44 C Generals thrown to Wolves Dr. Douglas Smith Guest columnist March 23, 2017 March 23, Oshawa, Sudbury begin OHL playoffs This Week • Week This Friday at Tribute Learn to train SPORTS Communities Centre your brain Brian McNair [email protected] Train your brain in the same way you train your body and realize your greater potential. OSHAWA — The Oshawa Generals In today’s fast-paced world, those will head into the Ontario Hockey League who fail to capitalize on developing and playoffs as prepared as they can be for an sharpening their mindset will be left opponent that wasn’t determined until behind. two days after the regular season was Science has determined the brain is supposed to have ended. the master computer for the body. If the The Generals know now that they’ve mind is rattled in any way, the body will drawn the Sudbury Wolves in the East- be weakened and lose power, no matter ern Conference quarter-finals, after the how much physical training is achieved. Wolves won a re-scheduled game in Mis- To maximize our physical abilities, we sissauga Tuesday and leapfrogged past must train the brain to work in harmony the Ottawa 67’s for sixth place. with the body. Doubts, insecurities, anx- That plus the fact they haven’t faced Ryan Pfeiffer / Metroland ieties, fears and frustrations have a toxic the Wolves since Nov. 13 means there’s OSHAWA -- The Oshawa Generals celebrated one of the three goals scored and deleterious effect on the nervous sys- plenty of work to be done by head coach by defenceman Riley Stillman in a regular season-ending 4-2 win over the tem, and on the smooth, effortless power Bob Jones and his staff to get up to speed Peterborough Petes Sunday at the Tribute Communities Centre. and performance of the body. on a team that finished 24 points behind Performing well in practice and play- the Generals in the regular season. ager Jeremy Brodeur’s 33 wins, 2.84 goals- added an empty-net goal in his final OHL ing poorly in competition is one example Jones said that he and assistants against average and .916 save percentage regular season game … Domenic Com- of the mind getting in the way of perfor- Greg Nemisz and Nathan McIver will far exceed the stats of either 18-year-old misso had two assists Sunday to finish mance. Playing well one week and play- plow through game film of the Wolves rookie Jake McGrath (17, 3.77, .896) or the season with a team-high 63 points … ing poorly the next week is a clue that the prior to the start of the series on Friday, 19-year-old Zack Bowman (8, 3.47, .904). Medric Mercier led all OHL defencemen mind is misfiring. March 24, but mostly will keep doing All told, the Generals allowed 215 goals with 22 goals, including 21 with the Gen- Retaliating with anger when things what they have been doing all along this season, or 3.16 per game, while the erals … Defenceman Matt Brassard had don’t go your way makes the body less during a 40-23-3-2 campaign. Wolves coughed up 265 (3.90). the best plus-minus for Oshawa, a +10 in effective. These examples are just a tiny “Nothing changes in our game plan,” Head-to-head, the teams were dead just 33 games after acquired from Barrie fraction of the multiple ways our mind he said. “We believe in a defence-first even, although all four games were played … The Generals have no significant inju- diminishes performance. attitude. We make sure that everybody early on, the Wolves winning the first two, ries heading into the playoffs … Whitby’s How many athletes prior to and dur- is playing the right way.” 4-3 in Sudbury and 5-3 in Oshawa, and Jonah Gadjovich of the Owen Sound ing competition have experienced trem- The Wolves rose to sixth place by the Generals responding with wins of 3-1 Attack was third in goals scored with 46 in bling muscles and twitches in their winning their final three regular season in Sudbury and 4-2 in Oshawa. 60 games … Pickering goalie Troy Timpa- hands, feet and legs, nausea and head- games, but otherwise struggled down The Generals have changed more no had the second most wins, 26 with the aches? the stretch, winning only three of their than the Wolves since those games, deal- Otters, despite missing three weeks with These nervous reactions occur when previous 16. ing away captain Anthony Cirelli and pneumonia … The other playoff series in the athlete’s mind is unprepared to man- They’re led by a top line of Dmitry defenceman Mitchell Vande Sompel, but the Eastern Conference pit No. 1 Peter- age the stress and pressure that inevitably Sokolov, David Levin and Ryan Valentini, they have managed to stay competitive, borough Petes (42-21-2-3) against No. 8 occurs before and during competition. who combined for 174 points, but were going 17-11-1-0 since the trade deadline Niagara Ice Dogs (23-35-6-4), No. 2 Mis- Strategic thinking, goal-setting, relax- also a collective minus-96. Sokolov is and battling for first place in the confer- sissauga Steelheads (34-21-6-7) against ation, communication, visualization and particularly dangerous, leading the team ence deep into the season. No. 7 Ottawa 67’s (26-34-7-1) and No. 4 personal development are important. with 72 points, and finishing second in Considering they’re still just two Kingston Frontenacs (33-26-5-4) against Let’s understand that these and other the league in goals with 48. years into a rebuild after winning the No. 5 Hamilton Bulldogs (33-27-4-4). critical mental factors have to be trained “They’re a skilled bunch, especially 2015 Memorial Cup, the Generals’ and developed just like we do with the that line, so we’re going to have to have expectations for the playoffs remain Oshawa Generals (40-23-3-2) key physical skills. six forwards and four D that are capa- modest for now. vs. Sudbury Wolves (27-34-7-0) In the past, athletes could get by with ble of playing against those guys,” Jones “This year we have a little more expe- their physical talent. Today, we have a said. “That’s been a strength of our rience, but we are a very young team Game 1: Friday, March 24 at Oshawa, more highly developed ball game. team this year at times, our depth, so again,” said Jones, who led the team to 7:35 p.m. We are now in a new era of greater nothing is going to change for us here eighth place in his first season a year Game 2: Sunday, March 26 at Oshawa, athletic awareness. It is undeniably clear in the playoffs. We still want to roll four ago. “We’re going into the first round, 6:05 p.m. that the mind and body are crucial com- lines and we want to make sure every- hoping to win a round. That’s our goal Game 3: Tuesday, March 28 at Sudbury, ponents for high level performance. body is involved in the game.” here, to get into the playoffs and win a 7 p.m. Playing any sport without a strong While nobody on the Generals man- round. Once you win one round, then Game 4: Thursday, March 30 at Sud- mind will result in mediocre perfor- aged even half of Sokolov’s goal produc- you move on to the second and set your bury, 7 p.m. mance over the long run. tion — Eric Henderson and defenceman goal for the second.” x-Game 5: Friday, March 31 at Oshawa, When the body is strong and the mind Medric Mercier shared the team lead GENERALLY SPEAKING: Defence- 7:35 p.m. is rock solid, the results will be spectacu- with 22 goals — collectively, the Generals man Riley Stillman finished the season x-Game 6: Sunday, April 2 at Sudbury, lar in sport and life. scored 228 goals, or 3.35 per game, com- with a bang, scoring his first OHL hat 7 p.m. Dr. Douglas Smith is a licensed psychologist in pared to Sudbury’s 207 (3.04). trick in a 4-2 win over the Peterborough x-Game 7: Tuesday, April 4 at Oshawa, Ontario specializing in sport psychology since The biggest Oshawa advantage fig- Petes Sunday at the Tribute Communi- 7:05 p.m. 1985. Contact him at 905-430-3538 or drdoug@ ures to come in the crease, where over- ties Centre … Captain Joe Manchurek (x-if necessary) promind.ca; website www.promind.ca durhamregion.com.