What is the difference between Canadians and Canadian? Apart from the plural formula…
The Canadians (as in Junior Team Canada) saw their coach Dave Cameron cancel several practices during last month’s tournament. And it hurt.
After all, the club was not ready to play.
But the Canadian (as in Martin St-Louis’ team) did the same thing in the last few days… and it paid off since the club has been doing well for a few weeks.
Why is this so? Because St-Louis has the pulse of its club.
Yes, CH wins. But above all, with the Flannel’s impossible schedule in terms of travel, let’s just say that the idea of resting the guys was a good one.
When we take the time to go back in time, we can see that the Canadian hasn’t practiced much. And clearly, it is because of the many air miles accumulated by the club. Here, day by day, is what it looked like.
- January 7: leave
- January 8: training in Brossard (and press briefing by Kent Hughes, just to put ourselves in context)
- January 9: training in Brossard
- January 10: no morning skate before the match
- January 11: no morning skate before the match
- January 12: travel, no training
- January 13: training in Utah
- January 14: no morning skate before the match
- January 15: travel, no training
- January 16: no morning skate before the match
- January 17: travel, no training
- January 18: no morning skate before the match
- January 19: no morning skate before the match
- January 20 (today): leave
I know that the CH must have a day off on a regular basis (according to the collective agreement), but it is still striking. And I don’t say it negatively because the schedule is intense… and because we are in a league of results and it works.
And in the coming days? The plan, at the moment, is to have a morning skate tomorrow at the Bell Centre. I expect that to happen.
-On Wednesday, real training (a first since January 13) is on the menu. Subsequently, the club will go to Detroit and we must expect a morning skate Thursday in Michigan.
Friday? Leave. SATURDAY? Morning skate. And Sunday? Leave, according to the current CH plan.
This therefore means that Monday the 27th will probably be the club’s 2nd regular training session only since the trip to Utah. And with a trip to California awaiting the CH before the Four Nations tournament in February, the club will not have had much training over a period of one month.
Will this catch up with CH at the end of the season?
In burst
– Please note.
– To read.
– The more the match progresses, the better it is.
