Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Problems at blue line force 'Rays' coach to get defensive

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Tuesday, March 28, 2000

Problems at blue line force 'Rays' coach to get defensive
Reshaping of team leads to 21-12-3 second-half streak
By Mark Button
Caller-Times

Caller-Times file photo

First-round WPHL playoff opponents Corpus Christi and El Paso split the season series, 1-1.

The Corpus Christi IceRays' Christmas gift came a little later than usual last year.
   They didn't cry about it, though.
   It was the gift that kept giving.
   A stronger defensive unit can do that for a hockey team.
   From Dec. 29 to Jan. 10, Corpus Christi coach Taylor Hall made trades for four defenseman, changing the face - and fate - of the team.
   Hall hopes the team's defensive presence continues to give the IceRays an advantage tonight as the 1999-2000 Western Professional Hockey League President's Cup playoffs begin. Corpus Christi entertains El Paso in Game 1 of a best-of-three-games, first-round series at Memorial Coliseum, starting at 7:05 p.m.
   Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday, as is Game 3, if necessary.
   The makeover
   Hall started his renovation by dealing forward Todd Norman to Amarillo for Trevor Janicki, a "stay-at-home" defenseman.
   Janicki's style - think defense first, defense second and defense third, then, and only then, think about offense - set the tone for the IceRays' new-look defense. On Jan. 4, Hall acquired defenseman Darryl Olsen, a 33-year-old who plays with the energy of a man 10 years younger yet with the intelligence of someone who has played in the NHL, which he has.
   Since the Olsen acquisition, Corpus Christi is 21-12-3.
   "That's when we started to turn it around," Hall said. "At the beginning of the year you have a game plan and you try to stick to it the best that you can. But some of the guys we were counting on didn't come through so we had to make some changes."
   Experience over youth
   With Janicki and Olsen in place, along with veteran defenseman Jody Praznik and talented youngster Bob Quinnell, Hall traded a disgruntled Chris Robertson to Lake Charles for veteran blue liner Mike Vandenberge and Aleksandr Troitsky, a young defenseman with international experience.
   It was clear Hall wanted more experienced defenseman.
   "Early in the year we had a very inexperienced corps other than myself," said Praznik, the only defenseman remaining from the IceRays' opening day lineup. "It came to a point in the year where it seemed like some of the guys we had didn't take defense as seriously as they should. Then Taylor made the moves, getting guys who were older and more experienced than guys we had before. You could tell when you first saw them play, that they took pride in their defense. Defense came first."
   The last piece to the defensive puzzle came on Feb. 4, when Hall traded for defenseman Paul Doherty, another tough, stay-at-home blue liner.
   "The defense has definitely made a difference," Hall said. "It showed up in the win-loss column."
   Shedding the green jacket
   The newly found defensive confidence also made an impact on the forwards.
   No longer were the IceRays giving up four, five or six goals on a nightly basis, a comforting fact for the players responsible for scoring.
   "It helped out our transition game because (the new defensemen) move the puck so much quicker," forward Dustin McArthur said. "It made the game a lot easier to play. We've always been able to score goals, it was just moving the puck out of end and keeping the puck out of net."
   Individually, McArthur may have benefited the most from the defensive changes. McArthur was on the ice for five of Austin's eight goals in the IceRays' opening-night loss to the Ice Bats, giving him a minus-5 rating. By mid-November, McArthur was a minus-10 and at his worst, he was a minus-16.
   Of course, hockey is a team sport and the minus-16 can't be pinned to McArthur solely, but along with the team's worst plus-minus ratio came the dubious honor of holding the "green jacket."
   As the team's defense improved, so, too, did McArthur's plus-minus ratio. He finished the season back at minus-5.
   "That minus-5 feels like a plus-50," he said. "I held that green jacket for a longest time. Sometimes you get stuck out there at the wrong time, but all of that has been turned around now."
   'It's a mindset'
   Early in the year, McArthur admitted that prior to games he thought about things like, "How many goals against are we going to have tonight?"
   Now all he concentrates on his working hard and keeping the puck out of the Corpus Christi net.
   "It's a mindset," he said. "The guys are going out saying, 'I'm going to work a little harder defensively tonight.' And I'm not thinking about just going out and getting a goal. I'm more or less thinking about preventing goals and see what happens after that."
   Hall has preached all year long about keeping the opposition to less than four goals a game. Do that, the coach says, and you give yourself a chance to win.
   He's right.
   The IceRays are 21-3 when their opponents score three or fewer goals.
   "I know it's repetitive," McArthur said, "but with the scoring punch on our team, we're going to win a lot games that way."



Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com

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