You can't fault the defensive discipline that Pete Russell's tried to instill in the team. But there are several flaws which need to be fixed before we face the big three.
There were too many blind clearing attempts and unstructured breakouts. That means that all too often we weren't clearing our own zone.
Players were getting the puck with little idea what they'd do with it. This meant when pressured they'd just get rid of it into space. That sort of thing is often ok in the elite league, but against top teams we're beaten to the puck.
Our passing lacked accuracy.
The dump and watch approach achieves nothing except giving up possession and putting ourselves under pressure again. We have to retain possession more and build plays.
Our puck movement is too slow on the pp. It means that we can never deform our opponents box to set up scoring opportunities.
A lot of these issues are to do with the team's amount of preparation. Our domestic season needs to be sorted out to make sure that GB are ready.
I don't really have any hope for the next few games beyond avoiding embarrassment.
There were too many blind clearing attempts and unstructured breakouts. That means that all too often we weren't clearing our own zone.
Players were getting the puck with little idea what they'd do with it. This meant when pressured they'd just get rid of it into space. That sort of thing is often ok in the elite league, but against top teams we're beaten to the puck.
Our passing lacked accuracy.
The dump and watch approach achieves nothing except giving up possession and putting ourselves under pressure again. We have to retain possession more and build plays.
Our puck movement is too slow on the pp. It means that we can never deform our opponents box to set up scoring opportunities.
A lot of these issues are to do with the team's amount of preparation. Our domestic season needs to be sorted out to make sure that GB are ready.
I don't really have any hope for the next few games beyond avoiding embarrassment.