I was at the game yesterday, and you are bang on CC. I never knew how effective cross checking can be, until watching that first period.
Hard to say if our style is a function of the coaching system, or the players that we currently have. Definitely on the smaller side, which makes it tougher to play that hard game. However, I don't think you need to be huge to play a jerk game. The Flames played much better in the latter half of the second, after getting fed for the first 30 minutes or so. Monahan, Backlund, Jooris and Bouma are not huge, but they can play the body (at least occasionally), which is really effective. Flames need much more of that.
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From HFBoard oiler fan, in analyzing MacT's management:
O.K. there has been a lot of talk on whether or not MacTavish has actually done a good job for us, most fans on this board are very basic in their analysis and I feel would change their opinion entirely if the team was successful.
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