Ice HockeyTalent doesn’t always equate to production and that lesson has been learned by Lawrence High School ice hockey coach Alex Chis-Luca.
By: Nick Schaefer
Although the Cardinals have many highly-skilled players, it has been a disappointing season thus far. The Cardinals (5-12-1) lost to South Brunswick, 8-4, on Monday to fall seven games below .500.
"If you don’t get a full effort from everyone on the team you aren’t going to win many games," said Chis-Luca. "The guys are getting sick of losing. They are starting to speak out more and are trying to motivate some of the other players who aren’t giving their full effort."
After falling behind 2-0, Lawrence gained the momentum with goals from senior defensemen Paul Monchok and Tony Thompson to tie the score, 2-2.
The advantage didn’t last for long as South Brunswick netted the next two goals to take a 4-2 lead.
"We came out determined to win and then we fell behind early," Chis-Luca said. "We fought back to tie it up but then we gave up a few goals and were back in the same spot."
Again, the Cardinals came from behind to tie it up at 4-4, with goals from junior Jason LaManna and senior Mike Ciulo.
Although Lawrence was able to come back twice, they were unable to tie the game up a third time and eventually lost by four goals.
It takes a lot of energy out of the players to keep trying to play from behind and come back, Chis-Luca said.
"I was highly confused at the way we played," said Chis-Luca. "It has been like night and day the past few games. It wasn’t a whole team effort. Overall we didn’t play up to our capability."
The Cardinals seemed to lose their focus and started playing undisciplined hockey, committing numerous penalties.
After being called for a major penalty, Lawrence found itself in a hole and was unable to hold of South Brunswick’s power play.
Penalties were the main reason why the Cardinals lost.
"There were a ton of dumb penalties by our team," said Chis-Luca. "In these types of must-win games, you have to restrain yourself from retaliating against the other player. The penalties have been a big problem why we have been losing. The defense needs to wake up and realize that we need them in the game and not in the penalty box."