yzerman19

Our freshmen D are minus in league play. So are our checkers. That is tough to overcome. I agree that there are situational issues. You are going to have more minuses when you are facing the other teams' top scoring threats, but we need our checkers to play even hockey. They aren't going to score very often, so they need to work hard at keeping the other teams off the board. It doesn't seem to me that Taylor was paired with Robbie all season. Was he, and I just wasn't paying attention? I thought he was playing with Lapointe in the beginning. Watkins is second on the team on shots on goal, that's also an interesting stat.

THe minus half of +/- is an important measure. I don't think minus is a byproduct of opportunity. Rather than +/-, just show me goals against while on the ice. We all know that Osh and Duncs will ahve 40 point seasons, how many goals do they give up when out there? Guys like Jones and Finley aren't going to score, in fact they will most likely look for their partner to move the puck up to transition too, so they aren't going to get assists either. Just show me how many goals they allow per game, that's a stat.

If you take out all the penalties from the end of the Wisco game, we probably aren't that much off the norm for pims per game

He had to pick up groceries and his kids on the way home from practice Maybe he was a walk-on. He only played two years...is it posible this guy was really 32 years old? He's on the 1979 roster as a 31 year old.

I agree that Roe has some sick stick skills. He is definitely one of the shifties tand best stickhandling forwards in the league. He is a baby, and I believe the Motzko's adjective to describe VV is more appropriately aimed at his own little whiner.

Sloppy play in your own zone = Losses. You can not telegraph passes, especially in your own zone. I also noticed the turnovers. I also notice that we don't often break out with speed and authority. it seems more tentative, like we are afraid to get beat one on one (except Osh who goes one on one all the time). Anyway, I saw the sloppy play too. Key areas to get better: Powerplay, puck possession in the defensive zone, and break outs Areas that seem to be clicking: Forecheck, penalty kill, transition through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone Areas hurting us that are not our fault: Refs calling weak penalties. Surviving the opposition powerplay is great, but it wears out your penalty killers for at least one additional shift. That's energy that could be used to generate scoring or to play harder.

I hate the attitude of so many of these players (like Roe) who think they can do or say anything that they want and their buddy or the ref will save them. Case in point the Wisco series how many times was there a 3rd man in? Ridiculous. You want to talk the talk, drop the gloves.

We are absolutely no worse than any other team we've played. Big difference might be the manner in which we do it. We are not subtle. We do not pick a fight and then run behind a ref, knowing full well that a helmets and gloves off fight is unprecedented. I saw St Clown pull all sorts of little cheap crap, and our guys just don't take well to that.

You can't blame Chorney for all the turnovers either. The breakout is as much on the forwards as the D. I see wingers at the blue line way too fast. The D then has to try and hit the long pass, which is easily picked off. Wingers have to get down to the hash, short, crisp passes to transition up. If the breakout isn't there, the d need to recompose and simply wait for their forwards to come back. Remember that Marto and Lapointe are both making TONs of freshmen mistakes in our end. Don't blame Chorns, could you do your best work if you were constantly worrying about the guy next to you. It is also pretty easy to point fingers and give examples of screw-ups and times where our D man gets beat. There are many more times where our D men are winning. TC included. If he was playing that poorly, given the number of minutes he logs, we'd be 0-14 in the WCHA.

A defenseman is only as good as his partner. For much of the year it seems that Chorney has been having to give his partners a ton of help. He can't do it alone back there. One very big disappointment is that he hasn't scored a goal yet. I used to love watching him walk in about 15 feet and let a corner-seeking missile go.

Don't forget that Blaker grew up in GF

Agee that there is a lot more than stats, however to call +/- the worst stat is also kind of silly. It does measure you and your line's ability to play both ends of the rink. Yes, there is some luck, but that's why they call it a game. You win and lose as a team. I love +/- as a line indicator and a d-pair indicator if they are doing their jobs. As for Watkins being a bigger plus than Oshie, that doesn't surprise me. There have been many times this year when I have ben disgusted by the d-zone play of our top fellas. Given the point production of the Osh and Duncs, the fact that TJ is a +1 is really a testament to not playing good tight D. (not just on TJ, but on his linemates and the D pairs). By the way, not knocking theOsh, noone debates his skill and hard style of play. It doesn't do you one bit of good if either Duncs or Osh score on every other shift, but the opponent is answering on the opposite shift. Talk about undeserved negativity on Finley. I think that he has played much better all year. He can't play as physical as he'd like, because he'll draw a penalty every time. Bigger stronger kid doesn't seem to matter to the refs in this league. All that being said, the only stat that matters is wins and losses.

I also feel that this team might've turned a corner this weekend. I like the line combos. I thought we rolled four productive lines. Power play still needs a lot of work. Special teams will be crucial come playoff time. Still really disappointed in the penalty calling. Some of it is diving (Roe) some of it is reputation, but there is no way that a WCHA conference series should ever end with one team having 5 power play chances and the other team having 13. One of the powerplays was at the very end of Friday's game, so I guess we can call it 12 chances. 5 vs 12. I'll accept 5 vs 6, I'll even accept 5 vs 7, but 5 vs 12. We are not that dirty, and St CLown is far from clean. Let them decide it on the ice 5 on 5. Power plays should only be called when its a definite penalty that disrupts a scoring opportunity or could hurt someone, or is just blatently cheap. The league should be made aware of this. The video of Roe "doh se dohing" Kaip and then falling down to make it appear as though Kaiper were holding him in order to draw a penalty should be sent to every official in the league.

How about Jon Casey or Bob Iwabuchi?

VV and Kozek both living up to their end of the deal, but I have to give it to VV. Finley had a great weekend this weekend, so maybe the second half will result in his earning of the award.

You must be looking at Frattin's "other ID" according to the roster, he turned 20 last week.

I heard that they were trying to move away from home rinks and move towards "neutral sites" like the X and the Pepsi center...really neutral

I'd rather be the team known for tough play than the team known for never having won an NCAA game

This team has to get out in front early. Tech will clog the neutral zone and the middle of the rink, so we have to keep the passes short and work for shots. This is a series where we must get some hard working rebound goals. No points for style against MTU. Tonight was one of the best 60 minutes we've seen all year. Let's see if we can't roll that into a home sweep. Get to the net hard early, bang one in. MTU can not run and gun with us, but they can win a tight-checking defensive battle, so first goal (once again) is key. I liked the line chemistry tongiht. Hak might've gotten it right (finally) I think we'll see Malone work into the lineup again. Miller still not doing much. Defense still needs to get their head's on. I take the good, which outweighs the bad this year on Finley, Bina, Jones and Chorns. Genoway is looking good too now. Marto and Lapointe are playing like...well, freshmen. They need to adjust, come second half, noone's a freshman anymore

Sorry about your friend's friend, AZ. I'v ebeen having a bit of a meltdown over cheap play. I guess I should try and regain my composure

sounds like a bad spring fest moment

Radke brought a hard nosed attitude. He got called on ticky tac and for sticking up for his teammates vs the talentless diving hacks. I gave SCSU the benefit of the doubt prior to this series. Having gone there last night and watching tonight. The fans were worse than Gopher fans last night, and the replays of the cheap dives and bush-league play disgusted me. They want to be mor ethan Gopher rejects and how good they are...play with some dignity. 1 and done, that's SCSU in the playoffs and most SCSU players in the ECHL. Gosh, they fired me up...especially Roe. He seriously needs someone to feed him with their fist.

Motzco also has no class. He actually thinks that SCSU is a national power...have some perspective, jeez. I only say this because of a couple run ins with the jerk

I route for the 'Dogs after the Sioux. That sucks to lose to BSU,especially with a weak goal.

Won't the NCAA national championship game be a Saturday road game?