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January 27, 2005

67s Are “Baffling”

Notes from an interview with AJ on TEAM 1200/Dave Gross and Gary Galley today. Interesting, very interesting. Read on . . .

AJ: (On Spezza) He was outstanding. Guadagnolo should have got the start, rightly, but Spezza coming in, he gives the 67s more depth in goal and now they have three pretty good options.

Garry: What is with their lack of offence?

AJ: They’ve got three lines that should be able to put the puck in the net. Look at their stats. The problem is that they’ve all been streaky. It never seems that all three lines are on at the same time. Last night, the best players on the ice were Talbot, McGinn, Alphonso, and Lawrance. Rookies and a defenceman.

Dave: What the hell is wrong with this team?

AJ: They’re just not consistent. Sometimes they’re not ready out of the gate. Sometimes they’re not ready after 20 minutes. They can’t play for 60 minutes. It’s pretty disturbing. Look at last year’s team, I think that this year’s team is more talented, but last year they came to play every night. Goaltending, from a consistency standpoint, is better than last year. But they can’t string wins together. They can’t string periods and even shifts together. I’m baffled, and I know that the coaching staff is baffled. Someone has to take a major leadership role here.

Dave: Last year they had Bauman and Mitsou.

AJ: Albiani was a leader in the back room.

Garry: Is it a problem with no one in the room?

AJ: Don’t know. Staubitz has helped out in that department. But, they haven’t gelled yet. There’s not that much time left though. Maybe this is the w/e – but we’ve been saying this for 2, 3 months now – but maybe this is when they’ll turn it around.

Garry: Leadership doesn’t come from one guy. If you’re looking around the room for someone to be a leader for you, that’s pretty sorry.

AJ: A lot of the no-show games have been the big ones. Example Peterborough. It’s baffling. Big games against divisional rivals, and you put forth that kind of effort.

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