As the Wings enter another bye week, they must let another loss stir and fester inside of them. This just wasn’t a regular loss. This was an embarrassing defeat to the Rochester Knighthawks which brought back memories of the 2012 season opener, a 22-12 loss. This was also a 10 goal defeat 20-10, but it made it two home losses in a row that the Wings where doubled up on the scoreboard. Prior to the bye week, the Wings where defeated 16-8 by the Calgary Roughnecks.
The loss this past Friday morning made it 11 games in a row (including last years playoff game) the Knighthawks have defeated the Wings, and if you go back to the New York/Orlando Titans, it is now 11 games in a row that goaltender Matt Vinc has defeated the Wings. Wings fans, especially this one are wondering what type of voodoo curse do the Hawks and Vinc have on the Wings. There was only a couple bright sides to a loss last week. Captain Brodie Merrill registered a hat trick which should give him more confidence in scoring, and also the Rock lost their game in overtime, still leaving the Wings two games out of first. Is it time to panic? Is it time for the fans to abandoned ship? NO!! True we have lost three in a row, the last two at home in embarrassing fashion. But look at the entire league, only two teams stand out and they are Calgary and Toronto. The other 7 teams are all separated by one or two games. So can the Wings right the ship? I think so.
But there are issues that need to be addressed before the next set of games.
1—Goaltending.. If Kevin Croswell was brought here for his veteran experience and was to be a solid back-up to Miller, where is it? We haven’t seen it.
2– First two games we crashed the middle, got inside the defense and rattled the goalie. Last two games no penetration, no screens.
3– Offense…While the new additions’ on the team, Ross, Buchanan are scoring, our big guns, Crowley, Westervelt need to be scoring on a more consistent basis. Also.. we need to create space so Rabil can let his shot go on net, and even get inside on his way to the goal.
One thing I have heard a lot lately is; This American experiment is not working, You cant play indoor with a roster of mainly Americans. Do I think they will win the remaining 11 games, No…But I do believe it can work. The Titans made it work in 2008(Eastern Finals) & 2009 (Championship Loss).
Eight of the nine teams make the playoffs, and we seen what happened last year. We had two teams with below 500 records in the title game, and the Rush came within 30 minutes of winning it all. You need to get hot at the right moment and last season the Rush & Knighthawks did just that. But the Wings need to start fixing these holes immediately!! Next game for the Wings….you guessed it… Rochester Knighthawks….this time in Rochester, Feb 23rd 7:30pm. The Wings will board a bus immediately and head home for a 4pm game the next day against the Mammoth.
We know the fans are upset and disappointed, they support us for the full game, we need to play a full game and get back to winning.. said Brett Manney in my interview last night
Time to turn it around is Feb 23rd, Put the last three games behind you.
