keikla

Zane seemed very solid tonight, but what was with him being so active with the puck? There were a couple times that he skated far out in order to do a long pass. The first one led to a 3-on-2 for UND, but the second one had NMU carrying the puck back across the red line with Zane still 10-15 feet from the net.

The Friday night game in Miami. Might as well score 4 goals, since my prediction has been so spot on already

haha I think MacWilliam was a pretty decent 'Matt Greene', and he just left after last season.

Haha I didn't say I didn't think UND would win. I just said I think it'll be by a very close margin in a low scoring game.

I didn't say it was an accomplishment. It was in reference to my original statement that since they have a good goalie, I don't see UND scoring 4 or 5 goals. Since I'd already said 4, I used that as the cutoff.

Of Northern Michigan's 18 games this season (incl. exhibition), they've kept the opponent to under 4 goals in 13 of those. 3 of those 13 were shut-outs and another 3 were just 1 goal allowed. I think that's something everyone says.

Based on tonight's line-up, it wasn't a regular line-up contributor at least. Though no injury (regardless of who) is good news.

Considering Northern's best player is their goaltender, I just don't see UND putting up 4 or 5 goals. UND 2-1

Same here.

Agreed. It doesn't seem like the women's pairwaise will be changing anytime soon, much to the joy and benefit of east coast schools. So, the WCHA better adjust the schedule, or its teams will continue to be unfairly left out of the national tournament, year after year.

I think you mean a LOSS and tie the previous weekend against Ferris State. I had to look it up to verify, mainly because I was surprised at the thought of Northern Michigan taking 3 of 4 points from Ferris State.

I think it should have been an initial 4 on 3 for UND followed by a 5 on 4 for WMU. I'm hoping that the officials discuss this during the week so they know how to properly execute this type of situation in the future.

Just because Panz is in the box doesn't mean UND didn't have 5 players on the ice. I would bet they treated the second half of his double-minor more like they do for a 10-minute misconduct. The team isn't shorthanded (since two WMU players had penalties), but Panz isn't allowed to play. So he then would have been released at the next whistle after the final two minutes were up. That's just my synopsis on what likely happened. If they did follow my explanation above, then they definitely handled the penalties wrong.

I agree. Chyzyk over Murphy (unless Murphy starts doing something amazing from now til Christmas). The rate at which Thompson has improved over just five games is incredibly encouraging. I've also been stoked by the play of Stecher. The freshman D may feel slightly over their heads now, but all this experience early on can only help as they develop.

A win tonight gives UND its longest winning streak of the season (3 games). It also would leave the team on a high heading into a very important non-conference series. I'd love to see the boys win, but I'm expecting a tie or loss tonight.

I originally thought that too, especially when Simpson and Schmaltz were split against St. Lawrence. But the problem that developed in that game, I noticed, is that they're on the same PP unit (which I agree with). With how prevalent special teams are, it's almost easier in terms of D pair rotation to keep them together throughout the game.

I think he was just saying that we don't need any sort of rotation; we should just sit Mattson.

Maybe Chyzyk instead of Murphy? He's been playing relatively well as of late.

Yeah; I just threw his name in there at the last second. I'm thinking more Ausmus/Thompson, maybe Mattson. Mattson has been prone to defensive error this year.

Maybe they go back to Friday night at BU with Ausmus and Panz on the fourth line and Mitch sitting. I think that junior line will start to gel again soon enough. I would bet money OD and Mark both came back before being 100% healthy. Infuse a little health, and I think they'll start to pick it back up. That line was on fire at the beginning of the season. I really like the overall line combos from the last night. I think the only substitution I would make is switching out Panz for St. Clair post-Christmas (assuming he's healthy by then). Maybe rotate LaDue, Ausmus, Thompson? Thompson has already shown incredible strides since being thrown in against BU, so it's hard to make him go back to sitting most games.

I think because CC is typically a 'run and gun' team, they fair much better against teams that play the same type of style. I think that's why they've historically given UND fits, even if they've been struggling against other teams.

He's actually not a true freshman, so that wouldn't be an issue. He turned 21 in September.

0-5-1 on the road thus far. http://bangordailynews.com/2013/12/02/sports/umaine-sports/umaine-hockey-team-confident-road-wins-will-come-eventually/

The road to recovery recently got longer for Brian Lee...he had knee surgery during the off-season but had to have an additional knee surgery just before Thanksgiving because the first one wasn't successful.

Those ups and downs are directly tied to location. Maine has been rocking it at home (great for local fans), but lays an egg every time they play a road game.