NORTH DAKOTA @ UAA - FRIDAY Gameday

[stoneySIOUX]

17 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

I just meant our meaning of adversity might be in the wrong place. UND was already fighting adversity by putting themselves in a tight game late in the 3rd with a horrible program. In my eyes, dealing with that adversity well would've been by UND stepping up and potting a 2nd goal to put that ugly game to bed. Instead they let in a very late goal letting it go to OT. In OT they put themselves in an even worse situation of a 5-3 disadvantage. Sure, getting out of that is a start, but I feel like we're picking a pretty tiny positive when you step back and look at the big picture. I wasn't saying killing a 5-3 was a bad sign, just getting themselves into that spot in the first place was a bad sign and getting out of it feeling good is sad.

As for the goalie-- Everyone see's his stat line as 1 GA on 33 shots. You don't see the missed open netters and tap ins that he had nothing to do with. Sure he had a great game on top of that, but I'm saying it seems like we end up saying that about A LOT of goalies, so what makes this guy any different. "Their goalie had the hot hand." "but their goalie stood on his head". Get some odd man breaks, get some unstoppable scoring chances. When you are dominating play that badly, you should get those opportunities to score those types of goals, and it doesn't matter who the goalie is those types of plays. 

No I don't expect 10 goals a game, but when any team dominates the puck possession and shots on goal that heavily, I really think it has a lot to do with what type of shots are being taken more than it has to do with the goalie himself.

Step back and look at the big picture, indeed. Game 1 in which we handled our competition in every facet, but didn't pot one goal and tied. The big picture, as what BSV was saying, was that we tied on the backs of a great goalie performance on the road in Game 1. Zero trends have been established at this point.

[stoneySIOUX]

3 minutes ago, yzerman19 said:

I saw at least a half-dozen high percentage shots...we score on half of those and its a 4-1 win.  Sometimes the puck doesn't go in.  This is not a big deal.  If we respond with another dominating performance and pump some in, it will be a good start.  

The 2010-2011 Pony Express team- which was the best team in the country that year- also tied in the opener in Alaska with a veteran laden stud team.

Good call and the entire post is exactly how I feel. 

Will this be a trend to lose close games while handily dominating opponents? I surely hope not. But, right now, it's just one game and is really not a big deal.

[JaDubbs]

Who were the healthy scratches from last night game, that made the trip?

[Wilbur]

34 minutes ago, yzerman19 said:

I saw at least a half-dozen high percentage shots...we score on half of those and its a 4-1 win.  Sometimes the puck doesn't go in.  This is not a big deal.  If we respond with another dominating performance and pump some in, it will be a good start.  

The 2010-2011 Pony Express team- which was the best team in the country that year- also tied in the opener in Alaska with a veteran laden stud team.

That team also blew a 3 or 4 goal lead I believe in that game...and a few weeks later got murdered by a Maine team that didn't even make the postseason. 

[Wilbur]

29 minutes ago, JaDubbs said:

Who were the healthy scratches from last night game, that made the trip?

Gornall, Smith, Anderson

[scpa0305]

None of our forwards want the puck on the pp. last night, every time one of them had the puck they were constantly trying to feed the Dmen. And funny thing is I love that.  Getting back to your d on the PP is one of the best things to do.  The problem there though is that the forwards have to create space down low to keep the pk units honest.  Last night ak was simply clogging the middle because they knew the forwards weren't being aggressive whatsoever. Shaws got some work to do here...he's had phenomal players and his pp play has been sub par since he's been here.

[MDtoGF]

https://seamoresports.com/2017/10/07/und-ties-alaska-anchorage-1-1-quick-thoughts/

 

A recap and thoughts for tonight.. one thing i mentioned is the transition game.. if UND can get a few more chances without the Seawolves getting time to set up, the result tonight could be different. 

[Godsmack]

To Anchorage’s credit, they seemed to play a “bend but don’t break” system last night, packing their players in tight around their goalie. Mantha made some outstanding saves but his teammates also blocked a lot of UND’s shots too. Seemed like UND just couldn’t break through the wall that the UAA players had in front of their goalie.

UND did not cash in on a couple of gaping nets but Anchorage also had an open net where Cam came up huge while UND was killing a penalty in the first period. I’d also argue that most other goalies wouldn’t have made a save on UAA’s goal-that was just a snipe thanks to a d zone breakdown by North Dakota. UND is pretty young and raw and we saw that but I am confident the they will gel and get better as the season goes along.

[Oxbow6]

Note to self.........a shot directly into the crest of the goalie's jersey won't go in very often!

[Godsmack]

10 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Note to self.........a shot directly into the crest of the goalie's jersey won't go in very often!

In my beer league, I aim for the goalie’s chest hoping that I end up hitting the corners! 

[burd]

I'd be satisfied with a 500 season and maybe a tournament berth if we could just shed that image of being mean, dirty players.   We are not savages. 

[Godsmack]

44 minutes ago, burd said:

I'd be satisfied with a 500 season and maybe a tournament berth if we could just shed that image of being mean, dirty players.   We are not savages. 

I don’t get the sense that UND is a mean, dirty team. It seems like UND’s gotten away from walking that line about 4 or 5 seasons ago.

[yzerman19]

2 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Note to self.........a shot directly into the crest of the goalie's jersey won't go in very often!

When they play their angles perfectly, that tends to be where the shots go.  I give credit to Mantha.

[burd]

2 hours ago, Godsmack said:

I don’t get the sense that UND is a mean, dirty team. It seems like UND’s gotten away from walking that line about 4 or 5 seasons ago.

  I guess burd needs to work on his delivery.

[bigskyvikes]

1 hour ago, burd said:

  I guess burd needs to work on his delivery.

......sarcasm? 

[fightingsioux4life]

8 hours ago, AJS said:

I'm with you, there are some trends (I'll continue to harp on the PP), that are concerns after seeing it year after year, since that's on the scheme. "Hot goalies" or lack of finishers, I'll need more of a sample size to judge. Last nights game, wouldn't have followed the trend last year, where more times than not, UND made the goalies look better. Mantha was just an animal.

One type of advanced stat I'd love to see is compare a goalies Save % at the end of the year and if their games against UND they were better or worse than their average. 

What I don't want is our guys getting the "hot goalie" thing in their heads; it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It also can become a convenient excuse for losing games you shouldn't.

[fightingsioux4life]

6 hours ago, Godsmack said:

To Anchorage’s credit, they seemed to play a “bend but don’t break” system last night, packing their players in tight around their goalie. Mantha made some outstanding saves but his teammates also blocked a lot of UND’s shots too. Seemed like UND just couldn’t break through the wall that the UAA players had in front of their goalie.

UND did not cash in on a couple of gaping nets but Anchorage also had an open net where Cam came up huge while UND was killing a penalty in the first period. I’d also argue that most other goalies wouldn’t have made a save on UAA’s goal-that was just a snipe thanks to a d zone breakdown by North Dakota. UND is pretty young and raw and we saw that but I am confident the they will gel and get better as the season goes along.

That Alaska trip is always tough regardless of what kind of team we have. Thank God we don't go up there too often.

[shep]

11 hours ago, MafiaMan said:

It's called sarcasm.  However, had DU beaten ND in the 2016 semi-final, the "Fire Berry" thread would already be up and running.

Sorry didn't catch that, though mine was sarcasm too.

I was often on the Fire Hak bandwagon so I can see how that could happen. I may have been a bit more forgiving for Berry in his 1st year. Year 7, NOPE.