| "The
weather is terrible in Phoenix," Stingers coach Terry Slater reports. Its about 75
degrees. Soft winds fluttering in the tops of trees. Slater hates it. His Stingers have
just defeated Denver and Cleveland, and they've played what he calls "easily the best
game of the season." against Houston. After an eight-game losing streak, the coach
feels the momentum is building again. He doesn't want it to dissipate in the balmy Arizona
sunshine. "This weather scares me," he declares. "The sun, the palm trees,
the swimming pool out there. I'm worried about being here. I'm not sure what's going to
happen." Slater coached for two years in Los Angeles and
swears, Weather like this can kill a team from some other part of the country. It's such a
change. You put on your bathing suit and go sit in the sunshine. You get lazy. You think
more about the beauty of nature instead of the game. When you are somewhere else North or
East, what are you going to do all day. You're going to sit in the hotel room and go eat.
That's all. You have lots of time to think about the game. Here you go outside and sit in
the sun. You can do thing. I hope they don't forget about the game of hockey."
A psychology major in college Slater says he's "being really
cold to everyone (his players). I'm not smiling at all. They're all saying to me
"What's the matter ? smile. I am really very pleased with the way they've been
playing." he admits with mischief in his voice. I don't want them thinking about me
instead of the weather."
The Stingers lost Tuesday night's game in Houston 6-4, but consider
it a moral victory. They set a record for most shots by any team against Houston, 50, and
most shots in one period,23. "Their goalie Ron Grahame was sensational," Slater
praises. "Without him, we might have scored 10 or 12 goals. It had to be the best
game we've played this season. Houston has only lost once at home. I'd like to take that
game we played and put it in a bottle and save it for later. It's a shame to waste a game
like that on a loss. That's a playoff type game. Grahame looked like Bernie Parent, he
goes on. "I've seen Bernie at his best, but I've never seen a goalie better that
Grahame was against us. It was just a hell of a game both ways. A very, very, very good
hockey game. After it was over, I patted everyone on the back. It was our best overall
team effort. You're going to lose some no matter how ell you play."
Tonight is the Stingers' first game ever against Phoenix, but Slater
says, "He's getting some advance help from Dennis Sobchuk and John Hughes, who played
there on loan last year. "The rink is a little smaller than usual, it looks
like," the coach says "and they tell me that it will be really bad for the game.
We've worked a lot on passing here just to find out where the blue lines are." If the
weather has the effect Slater fears, it will be a long, hard game," he warns.
"When I was in Los Angeles and we'd been on a road trip, we could count on losing
that first game home. It's just too hard to concentrate. You've got to fight to keep
yourself from getting lazy." But asked what he'd been doing all day, Slater says,
"Oh I'll just put on my bathing suit and go out and get a little sun." He
laughs. "Now you know why I worry about the players." |
