NOVEMBER IS HERE

November is upon us and what a month it is shaping up to be. During any given season there is always a chunk of games that seems to make or break a hockey teams year. I remember looking at this month back when the MJHL schedule came out and thinking that this is definitely one of the key times in the season.

14 games in 29 days with 10 of them being played on the road. Yikes! Well it’s a good thing that the Flyers are a better team on the road (5-2-1) then they are at home (5-4-1). And why not begin the craziness right away as they will play five games in six days beginning Tuesday when they host the Winnipeg Blues. They then travel to Steinbach on Wednesday to play the last place Pistons and then head up north for the first time this season for three games in three nights against Swan Valley, OCN, and Wayway.

Whenever there are a lot of games in a short period of time there are a lot of things that need to happen for a team to come out of it ahead. Health is a major one. The Flyers are already a bit banged up. Jory Mullin and James Buttermore are on the shelf and Michael Wilgosh left Saturday’s game after the first period with an injury. That problem leads me to my second key and that is depth.

Saturday’s game was a good example. The top six forwards got their points but three of the six goals were also scored by the guys that you would call depth players. The players that round out the bottom two lines can quite often be the deciding factor between a win and a loss especially in the playoffs. The opposition will always try and key on the top players but let’s face it, if you can get consistent production out of more than just your top six players then life gets a lot easier.

Momentum is also big factor in a month like this. So much of this game is mental and if you can get things going in the right direction you can really make some hay in a short period of time.

I am personally looking forward to this month. It’s exciting for me to think of where the Flyers would sit if they could have a good run here in November. Plus when the World Series comes to an end this week we can finally start broadcasting some games on 1570 CKMW. (Click on the CKMW tile on the Flyers website for the broadcast schedule)

This coming weekend we head up north for the Flyers first big road trip of the season. And for my next blog entry I will put together a road trip time line complete with pictures so that you fans can see life on the road.