Half of the 2018-’19 ECHL Season is officially over, and the Manchester Monarchs find themselves in a dogfight for a playoff spot. Let’s take a look at the last week and change in Monarchs Country.
Wednesday, Jan. 16 – Manchester 3, Reading 1 (road)
Friday, Jan. 18 – Maine 1, Manchester 0 (road)
Friday, Jan. 25 – Manchester 2, Maine 1 (road)
Saturday, Jan. 26 – Manchester 6, Maine 3 (home)
Sunday, Jan. 27 – Manchester 5, Worcester 2 (home)
The ECHL All-Star Mini-Tournament gave Manchester a seven-day rest, the last time they will get such a break until the end of the regular season. Monarchs Head Coach Doug Christiansen says that break was important for players and staff, but his squad is also ready for the jam-packed schedule moving forward, something they’ve slowly grown accustomed to throughout the season with busy three-game weekends.
“The third game in three nights is a mindset. You’re probably not going to be perfect. Fatigue is real, but it’s a mindset that you’re going to push your way through,” said Christiansen. “Ultimately, many times you’ll also be playing someone else who’s on their third game in three nights and you just need to be sharper.”
No matter how fatigued the Monarchs might be or not be at this point of the season, the last two weeks have allowed Manchester to exorcise some demons against the Maine Mariners, taking two out of three against Maine, with just one shot separating the teams in the third.
Before this stretch, the Monarchs had just two wins in seven contests this season against Maine, with both teams jostling for points in a crowded ECHL North Division.
Add more divisional points against Reading and Worcester and there is a growing confidence in the locker room at SNHU Arena.
That confidence slowly began to bubble to the surface after key stretches of success like the December trip to Norfolk, but the Monarchs now seem to have a full sense of what they will face and what they are capable of doing.
“I think if you look at our results even when we were losing, it was largely one-goal games. From that, I equate it to building callouses on your hand, you have to learn strengthen yourself to handle those tough tests late in games, tough travel, thin rosters,” “For us as a team, I think we’ve done that and I think that’s given us a sense that we know what we need to do from the drop of the puck.”
The Monarchs have one more game this month, a Wednesday contest at home against Adirondack (7 p.m.)
Manchester then has another hectic weekend, hosting the Mariners again on Friday, Feb. 1 (7 p.m.) before heading to Reading for games on Saturday, Feb. 2 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, Feb. 3 (2 p.m.)
Like the points against Maine, Worcester and Reading, these points will also be crucial in a division where second place and seventh place just one point larger than the difference between first place and second place, with only the second through fourth place spots making it into the playoffs.
Three Stars
Top Star: Spencer Watson (3 goals, 3 assists, +3, 33 shots)
Second Star: Charles Williams (2-1-0-0, 99 saves, 1.69 GAA)
Third Star: Tony Cameranesi (3 goals, 1 assist, +5, 13 shots)
