| 'We haven't
been playing that bad a brand of hockey." That's the opinion of Cincinnati Stingers
coach Jacques Demers, who has seen his team play five games and win just one so far this
season in the World Hockey Association. While a 1-4 record doesn't quite agree with
Demers' description of the Cincinnati performance to date, the new Stinger coach is
convinced the team is right on the verge of turning things around. "At the beginning of the season I gave myself 10 games to get things
together," Demers explained. 'If things don;t come around by then we may have to make
some changes." He wasn't prepared at this time to pinpoint the areas where changes
might take place, but one of them probably would be goaltending. The Stingers have been
working on their mistakes in practices this week, preparing for Friday's game against the
Jets in Winnipeg. Most of the practice time has been devoted to handling the puck in their
own end and getting the puck out of that same end quickly.
"We're working our own zone a lot in practice and working more
on forechecking, something we haven't done too well," said Demers. "And we want
to keep the guys thinking positive. That's important." Demers pointed out that
"when you play bad and lose you have a reason to get down on yourself. But I believe
we played badly in two games - Indianapolis and Quebec - and we don't have anything to
feel badly about." Demers said the players are in good spirits and working hard
"We're very close to playing good hockey," he said. "When we solve our
problems we'll start winning games."
Against Winnipeg at home and the Aeros in Houston the Stingers
seemed to pick their spots, playing aggressively at times and then backing off to give the
opponent a break. In each game the opponent got just one break to many. "The players
are still learning a new system and I think sometimes we're afraid to make mistakes,"
said Demers. "I don't think there's a lack of aggressiveness as a team, but we could
use more hitting from the defenseman."
If the Stingers are going to pick up the pace they better get with
the program soon. The Winnipeg game marks the last contest this month, but November is a
killer. Starting with a game against the Whalers in Hartford, Conn., November 4, the
Stingers play 16 games during the month, eight on the road including a week-long swing
starting in Quebec, moving to Winnipeg, two games in Edmonton and then back to Winnipeg
for another meeting with the Jets before returning home November 21.
And starting with a home game against the Nordiques November 23,
Cincinnati plays four games in four nights with road contests against Birmingham, Houston
and Indianapolis. "The best thing that could happen to us right now is to go into
Winnipeg Friday and win," Demers remarked. In other words, the way to end a losing
streak is to start winning. |
