenty of time left on the clock still no call for him to gain time on the ice. I am a big Doug Christiansen fan, he is not alone in this. I have seen it many times and being a Caps fan, normally when the opposition have been racking up the goals. It wouldn’t happen in other countries, the starter is there to stay, but in this country any chance we have to give the back up some ice time should be taken. We should be committed to developing players.
Would it be an idea to use the Challenge Cup to ice the backup in all games? A period a game? A set amount of games? Who knows but we have to find a way to give the back up netminders a chance, it’s the best way to encourage players to try to progress in a very specialised area of the team. Any better ideas?
Cheers!
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
