Rolling Meadows, IL- The Bulldogs have been losing a bunch of close games of late mainly due to their defensive units. They had hoped to turn things around on Monday night against the Ice Pack, but instead, suffered a 7-2 defeat.

With a solid lineup including scoring machines Peter Katowicz, Mike Montague and Phil Manno, you would have expected more offense, but the Bulldogs struggled to create anything. The Bulldogs fell behind by an early 4-0 score and failed to recover.

“I really think that Defense got the short end of the stick” said Alex Martinez, “Our guys on the points, as usual were wide open and it left our slot open as well. Our centers waited outside the zone for the Hail Mary pass instead of covering. We can’t continue to do this. It leaves our zone in the middle wide open along with our deep and high slot. We rely too much on our D to handle our zone and leave them out to dry. The other team sees this and rushed in with as many players as possible. Instead of making something happen, or making a stop, we continue to wait, wait, and wait! We need to move out there. That’s basic hockey fundamentals; keep moving! When were not moving we are not going to beat the rush in play. How many times do I have to freeze a puck, get up, whistle blows and hand the puck to the ref only to see the wingers casually skating back into our zone?”

The Bulldogs are a complete mess. If things don’t change soon, major changes could be coming down the pipe.

The Good: Nothing

The Bad:

• Passing: The Bulldogs tried to execute the homerun pass every time when breaking out of their zone. This predictable routine was shut down by the Ice Pack defense with great regularity.
• Defense: The defensive unit struggled for the first time all season giving up almost 40 shots on goal and 7 goals.

The Ugly:

• Bench:  The Bulldogs bench was a clusterf**k of know-it-alls. Players who criticize other players. Players who blame other players. Players who think they’re bigger than the team. If this Bulldog team expects any future success, they need to put their differences, prejudices and opinions aside and begin working as a cohesive unit.

Three Amigo's of the Game:

• Peter Katowicz: Peter scored a goal.

• Ted Markos: Ted scored a goal.

• Tony Feeney: Tony did himself a favor by not enduring the pain of being a part of this game. He was a late second scratch.

Next up: MW on Wednesday 12/21/2011 at 10:50pm.