7/14/2007 11:03:47 PM
Edmonton Vs Winnipeg #2

Ok, so that was fun. Say what you want about how ugly a win it was, and how we should have looked better on offence, and we kept them in the game, and we should have used our special team opportunities better than we did and all of that is well, good and wonderful but it was terribly fun to be a part of. It’s important to come out of games like that with more than positives to take away from the film. To go into a hard fought battle, a physical game like that was and to be able to come out of it with a win is extremely rewarding. Rewarding because it could have easily gone either way up until the final gun sounded. Based on those two games, it would seem that we’re two evenly matched teams. Yet I think if you asked members of either team if that was the case you’d find some interesting results. The nature of the game from a player’s perspective it seems is that you always feel like you’re the better team in a close game win or lose. When you win you feel as if flat outplayed the other team, made more plays then they did when it counted, and you made those plays of course because of careful planning, precise execution, and a wealth of talent on your side. When you lose, those same close battles it’s not so much that you lost, but more that you beat yourselves, squandered opportunities, and just generally shot yourselves in the foot because really what else could it be, I mean the wealth of talent is clearly in your locker room right?
If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that it is not all about talent. It’s taken me several years in sports to realize and actually understand that premise. It seems simple enough really, but somewhere down the line it gets complicated. Usually, sometime after you’ve gotten used to physically dominating your opponent and still losing the game because other things tend to come into play. Other things like heart, desire, opportunity, momentum, preparation, and the ability to adjust when things don’t go as you’ve prepared. Those things play just as much if not more a part in these games it seems because at this level, everybody’s big and fast…those that make plays consistently have tapped into other resources.
To be on the plus side of a battle like that is a good feeling, but it’s not one that we can be satisfied with. While Winnipeg is in my estimation a very good team, we need not be happy with ourselves that we were able to scratch and claw a win out in the Peg. While it is a tough place to play, and even more tough when mother nature isn’t on your side and it’s sold out and waiting on baited breath for Milt to score a TD, good teams win at home, great teams win on the road. If we are to be a great team, we need to expect greatness from ourselves…and demand it of each other.
That was a good start…now it’s back to the drawing board. The riders are coming to town, and they’ll be as hungry for a win as we are. We need to prepare for our feast and their famine, and it will take some doing. The West is as strong as it’s been in some time, and we’re smack dab in the middle of it. The next three games will determine whether we stay in the middle or not. ©

KP8