Musicmen Hit First Slump of Season, How Long Will It Last?

Captain Taylor Hall sat in front of his locker after Sunday night's loss to the Puffin, not speaking, sitting still with what some might call a "thousand-foot stare."  The team had just lost its third game in a row on this three-game road trip to Georgetown, Hamilton, and Reykjavik.  The games weren't particularly close contests with the 'Men being outscored 16-5.

Coming off a strong few weeks of play with five wins in a row heading into Georgetown, they'd also won nine out of ten and 11 of 13 games before they left for Kentucky. They had just beat the best team in the league, the Falcons in front of a sold-out Soundstage in Dayton. The new guys, (Josi, Edler, Letang, Lee, etc) were fitting in well and spirits were sky high as the team boarded the charter for the game with the Millers.

Maybe, too high?

"We knew this was going to be a rough stretch playing some of the better teams in the Canosa. Millers always play us tough and the Tigers are for real. They're going to make a lot of teams look bad before the season's over. They're as good if not better than the Falcons I think. The Puffin seemed a step faster than us all game." said Captain Taylor Hall.

Dayton has allowed six power-play goals against in twelve chances in just the last 120 minutes of hockey. A kill rate of just 50%.

"Obviously, we haven't been ready to play since we left home. We need to put the last four games, including the win over Fort Erie out of our minds and settle down and get back to playing our game," said Hall.

Dayton faces a tough stretch of games over the next two weeks, with games against Georgetown, Sudbury, Gillam (2x), Capeside (always pesky), Hamilton, followed by a home and home series with Siberia then Springfield and then the Miners again.

"F*uck, yeah, if we don't get back to playing the way were next game and beyond, it's going to be bad. The next ten games will tell us a lot about our team. If we mess up, everybody knows what the general manager will do."

"This is a big boy league...teams always play hard against us and we need to step up...I think we will. There's a lot of talent and heart on this team," said Hall.