Joel and Reg look forward to the new season

16/09/2009

Following the successful 5-0 home drubbing of Kingston last weekend Joel Poirier and Reg Wilcox gave us their thoughts on the coming season, the side they built in the summer and some of the targets they have set.

Joel begins with the aims of side this year “Our first building block is to have a closer knit group which will hopefully show on the ice, at times this was lacking last season.” “Especially during the middle bit of the season.” Reg explains.

Joel explains further “We went through a little bit of a lull, we had some good leadership in the dressing room but I don't think we had enough people on board doing the same thing out there on the ice. I have to look at myself as Headcoach too, I should have made decisions and put my foot down at different times but you live and you learn. So we made the decision to build a bunch of guys who wanted to put their bodies on the line and work hard every night, they want to win and excel every game. I think we've done a pretty good job of that you'll see a lot of similar faces, no doubt but we've also bought in a couple of older guys which we think will bring some leadership when we're not in the dressing room.”

With these aims in mind what are the coaching duo looking forwards to the most from their side this season? Joel starts. “I'm looking forward to them stepping their game up, we've set them a challenge, what we expect from them and it it's up to them to reach out and grab it. We'll direct and lead as much as we can but when it comes down to it if they want to progress their hockey careers they have to do something about it.”

Reg is looking forward to seeing something a bit different from the ENL team this season. “I am looking forward to us playing some good defensive hockey this season, which a slight change from the last couple of seasons, with our leaders standing up.” A point which Joel expands on. “Our systems have always been passive/aggressive but I think in retrospect that a lot of our guys were still learning the positional aspect of hockey, knowing where to be when they don't have the puck. By playing a more defensive game it will get them thinking more about where they're priorities are on the ice as opposed to only when they have the puck. In hockey you're lucky if you have the puck for 10% of the time so what do you do with yourself when you don't have it? Are you going to right areas, are you doing the right things if not then that's a weak link in the chain.”

Is there one thing you can take from last season that you can build on this season?

Joel again. “I think our drive at the end of the year showed our potential. It just goes to show that you're committed and that you're together and can push each other to win then things can happen. We didn't change our tactics or our coaching styles.” This is a point reg concurs on. “We somehow managed to change some of the attitudes. We need to keep that going and build on that for this season.”

Mark Rainbow