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Coaches thoughts

Coach Cliff give his thoughts on a rollercoaster weekend

• admin
• 31 January 2024

Hi Chieftains Fans,

I hope you’ve all recovered from the weekend and got over the rollercoaster ride, it’ll take a few days to bounce back but we have to get back on the horse by the weekend and be ready for a tricky game against the Solent Devils who are always tough to play against and hard to break down.

Last weekend probably took a lot out of all of us, ultimately we came up short and the damage was done in the middle of the first leg on Saturday.  I was really proud of the boys on Sunday battling all night against a good team, poor officiating and a deficit on the scoreboard but we did all we could on the night and taking away the empty net goal at the end that wouldn’t have happened in normal circumstances, we did well to get our noses in front on the night with a big rally in the third. 

Saturdays game cost us and the only thing we can do is learn, we will have a similar weekend set up come the end of the season when we play the playoff 1/4 finals and as a group we have to learn to manage situations, 120 minutes is a long game but conceding goals in bunches at any point in that weekend hurts you when the final buzzer sounds on the Sunday night.  Losing sucks, no two ways about it, I’m a terrible loser, always have been, but as I’ve gotten older I know there’s so much you can learn from them, it’s easy for me to say as the oldest guy in the room who’s won loads and lost loads over 30 odd years in the sport, but we will be stronger for this if the boys take a minute to reflect on the weekend and use it positively in the future.

Things went on at the weekend that I don’t agree with from a moral standpoint as a ‘hockey man’ so to speak, but it appears the game is trending in a way that I don’t recognise and know, where the aggressor / instigator in scenarios can escape largely free where in the past there used to be some sort of honour about the game, maybe it’s me that needs to change my views, or maybe standards of officiating need to be raised to ensure the game remains the same game we all fell in love with once upon a time, at the moment it’s far from that a lot of the time.

Thanks for your support,

See you at the rink.

Cliff.