INNISFAIL – With more than half the season in the books Ryan Dodd is not jumping up and down with pure uninterrupted joy with how his senior men’s hockey team has played in their inaugural season in the North Central Hockey League.
But he's not in any way despondent either. He is, however, full of optimism his squad has what it takes to win yet another hockey championship, despite the challenges of moving into a new league.
After 12 games before the holiday season break the Innisfail Eagles found themselves in third place with 17 points in the nine-team AA league; one behind second place Wetaskiwin Longhorns and three behind frontrunner Lacombe Generals.
On Jan. 4, the Eagles were back at it on the road against the Westlock Warriors with the first of four remaining games of the regular season.
Dodd told the Albertan he’s been “fairly happy” but, he added, there has been some concern with the offence not putting the puck in the net consistently despite outshooting opponents by wide margins in almost every game.
“We've had some struggles with scoring in certain games. We seem to, you know, grip our sticks a little bit tight, and guys get really down on themselves quickly,” said Dodd. “And when you're struggling to score, you got to go back to just keeping things simple.
“And so, we go back into a dressing room and we talk about going back out and just putting pucks on the net and driving the net. And in those games where you see those high shots that's exactly what happened.
“We kind of had a slow first, and we went back in, regrouped and talked about it, and came back out firing on all cylinders.”
Dodd said from a coach’s perspective the talks with his players about the need for consistent offence has been “awesome” as it proves they are willing to listen and go back out on the ice and put in the necessary work to do “what they’ve set out to do."
“I didn't expect to win every game this season. I mean it's a working men's league, and you got guys coming in and out of the lineup, and certain guys they fill different roles better or differently than other guys,” he said.
Throughout his team’s first 12 games Dodd has rotated goalies Wade Waters, Chance Griffith and Chance Clark.
They’ve all played well but with the Eagles still having a shot at top spot for the regular season, and with the playoffs fast approaching he will soon name one of them to lead the team towards a championship.
But, emphasized Dodd, it will not be an easy choice.
“They have not painted a clear picture for a starting goaltender for me, which on one hand is a good thing. You got three guys that are battling and competing for the net, and they all want to win,” he said, adding one of his goalies said a number one netminder should have been named earlier in the season.
“I said to him, ‘You guys have made it easy. You guys have all been battling so hard that you all deserve a piece of the net. We've been trying to play guys and see what they got in certain situations and we are going to come out in the new year with a number one goalie that'll take us down the stretch.
“Am I prepared to announce who it is today? Nope. That's unfair to the guys.”
But he said the move is necessary. He said his choice needs to stay “sharp” for at least three out of the four remaining regular season games and into the playoffs.
“And get the confidence of the team behind the goaltender that they're going to stand in front of,” he said. “And then we make our march all the way to the finals.”
In the meantime, the Eagles will play two road games this month before coming back home to the Innisfail Twin Arena on Jan. 18 to play Westlock. Puck drop is 8 p.m.
On Jan. 25 the Birds play their final game of the regular season on the road against the Stony Plain Eagles.
