hockeytherapy13

Giving this a self bump. Ness needs more reps on that 4th line

It’s at least 4, maybe 5

It’s not an energy thing. We are getting outsmarted with structure. They figured out how to kill us in the neutral zone and how to trap us in our own zone

This is a much better D pairing for our top 4 with Zmolek out sick. Would like to see Ness getting more ice than the usual extra skater because he brings more to the table than what his ice time shows. Plays 200 feet really well and knows when to push the offensive side. Sorry to say it but he’s a better all-around player than Albrecht, and I’m in no way trashing Albrecht. Ness just has a more rounded game.

Guessing it was somewhat painful for Adam Wodon to do that

This team has started to defend the same ways we did last year. Blown coverage left and right. Hedquist has gotten the Drew DeRidder treatment this weekend in that he hasn’t gotten the proper D zone assistance that we were providing in October and November

1 SOG during 3 power plays. Thank goodness it went in

With Perron on the 3rd line it’s almost like having a guy with a killer shot out there 3/4 of the game. Love that gaber is away from Omac and Blake and I love that James is in the top 6 where he belongs. Consider me concerned with us not having Persson in. This is bound to be a tight game and every save and shot will count . Let’s commit to some super strong D in our own end please

Yeah we have to get Gaber on a different line altogether because his offensive weapons are not getting properly utilized. We all know what he's capable of and if he gets on a line where he can be popping as a senior, this team could be scary.

Big props to Berry in his press conference today. He sounds like he's holding guys accountable and is making sure that the boys don't take this series lightly. You can tell he's fired up and really wants to make a run in the 2nd half. He also alluded to there being some changes to lines this coming weekend now that all bodies are ready to go. Going to be a heck of a physical series.

Yeah with how tight and physical Alaska plays, it seems very likely that one game gets to OT. I'm guessing we struggle to score in at least one of these games if we haven't made some tweaks.

I actually thought of that season last night after the game. Lost to a couple of nobodies in exhibition, Adam Tambellini left halfway through and then a 4-seed UND team beats Sconnie in Wisconsin and then Ferris double OT. Outplayed the gophs who were more talented in the frozen 4 and still lost on the flukey 0.6 goal. Weird season but man it displayed how incredible of a coach Hakstol was. This years team will be good if we can get offense at tough times in the 2nd half

The bad news is that 5x5 we aren’t generating offense much at all in our last 4 games (being 3 and the exhibition). One of our 2 5x5 goals tonight was an absolute fluke. Worried about playing Alaska next week, I don’t see a sweep coming for us unless we tweak the forward lines a bit to get Gaber going with someone else.

Time to make some changes to these forward libes. We have regressed since november. Looking past the guys who were out tonight doesn’t matter because our Top 6 isn’t creating much at even strength. Trying the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is insanity.

I know we had illness and injuries but it seems like making some slight changes to the top 9 would have been wise after losing 3 in a row. We have to find a way to get Gaber rolling and James deserves a more offensive role. I realize Berry wanted to allow chemistry to build and didn’t want to flip flop as often as last year, but if we keep those top 2 lines intact, they will continue to struggle.

I kind of wonder if he will go back to juniors for the rest of the year or if the team just has him keep practicing and getting the grades back up. Will Duluth bring in Zam Plante now if he can get signed up for classes quickly?

He mentioned on the ECH podcast (I think it was that one) that he's going to be done after this year. I think you're right that he could use another year here but it seems like he's going to go find a pro paycheck somewhere. He's built for Europe so I'm guessing he makes it there eventually.

Yeah he is nowhere near being able to play the pro game yet. Not when you’re a consistently a defensive liability

Point to where I said they were Penrose contenders? All I said is that you are saying that we should have had this game in the bag just because we are playing a 5th-place team…in the NCHC. Clearly you’re not aware of how strong this league is so arguing with you is senseless. Should we have won the series at home? Yeah we should at least take half or more than half the points at home. But CC is better than you think they are. Which they proved. End of story

Do you think we should respect a team that takes 4 of 6 points in our own barn? Or maybe just assume we should we win every game no matter what just because of their record? We were on the wrong side of pairwise points this weekend so you’re the one who incorrectly underestimated CC.

Probably 5th-ish. But teams lower than that can win an NCAA bid and steal weekends

Did someone say that? Or did someone say we aren’t showing a team respect? A team that has one of the best goalies in the league and a team that almost got an NCAA bid last year by getting to the frozen faceoff champ game. You’re foolish of you think this is the CC from a few years ago that we could roll over. Even when we had Sanderson and faced CC in the playoffs we had to squeak out a couple wins. They are well coached and play a very well-structured defensive game. And when you have a good goalie and play good D you can make stuff happen. Our team is very good but we don’t have D zone coverage like CC has.

It’s crazy how little respect we have for a legitimately good CC team.

CC is much better than their record shows. They deserved a notably better fate last weekend against Arizona state, especially Saturday

Most nights that would be the case. But you also need to play the guys who are playing well in a game like that. Therefore it wasn’t the right time for him to be out there at home with a game on the line. And of course his 100th turnover of the night ended up coming back the other way and in the net. It was fitting.