Thoughts on Denver Series

[dden3]

1.  Johnson was left out to dry, but he is not playing aggressively.  Sitting in net, not challenging shooter.  Previous observations that he is slow with the glove when in the butterfly seem to be correct.

2. Keaton Thompson had a terrible series.  Took bad angles both nights and swings with the stick before taking the body. 

3. Team looked gassed.  Don't know if its possibly the rumored flu in the team or whether they can't handle the altitude.  Schmaltz was really tired Saturday night.  Two of the top line haven't played for awhile and maybe showed in their conditioning.  Anybody else notice that the top line started Sat night in the trap rather than the aggressive forecheck.  I thought maybe the coaches were trying to save some energy??  The whole team seems to take the puck rather than the man and often took bad angles this weekend.

4.  I think they will correct the defense and the health/conditioning questions.  Goaltender needs to get some confidence and challenge the shooter and cut down some angles.

 

[siouxfaninseattle]

And what about Luke? He was doing much better up until this weekend, and then went back to his old ways. Minus 4 on Friday and took a real stupid penalty. He did well on faceoffs (at least on Friday, I don't know about last night). Maybe he needs to sit for a game or two.

[fsioux]

17 minutes ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

And what about Luke? He was doing much better up until this weekend, and then went back to his old ways. Minus 4 on Friday and took a real stupid penalty. He did well on faceoffs (at least on Friday, I don't know about last night). Maybe he needs to sit for a game or two.

Faceoffs last night were horrendous.  As a team we only won 35% of the faceoffs and were constantly chasing the puck.  L. Johnson only won 3 out of 19 faceoffs and Nick S. did not do much better winning 5 out of 19.  Definitely an area we need to improve upon.  Gardner and Simonson did much better.

[Oxbow6]

Thoughts.........DU was really good. UND was really bad. Better team with the sweep.

 

"Clean up in isle 6"...........time to move on.

[The Sicatoka]

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. 

They got experience. 

[scpa0305]

Friday night the boys played well but had terrible defensive miscues.  One Saturday everyone looked gassed. It was a couple bad games.  Even the best of teams have a couple bad games; the Black Hawks have lost like 3 in a row now.  I'm not worried.  I'll be pissed if UMass-Lowell runs them out of the building in March. Our lingering problem is that we have no offensive help after that top line; I'm actually for splitting them up.  It was a pretty fun ride but we're getting into crunch time here pretty soon.

I actually thought Denver looked really good on Friday night.

[UNDColorado]

1 minute ago, scpa0305 said:

Friday night the boys played well but had terrible defensive miscues.  One Saturday everyone looked gassed. It was a couple bad games.  Even the best of teams have a couple bad games.  The Black Hawks have lost like 3 in a row now.  I'm not worried.  I'll be pissed if UMass-Lowell runs them out of the building in March. Our lingering problem is that we have no offensive help after that top line.  I'm actually for splitting them up.  It was a pretty fun ride but we're getting into crunch time here pretty soon.

I actually thought Denver looked really good on Friday night.

Denver did look really good. They were a step faster both nights and it paid off for them. Hopefully this will be a nice wake up call for the team.

[Siouxperfan7]

We got beat twice by a team that played better.  Still tied for first in the NCHC.  We are a lock for the NCAA's and are currently positioned as a 1 or 2 seed.  Things could be a lot worse right now.  This team maybe needed a little gut check down the stretch to show what it takes to win when facing a little adversity.  Reflect and move on.  Need to take care of business against Duluth at home.

(stating the obvious, I know.)

[stoneySIOUX]

A third thread? Jees. How spoiled are we?

[UNDColorado]

Is there any truth to the rumor that the flu was working its way through the team over the last wee and a half?

I do understand that this is likely information that the team would be reluctant to release to the public.

[stoneySIOUX]

2 minutes ago, UNDColorado said:

Is there any truth to the rumor that the flu was working its way through the team over the last wee and a half?

I do understand that this is likely information that the team would be reluctant to release to the public.

Pretty sure it'd be a HIPAA thing, too.

[UND-RedSox fan]

1 hour ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

We got beat twice by a team that played better.  Still tied for first in the NCHC.  We are a lock for the NCAA's and are currently positioned as a 1 or 2 seed.  Things could be a lot worse right now.  This team maybe needed a little gut check down the stretch to show what it takes to win when facing a little adversity.  Reflect and move on.  Need to take care of business against Duluth at home.

(stating the obvious, I know.)

It's amazing how many people need to hear the obvious though. We still control our own fate for winning/tying for the Penrose and getting a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. We are pretty much a lock for the NCAA tournament. We still have one of the best top lines in the country and despite what happened this weekend, one of the best groups of defensemen in the country. All of this and people are ready to jump off of the Demers bridge.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

10 minutes ago, UND-RedSox fan said:

It's amazing how many people need to hear the obvious though. We still control our own fate for winning/tying for the Penrose and getting a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. We are pretty much a lock for the NCAA tournament. We still have one of the best top lines in the country and despite what happened this weekend, one of the best groups of defensemen in the country. All of this and people are ready to jump off of the Demers bridge.

I hate how after sweeps this board is pretty quiet save a few frequent posters and then after a bad loss or two the trolls come out of the woodwork. All of the sudden the armchair coaches show up when it gets bad but are nowhere to be seen during the good stretches. 

[UNDColorado]

22 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Pretty sure it'd be a HIPAA thing, too.

Yeah that sounds about right. There were a couple guys that looked way more gassed than usual. Schmaltz in particular looked really gassed Saturday.

[stoneySIOUX]

4 minutes ago, UNDColorado said:

Yeah that sounds about right. There were a couple guys that looked way more gassed than usual. Schmaltz in particular looked really gassed Saturday.

He was slow all weekend. That being said, his slow is well above average compared to other skaters, so it's much more noticeable if he's a step behind.

Being out three weeks, elevation and a fast DU team all had something to do with it, too. I expect nothing less than him coming back to normal.

[UND-RedSox fan]

12 minutes ago, UNDColorado said:

Yeah that sounds about right. There were a couple guys that looked way more gassed than usual. Schmaltz in particular looked really gassed Saturday.

His injury was a lower body injury as well so that may have made it more difficult to maintain his conditioning. This was his first game action in almost a month. I'm sure we'll see him get right back into the same shape he was in prior to the injury.

[UNDColorado]

This makes a lot of sense. Thanks to both for the information.

[Goon]

UND actually lost twice to Denver in Denver during the 1996-97 season.

[runaroundsioux]

9 minutes ago, UND-RedSox fan said:

His injury was a lower body injury as well so that may have made it more difficult to maintain his conditioning. This was his first game action in almost a month. I'm sure we'll see him get right back into the same shape he was in prior to the injury.

Schmaltz said in an interview with Schlossman it was a sprained ankle. It was reported at the time that it was an practice injury. 

[Fetch]

That outdoor practice looked like a accident / injury waiting to happen

[bigskyvikes]

44 minutes ago, Goon said:

UND actually lost twice to Denver in Denver during the 1996-97 season.

That's some BEAUTIFUL info there Goon! Come on and repeat history!

 

Go Sioux/Hawks!

[Goon]

Just now, bigskyvikes said:

That's some BEAUTIFUL info there Goon! Come on and repeat history!

 

Go Sioux/Hawks!

Yep, I was thinking the same thing.

[Cratter]

13 minutes ago, choyt3 said:

Why? Is the ice different on an outdoor rink? Boards higher? Jagged metal on the nets? The only real difference between that and a regular practice was a roof. Man, you're reaching. 

The ice at outdoor rinks is way worse than the ice at the Ralph.

Not saying it's an accident waiting to happen though. That stuff helps build team chemistry....Not injuries. Outdoor fun ;).

[choyt3]

20 minutes ago, Cratter said:

The ice at outdoor rinks is way worse than the ice at the Ralph.

Not saying it's an accident waiting to happen though. That stuff helps build team chemistry....Not injuries. Outdoor fun ;).

Well aware of that. Quality of course differs in that you might not have a perfect glass-like surface. But they do maintain the outdoor rinks in GF probably to a standard that exceeds many indoor sheets. I just don't get some of these posts after losses. 

There's a risk to injury each morning that you get out of bed. It's just relative to the activity you'll participate in that day.

100% agree on the team building aspect to it.

[Fetch]

I'm just being a argumentative old man 

SNOOP DOG FOR SUPREME COURT