This was the year....until it wasn't

[Greg_Di 1,030]

 

Greg Eagles sat in the silent Wolves dressing room, where his teammates spent a few moments of qui3et, frustrated contemplation before cleaning out their lockers and calling it a season.

 

For the Wolves, this season was cup or bust…it ended up being a huge bust.

The favorites from the North American conference were bounced out of the playoffs for the 3^rd straight time to the Seattle Bears. In this years playoffs they lost a humiliating 4 games to 1 in the first round.

 

During the regular season the Wolves dominated the Bears and had no issues with them what so ever. Once the playoffs hit, this was a different story.

Nothing went right for the Wolves as the Offence didn’t produce, the defense disappeared and goaltending was non existent.

After a career year for Eagles, he was nowhere to be found in the playoffs which led him to being benched for the decisive game 5.

 

“ It’s very disappointing….Especially disappointed in myself for the way I played. I have to apologize to the team and fans for the poor showing. I have never been benched in my life in the playoffs but I know it was something that was needed to spark the team. Spyro gave us that chance to win it in game 5 “ Said a somber Greg Eagles on locker cleanout day “ We can throw out all the excuses we want about that series but the matter of the fact is that the Bears just outplayed us. We had no passion and I think something needs to change this off-season if we want to compete. This has been 3 seasons in a row now where we have a great season and then fall flat in the playoffs…something just isn’t working”

 

Eagles theorizes that what is lacking in the Wolves is adversity during the playoffs. For whatever reason the Wolves just couldn’t flip that switch to increase the intensity in the playoffs.

 

Eagles says that he believes that the Bears rolled into the playoffs having played way more meaningful games over the last few weeks (trying to claim a playoff spot) while the Wolves just coasted for the last few weeks since they knew they have clinched a spot. What ended up happening was that the Wolves lost confidence after Game 1 and had a bad stretch that cost them their entire season. They couldn't get into playoff mode, while the Bears have been in playoff mode for the past little while.

 

“ We just couldn’t find our game or stick to the game plan. I think that was very clear “ Eagles Said “It’s unfortunate because I think it puts a blemish on what we achieved here during the regular season and what some of our players achieved with personal bests this season”

 

There was also rumours swirling that after going down 3-1 in the series that there was a bust up among some of the Wolves players. While Eagles would not confirm or deny he did say that all the players were really passionate and things just sometimes come out in the heat of the moment.

Now it will be up to the GM to get back to the drawing board and figure out what the Wolves can do this off-season to get back on track. With some players entering regression in the next 1-2 seasons, this may be the last opportunity for the Wolves to return to the cup finals.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Greg_Di