Blogs from the Broadcast Booth-Les Stoodley

I'm always fascinated by the reaction of fans and the media when the Wildcats hit a rough spot. Since the start of the new year, the team has had more losses than it did in the entire first half of the season and suddenly there's the loud question, "what's wrong with the Wildcats?"

Now here's something to consider. When the team recently rolled off six straight wins, there were no questions or comments. The unofficial website and its team of arm chair coaches were just speculating on game scores, composing their own lineups and making suggestions on who the coaching staff would go after in the trades. Now there's a cry of concern and questions about coaching decisions.

The trading period is over and Danny Flynn and company made a couple of moves to add scoring punch to the lineup. They did not deviate from their plan to continue to build the team through high end draft picks. Joly for Tremblay and some draft picks looks to be ideal given the situation with 20 year-olds and the Wildcats pool of young players. Adam Bezak's return should provide a little more sniper power. Given five days to practice, things should be back to normal when the battle of New Brunswick resumes on Friday night at the Coliseum.

What will be interesting, will be to see how Tomy Joly preforms against his former team mates. He's played his entire Q career with the Titan. It will be an emotional night for him and I suspect the Wildcats will turn up the heat to show their support of the decision to have a proven player like Joly in the lineup.

It will also be interesting to see the improvement in Adam Bezak. He did not achieve expectations last year but his play in Solvakia and at the World Juniors proved he is a quality goal scorer.

One thing I've learned over the years I've known him, Danny Flynn is not given to quick decisions and has stayed true to his own philosophy of building strong teams through draft picks. Danny's record behind the bench proves his great hockey knowledge. The recent trade moves were made following loads of research, using his vast number of hockey contacts and finding, what he felt, was the best fit for the Moncton Wildcats of today and the future.

So lets go back to my question at the start, "What's wrong with the Wildcats?' My response is not much when compared to preseason predictions. Look at the numbers, they're 43 games into the season and still have not had a hundred goals scored against them. They lead the Atlantic Division, they're tied for third in the league, in a season where all of the experts, (fans and media - myself included) predicted they would be middle of the pack in their division, middle of the pack in the overall standings, and re-building for next year.

So they've hit a rough spot during the last three home games but to quote Yogi, "it ain't over, till it's over."