Moving feet makes things happen
By Dave Pollard
Sometimes, even the simplest things can lead to better results for a hockey player.
A good case in point is Guelph Storm forward Mathew Sisca, a dynamic offensive veteran who had struggled to find the net for much of the first half of the Ontario Hockey League season.
With just 10 goals in the Storm’s first 30 games and an ugly plus-minus number, Sisca had trouble finding his groove after coming to Guelph in an off-season trade with the Niagara IceDogs. But after having one old hockey axiom reinforced by the coaching staff — always keep your feet moving — and being moved to a line with Taylor Beck and Michael Latta, the 19-year-old from Woodbridge seems to have found his game.
Six goals in the Storm’s last three games, including a four-goal outburst in a huge 8-1 win over the Owen Sound Attack on Dec. 11, appears to have given Sisca new life, and taken a huge load off his slender shoulders.
“I’m just moving my feet now,” Sisca said, explaining his resurgence in the simplest of terms. “I’ve got to keep doing that and I should be fine. It’s kind of simple like that. (And) I give my linemates all the credit, they keep feeding me the puck. It’s reallyeasy, they always find you. It really helps me a lot playing with two guys drafted to the NHL.
“We have great chemistry. Hopefully this will keep up.”
Storm coach and general manager Jason Brooks agrees with Sisca’s assessment of why his game has improved in recent days — he’s staying in perpetual motion on the ice.
“I think one thing he’s doing is moving his feet,” Brooks said, repeating a mantra mouthed by coaches around the hockey world. “Early in the year he got caught standing and expecting pucks to come to him. He’s dangerous when he skates. He’s got good vision and puts himself in those holes to score.
“Matt was as frustrated as anyone with the start of the season. He wasn’t producing like he was capable of producing. Matt had to find the love of the game again. It starts with moving his feet. Now he’s putting more pucks to the net.”
Shooting from the right position on the ice will naturally lead to more scoring chances. Getting to those spots requires a player to skate. Hence the connection between skating and scoring. Simple, really.
But having the right linemates is important, too.
With a shifty 5-foot-9, 183-pound Sisca between Beck and Latta, Brooks has thrown together what could be one of the more offensively-gifted lines in the league. It might not have happened that the three Storm veterans not approached Brooks about the potential union.
“Lats and Taylor have played together before and showed some chemistry,” Brooks said. “That line had kind of been put together (occasionally). They always seemed to create something. With our struggle to score, I was willing to listen to their request.
“Sisca is a good fit for them. Latta is a good disher, Beck is a warrior, goes after pucks. And Sisca has great vision.”
There might have been a little added motivation for Sisca to pick up his game in the offensive zone as well. There have been recent rumblings that the 19-year-old would be traded — it would have been the second time that has happened since the end of last season — and the rumours didn’t go unnoticed by him.
“I haven’t heard anything from the team but I kept hearing rumours,” Sisca admitted. “Obviously that’s motivation because the team wants to move me. I obviously don’t want to leave this team. When I heard (the rumours) it kind of hurt. I’ve only been here two and a half months. I’m happy I’m staying here.”
Anything can happen in the hockey world but Sisca appears to be staying put for now. And that’s probably a good thing because he finally seems to be over the adjustment period that followed his trade from the IceDogs, a deal that sent Dylan Wood and a second-round draft pick to Niagara.
“It was an adjustment to him to come to Guelph and be in a different environment,” Brooks said. “He played his whole career with the IceDogs. With a new team, things are just different so it takes a while for a player to get used to that. There was a whole lot of little things that needed to get done. But everybody sees the skill and talent he has.”
Sisca had a career-best 21 goals and 33 assists with the IceDogs last season. It now seems he’ll easily surpass his goal total but that wasn’t always the case this season. And he’ll need to get hot if he hopes to reach a career high in points.
“I was hoping to get 50 (points),” Brooks said of his expectations. “If he was playing above his capabilities, who knows what you’d get. The number was unlimited. But when I acquired him, I saw 50 points. This kid scores, has an offensive knack. We felt we needed to add another body, a 19-year-old presence that had produced some points.”
One number that Sisca wouldn’t be proud of is his plus-minus. He’s a team-worst minus-17, a figure that stands out like a sore thumb.
“I really don’t know how to explain it,” Sisca said. “I think it’s an over-rated stat. The only thing you can do is play better defence. But it is a team game.”
Dave Pollard is Senior Sports Editor with www.canoe.ca
Throughout the 2008/09 season, articles written by Dave Pollard will be published exclusively on GuelphStorm.com.
