MULTIMEDIA

Russ Herrington
postgame

After getting soundly defeated Friday night on home ice, the Waxers, save for the efforts of one line, were once again significantly outplayed and deserved the loss.

The one bright spot of the contest was the excellent play and hustle exhibited by the trio of Bryan Lachapelle who had a five-point night (including a hat trick), Chris Petracco (two goals) and Kevin Tompkins (four assists).

The season is nearing the half-way mark and after the Waxers got off to such a promising start to the year they risk throwing it all away as they hit the middle of the schedule. The Waxers have a lot of talent, but skill doesn't take one very far unless it is combined with effort or the will to succeed.

There is no mistake made by you an observer (assuming you are one) who has concluded that as of late the Markham squad has played without discipline and selfishly. There is not a lot the coaching staff can do if they set out a strategy and provide the instructions as to how to handle certain opponents and the team as a whole chooses to ignore it (not to paint every single player with the same brush, but it appears from a distance the team is playing badly, up close it has an odor).

That is not to say that everything is doom and gloom from here on out. The management team and coaching staff have experienced many things, seen many things in their hockey life. Things will turn around, either the current squad will wake up and snap out of their mid-season slump (an important weekend series with a potential playoff opponent that results in a sweep is perhaps more than a slump) or there will be more drastic measures to bring players in that want to play within the system laid out before them. That won't be necessary to any significant extent, the team in general is a group of very coachable young men that perhaps need to set their priorities in order and decide that instead of trying not to lose that they should set their minds on winning. To play winning hockey means that personal goals need to be set aside, it's pretty tough to sometimes play 1-on-5. Tempers also need to be held in check to avoid needless, costly penalties. More importantly it needs to be remembered that hockey teams win, not any player or players by themselves.

Needless to say this report was not so much a game report in the end, the boxscore below tells the story in part (it was much worse than that). EDITOR