The goaltending debacle lies directly at the feet of the management. Speaking with an OHL broadcaster very much in the know, he offered the following opinion:
"A team that developed so much talent up front, seems to have missed their cycle when it comes to making a long playoff run. The Attack put themselves in that situation where goaltending has been a weakness over the past couple years. That's on the Attack - not the goalies themselves. They have not brought in the right people (including coaching), properly developed the ones they had, or played a type of on-ice system that allowed those goalies to succeed"
They have an antiquated goalie coeach who still teaches from the 70's. RD said he learnt more from McNiven in the short time he spent with him than he ever did with Redquest.
Maybe if DD had show more commitment into the development of RD, the team would have been more successful and RD would now been handing the torch to Gudza instead of out of hockey.
Total waste of talent.
As a father of a son who had hockey dreams, I completely understand and empathize with what happens when things go wrong or against the plan, its a hit to the system.
That said, as a passionate Attack fan who has followed the team for some time, i do take a bit of an issue with the attack on the goalie coach. Michael McNiven will tell you that he wouldn't be where he is now without Greg. Jordan Binnington would as well. Goalies such at Michael Zador, Jack Flynn, Scott Stacjar and Brandon Hope all came into Owen Sound at ended better then when they started. There is too much history of success at that position too recently to put it on the coach. Sometimes players just don't get better. We've seen it before with players who come in and for whatever reason doesn't develop as planned. Its unfortunate for all involved, but it happens often. Owen Sound was begging for anyone who could make saves last year, and Daniels just never showed an ability to do so. Its too bad, I think everyone was hoping he'd be able to continue the streak of top OHL goalies in Owen Sound, but it just wasn't meant to be, Guzda out played him by everyones judgement.
Sometimes its hard for parents to separate the fact and accept that their son simply wasn't good enough and place blame elsewhere, I've seen it in rep hockey and above, but the OHL like most leagues, are results driven, Daniels didn't make enough saves. I hope that he has found something else that he can be passionate about and enjoy outside of hockey now that that journey is over, but Daniels is one of the rare few who didn't work out in Owen Sound, and as much as its unfortunate, in the big scheme of things, healthy, family and friends are way more important then this silly hockey game.
Best advise I can give is to let it all go and just enjoy that your son is around and ready for a new challenge in his life, looking back and stewing over the past doesn't help anything or anyone. Best of luck to him, we all hope he thrives with his new opportunities.
I can promise you we all hope he becomes incredibly successful with whatever he chooses to do next.
