Will vs Skill and “The Fine Line”

Will vs Skill and “The Fine Line”

Will vs Skill. Blainville vs Moncton. By no means am I applying that the Armada aren’t skilled, but right now through four games of this series they’re showing more will to compete than the Wildcats. The Wildcats depth and speed have been their weapon all year long and now those to factors are being tested which is part of playoff hockey. This series has been incredibly entertaining and those that thought that this series might be a walk in the park for the high powered and heavily favoured Moncton Wildcats are starting to see that any team is beatable once you get into any league semifinal scenario. Right now, the Wildcats need more contribution from their depth players or players in a secondary scoring role to step up big time. Since Gardiner MacDougall’s arrival in the Q he’s never been a big “match up” guy, but it’s clear that the Armada in general are winning more puck battles and transitioning pucks at better rate than the Wildcats. Again, this has been a very close series with the exception of the 3^rd period of Game 3.

Playoff hockey has a way of always coming down to will vs skill, but it’s very clear that the Cats depth guys need to start contributing more to the cause especially heading into a pivotal Game 5 at the Avenir Centre. MacDougall’s teams have always responded after two days rest and that sentiment was echoed during his post game presser two nights ago. Nevertheless, it’s hard to pinpoint mistakes or tendencies with highly skilled players and teams. The Armada in Game 1 and 2 were very efficient and effective with their exits and their play in neutral zone. They upped their physicality as well which probably caught a lot of people off guard.

You can use all the buzz words you want, but they were more “connected” than the Cats. Again, based on your perspective of things or your allegiance one could say the same thing about the Wildcats, but that’s up to interpretation.

MacDougall has stressed getting better every day or being one goal better, well the Wildcats find themselves in a best of three series now and if they don’t start executing and getting a bigger effort and contribution from other players aside from their “top guys” things might not end well for them. The Armada showed a ton of resiliency in Game 4 and throughout the entire series. The Wildcats have showed they’re a resilient group as well coming back in Game 2, but they will have to start making some adjustments in certain aspects of their game to impose their skill and will over the Armada over the course of the next few games if they want to be successful.

“The Fine Line”

I lost track of how many times Gardiner MacDougall said “fine line” in the presser after a stinging Game 4 setback. People can interpret those words all they want, but coaches and teams that want to win championships rely on executing and performing on the winning side of that “fine line” all of the time. A matter of fact they live and thrive on that line, but when you have two very evenly matched teams from a skill perspective, that’s where the will takes over. Now isn’t the time to go on social media and start shit canning individual players publicly, but there’s a fine line between players that want to engage and get to the middle of the ice and those that don’t in this series and it hasn’t been too hard to figure that out given the play of those particular players.

Moncton’s depth should be factor in this series, but in order for that to be the weapon that it is they have to play. MacDougall has played his Top 9 a ton through four games and that trend doesn’t show signs of stopping heading into a Game 5 scenario on home ice which should be a massive advantage for the Cats, but the Wildcats starts on home ice this season resemble that of Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates because you never know what you’re going to get.

MacDougall discussed momentum within a playoff series during postgame pressers this series alluding to the fact that a lot of the “NHL guys” that lose games usually say those things especially after they have lost.

A lot of things get said in the media and then they get taken way out of context or become the story itself. My interpretation of MacDougall’s comments after Game 4 was quite telling. His honest and transparency was also telling. There’s no question the Wildcats need to execute; they need to be better as a collective group if they want to win Game 5. MacDougall didn’t want to talk about the pressure his group is confronted with, coming out and saying that “it’s a big game” said everything you need to know about where their focus will be. As for the Armada, their depth players need to continue to win the battle against their counterparts, keep bringing the energy and stay discipline if they want to upset the Cats at home on Friday night.

For now, it’s the battle of will versus skill in this series between the Armanda and the Cats.