Not the Time to Slump

[CowboyinAmerica 3,012]

 

Davos -- Entering the season, HC Davos Dynamo were widely considered to be in the upper tier of VHL teams. And for much of the season, they lived up to that billing. FOr a very brief spell around the one-third mark of the season, they even held the best record in the entire VHL.

 

But as sometimes tends to happen, things began to break wrong for the Dynamo near the halfway mark. Pucks that once were finding the back of the net were now being stopped. Line changes made problems go from bad to worse. And suddenly, with just five games left to play, the Dynamo find themselves in fourth - and in the wild card spot - in a tough European Conference.

 

"We didn't fall here because of lack of effort. We've tried just about everything to get going again," noted center Antonia Bucatini. "But that early season magic we had seems to have been lost a bit."

 

To be fair, at 86 points the Dynamo still have the sixth-best record in the VHL. And, due to a tight top of the conference, the Dynamo are only 4 points behind third and 12 points behind first - meaning they still have time to escape their current position.

 

But will it happen? Three games against the top of the North America Conference (Toronto and Seattle x2) loom large, as does a final day matchup against the currently second-seeded Titans. "It's make or break, we know we have to win those games," Bucatini added. "To be a real contender, you have to be able to beat the tough teams. But this is a squad that has gone far in the playoffs before, let's see if we can do it again."