By Ryan Laverty /
The best offence may be a good defence, but don’t tell that to the South Side Athletic Club Boston Pizza Athletics.
Just 20 games into the Alberta Midget Hockey League season and the Athletics have hit the century mark in the goals-for department, which has eradicated any doubts about which team is the most offensively dangerous in the league.
That said, don’t confuse the Athletics’ offensive talents with overall success.
While they may have averaged five goals a game so far this year, they’ve allowed nearly
as many.
Through 20 games, the Athletics had been burned for 89 goals, which explains why they currently sit fourth in the AMHL North Division with a 9-7-4 record this year.
“We are definitely not having problems scoring, but we are having problems keeping them out of our own net,” explained SSAC head coach Scott Vokey. “We’re going to have to get better at that as the year goes on or we’re going to find ourselves in trouble when we get to playoffs.”
With the holiday break and Mac’s Tournament upon us, playoffs are coming into view on the AMHL horizon and, as it does almost every year, it’s becoming clear that strong defence will play a large role in determining a champion.
The Lloydminster Tanroc Bobcats and the St. Albert Sports Raiders have established themselves as the teams to beat in the AMHL North, racking up 30 points apiece through 19 and 21 games respectively, and a lot of that success can be attributed to team defence. The Bobcats have allowed only 38 goals while the Raiders have been beaten only 43 times, making them the two stingiest teams in the league in that department.
“In playoffs, teams that can play well in their own end typically have success so that’s what we concentrate on,” explained Raiders head coach Sandro Pisani, noting that his team rarely gives up more than 20 shots a game.
“Certainly, come playoffs, teams that don’t take care of their own end don’t tend to last too long.”
Granted the Raiders also have more than enough skill to bulge the twine in the offensive zone as well, notching 97 goals so far this year, which has certainly helped their cause.
The sixth-place K of C Pats have the third-fewest goals against in the North this year with 57, but with only 56 goals for, there is a need for a healthy balance of offence and defence.
“I like our situation better this year than what we’ve had in the past because we know that we have the ability to put the puck in the net,” said Vokey. “But now we need to work on getting our forwards back to take care of our own end. We’re getting better, but we still have a lot of work to do before we’ll be ready for playoffs.” |
