ECHL: Swamp Rabbits Game Preview, Keys To The Game Before Facing Solar Bears

Greenville, SC—After a day of rest from losing against Atlanta, the Swamp Rabbits are back at home today and tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 22, Saturday, Dec. 23) to play against the Orlando Solar Bears and Savannah Ghost Pirates. Now Orlando is 12-9-1-1 after 23 games and is in fourth place in the South Division with 26 points; Greenville stands first in the South Division with a 19-7-0 record with 38 points from 26 games played. As of late, they’re 13.2% on the power play, as they’ve scored on 12 of 91 power plays. Their penalty kill, however, has been successful with an 83% kill percentage; they’ve killed 68 of 82 penalties. Although being unsuccessful lately on the power play, the Swamp Rabbits have a 24% power play percentage, scoring 21 goals of 88 power play opportunities. With an 84% PK percentage, they’ve killed 62 of 74 penalties taken.

Keys To The Game for Greenville

Greenville must improve on their outlook of the game while they play a full 60 minutes. Their physicality, the pressure in the O-zone, the rendering of rebound chances on the opposition netminder, the increased offense on the powerplay, and overall, covering up their zone as much as possible and defending their goalie from open door chances. Orlando has a solid roster of defensemen, so Greenville will need to outwork their defense and try to get rebound chances to score; rebound chances, on and off the Power play, has been a key method of scoring for the Rabbits—they were successful before, and it’s likely they’ll succeed today after they addressed these concerns at practice.

Yesterday morning, I got the chance to catch up with forward Anthony Beauchamp after practice.

I asked what needs to improve of this team after reflecting back on their previous game at home on Wednesday.

“Simple, we just gotta get back to our team principles. Simple as that.”

I asked if he and his team were dialed in and ready to go to face off against the Orlando Solar Bears.

“Yeah, 100%. I think we had a great meet this morning with the coaches about getting back to our team identity and getting back to each individual’s identity. So, we’re more than ready; we had a good practice this morning, and we just gotta get back to it tomorrow morning [today].”

Additionally, I got to sit down with Swamp Rabbits’ assistant coach, Kyle Mountain.

Looking back at the recent performances on the road last week and on Wednesday, I asked what he thinks needs to change with this team going forward.

“I think just consistency overall. At times last game, we were really showing flashes of how good we can be, we showed that throughout the year – but at times, I think we have the tendency to get away from that. Regardless of the situation or the zone that we’re playing in, we’re capable of being a high-end team. S,o like any team, any playoff championship, it’s really about finding consistency to your game and just meeting that standard night end and night out. We got a few dips last night; we paid a price for that. Regardless of the situation, we just have to find a way to maintain what kind of standard of play is, kind of that floor, so to speak – when we do that, we’re a good team.”

“Obviously, there’s been that personnel change on the powerplay – you know, it’s a little bit of a challenge. Having guys fit into new roles or shift things around those are some things we’ve had to continue to adapt with. Anytime that happens, you’re just asking guys to step up and make plays and kind of learn on the fly, so to speak. You know, I think that’s part of it – we got a lot of high-end guys in this room. Again, I think in the course of a long season, these dips may happen, but I think it’s really about understanding what we do well when the powerplay is successful, the principles we try to preach. So, less tactics and less o and o, and more of are we staying true to our identity as a special teams unit’ – what are the different characteristics we want up. I think just keeping the guys up, keeping them positive on the drive spells, and understanding, ‘Hey, we’re still getting good looks here and there; we just got to continue to grow.’ But our team relies on that special teams unit, so I think when our special teams unit are successful, our whole team feeds off of it; those guys understand that they have a big responsibility and just kind of take the rank. And us as coaches, we continue it and just hit the video board, and reinforce what our tactics are, and reinforce what our identity is, which is what coach lord and I really take seriously throughout our meetings and video studies. So I think continuing to do that it will get us out of that dry spot, and we’ll be clicking again.”