In the midst of a four-game slide, with seemingly every tiny break going against them the last couple weeks, Tucson Roadrunners head coach Mark Lamb breathed a sigh of relief at the road ahead.
Five straight games in Tucson Arena, home ice. In a similar stretch earlier this year, they went 4-1.
So, it’s nice to be home.
Things kick back off for the Roadrunners at 7 p.m. on Tuesday against the visiting Manitoba Moose, in town for the first game in Tucson since Roadrunners team captain Craig Cunningham collapsed on the ice from a cardiac arrest on Nov. 19 (see box for ticket exchange information).
Lamb joined the Daily Star to discuss the state of the team, the recent slide and how the Roadrunners are working their way back from it.
What’s the first step in bouncing back from a four-game losing streak?
A: “We’re in a slide right now, and it’s something we have to work out of. When you go through these things, there are certain things you’re not doing good enough to win. It’s a timely save or a timely goal. Overall, we’re playing well enough, but it’s the timely goal that counts.”
How do you address what may be momentary sicknesses, rather than one big disease?
A: “You look at the details, with both your team game and individual players. What you do in these situations is try to find out the exact reason you’re not getting points at certain times. The biggest thing though is when you get in these, and they happen all the time, you just have to find the quickest way to get out of it. Certain areas you have to bear down. Percentage-wise, everyone has to be a little bit better.”
Mid-January, it’s the time of year when players are being called up and sent down; how do you keep them from looking at the next level?
A: “If you get too far ahead, usually it doesn’t work. You’ve gotta play the right way. To try to play individually, to get yourself in a different situation will get you in trouble. We try to nip that pretty quick. The way to have individual success is through team success.”
I hear a bit of a cough, and it sounds like you’re right in the doldrums of the season, travel getting to you a little bit, kinda like the dog days of winter?
A: “Yeah, it seems like this time of year, a lot of sickness is going through the team. It does bury you. The travel takes its toll. But no team is any different. Everyone goes through it. The team that can live with it and handle it — you’re never gonna feel 100 percent. You don’t wake up feeling great every day, but its how you handle it. You don’t feel sorry for yourself. You don’t let yourself off the hook. You’re not on an island here. People go through it, teams go through it. Playing a little hurt, playing sick — all of the above — the best players in sports, it’s not like every day is great for them.
Coming home for five straight seems like good timing …
A: “Yeah, and we have some reinforcements down from Phoenix (Laurent Dauphin, Brendan Perlini and Anthony DeAngelo), so we’re adding three really good players to the lineup. At our meeting today, I was very cautious — just because we get players doesn’t mean everything is automatically all right. Can’t take any one for granted, a lot of things can make you lose.”
You talk about those pivotal moments — how do you coach “clutch” in hockey, when there’s no shot clock, no two-minute drill? How can you practice timely goal-scoring?
A: “There are so many different times for momentum in a hockey game, and it’s not necessarily just a goal. It can be a blocked shot, a hit. It can be a physical play, an individual effort. In other sports, it’s not exactly like that. You have to play smart within momentum. If it’s not on your side, you might have to change your game a little bit.”
