Well someone could think after giving it a quick look, that this picture was taken waaay back in the days of M*A*S*H or on Halloween day, but in fact, it's not...it's very recent. So who is it??? It's our #22 Marc Beckstead!!! I just love this picture, it shows alot about this player, or this guy. This guy, as been giving it all since being acquiring by our Hull Olympiques. I've said it in the past, if Groulx could have 20 Marc Beckstead on his team he would be happy! Why, because Marc leaves it all on the ice, night in night out. He's a heart and soul player a hard worker and from what i've been told a guy that's always cheerful, the guy likes to smile, he honest has a glass of water and good for the team spirit!!! I guess you people know where i'm heading with this one....
I'm so mad right now I just had to write in english, because french words would derive from my mood. If I want to write a love letter to a special someone, i'll do it in french (langue de l'amour)....if i'm mad as hell and want to show my frustration i'm going to use Shakespeare to voice my opinion.
Alright, so we we're all at the game last night against Quebec city, well all 2400 fans who still give a crap about this organization, back in the days, the Guert would of been rocking with the Remparts coming to town in January...but now days, fans have had enough and just like the VDO fans, they're showing there disapproval with the team by not going to games anymore.
Ok, so we we're up 2-0 against promo Grigorenko and the Remparts and then what the hell happened!?!?! Well i'll tell you...
First of all, again we had one of our biggest talents sitting for the game, Martin Reway and again Anthony "I really feel bad for you" Brodeur had to do his best in front of our net while Steeves "Groulx's boy" was somewhere in the arena nursing an "injury"...what was is this time??? A knee, a flu, a cough, a headach who bloody cares really...Reway and Steeves always have a reason, note an excuse for not playing...and when they do, we are forced to hear a bunch of BS about how things didn't work out for them that night or whatever new excuse oour once great organization feeds us.
Flash back to yesterday, how the hell do we give up 5 goals in the third period?!?! Groulx said that we played good hockey for 50 minutes, I couldn't disagree more, after the second period I said to the PNUT gallery that we would blow it!!! Why you say??? Simple, it's nothing new...we've seen it before, the Piques start the game with fire in there eyes and then all of the sudden the other team starts to impose his game and out we go....just like last night...and out we went!!!
Where did it start...pretty much same place has usual...Emile Poirier, scores a great goal...well the shot was great...in the NHL he would of been creamed for cutting in the middle with his head down...but in junior he can get away with it and take a nice shot top shelf to eventually score...after that, Emile was satisfied with his performance and we barely saw any effort from him.
Quebec got a good bounce on there first goal, no one to blame there...but for Chris-sakes that made the game 2-1, in our favor...meaning that we we're far off from losing this tilt!!! For some odd reason, we decided to let them do pretty much what the wanted on the ice....thank the Lord that Quebec is not a physical team or else we would of been pounded from left to right!!!
Ok, so flash forward to the third period, we're still up by one goal here and then all of the sudden...penalties start taking a toll on our team. We killed one on Ottereyes for interference and then guess what?! Humpdy behind the bench gets called for ANOTHER too many man on the ice penalty!!! Are you kidding me!?!? AGAIN, too many man on the ice...and here's the kicker Hull fans, this guy has the audacity to crap on his players for taking too many penalties in the third period which led to our demise, but he completely disregards the facts that he's responsable for running his bench!!! This is a farce even for him...coaches around the league mentionned to JFP (the team journalist) that they have respect for him (Groulx)...that's fine, I except, but this doesn't mean they think they're not better then him and this certainly doesn't mean that he's great...i'm almost trembling after writing the word "great" in the same sentence has Groulx!!! I always said, that Groulx does have good coaching abilities, but the rest super-seeds it!!!
Quick note here...can anyone tell me how much ice time Pepin (2 first round draft picks for this him) and Dostie played last night....I would ballpark it under 8 minutes for both players combined and I might be pushing it here!!!
I came back from the game last nigth and of course I wasn't too happy, don't get me wrong...10 years ago I would of punch my TV screen once at home and I would of done that with no voice left in my lungs after leaving it at the old barn....but yesterday, as usual lately, I was simply discourage after seeing another bowl of Humpty Dumpty Crappy Hockey. We we're out shot, out chanced and out of the league of the surging Remparts who are seriously looking like a team who will be a very serious one come this March!!! I'm not going to go on and on has to why we are not a serious team/organization anymore, you people know my opinions in regards to this subject...but this doesn't explain why we let the Remparts score 4 freaking goals in the late minutes of the game!!!
Alright, so where we're we....oh yeah, I didn't feel like punching my TV out.....until today when I picked my "Le Droit" paper and read the post game comment by Sherlock behind the bench, not to be confused with Sherlock (Gryger). This guy (Groulx)...blames Brodeur for the loss...saying that the kid did not make a save for him all night long!!! Well, last time I checked the Remps shot 35 times on us and the score was 6-2....you do the math folks...of course I'm playing with words and stats here, but you get the picture!!!
The kid saw his team leave him completely alone for the entire third period and he had to face the Remps 10 bloody times on the power-play (One of there many strenghts)...what did our power-play do and super sniper NHL shot Frank Schumacher did for us....you guessed it...it's usual 00000000%!! Not blaming Schummy here, simply pointing the fact that our play did not improved since his arrival, has predicted by yours truly!! Who in they're right mind would blame an 18 year old rookie goalie for the performance he put up last night when Steeves, mister injury was again sitting in the stands nursing who the cares what?!?! Lafontaine would proabably do a better job in nets then Steeves right now, anyone ever had that thought cross there minds!!!
Ok, so my blood his boiling now, because I really feel for Anthony Brodeur who has to read this pile of you know what twice in the spam of 2 weeks!!! Once for making a new record and a second time around last night after doing what he possibly could in game where he should be doing what a rookie back-up does this time of the year....BEING A BACK-UP!!! Not taking away from my frustration about the comments on Anthony here...but I loss my mind when I read Groulx saying that Beckstead took a dumb penalty at the end of the game, calling him weak in his decision taking!!! This is where I draw the line on this clown (Groulx), I've been holding back for a long time now, some of you guys are going to say "WTF are you talking about H4L, you holding back"??? Well I have, but when I see a great kid like Beckstead being called "weak" for what he did when the bloody game was over...knowing full well that what he did was a slap on the wrist in the 90's and close to the same thing in this wee-wee game we now call hockey, I'm not holding back anymore.
I'll tell you this Mr. Bench Boss, the team that blew the game last night, is a result of you're trades, you're moves, you're draft picks and you're fruitless ego chauvinistic ding headed junior forever amateur coaching !!! You have to be the even more out of you're mind then usual to fall on a guy like Beckstead who does every thing that you ask for on the ice, everything that we has fans want in a great third line, warrior type player. Now the guy (Beckstead) showed some frustration after loosing a somewhat emotial and very frustrating game and you fall on him for showing some heart!!! I'm not turning the other cheek on this one and you will be hunted until you leave MY GOD DAM arena once and for all with this one!!! If Poirier and Reway would show half the heart that Beckstead shows every shift...they would both be 50 goal scorers, if they would listen to all the crap that you bark during the course of a game, like Marc does, they would already be in the NHL lighting it up!!! I believe when I see Beckstead play that he's about the only guy who still believes in you're (Groulx) skills has a bench boss and you're going to fall on the only guy who seams to be wanting to play for you!!! Some people are going to say, "it's reverse psychology"....I simply call it what it is...."disrespectful, out of place and totally wrong on many levels" Where was you're 2 superstars (Reway and Poirier) at that time....one just served a dumb hooking penalty drawn in the offensive zone and the other one was moo-mooing in the stands nursing another phony injury because he's tired of hearing you're voice eering in his head on the bench!!!
After reading the post-game comments, I have to accept has a fan, that we loss that game because of bad goaltending and poor performance from our 4th line!!! Please, i've been to hockey games before....you can't count to 5, having being called for another Groulxrie (too many man on the ice) and from there on in, YOU'RE team lost faith in you and the rout was on!!! Yeah, our PK did bad and usually it does great, yeah you told you're team before the game not to take penalties againts Quebec because they can score from anywhere on the power-play (I'm fine with that, it makes a lot of sense)....but where was the intensity for more then half of the game, how come our lines we're another merry-go-round event, how come you're star players weren't great leaders, how you're 20 year old players are playing on the third lines or on the third pair of defencemen? I'll tell you why...Because you're picking up players that you believe are great ones and after about a week you realise that they're not...or they realise that they can't play for you, or simply don't want to play for you for whatever reason they may have....reasons that are totally believable and credible!!!
Billet parents, players, fans and anyone in they're right Hull Olympiques mind is fed up about hearing stories about how they're being mis-treated...when will we see some change in this organization I say!?!?! JFP says all the time that you (Groulx) don't care about results in the regular season and that what we're seeing for 68 games is simply a long eternal training camp to prepare the team for the playoffs....well if that would be true...why the hell are you mad all the time??? Why do you have corrective practices and meetings to correct whatever you believe his wrong all the time???
I'll give you a tip, change you're philosophy, take a week-end at le Spa Nordik, relax, breath in and out and let you're team play like they want to play for a few games. Let kids be kids, without being a Claude Noel type coach....find a way to be a "friend" without necessarely being they're "best" friend...see where this we lead you. They're is no sense on crapping on them all the time, when done accordingly it can have great effect on a team spirit...when done all the time, it simply looses it's meaning. We all want the same thing here....Hull to be great again...we want a winning team, a team that we can be proud of...not this constant pile of brou-haha that we here about all the time. I mean, even JFP, the team journalist posted a blogue about the dressing room being upside down...my opinions are mine...but when he (JFP) says the same thing has me and he's paid for what he does...alot of people tend to believe that in fact....it's true!!!
You know what people say....if it's not broke, don't fix it....well someone his clearly broke within this team....SO WHEN WILL SOMEONE FIX IT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, IF IT'S NOT TOO LATE ALREADY!!!
I personnaly apologize has a long time fan of this once great orginzaton for guys like Beckstead and Brodeur who have to endure this kind of teatment. I say that we has fans should rally behind our players as we are the only thing they have left that's positive within this organization, I won't take credit for this last idea as it came from one of my friend who came up with the idea today...after hearing me shout for 2 straight hours about what I read today in the papers!!!
Keep dropping the gloves kids, it's part of the game!!!!
I think there is more and more people complainning about the coach... The way the player reacts is what strikes me the most... Some don't seem to care and the team is by far better than what wee see on the ice...
RépondreSupprimer@anonymous
RépondreSupprimerIt's been going on gor years and years...but Sear rather die with Groulx behind the bench then having any kind of success with any other coach!!! That's his mentality!!!
Mon dieux!!! Je ne peux pas le dire meilleure moi-meme.
RépondreSupprimerI agree with you about Beckstead. I loved the guy since his first shift.
RépondreSupprimerIntense, hard working, never holding back.
Groulx's comments we're completely uncalled for and I don't see how one could get more of a guy like Beckstead...it's not like he will score 150 goals now because Groulx crapped on him....what a horrible decision!!! What's the point of telling Anthony off??? Steeves is suppose to say to himself..."Ole shit, I won't let another puck in the net or else poor Anthony will hear it again"!!!
RépondreSupprimer100% agree with you on Beckstead, one of the better hockey players I have seen in a long time, for me a great hockey player is not just based on the talent but on all of the other aspects of their game. He is a true hard working player, he goes in the dirty areas to get the keep, accepts check just to go out of the corners with the puck, keeps things simple, he drives the net and shoots (which our team seem to have problem doing the same thing) and with his intensity, he creates some nice chances on the ice...
RépondreSupprimerAlso, a little side note, most of you must have noticed Vincent Dunn's play this past weekend...WOW! The kid played SMART hockey, he remained out of the Box and kept on chirping after the whistle to get the other players aggravated...he scored, he hit realy hard and played in your face type game...if he keeps this up (which is a big "IF") this kid will make wonderfull things on the ice. With all the critics towards him lately, I though that praising him a little for his games this weekend might have been welcomed with most of you!!
one little side note, After sheppard got kicked out for his "stagged" fight, he was really angry, he told me that this was one of the worst calls ever, I agreed...I need to ask Stooy, have you seen the fight, if so, did you think it should have been considered a stagged fight? everyone else is also invited to comment on this if you wish...
Another good week of hockey ahead!
GO HULL GO!
No, I did not see the fight.So I cannot say if it was staged or not. I will see if I can find a clip of it.
RépondreSupprimerAs you know, I am ESPECIALLY against staged fights. I do not like the honest ones, though I am willing to accept them, but the staged fights really do have to go.
Fighting takes most of the physical play out of hockey. It makes the game much more like ringette, at least at the junior level. Fighting drastically reduces the number of body checks that take place, because a lot of these kids are not fighters, and they know that if they land a good, clean body check someone on the other team might try to mug them, and so they avoid the good solid hits.
Remember the game when the Russians played the Q? The Russians landed more hits that game than we see in a season of Q hockey!! Why? Simple, because when players do not have to worry about being attacked by a goon, they play tough, clean hockey.
Everyone who complains about the lack of hits and physical play should consider my words. If you want the fights fine, but you cannot have both the fights and good, tough, clean hockey. Not at the junior level.
In the past on the other forum I commented about our players attacking guys who land clean hits and the response I got was that yes the hits was clearn, but the attacks were necessary to prevent the other team from thinking they can get away with these solid hits.
I rest my case.
Take fighting out of hockey and it will become a much tougher, more physical game.
Hull4life, you are a careful observer of hockey.
RépondreSupprimerYou may have noticed on the other forum that I raised the topic of ice conditions. I am sure you, like myself, have noticed the radical inconsistency of ice conditions from game to game. Sometimes it is good, hard, fast ice. Other times, like against Quebec, it is slow, soft, sluggish ice.
Why do you think the ice conditions are changing so much from game to game? Why, on very cold nights do we sometimes have terrible ice?
Are they doing it to save money sometimes? Might it be deliberate?
I am now taking note from game to game to see if a pattern emerges. It is too soon to draw conclusions, but we can certainly speculate.
Could anyone other than Groulx the tyrant be behind the ice quality decisions? Is it possible he slows the ice down when we play good, fast teams?
We all know that fast ice makes for much better hockey. And we all know that better hockey puts more fans in the seats.
Any ideas here?
http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/121835
RépondreSupprimerObviously staged, the referees got it right. Both players were behind the play, no hit or cheap shot has taken place, and they clearly agreed to drop their gloves. This is a staged fight all the way.
H4L, after reading your blog, I made a few phone calls to people I know and trust that attend every game. As you know, I'm not very impressed with Sear and Groulx and not too interested in giving them money to attend games.
RépondreSupprimerOne of the guys I spoke to is a goaltending coach and he gave me a good insight on Brodeur that seems to make sense. He says that Brodeur's technique is terrible (somewhat like his dad) but that this technique lends itself to some terrific saves once in a while. He thinks that Brodeur looks good in front of a solid defense that limits quality shots and opportunities but that when the defense is porous as it was during that game, that Brodeur's style becomes a liability for him and teams take advantage. It also wondered about Brodeur's conditioning. He agreed that the 6-2 score wasn't his fault though and he held them in there as long as he could but was basically left by himself in the third. I told him about Groulx's comments at the end of the game blaming Brodeur and the 4th line for the loss. He couldn't believe it. He said that the too many men penalty, the Poirier penalty and the porous defense were to blame as well as the Groulx's bench management. Anyways, I wasn't at the game so I'll trust your judgment and his.
mj
Thanks MJ. On the Olympiques forum I immediately blamed Groulx for this loss. You have said nothing to change my opinion. All of us state often that the players need to try their best. But the same is true of the coaches, and Groulx often does not try his best to win the games.
RépondreSupprimerIt is like he has some emotional problems and if the kids start blowing a game he decided to try to help them blow it rather than call a time out, settle them down, stick to some line combinations and try to help his kids save the game.
As you may have read, earlier this season it was clear to me that Groulx was deliberately contributing to blowing games by not only not calling a time out, but by actually leaving tired players on the ice after they had been scored against. He did this more than once.
And the extent to which he juggles lines is astonishing, and of often unproductive.
I now suspect he is tampering with the ice quality, making it slow for the faster, better teams. We have had very inconsistent ice. I wish I had kept better track of it in the past, but I am doing so now. We will see if a pattern is apparent.
Our goaltending still is not very good. Brodeur is not ready this season, he may never be. And Steeves simply cannot be counted on.
The ice is still a problem? That's pretty mickey mouse in this day and age but I would really be astounded if they purposely changed the ice conditions depending on the opponent. But, with the cold weather and the resources they have, the ice should always be in good shape.
RépondreSupprimerI'm still not ready to accept bad ice any time of year. Were you at the training camp? How unbelievably hot was that? We could have been bare chested and still be warm in that arena. No wonder so many players were cramping up during and after practices and scrimmages. Very very unprofessional in my opinion.
mj
Yes, the ice is good one game and bad the next. And they put a new system in not long ago. The game against Quebec had terrible ice, and it was -25 outside. I am not sure why, it may not have to do with what team is in town. Maybe it is to save money sometimes?
RépondreSupprimerBut we all know that bad ice really slows the game down, and that the best chance to attract a big crowd is to have good ice and fast hockey.
Ce commentaire a été supprimé par l'auteur.
SupprimerI am no expert but I have a theory...if it is -25 outside, they have to turn the heat up for the fans no? So if they turn the heat up, plus the heat of the fans themselves...wouldn't that cause the ice to be of bad quality...?
RépondreSupprimerHere is something for you to check, next time it is not too cold like -5ish and compare it to -25 weather, we will see if my theorie makes sense...
-GO-OL-GO- (under my new name)
@MJ
RépondreSupprimerWell your source pretty much said the same thing has me...I do agree with what he said about Anthony, the kid, does have goaltending skills, but yeah his body positioning is absolutely awful...that's why i was screaming from wall to wall at training camp...because we had exactly that with Eric Brassard last season. So our brillant organisazion decided to replace Brassard with a carbon copy of himself that had no experience in the league...the only difference...they could market Anthony Brodeur easily...since he's Martin's son, BRILLIANT idea when you have been alienating fans for the last 5 years or so!!! Anothony just like his father can be unstoppable on certain night where he has to make the circus saves or the easy ones...but when he gets into a situation where the defense his pushed back or when his defense does not pick up rebounds...fans making a prayor becomes his best allie!!!
The funny part in all of this, is that there was games early in the year that he could of been blamed for not being ready game time, again we're talking about a rookie back-up goaltender here, so nothing to worry to much about...but Groulx didn't say anything then...now that he's thrown in against big teams past January and obviously out of his league quality chances, he now gets the rap from Groulx....ridiculous and totally misplaced!!
@Stooy
I will be checking on this for sure, I will have answers for you...but I will say this, if we still has a team can't figure out who's playing with who in January, I would be very surprised if we have time to spend on deciding what kind of ice quality we want. To add to this, Guertin ice, even after the rebovations made to the surface is still a problem. Don't forget that the Olympiques are not the only ones using it, so if it's in bad shape one night it may have to do with what happened that week before our boys hit the ice and not with Groulx wanting a bad ice against a faster team. I think the ice at Guertin is like playing roulette, some nights it falls on red more often the on black...it's a who knows type of situation. You would think that the outside weather could be a factor but with an old barn like ours, it could be the exact opposite. I do know that when it's hot outside, the rink crew has problems with it, they almost lost in the playoffs of 2010, remember we had an update around 15PM one day and at that time they're weren't sure if we we're going to have a game that night or not...I believe that this was before the renovations, but like I said, even post-renovations, the ice is still a situation they have to monitor on a daily basis...there's actually double the town employees working at the ol' Bob simply to keep to it's awful standard, or else it would probably die one night and then we would be screwed to pieces!!!
It's actually a miracle that no game has been cancelled thus far...
Like I said, I will get an update for you by tomorrow on this subject, with all of the teams recent anctics, the ice conditions have not been a priority to me lately...putting a team that actually wants to play for us has been on the first page of my menu!!!
@ Patrick, who knows? But with a proper ice making system there should never be a problem with the exception of the sweat-box games in September or April.
RépondreSupprimerMaybe they put in a cheap system knowing that the building had only a few years left? But if so, why is the ice very good some games?
I think that the change in ice conditions must be deliberate. Whether it is to save money, to slow the ice for certain opponents, or for what other possible reason, I cannot even speculate.
But as I have said, I will keep note of the ice from now on, game by game. We will see if a pattern emerges.
@ Hull4life, I hope your sources can help us with this strange situation.
Hull4life, were you there to see Steeves performance last night against Bathurst? Groulx has confidence in this guy!?!?
RépondreSupprimerSteeves is worse than Clermont ever was.
For the first time in years I BOOOOOOOOED the home team when Steeves gave them that first goal? How is a play that bad even possible?
I need to start practicing my tabernaks!!!!
Goaltending 101 ..... when an opponent is skating towards you and you have the puck, send it behind the net. (or at least on the opposite side).
RépondreSupprimerIt's a good think Bathurst is not a good team because Steeves did not look good on both goals
Agreed completely OlympiquesFan, the puck should have been moved behind the net and around to the other side. It is the job of the backcheckers to anticipate this and go to that point on the ice. Steeves seemed to go into a coma, he was unable to make a decision.
RépondreSupprimerOn the second goal he did not come out to challenge the shooter and reduce the angle. The kid is simply a bad goaltender.
We are in trouble.
I wasn't there...I knew this would be a bad game against Bathurst and It was also obvious that we would won it, a JAAA team has a good chance to beat Bathurst right now!!!
RépondreSupprimerI got you're answer on the ice surface thought!!! The ice conditions is a direct result of the temperature outside, when it's cold outside they have to heat the arena more, thus creating a humidity that effects the ice condition....that's why the ice is actually better when it's warmer outside. Having said this, new arena arena's don't have that problem because when there built they dig in the ground to eventually built the ice, having said this, at the Guert...the ice level is barely in the ground at all, having renovated this area 3 times now...so what happened here, when they did the last "dalle de beton" a few years back, they had to make it over the other previous 2....so our ice level is well above any other level in the world pretty much...meaning that our ice condition is effected directly by the temperature outside...
Town employees that work the ice on game days also effects this situation depending on how much love they actually put on it on a daily basis...so the ice can be affected by whom's working it!!! Welcome to Gatineau!!!
Interesting Hull4life, thanks! I will continue to monitor the situation, and keep in mind the temperature outside and see if this seems to truth.
RépondreSupprimer