As of lately many Wolf Pack fans have been disappointed in our goaltending. Many people say it's our goaltending that is causing the high scoring close games, the 7 game losing streak, and losing the lead when we have it. (Ex: The St. John game when it was 5-2 until the last 5 minutes of the third period.) But it isn't really fair to blame it all on the goalie. Personally I think J-F is a decent goalie. Some of the stops he has made are incredible, but there are always those garbage goals that go by him that make you think "I could have stopped that!!". Things happen. Yeah maybe the guy was able to walk the puck right in the net, but where was the defense? Aren't they supposed to make the other team pay for getting near the net? A loss simply can't be pinned on a single player. Maybe the goalie was having an off night, but that is just another reason for defense to say to themselves, "Hey J-F is having a bad night, maybe we should sharpen OUR game more in front of the net." A true win is a team effort, and a loss is a team effort too. When the team doesn't work together and communicate, they can't function properly. I was told that during the losing streak the Wolf Pack were experiencing, a lot of players were pointing the fingers at each other and trying to blame one person. That doesn't solve anything. The only thing that will solve any problem, is finding where you went wrong, and what you are doing wrong and trying to find a way to repair it without yelling and blaming people.

What this brings me to is what happens after a bad loss in the garage. I remember when we lost badly, J-F walked out and people started heckling him and booing him. Is this how we treat our players? To me that kind of behaviour is incredibly rude. A sarcastic "Nice game J-F." isn't as bad, an angry fan has a right to express disappointment. But screaming out at him "YOU SUCK!" and other things to his face, is just in bad taste. Leave the guy alone, he knows he played badly and if he doesn't he has a coach and a whole team who would be more then happy to point out to him where he went wrong. People say J-F is very arrogant, maybe he is, I dunno. From how he acts around people I would think so, but he's all we have at this time. We loaned our better goalie, statistically speaking, out to get better offense. It worked for a while, it still works usually. But it's a lot of pressure on the offense when the goalie and defense can't keep the scoring from the other team down. Would people stop treating Brad Smyth like he is some kind of god. He isn't. His head is already bloated enough. He's very talented, I'll give credit where it's due. But he isn't a team player, not at all. He has such a note of arrogance out on the ice it makes me wanna slap some sense into him. Hasn't ANYONE noticed this?? Whenever he gets a penalty he yells at the ref, he POUTS. Oh come on, everyone gets penalties, you just have to learn to take it like a man and realize you got caught. Yes I am aware most players get upset when getting caught, or getting a bad call, but chucking your stick across the ice and almost hitting another player is just CHILDISH. It cost us a GAME. We had a chance of getting back into it and tying it, but instead his childlike behaviour finally got punished, and caused us to go on a penalty kill for four minutes. There was only 5 minutes left to the third period. I've also noticed that he and Leading Wolf Pack Scorer Derek Armstrong don't get along. Jealous you can't always be number one Brad?

Now I don't hate Brad, he's helped us out a LOT when we need him. He's saved our butts, but I can't stand it when people think the whole world revolves around them. We have a lot of talent on our team. Derek has just exploded this season, Christain Dube is improving his game, Alexei Vasiliev started the season out badly, but slowly improved him game immensely. He's one of the best defense we have out there. And what about heart and soul players like Brent Thompson and P.J. Stock? Brent to me is the soul of this team. He'll defend any of his players if someone messes with them. He's one of the friendliest players, and he does a LOT of work out in the community. P.J. is a true team player. Maybe statistically in points he isn't valuable, but that wasn't why the Rangers wanted him. He gets the team back into a slow game, and he gets the crowd back into it. He fights the big guys, he doesn't care, he'll drop the gloves with anyone. It just means more when the little guys fight the big guys.

Our captain is also a team player. He'll be there for a player when maybe the coach was a little hard on them, or he'll yell at them when he thinks the coach wasn't hard enough on them. And then there's guys like Chris Winnes. Guys who you wish had more ice time. Until recently when two key fowards got called up to the Rangers, (Christiain Dube and Scott Fraser) Chris got barely any ice time and was off in Manitoba, but he came back, and with a vengance. He's currently on a point streak. Everyone has to contribute for a team to win. What about Todd Hall? He continues to impress me. He can play foward and defense, and actually play both positions very well, not everyone can do this. He not only makes the opposition pay for going near the net, but can score when we need it. Of course we have to mention Bob Errey. Anyone who experienced that one game in Springfield that ended up a free for all brawl can see that little Bob has the heart of a lion. He took on Sean Gagnon, who is TWICE his size. Does Bob care? Heck no!! He took him on! He's also great at setting up goals, maybe not in assists, but in fooling the goalie by planting himself in front of the net so players can come in and score through the backdoor. The point I'm trying to get across is team work. It's not only important, it's very necessary.Consistancy is also very important, just one line scoring isn't enough, just one defensive pairing actually gelling isn't enough. There has to be some sort of consistancy. Depending only on certain players will only work for so long before you over work them and they fizzle. Did anyone even think about poor J-F? He had 16 starts in a row before they even thought about starting Jeff Heil. Then the next game J-F played after getting a night off, he was excellent. The same thing has happened in New York, Muckler decided to give Richter a rare break and let Dan Cloutier play. Now the last game Richter didn't do so well, but after they let Mike play after sitting on the bench for a game, he was the great goalie people remember his as. I'd hate to see E.J. turn into a John Muckler. You have a backup goalie for a reason, one reason is to give the other goalie a rest.

What I mean by E.J. turning into a John Muckler is that Muckler barely EVER plays Dan Cloutier. Any Wolf Pack fan from last season knows how much talent Dan has. He's very talented, and Muckler rarely plays him and plays Richter over and over and over. Basically use him up until he has nothing left. Which means pulling Richter when the Goals Against is like 4-0 in the second period. That is not an easy game for a back up to fill in for, especially if offense isn't able to make up the deficit, and when he's been a benchwarmer for so long. And benching a goalie for one game isn't an insult, they just need a break sometimes!
Now if this sounds like I'm bashing any players or fans, I'm not. I'm just reacting to what I see. Everyone is going to act how they want to act and say what they want to say, but not everyone is always going to like what you do or say. I think the Wolf Pack are an excellent team, and I think Hartford fans are a different breed of fans. Although people may think otherwise, we're pretty decent when a fan for another team visits the Civic Center. Some people may disagree, but having been to many away games to places like Lowell, Springfield, Worcester and New Haven, I can accurately say we treat the opposing fans pretty decently. In Springfield they're rowdy mean and rude, New Haven they have next to no class, Worcester they aren't too bad, but some of the fans I have met there really make me wonder if they get the concept of hockey up there. Lowell fans aren't anything really, the team hasn't been there long enough for people to really have a passion about it.

Well if you've read this far then my rambling must be interesting. You may not agree with everything I have typed out, and that's fine with me. I have an opinion, and so does everyone else and I think everyone can agree to disagree. Just don't get mad at me for having an opinion.