Recently, Flyers fan Mark Parter (@fifeflyersfan on Twitter) shared with me his thoughts on the past season. Here is his opinion on the last 12 months.
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So, the sun has set on another Flyers season. While imports head back home, the fans have to now endure whatever delights Saturday night television throws at us.
I'm sure if you asked most Flyers fans, the 2014/15 season was a disappointment. Every season prior, Flyers had improved in some manner on the ice. This season, we took a step backwards. The one shining light in another wise poor season was our special teams. Ranked third on the power-play and second on the penalty kill.
In theory, signing much the same team as the prior season, with a couple of upgrades on paper, should have seen us hit the ground running. It was not to be however, as we started the way we always seem to start the season, poorly. Players turned up out of shape. Over the next few months, we went from highs of beating Belfast 6-1 in their own barn to losing 8-2 in our own barn to Braehead.
We had the same inconsistency issues in the 2013/14 season. That season however, we managed to find some of that much sought after consistency and put together a good series of wins.
This season, when we lost Chris Auger (who was our top scorer at the time) to injury, we should have sought out a replacement. We didn't. Guys double shifted and did an admirable job but that along with other injuries and suspensions, it meant that guys were playing a tremendous amount of minutes per game. And it took it's toll. Come the end of the season there was nothing left in the tank.
Off the ice, this season has seen an increase in the average attendance, 35% up on the previous season. I hope that this will mean an increase in the budget available to the coaching staff which should be used to bring in some new British faces. The imports Fife sign are usually of a good standard, however we rely on them to do too much.
What hurts us is the lack of depth. Our third line gets regular ice time in 5 on 5 situations but if it's a tight game we have a tendency to drop to 2 lines. Meaning even more ice time for our imports.
Todd in a recent interview stated that lessons will be learnt. What we don't know is what these are? Once the roster has been assembled, we may get our first glimpse of whether or not lessons have been learned. How many new faces will we see? Will there be any new Brits in the squad to provide much needed depth?
To have any hope of success next season, we need to move away from the flash and flair and move toward a more blue collar team.
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Huge thanks to Mark for his contribution, you can follow Mark on Twitter: @fifeflyersfan
Flyers fans what do you think? Is Mark correct in his assessment? If you would like to give your view on the past season or the crucial pre-season ahead please email me murdochhockeyblog@gmail.com
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