Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike F
The Flames weren't patted on the head and given participation ribbons for "giving it their all" like they were in the Special Olympics. Hartley said at the beginning on the year that he was stressing fitness so that the team could maintain its intensity and speed throughout all three periods, instead of trailing off. That's what the team was praised for, and you don't maintain intensity and speed at an elite level with poor conditioning by just "giving it your all".
No, it doesn't prove anything. The "country club years" were about attitude, and showed nothing positive or negative about their fitness. You can be extremely fit but still coast through games, but you can't compete for 60 minutes at an elite level with shi**y conditioning.
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Yes, just as you can be extremely out of shape and bust your ass each and every night. You literally proved my point in your last sentence.
I never once said you maintained the same intensity from start to finish if you were out of shape. But you can still try hard each and every shift, you effectiveness will just drop.
What you said in your first paragraph was not what you said in your first post. And while I agree, that this year the Flames were occasionally praised for they "fitness", they were mostly praised all year long for their "work ethic" each and every night, and as you pointed out in your post, has nothing to do with being fit.
For the record, I don't think fitness seemed to be an issue for this club, but it's not what they were getting kudos for, although I remember Hartley saying he was happy with most of the players fitness. But as another pointed out, it is a results business and to be fair the results haven't been great during the tenure of this regime (not that I actually think they are related). Likely just time to move on or switch things up was the thought process of the new management, and I'm sure someone they want for the role has become available so the time was now.