Year of the Roblogg

December 17th, 2009
1 comment

If there was a ‘year of the rat’ that spawned hockey success in South Florida; why not a ‘year of the Roblogg’ as well?

I have come to the conclusion that I bring luck to this team.

(And bad luck too; but I try not emphasizing this part, you know, kind of like the Panthers official website—digging out anything remotely positive—and positively ignoring the rest).

Fact of the matter is that every time I bash the Panthers they then go out and prove me wrong by winning games out of the blue; usually against opposition superior to us.

Just last week I looked at the awful performances of the Cats to that point in time—the road ahead—and, in all my wisdom, decided to write this team off:

“Florida then face Atlanta on Wednesday on home ice, after having lost both previous games to the Thrashers this season, and having gone 1-6 against Southeastern rivals overall. This could very well mean that the Panthers are effectively out of the playoff race by this time next week”.

One week later and, believe it or not, the Panthers sit in eighth spot of the Conference… Like I said; I bring this team luck by bashing them… We can no longer afford to ignore the mounting evidence…

Come to think of it, last season I was optimistic of making the playoffs, and we then tripped at the last hurdle: Maybe I was being too positive?

I shall try and be more negative from now on, I promise.

But… I just can’t help it… The latest wins have me all hoping again—against all reason, and, that’s not even mentioning history—so if we lose points against the horrendous Hurricanes in the upcoming double-header; I guess I’ll have to take my share of the blame as well…

Damn Cats, why do they have to be so freakin’ moody?

 

Anyway, today it is one year since I started this blog and it’s been a busy time.

I’ve written 160+ articles, almost one every other day, received some additional 160+ comments, and had some 6500 unique visitors—combining for 27275 article reads.

Not too shabby for an independent blog about the Panthers, which—face it—doesn’t have the largest fan-base in modern sports to begin with.

But, my point here isn’t to crow on about such stats, it’s rather to reminisce a little and also to take the opportunity to say a couple of words about this blog and its future.

 

Starting with the reminiscing…

The blog started with an article named “Stepping Up” on this very day of the waning year that was 2008. Looking at it today (click here) it might as well have been written today, the similarities are not only striking, but downright uncanny.

Beguiled by the Panthers’ sudden turnaround of the 2008/9 season, I could no longer keep my opinions to myself. And like many of my generation could not resist shoving those same repellent views down the throat of poor unsuspecting surfers of the net… Yes, that’s you…

And you’re welcome, you ungrateful ****.

Just joking. Sort of.

Anyway, what was a side project at first—soon snowballed—and literally hours on end was daily spent updating the site, its widgets, and writing long articles.

Of course, behind every deranged man is a woman with a patience of gold and, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, has unwavering belief that her man actually has some sort of clue of what the h*ll he’s doing. This is for you love. Cheers!

And whilst on the soppy speech credits section, I would also like to thank the Panthers’ entire franchise for the startling instances of comedy, slapstick humor, and ever-wishful-thinking, it has provided in this season past.

Who can forget the recent events of Ballard playing baseball with Vokoun’s head, Allen’s headshot on Campbell, or, the flight of the Penguin—Jacques Martin—to Montréal, the subsequent long, long, long, hunt for a replacement GM and—of course—the signing of Ville Koistinen this past summer to a two-year $ 2.4 million deal…

If only some of it had been funny I would be crying of laughter—rather than just howling aimlessly at the dark cruel hands of fate.

Nevertheless, this is the Panthers we’re talking about and if you want to follow this team you need the patience of an angel as they rollercoaster their way through another season of faint playoff hopes—getting, most likely, squashed at the very last moment—as they were last campaign.

OK, enough reminiscing already. I’m getting increasingly depressed myself just writing this—can’t imagine how you poor fellows must be feeling reading this miserable rant.

 

So to the future instead…

Apart from the blistering Florida successes in hockey we are no doubt expecting to see around the corner (that’s your cue to scoff and go off on a rant of your own) I will be continuing this blog, but will do it more on a part-time basis.

It’s simply taking too much time and endeavor to keep up a pace of an article every other day; in addition to keeping up widgets and additional pages.

So, as some may have noticed, my homemade widgets have to a large extent been replaced by automated ones and the Southeastern Rivals Watch on Twitter has been discontinued as well.

I’ll keep writing articles when inspiration hits, or I need to vent my frustration, but it may be on a more irregular basis, perhaps one or two articles per week at most.

I was also appointed Featured Columnist on the Bleacher Report at the start of this season and shall continue to double-post my best articles there as well, till the end of the campaign anyway.

After the end of this season I’ll have to see again how much time and effort I’d like to put in to this blog, but it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to keep up maintenance as well as I did this previous year.

This because to some extent I’d like to add my name to the ever-growing list of failed novelists and shall try to give that particular endeavor the attention it deserves. After all, we can never have too many starry-eyed wannabe novelists, can we?

Hopefully however, you’ll still deem this site worthy of your time and the strenuous strength required to make that ‘click’ on the mouse—so you can continue to come back and visit the blog on a frequent basis and read any future articles. Perhaps even comment a bit as well—if I’m anyway wishing—as that makes the effort of continuing this site much more worthwhile.

Here’s hoping the coming year will be a successful one that brings the post-season back to South Florida. God knows we deserve it!

And here’s a ‘thank you for reading’ and hope you come back, y’all!

Don’t be a stranger. You can most likely not be stranger than me anyway, so you are in good company here…

 

/Rob

 

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Road Warriors: The Florida Panthers Enjoy Out of Town Successes

December 15th, 2009
1 comment

Yesterday’s incredible Christmastime blowout of the NY lslanders—by the Florida Panthers believe it or not—was as comprehensive as it was unexpected.

Where did that one come from?

Just last Friday I, and most Panthers fans in general (come on admit it!), had this season pegged as a rebuilding season. Perhaps it would be better to just throw in the towel and admit we won’t make the playoffs this time either; for the umpteenth time?

Well, the Panthers answered us back from Newark, of all places, by beating the Devils 4-2 in what was the Cats’ best game of the season. They then went on to pry another point from the reigning champs in Pittsburgh, and subsequently finished off the Islanders with a 7-1 whipping on the Isle.

Now, any Panthers fan will tell you; the Cats spring these startling comebacks every year when they look down and out, only to tantalize the fans a bit before going off on another losing streak. And when they again look down and out they spring another response, etc, ad infinitum.

And of course, in the end, the net result is always another disappointing placing outside of the playoffs.

Consistency has never been the forte of this club, apart from the consistently undulating campaigns of mediocrity and sudden short-lived burst of surging power; always inevitably leading to another season of outsiders looking in syndrome.

Actually, come to think of it—the Cats are very consistent—just not in any positive aspect.

Anyway, back to the point…

The Panthers have enjoyed success on the road this year and are thus still in the playoff hunt; against all odds and despite their worse than poor home record.

The Cats are 4-6-5, thus amassing 13 points on home ice; whilst doing considerably better away with a 9-8-2 record that sees some 20 points having been collected away from the Sunshine State.

Even if the Panthers would win the 3 games less that they’ve played on home ice versus away games—no matter how improbable that would be—they’d still not reach the level of play and points collected away from home.

So what makes these felines tick as soon as they leave South Florida?

I’d say there are a few key words that can go a long way in illuminating this mystery. They are namely: Playing to their strength, a simplified approach, no pressure, and, underestimating opponents.

Let’s look at each more closely and I’ll explain my train of thoughts on the subject:

 

Playing to their strength

The Florida Panthers are not a high powered offensive juggernaut—yesterday’s Islanders game aside—and don’t dominate many games in any given season. Even in that 7-1 thrashing of the NY Islanders, it is worth noting that the Cats were still outshot 31-25.

The Florida Panthers is a counter attacking team. Again, if we take the Islanders game as example, a majority of the goals came from breakaways—plays that originate from breaking up the opposing teams offensive play—defense to forwards.

The Cats also deploy a dump and chase tactic that will see the Panthers spend most of their time in the offensive zone trying to dig out pucks from the corners. Using their mobile forwards and pinching defenders—the idea is then to set someone up in the shooting zone for a one-timer at goal.

Aggressive forecheck and responsible backchecks are embedded in the players’ mind and stifle to a certain extent any more flamboyant tendencies from the forwards; molding them in to a collective and creating a form of ‘chasing pack mentality’ that is based on speed and responsible defensive play—first and foremost.

The idea is to limit opponent’s shots to the perimeters. Opponents may get many shots off at goal—but they’ll lack precision as well. Put the body on the line to block shots and then hit back on the counter.

Again; speed and mobility is key.

This tactic currently employed by the Panthers is more successful on the road than it is on home ice. Reason is that when playing at home the Cats must also attempt to entertain the crowd and not just put defensive responsibilities first.

The problem is that when Florida open up and try to play more expansive hockey they are typically picked off by teams which a higher collective skill level and individual talents to boast.

As soon as the Cats step away from the collective approach they become sitting ducks for the opposition to shoot down.

Playing away thus keeps the game plan intact and the Panthers can focus on playing the collectively responsible game.

 

A simplified approach

A closely related point is the simplification of Florida’s game plan away from home.

Any time you want the team to play more expansively, a fair degree of creativity is required, and the Cats are to put it plainly not blessed in this compartment. Especially not when Cory Stillman and David Booth both occupy a place on the long-term injury list.

So when Florida travel north to meet an opponent they do what all teams do—to a certain extent—on the road; they simplify their approach, play more defensively sound, and look to grind down the home team’s early offensive efforts—to hit back later in the game instead.

This approach fits hand in glove with the Panthers original game plan and players available, as previously explained.

 

No pressure

Playing away is great if a team suffers from certain anxieties when it comes to facing an elevated sense of pressure and expectations upon their individual performances.

Everyone knows this is the case with the Florida Panthers: They don’t deal well with pressure and expectations, period.

As soon as they get into a good spell of performances and the expectations rise as a consequence; they without much further ado head off on another losing streak. Once the expectations then fade—performances pick up again.

Statistically we can look at how the Panthers fare when going in to the third period with a lead and thus face the pressure to try and keep that lead intact or indeed extend it: They are 29th in the league with a .563 record of winning those games.

Also, we can see that the Cats have lost only two points on away ice in an overtime/shootout—whilst on home ice—5 such points have been squandered.

Dealing with pressure situations is clearly not the strength of the Florida Panthers; they do better when coming from behind.

 

Underestimating opponents

Whilst I’m sure all opposing coaches tell their players not to underestimate the Panthers when they come to town for a visit, it is understandable if this still happens nonetheless.

Florida has no star forward, no defensive powerhouse, and Tomas Vokoun in goal has always been underestimated among goalies.

His numbers are always up there amongst the best and this while playing on a team that regularly allows the most shots on goal in the entire league; yet, he gets very little recognition when he regularly puts up herculean efforts—to give the Cats a chance to win.

Despite the lack of star power the Panthers are a tricky team to play. Their tenacious fore- and backchecking wears on opponents and Florida hardly ever give up a game—they still come surging forward, even long after a game has realistically become a lost cause.

This point in question is highlighted in the last game away to the Washington Capitals on December 3rd.

Despite being 6-0 down in the third, the Cats still kept coming forward and scored a couple of late consolation goals to make it 6-2 instead. It may not change the match, but it gives the club and players some regained pride and belief that can help them in the next one.

We have seen in several games on the road that the opponents had not really expected the Panthers to be in their face as much as they were and lacked the necessary fire to subdue them. Essentially handing the momentum over to the Cats instead—to try and find a way through.

In a league of parity you underestimate an opponent at your own risk, even the Florida Panthers.

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