McDermott is Not Just a Great Hockey Player, but...

Fan-favourite, Gary McDermott, is not only a great hockey player and a cornerstone to the Shockers organization but he has recently been recognized as a great worker outside of hockey. McDermott won an award at Xerox for the least amount of paper cuts for 2009. He takes home the hardware and a $25 gift certificate to Jean Coutu to purchase some hair gell, maybe a toothbrush and you can never go wrong with some rubbers!

We're so proud of you, Gary!

The Disappointments Keep Adding Up

Final Score
Subzero 11
Shockers 2

What can be said about the Shockers these days? Not a whole lot except for the fact that their closing up of the regular season is nothing short of epic failure. 19 goals against in just 2 games compared to their 4 goals. Leaving guys open in the slot. Forgetting the notion of man-to-man coverage. I'm not too sure, but the Shockers need to start thinking simple hockey over again, even though these are the same issues that have been arising all season, something needs to give for this team.

"We're not a goal scoring team, we have no finish; so you'd think we'd play defense and try win games that way and we can't even seem to do that," commented a very frustrated Francois Hamelin.

A team that was expected to move up the standings and finish off the season with a winning streak is definitely making a sad showing for itself. "I don't know if we expected for the games to fall in our lap but I've been seeing a lot of lazy playing out on the floor. These are games that we should of had and we didn't show up to play," comented Andrew Stevens.

The main problem with the Shockers in consistent defensive play. One game they will play excellent man-to-man coverage, the forwards will be back-checking and nothing will get by the defense and then the next game they are a completely different team with horrible defensive breakdowns, lazy swipes at an active ball, forgetting to cover guys in the slot and leaving guys in front of the net untouched.

With such size on the blueline, the Shockers should start using their size to their advantage, push the guys out from in front of the net and give Giancarlo Capaz a chance to see the shots coming in on net. By clearing the opposition from in front of the net, it will significantly cut down of rebound goals which the Shockers are seeing very often. A good example of this is Gary McDermott, he's tall, he's big and plays excellent positioning. He's got a great reach in that massive stick of his which makes it a living nightmare to be matched up against him. But what is more impressive about the Green Monster is how he imposes his body in front of the net. He angles himself into the opposing player and cuts away literally all chances of them touching the ball. The stick is always in the check and he difuses the body to eliminate sudden movements to break free. A few more guys playing like this in the back and the Shockers could eliminate at least 80% of their goals against.

Second problem is lazy play. Desipte having some of the younger players in the league, the Shockers look like the oldest ones out there. If they're going to waste their time and energy making effortless attempts at winning the ball they might as well sit on the bench because they are not helping the team.

The Shockers have just 2 games left before the end of the season. One against Mobilart and the other against the Saints, in any case, Shockers should really be thinking "win" or else it will be a rough ride in the play-offs that might be just as short-lived as in the past.

Never Commit!

"Never commit!" is all Carlo Varano had to say after he chipped home the game-winning goal with just 57 seconds left in the game last night against the Underdogs.

Underdogs, who play a tight defensive game, narrowly beat the Shockers at the beginning of the season 3-2, but the Shockers had big plans to spoil the party this time around. "We were somehow predicted to win on the PTM site but we all knew that we HAD to win. Every point means something now so we got to steal them where we can get them," commented goaltender Giancarlo Capaz.

Capaz, who literally saved the day once again for the Shockers held strong and made huge saves throughout the game but especially in the 2nd where the Shockers looked flat and even ran into a bit of penalty trouble.

The Shockers rolled with the usual line-ups up front of Varano-Minkiewicz-Rossi and Stevens-Ducharme-Godard but did try something new with the defensive pairings when it came to special teams. "We had to try something new. Hockey in general, a lot of the powerplay success comes from an organized back-end so we needed to make sure to get good firepower on the points. At the same time, we needed to make sure to keep an energetic and ball-aggressive pair out there on the PK," chattered el capitaino, Francois Hamelin.

The game didn't start off well for the Shockers as they went down 1-0 quickly within the first shift of the game. "I don't think anyone was expecting that," Mike Minkiewicz explained.

With a quick change of the lines, the Shockers leveled the playing field by notching one of their own. Alain Godard's howitzer went high, hit the back boards and jumped out at the goalie who couldn't handle the hot ball. Andrew Stevens was right on the doorstep to tap it in. "You don't get those kind of goals often, it was a real gift," Stevens chuckled.

Not too long after, the Shockers got on the powerplay and faster than the Underdogs got in the box, Gary McDermott let a howitzer go from the point and fist-pumped his 2nd of the season to give the Shockers a 2-1 edge. "They gave me enough space to shoot, I just wanted to keep it low to get a rebound but it was already in the back of the net," McDermott replayed to the press.

The second period was fairly weak for the Shockers, like usual, and they looked very passive against the Underdogs' attacks. It did take a little more than 15 minutes for the 'dogs to get a winning combination but they finally tied up the game.

The third period was rather back and forth and really looked like it could be anyone's game especially when Minkiewicz rang one of the post, the dogs came back the other way and hit the post as well in the same shift. The game looked like it was going to OT but Carlo Varano, who didn't give the defense any freedom to pass the ball out, intercepted a lazy pass and chipped it on net. Too hot to handle, the ball was in with just 57 seconds left. "Carlo had been talking about never committing to one angle of a pass because you can easily fool the player to passing to the other side but mentally you will be ready for it and then look what this guy does! Does exactly that!" Rossi explained.

With that win, the Shockers move up to tied for 8th with Kennedy Crew. The Shockers do have a decent schedule ahead and could potentially walk away with a few more 'W's. More news to come next week!

The Race is On!

"The race is on!" said team captain and local drunkard, Francois Hamelin.

The race he is referring to is the race to the end of the season and more importantly, the positioning for the playoffs. Taking a peek at the current standings, the Shockers would be taking on the Hawks, a team where the Shockers narrowly lost in over-time 4-3. However, if the Shockers pick up the pace they can easily move up the ladder as there are only 8 points dividing the Shockers (currently 10th) and 4th place (currently occupied by Special Delivery).

The Shockers have potential to move up the standings with their last 5 games of the season. Tonight is the Underdogs, a team who has been reaping the benefits of a defense-first style of gameplay and currently sit up in 3rd place narrowly escaped the Shockers with a 2-1 win last time they faced. After that we got Special Delivery, who despite being a 4th place team, had all kinds of trouble against the Shockers and lost that battle 5-3 at the beginning of the season. Then it is Mike Minkiewicz's brother's team, Subzero. Last time they face it was a showdown of no brotherly love and in the end result, Mike, took home the 'W' and the most points of that game. The second to last game is against Mobilart, a struggling team who are pretty much playing the spoiler role at this point since their playoff aspirations are fading out way in the distance. Despite Shockers winning last time 5-2, look for Mobilart to give it all they got left, afterall, don't you find teams who try to spoil it for other teams seem to play their better hockey? And last but not least, the Saints who had a rough start to the season walked all over the Shockers 5-0 last time they played each other. Shockers have to win that one or else they will probably lose a lot of wood going into the post-season and we all know how the Shockers do in the playoffs even with inflated tires...let's hope the Saints don't get to stick a wrench in the gears for the white-black-red.

And then there are the rumors...

Rumors already about the summer season? Yes, this is true. According to semi-reliable sources, there has been some chatter about some Shockers jumping ship to reform the now-defunct Damage Inc. who contained the likes of Mike Rossi, Mike Minkiewicz, Carlo Varano, Giancarlo Capaz and spare, Nick Petosa. That being said, if the Shockers lose these plays that means 90% of their offensive production goes out the window, Capaz does double duty for both teams again and there had even murmurs about the conspirers poaching players from the Shockers.

When asked about the rumors, Francois Hamelin had this to say: "There might be people talking but that is their business. Right now, the team has to keep focus on the playoffs and making this team go forward. The summer is a long way from now and no one is trapped to stay on the Shockers."

All rumors aside, the Shockers have a tough game tonight against the Underdogs @ 6:30pm. Look for the Underdogs to play their smart defensive style, they don't take too many chances, so goals won't fall into the Shockers' forwards laps.