Well, call me impressed!
We came into this series a defensive, low scoring team and we leave Thanksgiving weekend as a goal scoring not so defensive team. Ok, that's a bit harsh but...
This weekend we saw huge weekends from Danny Kristo, Derek Forbert, Corbin Knight, Brock Nelson, and Nick Mattson on the UND side.
Danny Kristo is something else. Brock Nelson is right behind him. Corbin Knight is pretty much unbeatable in the faceoff circle.
My 3 stars for tonight's game:
3rd Star: Corbin Knight
2nd Star: Danny Kristo
1st Star: Rylan Schwartz
My 3 stars for the weekend:
3rd Star: Brock Nelson
2nd Star: Danny Kristo
1st Star: Rylan Schwartz
May the Schwartz be with CC... until UND faces them again.
Yeah, by the end of the first period tonight, I was hoping that Rylan Schwartz's NHL team would sign him before the second period began... Now I look it up and... He's a free agent! It's JADEN who is the "star." Well.... Jaden did do a stellar job this weekend but Rylan... WOW. I think there's a team about 5 hours drive SE of Grand Forks that could use some more offense.... just sayin'.
To put it bluntly: I don't want any more of Rylan Schwartz.
Here are some more thoughts:
1. Again, the ice was crap tonight. The puck didn't sit well at all, skaters slipping and sliding without being touched, and more whiffs.
2. The officials were meh. UND finally benefitted from the refs. I felt at times, UND did definitely get away with a few. The refs didn't call everything, but I felt that there were times where CC was held by tighter regs than we were. In an unethical way, I'm happy we finally got the benefit of it. In an ethical manner, once again: I'll be happy to be rid of the WCHA officials.
3. O'Donnell was the unsung hero tonight. He SERIOUSLY looked GREAT out there. The only thing missing was a goal. His poise, patience, aggressiveness... I loved it all.
4. I noticed Gaarder but Hennessey had to tell me Pattyn and Panzarella were on the ice. I guess that's a good thing for Panzarella but we are seriously shallow in forward depth (but that's just beating a dead horse).
5. If Rylan Schwartz goes cold, CC is in trouble. This weekend, CC scored 9 goals. All but 3 were scored by Rylan Schwartz. He's fantastic and, if he continues lighting it up like this, will surely be the WCHA MVP. However, if he goes cold, they may be in the same trouble as UND.
6. Defensively, tonight's game was a much better game than last night's game (at least through the first half of the game)
7. Our Powerplay looks A LOT A LOT A LOT Better. I finally saw us moving the puck down low and trying to work the puck in close for the tap in. There were still a lot of perimeter bombs but we were now in the right position to use it and we didn't rely solely upon it.
8. Garbage Goals? THERE YOU ARE!!! Unlike last night, only one of our goals (Kristo's shortie) was of the non-garbage goal variety. Highlight reel goals are highlight reel goes because not every goal is a highlight reel goal. Games are won through garbage goals. We won this game because we owned the front of the CC net.
9. I'm not sure, but... I think we may be better in the faceoff circle now than we were with Vandevelde...and crew.
Hennessey suggests that this series might be the turning point for UND. Maybe it will be, but we won't know until later in the season. Even so, I do hope it is.
