I have often wondered what does bring a team together, it is always mentioned that chemistry (no not the cocktail kind) is so important in team success. Frankly I buy into that fact but most outsiders those people that report on sports but don't really understand what chemistry is or means & for the record I would exclude 99% of X athletes that have joined the ranks of either the ink stained wretches or TV & radio pretty boys from that group.
Come to think of it I'm not always sure what makes a team sing because there are so many elements that go into team Chemistry, you know and have seen teams that suck & may have great TC it doesn't necessarily translate into great results. Let us not forget talent plays a roll but there in lies the frustration, when the talent is great but the results are underwhelming.
The reason I starting thinking about this was a fans comment that I heard in a sports bar last week something to tune of "you can't win Championships without chemistry" and then quickly followed someone saying "ya the Leafs don't have any chemistry".
Well I know for a fact that those insiders that sit in their local watering hole have the inside track when it comes to what's wrong with their teams and why you can't take peanuts into the dining room.
So the reason I even started this train of thought was this, a number of games ago the Buds , and I believe it was a home game, had a their go into overtime and then the shotout. When there was a TV shot of the Leaf players at the bench before the shootout started all the none Leaf shooters had their Rally helmets on and a smile on their collective faces. Even their grumpy head coach had a smile on his face and wouldn't know it, Leafs win, Leafs win.
Now I believe at that point that Leaf team took a step forward and it had nothing to do with systems, plus minus or the price of dog food at Loblaws, call me crazy but since then they have been a different team. They haven't won all their games since then and they probably won't win Lord Stanley's Cup but they came together at that time and place and in the short and long term they are a better team for it.
The first ingredient in that formula that is called, Chemistry.