Last season the Flames were unable to consistently put forth a top-notch effort from game to game. They'd look like world beaters in one match only to resemble bottom-feeders in the next. This was especially evident on the road. As a fan, it was a frustrating and baffling habit. A habit who's source could not be pinpointed.
A few games into the pre-season, Mike Keenan seems to have a diagnosis:
"I'm prepared to say that the work ethic of this team can be upgraded considerably [...] We have to change the habits here. During practice, if you shoot the puck at half-speed while skating half-speed, and then you try to skate as fast as you can and shoot as hard as you can during a game, your accuracy is not there because you've never trained to perform that exercise."
Keenan was seen at practice yelling, gesturing and prodding the Flames players with a sort of passionate animation that must be foreign to them after a season under the blandly monotone Jim Playfair.
"If you don't practise how you play, you're not going to have the muscle memory, you're not going to have the instincts, you can't think as quickly as you should, and our team needs to continue to vastly improve their practice habits so that they can execute, so that the decision-making is done without hesitation, and so they can work as a group at that high level. Every team that I've had success with has been able to do that, and this team has to learn how to do that."
Sounds like Keenan is as dissatisfied with the Flames performance in the pre-season as I am. Music to my ears.
