Friday, November 26, 2010

Fighting Irish 3, Fighting Sioux 6

Wow. We put a shelacking on the Fighting Irish tonight. For a minute there, I thought I was watching Notre Dame playing Auburn or Oregon in football.... Ok, so it wasn't THAT much of a blowout. I also don't think Notre Dame was that embarrassing on the ice tonight.

The Key

The key to tonight's win wasn't what UND Color Analyst Jim Scanlon said. Yes, it was nice that UND got to the rebounds on those 2nd and 3rd chances on goal, but it wasn't the reason why we won. We won because our defense was just overwhelming for most of the game. True, it wasn't the type of dominance that UND fans saw vs. UW, but it was still stifling at times... especially in the first period. The key was we were always in the passing lane. I hate to say this but: We beat Notre Dame the same way that so many of our opponents had beaten us. We got in the passing lanes, we controlled the puck in the neutral zone, we didn't commit too many bad turnovers (just 1 or 2 that resulted in goals... Guentzel's goal being the most egregious), and we were pretty well disciplined. Dell had a decent night as well.

The Offense

Sometimes the best offense is a good defense. But for Cichy, Gregoire, Frattin, Knight, Genoway, and even Kristo, it was pretty good. Kristo was once again denied an entry on the goal scoresheet but he did garner points. Anyone else think that it is amusing to see Sioux fans complain about Kristo's selfishness with the puck yet Kristo only has 1 goal and what... 4 assists? Then again, I'm not all that concerned about his selfishness. I just wish he'd bury the puck more.

Anyways, Gregoire was amazing. Frattin scored a goal tonight... yeah it was waved off as a nod of the head to Jackson. Look folks, there was no direct kicking action. But hey, the rules have changed since former Gopher (turned NHL bust) Kris Chucko made a living kicking in pucks. So, whatever.

Speaking of turnovers, I was confused on the Guentzel goal. Guentzel intercepts a pass from a Sioux player coming off the boards, or so it appears. The pass is credited to LaPoint but LaPoint isn't the player on the boards. Did LaPoint pass the puck to this Sioux player (I assume it was either his defensive partner or the left wing at the time), the puck hit off of the Sioux player's skate or stick and bounce right to Guentzel or what?

I might've not been able to track the puck very well (webcast was blurry on my computer), but I don't think LaPoint's pass went right to Guentzel. Oh well. Hopefully I can find a replay somewhere. And, for the record, I don't like the delayed penalty goal and subsequent powerplay rule. I think it's dumb.

The Defense

LaPoint had an up and down game but otherwise, I think the D did well. Forbort's illness is frustrating but Simpson's not exactly giving anyone cause to be too concerned about it. I guess, I wonder why Bruneteau isn't playing so well in practice such that Gleason is beating him out for the slot. I guess it doesn't matter. Gleason played well tonight too.

ANYWAYS, Marto showed his worth today. He was great with the puck. Genoway was Kristo-esque (to give credence to the Kristo detractors) for half of the game. He got lucky with one shot but man... it seemed like he didn't care to pass the puck for most of the night... WAIT! I don't care. He saw a shooting lane and he took it. There's never anything wrong with that. And besides, if I criticize Genoway too much I might get a nasty comment how I should spend more time throwing LaPoint under the bus and less time trying to torpedo a great, superhuman, all around great guy like Genoway.

Concerns:

Well, if we play tomorrow like we did tonight, we should be OK. However, we've not exactly torn it up recently on Saturdays following Friday games where we've scored 5+ goals. This goes double for those instances where it happens against decent or good teams. Notre Dame seemed to be overwhelmed in the first period and then started to come back with a vengeance in the 2nd. Jeff Jackson is too good for his team to come out on Saturday looking similar.

Here are the givens for tomorrow's game:

1. UND will not win by 3 goals
2. Neither team will score more than 4 goals
3. It will be a much tighter game

Overall, I think the officials did alright. And the ARs knew how to call offsides. That's a step up from Omaha.

And whoever it was, a Sioux player (TH thought it was Blood) who told Notre Dame "You are only allowed 5" when Notre Dame got called for Too Many Men earned a gold star.

Redwing77's 3 stars:
First Star: Jason Gregoire
Second Star: Mike Cichy
Third Star: Chay Genoway

I should say that Ben Blood gets an honorable mention because he played great.

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