UND @ Lawson Part Deux

[siouxnatty#8]

10 minutes ago, brianvf said:

Can't believe they kept the top scoring team in the nation to 2 combined goals in 2 games. 
And kept their potent top line off the scoresheet all weekend.  No team has done that all year to them.  Very impressive.

Team defense looked much better than what we saw last weekend.
And DeRidder...with a .962 save % for the weekend and a shutout to boot.  Might be NCHC Goalie of the Week with those numbers.

Rest up, heal up.  Keep it rolling against Lindenwood in the 2nd half.
A solid performance there could put them back above .500, which would be huge.

Kudos to the Senden line and kudos to holding their top line scoreless all weekend.

[fightingsioux4life]

6 minutes ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

Kudos to the Senden line and kudos to holding their top line scoreless all weekend.

Now Berry needs to keep that line intact instead of experimenting like a mad scientist.

[Kevin G]

9 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Now Berry needs to keep that line intact instead of experimenting like a mad scientist.

IMO the lines he used this weekend should pretty much be kept intact moving forward. 

[siouxfaninseattle]

31 minutes ago, brianvf said:

Can't believe they kept the top scoring team in the nation to 2 combined goals in 2 games. 
And kept their potent top line off the scoresheet all weekend.  No team has done that all year to them.  Very impressive.

Team defense looked much better than what we saw last weekend.
And DeRidder...with a .962 save % for the weekend and a shutout to boot.  Might be NCHC Goalie of the Week with those numbers.

Rest up, heal up.  Keep it rolling against Lindenwood in the 2nd half.
A solid performance there could put them back above .500, which would be huge.

Best defensive effort by far this season, and DeRidder looked like the guy we expected to see. Prelude to a second half run?

[UNDPUCKS]

Nice weekend boyz. I was at Friday's game. Their barn looks like a high school arena to me. The WMU guy next to me said it seats 5000. No chance. The atmosphere was good though. The students try to entertain. 

[siouxnatty#8]

7 minutes ago, UNDPUCKS said:

Nice weekend boyz. I was at Friday's game. Their barn looks like a high school arena to me. The WMU guy next to me said it seats 5000. No chance. The atmosphere was good though. The students try to entertain. 

10 minutes ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

Best defensive effort by far this season, and DeRidder looked like the guy we expected to see. Prelude to a second half run?

I like Jammer in the middle of our shutdown line. Jammer has better wheels then Senden imo. 

[Kevin G]

10 minutes ago, UNDPUCKS said:

Nice weekend boyz. I was at Friday's game. Their barn looks like a high school arena to me. The WMU guy next to me said it seats 5000. No chance. The atmosphere was good though. The students try to entertain. 

According to WMU's website, Lawson seats 3667. 

The Lunatics are very active. The PA guy is regularly addressing them by name. "Lunatics, it's time to get loud..."

[siouxforce19]

Just now, Kevin G said:

According to WMU's website, Lawson seats 3667. 

The Lunatics are very active. The PA guy is regularly addressing them by name. "Lunatics, it's time to get loud..."

They’re active but when I was there a couple years ago I couldn’t understand anything they were yelling… 

[AJS]

Great weekend, that extra point on Friday really makes a difference. This weekend stopped the bleeding. Taking 5 out of 6 points on the road and staying the same place they were before this weekend (21st in PWR / 7th in the NCHC), shows just how bad of a spot they are in. I do think they put themselves in position where they can start really making up some ground. The second half of the schedule is fairly favorable.

[brianvf]

12 minutes ago, AJS said:

Great weekend, that extra point on Friday really makes a difference. This weekend stopped the bleeding. Taking 5 out of 6 points on the road and staying the same place they were before this weekend (21st in PWR / 7th in the NCHC), shows just how bad of a spot they are in. I do think they put themselves in position where they can start really making up some ground. The second half of the schedule is fairly favorable.

Yeah if they can keep playing like this weekend, they could get a run together.
The #3-7 spots in the NCHC are really tight...one good or bad weekend by a team could see them moving multiple spots.

[Rick]

4 hours ago, Esoteric said:

Anybody else get nervous when this year’s team has only 1 minute left in the period?

No

[Esoteric]

9 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Now Berry needs to keep that line intact instead of experimenting like a mad scientist.

When things work. Do not break them.  

[siouxnatty#8]

10 hours ago, Kevin G said:

IMO the lines he used this weekend should pretty much be kept intact moving forward. 

This lineup barring injuries should always stay intact. I like Portz on the 4th line better than Constantenni.

[siouxnatty#8]

8 minutes ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

This lineup barring injuries should always stay intact. I like Portz on the 4th line better than Constantenni.

Having this 4th line gives us an advantage on the road I believe because they can put on such a brutal forecheck that they can keep the other teams top line hemmed in their own zone. i.e. the Portz goal came from a great forecheck and great net front presence.

[90siouxfan]

I like that forward line up, but I like Strinden too...   but seems like a head scratcher to take out Schmaltz for Strinden.  

[siouxnatty#8]

12 minutes ago, 90siouxfan said:

I like that forward line up, but I like Strinden too...   but seems like a head scratcher to take out Schmaltz for Strinden.  

I think Schmaltz James Caufield are really starting to gel together. Doesn't make sense to me either to take Schmaltz out. I like our chemistry with this forward lineup.  We really need to keep Albrecht Ness Portz intact too as I think they give us a definite matchup edge on the road when we don't have last change.  Most teams 4th lines aren't as good as this 4th line of ours.

[ChetSteadman]

Title contenders at 7-8-4.  

[siouxnatty#8]

1 hour ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

This lineup barring injuries should always stay intact. I like Portz on the 4th line better than Constantenni.

To me this forward lineup makes the most sense because it is the most balanced. In this we have two lines that can go into shutdown mode in the Jammer and Ness lines while we have the Mac and Schmaltz lines that can supply a lot of offensive punch. The Ness line kind of gives us a little of both which is what the role of a good 4th line should be. I really like this lineup.

[siouxnatty#8]

9 minutes ago, ChetSteadman said:

Title contenders at 7-8-4.  

I think we always had the pieces to have a national championship contending team but we needed goaltending to improve (DeRidder seems to have stepped up) and we needed to get the coaching staff to get their heads out of their asses. We had 2 really goods line come back from last year in the jammer and ness lines and they kept breaking these lines up. They needed to find chemistry with the other two lines which I think has happened. Now just leave things alone and let the guys play hockey. It looks like the players are also having fun again too.

[90siouxfan]

Hain's ability to reman healthy will be concern until the end.   Who works in his place, Kunz?

[Blackheart]

13 hours ago, AJS said:

Great weekend, that extra point on Friday really makes a difference. This weekend stopped the bleeding. Taking 5 out of 6 points on the road and staying the same place they were before this weekend (21st in PWR / 7th in the NCHC), shows just how bad of a spot they are in. I do think they put themselves in position where they can start really making up some ground. The second half of the schedule is fairly favorable.

Best weekend in a long time...let's see what they can do if they get a little healthier over break.

[SiouxScore]

Didn't get to watch any this weekend just listened to TH but sounded like probably this teams best weekend of hockey this season. I really think that Gaber-Mac-Blake line could have a absolutely huge second half of the season. The key will be finding some consistency and stacking these kind of efforts together. 

[brianvf]

The lines are starting to gel a bit more and Berry has kept a couple of them together for a few weeks now...like Hain's and Blake's lines.
I think barring injuries he has a good base for four solid lines that all serve a purpose.

I still think a couple lines will be modified a little bit depending on how some players do in practice, etc during the week. 
You know Costantini / Kunz / Johnson will be put in the lineup again, which they should be.

I agree with an earlier poster that said Blake / OwenMc / Gaber could be poised for a great 2nd half...that line has so much skill and is fun to watch.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

If we can get out of January with fewer than 10 regulation losses we have a chance at an at large bid. No easy feat, especially with Western wanting revenge and Duluth needing to salvage their season as well. Luckily the only road series is Miami.

[brianvf]

3 minutes ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

If we can get out of January with fewer than 10 regulation losses we have a chance at an at large bid. No easy feat, especially with Western wanting revenge and Duluth needing to salvage their season as well. Luckily the only road series is Miami.

Completely agree.  January is huge.  8 games and all of them very winnable if the team plays like they did against WMU.
February is a much tougher schedule (four games against DU and SCSU who both swept UND earlier), so if they're gonna move up the PWR and NCHC standings, they need a big January.