Pensacola Ice Flyers coach Rod Aldoff gave an encouraging nod a few doors down from the team’s locker room.
He said, “That group in there now.” “These guys make up a decent group. Right now we have a good changing room.
“That’s where it all begins.”
The evaluation is supported by current performance.
The Ice Flyers, the hottest team in the Southern Professional Hockey League, will skate off Friday at the Bay Center after being absent for 19 days.
They were once buried deep in the bottom half of the standings, but they have won 10 of the last 11 games and are now just a point behind two teams that are tied for sixth.
They will have the chance to cut a four-point deficit in their games on Friday and Saturday against one of those clubs, the Roanoke (Va.) Rail Yard Dawgs. Both Fayetteville and Roanoke have 48 points. With 44 points, the Ice Flyers (20-21-1) lead.
The Ice Flyers have developed into the club Aldoff anticipated. They are the team he thought the season would start with for the first four months.
He grinned sardonically and remarked, “I wish I had seen it a lot sooner.” We’ve had a strong crew from the start. I’ve informed everyone that consistency is our biggest motivator.
We will outplay opponents for five minutes after dominating them for a while, and it is hurtful to us.
“We have a group now that understands the game itself, but we still may need to make some adjustments.”
After numerous losses early in the season, Aldoff expressed his dissatisfaction by saying repeatedly that it was small things, transient breakdowns, that kept turning hopelessness into despair.
The team’s general defense has always been its saving grace. In the league of ten teams, the Ice Flyers are tied for the second-fewest goals allowed (125).
That compensates for the fact that there isn’t a scorer in “the top 40 in the league.”
It’s noteworthy that an eighth-place squad made it there, according to Aldoff. “Yes, those items definitely add up.
When we put our minds to it, we can defeat anyone every night. We can reach our full potential.
The regular season consists of 11 games remaining. The Ice Flyers’ next six games are at home, where their season attendance is only marginally better than Peoria, Illinois’s Rivermen, who have played one more home game, ranking third in the league.
The fan base of the Ice Flyers has not declined as they commemorate their tenth season as a team.
After winning seven away games in the previous month, Aldoff is grateful that he finally has a team to go along with the support.
For the first time since before the Pensacon showcase weekend, the Ice Flyers used the Bay Center on Wednesday.
This time of year, “every game is big for us,” he remarked. To earn the two points, we must follow the correct procedures. In this league, parity is hard to come by.
We will outplay opponents for five minutes after dominating them for a while, and it is hurtful to us.
“We may need to make some adjustments, but we have to make some
more, but at this point we have a group that comprehends the essence of the game.
The SPHL playoffs, which start a few days after the Ice Flyers’ season-ending weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee on April 5–6, are open to the top eight clubs.
The time is almost here for the Ice Flyers to secure one of those berths. But for the next four weekends, it might get much better.
If anything has changed, it’s that we are now much less consistent, but we also have a much different perspective.
It’s a high-low game. It’s how you respond to it.
The Ice Flyers have added collegiate players from several institutions in recent weeks, including Nick DiNicola, Eddie Matsushima, and Joseph Drapluk.
We’re still getting to know them. It’s a totally new ballgame for them because they are fresh out of college, Aldoff added.
A totally new season view has been brought about by his team’s recent performance.
