Beebeard's Written Thoughts #2 "Bratislava going into playoffs"

[FrostBeard 2,049]

Beebeard's Written Thoughts #2

Bratislava going into playoffs

 

Bratislava is going to the playoffs, woohoo! Alright, it is probably not a huge surprise to anyone but I am pretty confident in saying that I never doubted our chances to get in this season, to me, we are at the top of the VHLE and without a doubt one of the main favourites for cup victory. As defending champions however, it is going to be a bit different this time around. I am not going to lie to anyone but the last off-season was a place for tough decisions for me and the Bratislava crew as I didn’t really know if we as a team, before the FA could be a true championship calibre team. Even my trusty AGM Leadro would say that we weren’t in the best possible place, our roster had huge holes, it felt like building through trades would have been a death sentence for the next few seasons for our squad. FA changed it all, we had some amazing luck in acquiring some truly breathtaking players and filling up our roster to a point when we are running three full forward lines with five defencemen playing. 
 

The season was truly amazing. We had some brilliant returning players - VHLE Legend in the making, our goaltender Orion D H Chiester IX, wonderful and impressively dominant Harry Hagel, unbelievable forward talents in both Sock Monkey, Gus Bentley and Jack Haxtall. Our 1st round draftee Fraser Wallace has been magnificent. I can’t express my excitement for this man to go and play in VHL next season - I am pretty sure he is going to become a name we will fairly often see at the top of the leaderboards. Our depth has kept this team together and made sure that we are right up there with other top contenders, heck, we finished the season 2nd in the Standings and were just a few points away from claiming that 1st place. Nonetheless right now, I am sure that every player on our roster has only one thing in their mind - taking every single playoff game step by step. 
 

Am I worried? Yes. Am I confident in my team? Also, yes. I have seen how great Istanbul has been playing, I am sure that Cologne’s roster is built to win, Vasteras has been playing really well, we have a good group of teams going into the playoffs, all of which could go and dominate every single series, any team. That said, my confidence in my team comes from a simple point - I believe we can reset, learn from our mistakes this regular season and adjust our lines to play well against the teams we are facing. We have a really good roster, with players having different builds, variations, mindsets and motivations. Talking about motivation - what  better motivation can you think of going into playoffs than a chance for most of them to prove that they are ready to go and compete on the highest level of hockey next season. 
 

I am excited, confident and a bit worried as I think that this is one of the best teams I have managed to assemble. We have character, we have the ability, now we just need a bit of luck too! 
 

Cheers, Frostbeard out!
 

 

[Acydburn 1,607]

Here's to you changing your name to BeeBeard!

[FrostBeard 2,049]

5 minutes ago, Acydburn said:

Here's to you changing your name to BeeBeard!

Hmmm, I will think about it! 

[Arce 755]

Best of luck FrostBeard! Should be a fun ride!