Roll-er-COAST-GRRRRRRRRR!!! (Redwing77)

I originally wrote this during and right after the Friday night game vs. Minnesota. I had to walk away from it these days because I thought my emotion got carried away. I did not remove too much of my passion but I did edit this and move some information around. Enjoy:

What an exciting game.

The first period featured UND coming out guns blazing... shooting blanks but guns blazing anyways. it was up and down. It was exciting. My heart was racing the entire time!

The second period was another story. We started peppering again but then Lamoreaux got rocked and off Ambroz went for contact to the head roughing. And what happened?

The worst major power play I've ever seen that DID NOT involve a short handed goal. It was AWFUL. How often do you see a major power play that has more short handed shots on goal than powerplay shots on goal? Well, this one should be video recorded and everyone should watch it to see how NOT to play on the powerplay. Dell came up big but he was the only Sioux player on the ice for those five minutes.

Powerplay suckitude

This brings me to my major gripe with UND. Their powerplay is just sad. Who is shooting the puck? No one down low. No one center ice. ONLY the point makes the shot. And you can point at Kristo all you want but when he's not on the ice, the shot STILL comes from the point. Perimeter shooting is ok when you try to mix it up and try to get down low. They didn't attempt really the entire major penalty but they did try a few times on a few minor penalties.

I love the fact that they shoot the puck, but they got to get the puck coming towards the net from all angles to enable the possibility of the goaltender getting caught guessing or leaning the wrong way. Right now, if I'm killing penalties, you can almost predict where the shot will come from and crowd the point. I believe this hurt the Sioux a number of times tonight (EDIT: And Saturday night as well).

Officiating Rears its ugly head

Can Marco Hunt be worse than Don Adam? Two phantom penalty calls in the 3rd period alone is enough to bring up this as a viable question. I wish I was at Mariucci and could speak to Lucia. If I could, I'd tell him to tell his players just to fall down when in heavy traffic while carrying the puck. That way they can spend ALL GAME on the powerplay. Hunt lets the game get out of hand and fails to see both sides of the ice... wait a minute, that's part of the Standard Operating procedure for WCHA officials. But hey. As long as each side has equal power play opportunities, no one cares right? It's interesting that, during the game on Brad's live chat (which I cannot do anymore thanks to all the lousy ads and negativity), fans were saying Shepherd was in UND's pocket. You'd think that one ref in each sides' pockets, though unethical, would have evened things out?

Sure, UND has had a few beneficial calls in this game. But I wonder how many of those Minnesota penalties were REALLY penalties? Good LORD I'm anxious for the NCHC so we can get rid of these morons. Then again, will the NCHC refs be any better?

Lackadasical Play

Has the Sioux D found Serratore yet? Have we found a goaltender to play against that isn't going to step up and play the best game of his career yet? How many excuses are we going to have before we start doing the little things well? This team is BETTER than it is playing. Sure, you have your young shooters but no one is shooting but Kristo and Knight. Nelson gets a few shots here and there but heck, I just called out the first line. Time to start really pressing.

Silver Lining? It's early in the season.

Black Lining? We're putting an awful lot of pressure on the boys the second half of the season.

By the way: GOOD GOD our powerplay is awful. Just awful. Just Just awful. You can't feel bad if you do make a mistake against the Sioux and go down a man. They'll probably just bomb it from the point or turn it over and allow your boys to get a good go at Dell.

Minnesota's Improved

I hate to say "I told you so!" but... The recruits were essentially the same during Hill's final year and the team this year is essentially the same save those recruits. What I'm trying to say is this: The only change is Guentzel. And already they're starting to look a lot like... well, the last time Minnesota looked like they did vs. us? Well, they won something in April that we haven't won since 2000. Championships aren't won in October or November so Minnesota has a long ways to go, but they've DEFINITELY improved. So much so that it would be VERY hard NOT to consider Minnesota the most drastically improved team in the WCHA... that's saying something with MTU looking like...well looking like they're actually a hockey team.

In this case, I hate being right, but really... the ONLY real difference is Guentzel and it shows just how sucktastic a coach John Hill was. This brings my new musing: If Guentzel had been hired at UAA instead of Hill when Hill was hired... would UAA still have been a joke cellar dweller that MSUM seems to have become nowadays? Something tells me that UAA might have been better than they were during the Hill years just Hill drove the talent down.

In any case, I'm still not convinced that Patterson is the best goaltender in the WCHA (as a radio commentator or reporter put it), but he did play an amazing game tonight. Also, the Gophers did something that I'm not used to seeing: backchecking. Sure, that has always been their preferred defense of choice over the physical gameplay but this time they were really effective.

The Gophers tried to raise their physicality as well but the officials made it hard for them to do so without paying the price as well as some of their younger players showed their inexperience (see Ambroz).

All in all, this wasn't a game of domination by either team. In the end, it was a game where Minnesota just played better than we did when it mattered the most.

The Sioux need to stay out of the box and, until we figure out how to play a man up, so does our opponent so we can start generating some better scoring chances. Right now, it's not working. Right now, we can't hit the net where the goaltender isn't and when we have the opportunity, we can't corral the puck long enough to shoot it in.

A very aggravating loss and perhaps the harshness of this post is fueled by it.

Gophers 2; Fighting Sioux 0

First of all I have to comment that it appears that the departure of John Hill from the coaching ranks certainly improved the Minnesota Gophers. I believe their record is now 8 and 1 with 5 shut outs. That's a far cry from recent Gopher teams that had the talent but have been missing the national tournament lately.

I think we all expected that as young as the Sioux team is this year that it would take a while for them to become real competitive. Where that's really showing up is in the scoring. The Sioux had a few good chances, but they still can't score like we need to.

The Sioux played the Gophers well through most of the game. The first goal was by Nick Bjugstad on the power play that wound up being a virtual 5 on 3 as Mario Lamoureux blocked two shots which broke his stick and left him nearly unable to stand. I give him a lot of credit for getting up and still attempting to block more shots, though it wasn't hard for the Gophers to move around him.

I have to give him credit. After a short stint on the bench he finished the game.

The Sioux didn't suffer many breakdowns in my opinion until late in the game. The one that hurt the most led to the second goal where the Gophers won a faceoff in the defensive end and managed to get by the defense in the scramble after the drop of the puck. That led to a break-a-way goal for Tom Serratore on a nifty little pass from Nick Larson.

It was a entertaining game with at least one old time scrum, without the punches. It's pretty clear that the Gophers came into the game with the idea that they weren't going to fold under the physical play like they have in some of the games in the past.

The one thing that's troubling is the officiating that's going to lead to a player getting seriously injured. In the first period, Gopher Nate Condon launched Derek Rodwell headfirst into the boards. The tandem of Derek Sheppard and Marco Hunt called Condon for a minor penalty. Of course when they let hits like that go by someone is going to do it again. In the second period Seth Ambroz hit Mario from behind and finished the game in the locker room.

Hits that launch a player headfirst into the boards have no place in hockey. The rules are very specific but the refs in the WCHA have no respect for the players safety.

I'll get off my soapbox now. I hate to say it but at this point of the season it looks like the Gophers are back to being a contender.