The CC Tigers come a calling.

[Wilbur]

I won't waste any more time.  @Godsmack the floor is yours.....

[siouxfaninseattle]

Mr. Chairman I yield the floor to the representative from Colorado.

[burd]

14 minutes ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

Mr. Chairman I yield the floor to the representative from Colorado.

We notice you did not identify him as a gentleman.  

[fightingsioux4life]

This must be a sweep at home.

[brianvf]

A sweep would be great...but CC is a quality team that could certainly take a game if UND is not playing as well as they can.
If UND plays up to their potential, I see a sweep heading into their break.
Let's keep that #1 in the PWR rolling...

[siouxfaninseattle]

4 hours ago, burd said:

We notice you did not identify him as a gentleman.  

While it appears that he is indeed a gentleman, we'll have to see what the reaction to this weekend's results are to be sure.

[burd]

7 hours ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

While it appears that he is indeed a gentleman, we'll have to see what the reaction to this weekend's results are to be sure.

No small test, given the circumstances he is in.  

[The Sicatoka]

13 hours ago, burd said:

We notice you did not identify him as a gentleman.  

He is a gentleman and a scowler.   

Scowler, scholar, so confusing. 

[burd]

Will The Man Himself fly up for this series of conflicting (balanced?) loyalties?

[The Sicatoka]

33 minutes ago, burd said:

Will The Man Himself fly up for this series of conflicting (balanced?) loyalties?

Leave some Grain Belt lying about as bait. 

[cberkas]

CC out shot ASU 38-14 Saturday and couldn't buy a goal. 

[brianvf]

24 minutes ago, cberkas said:

CC out shot ASU 38-14 Saturday and couldn't buy a goal. 

That sounds like the Tigers of last year.
Great D and goaltending but lack of scoring.

[cberkas]

3 minutes ago, brianvf said:

That sounds like the Tigers of last year.
Great D and goaltending but lack of scoring.

TJ made big saves for ASU outside a couple hit posts. 

[Wilbur]

I can't believe we haven't gotten our overview of CC yet.  @Godsmack doing his best to be excluded from the #tgob.....

[burd]

I hope every opponent from now to tourney time brings their absolute best game.    Not only the preparation they need for the tourney--it's also more fun to watch.  

[Godsmack]

2 hours ago, Wilbur said:

I can't believe we haven't gotten our overview of CC yet.  @Godsmack doing his best to be excluded from the #tgob.....

Sorry-after our OT loss Saturday, I was taking a self-imposed break from the message board. I was salty and ticked off Saturday as UND lost in OT while also I got to watch CC outshoot and out play ASU but still manage to find another creative way to lose.  
 

Let me gather some thoughts and observations about CC and I will report back here shortly. 

[franchise]

On 12/3/2023 at 9:10 PM, brianvf said:

Let's keep that #1 in the PWR rolling...

A long way off yet, but would we guess that #1 would put them in Sioux Falls?

Kind of hoping for MO so I could also check off Gateway Arch Natl Park

[siouxforce19]

3 minutes ago, franchise said:

A long way off yet, but would we guess that #1 would put them in Sioux Falls?

Kind of hoping for MO so I could also check off Gateway Arch Natl Park

Unless Omaha makes it as a 4th seed. Since they are the host in Sioux Falls. If that happens I’d see us in MO if we are the overall #1. 

[tnt]

7 minutes ago, siouxforce19 said:

Unless Omaha makes it as a 4th seed. Since they are the host in Sioux Falls. If that happens I’d see us in MO if we are the overall #1. 

We play Omaha last weekend of the regular season, so if it is close for them being in the tournament, we need to take them out so we can be in Sioux Falls.  I see a lot better turnout in that scenario.   

[stoneySIOUX]

9 minutes ago, tnt said:

We play Omaha last weekend of the regular season, so if it is close for them being in the tournament, we need to take them out so we can be in Sioux Falls.  I see a lot better turnout in that scenario.   

That and, I'd love to send Omaha's season again.

[thUNDer]

1 hour ago, franchise said:

A long way off yet, but would we guess that #1 would put them in Sioux Falls?

Kind of hoping for MO so I could also check off Gateway Arch Natl Park

St Louis & Philly our least favorite past frozen 4 destinations but for the Gateway & Independence parks! Hoping for SF & Gateway Mall instead for regionals. 

[Godsmack]

Some thoughts about what I’ve seen of the Tigers this season.

1. Their goal scoring woes they had last season have come back the past handful of games. In their last 4 games, they’ve gone 0-3-1 and have potted only 3 goals. CC was scoring goals at a very high rate their first half dozen or so games of the season but you have to also consider their opponents at the beginning. Their first five games they went 5-0 against: Union, Long Island, Air Force (1). Facing better competition since then, they’ve gone 2-6-1 (Augustana (1), DU, Miami, Western Michigan, and ASU). They’ve only scored 17 goals in their last 9 games. 

2. The good news about their offense is they are getting the majority of their scoring production from their freshmen (aka, “first years” as they’re referred to at CC) and sophomores. The bad news is, they’re not getting much production from their upperclassmen. 

Tigers freshmen have scored 30 of the team’s 43 goals and 68 of the team’s 110 points. Freshmen have scored 14 of the team’s last 17 goals. The freshman class has been touted as one of the best incoming classes in the league, something I don’t think we could say about the Tigers in over a decade so the future looks promising.

Losing big, strong and skilled forward Hunter McKown early to the pros definitely hurt. He accounted for something in the range of 20% of CC’s scoring last year and was among the nation’s leaders in power play goals. Look for forwards Noah Laba and Gleb Veremyev to try to pick up the slack in scoring. Big, strong physical forwards who can score and also have some “snarl” to their game as Dave Starman likes say. 

3. Contrary to typical CC teams, this year’s squad has been taking a lot of penalties. And with a 41st in the nation penalty kill (79%) that could continue to plague the team. 
 

4. CC’s power play is clicking at a dismal 9% (61st in the country) this year. There’s hope-it looked much better this last weekend against ASU, generating grade A chance after chance against ASU’s TJ Semptenphelter. I guess that “hot goalie” thing has rubbed off of UND and onto the Tigers. And don’t quote me on this but if I recall, CC radio guy Ken Landau said in Saturday’s post game that CC hasn’t scored a power play goal in like, their last 28 opportunities or something ridiculous like that. Whatever the number, it’s been a while. They badly need a slump buster but doubtful it’ll come at the expense of UND and its highly rated penalty kill.

5. Kaidan Mbereko. .909 SV% and 2.61 GAA. While his numbers won’t pop out at you as earth shattering, I have seen him play enough times to say he could be considered an elite goaltender if he had better talent playing in front of him. If not for Mbereko, the team would have likely won fewer games the last two seasons. They say good goaltending masks a lot of other deficiencies and I think that holds true for CC. 
 

6. Kris Mayotte. All in all, I think CC made the right choice in hiring a younger coach but one with deep ties to college hockey. Kris Mayotte is bright, intelligent and I think has a good hockey IQ. He was a four year starting goalie at Union before stints coaching at Providence (was on the staff for their 2015 national title) as well as Michigan prior to coming to CC.
 

I think Schlossman was right when he said CC is probably a season or two away from being a league contender. They supposedly have another really good recruiting class coming in next season, it’s just that Mayotte needs to continue cycling through the upperclassmen that were brought in under the Haviland regime.

7. Final thing I’ll say, as bad as CC’s been over the past decade, their games against UND as of late have been rather tight, entertaining, low scoring affairs. Last year, CC took UND to overtime in both games at Robson. Admittedly, this year’s UND team is significantly more talented than last year’s so who knows what’ll happen between the teams here this weekend. 

[siouxfaninseattle]

1 hour ago, Godsmack said:

Some thoughts about what I’ve seen of the Tigers this season.

1. Their goal scoring woes they had last season have come back the past handful of games. In their last 4 games, they’ve gone 0-3-1 and have potted only 3 goals. CC was scoring goals at a very high rate their first half dozen or so games of the season but you have to also consider their opponents at the beginning. Their first five games they went 5-0 against: Union, Long Island, Air Force (1). Facing better competition since then, they’ve gone 2-6-1 (Augustana (1), DU, Miami, Western Michigan, and ASU). They’ve only scored 17 goals in their last 9 games. 

2. The good news about their offense is they are getting the majority of their scoring production from their freshmen (aka, “first years” as they’re referred to at CC) and sophomores. The bad news is, they’re not getting much production from their upperclassmen. 

Tigers freshmen have scored 30 of the team’s 43 goals and 68 of the team’s 110 points. Freshmen have scored 14 of the team’s last 17 goals. The freshman class has been touted as one of the best incoming classes in the league, something I don’t think we could say about the Tigers in over a decade so the future looks promising.

Losing big, strong and skilled forward Hunter McKown early to the pros definitely hurt. He accounted for something in the range of 20% of CC’s scoring last year and was among the nation’s leaders in power play goals. Look for forwards Noah Laba and Gleb Veremyev to try to pick up the slack in scoring. Big, strong physical forwards who can score and also have some “snarl” to their game as Dave Starman likes say. 

3. Contrary to typical CC teams, this year’s squad has been taking a lot of penalties. And with a 41st in the nation penalty kill (79%) that could continue to plague the team. 
 

4. CC’s power play is clicking at a dismal 9% (61st in the country) this year. There’s hope-it looked much better this last weekend against ASU, generating grade A chance after chance against ASU’s TJ Semptenphelter. I guess that “hot goalie” thing has rubbed off of UND and onto the Tigers. And don’t quote me on this but if I recall, CC radio guy Ken Landau said in Saturday’s post game that CC hasn’t scored a power play goal in like, their last 28 opportunities or something ridiculous like that. Whatever the number, it’s been a while. They badly need a slump buster but doubtful it’ll come at the expense of UND and its highly rated penalty kill.

5. Kaidan Mbereko. .909 SV% and 2.61 GAA. While his numbers won’t pop out at you as earth shattering, I have seen him play enough times to say he could be considered an elite goaltender if he had better talent playing in front of him. If not for Mbereko, the team would have likely won fewer games the last two seasons. They say good goaltending masks a lot of other deficiencies and I think that holds true for CC. 
 

6. Kris Mayotte. All in all, I think CC made the right choice in hiring a younger coach but one with deep ties to college hockey. Kris Mayotte is bright, intelligent and I think has a good hockey IQ. He was a four year starting goalie at Union before stints coaching at Providence (was on the staff for their 2015 national title) as well as Michigan prior to coming to CC.
 

I think Schlossman was right when he said CC is probably a season or two away from being a league contender. They supposedly have another really good recruiting class coming in next season, it’s just that Mayotte needs to continue cycling through the upperclassmen that were brought in under the Haviland regime.

7. Final thing I’ll say, as bad as CC’s been over the past decade, their games against UND as of late have been rather tight, entertaining, low scoring affairs. Last year, CC took UND to overtime in both games at Robson. Admittedly, this year’s UND team is significantly more talented than last year’s so who knows what’ll happen between the teams here this weekend. 

Great analysis. Those special teams numbers are season killers.

[Wilbur]

9% on the Power Play?  And people complain around here.....

[Godsmack]

https://paisleyhockey.wordpress.com/2023/12/07/revamped-north-dakota-back-end-propels-fightin-hawks-back-into-title-contention/?fbclid=IwAR0h5vCHXCSo7I_1JbfwH0b8sEJapwkq2Cotw1upmUbvR46F8Y2R_YIXu08