Goaltending is Boon for Some, Bust for More
It really is no secret if you read our columns, we put emphasis on the goaltender position. It is the great equalizer, or downfall, in college hockey. An otherwise really good team can look terrible in the standings and an average team can go far in the postseason all depending on their goaltending.
To cut the chase, so far we have really blown our pre-season prediction. Our #1, Colorado College, goaltender Joe Howe has not looked like two-thirds the goalie has was last season. He has struggled mightily at times leading now to talk of a goalie controversy in Colorado Springs. But the season is still young, just ask Minnesota – Duluth.
The Bulldogs, who looked like a rudderless ship until Kenny Reiter took control of the wheel, have surged after a slow start. The team has an eight game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) including shutouts in three of the last five games. The only goaltender in those games, Reiter, the same guy who had to battle to get his saves percentage above 0.900 after the team’s 1-3-0 start.
The Gophers really can’t complain, or seriously say that they expected, what Kent Patterson has done in the nets. Patterson has five shutouts while going 10-2-0 for UMTC. The Gopher’s scoring has been great and abundant, buoyed by 15 goals in two games against Sacred Heart, but the real story of success lies between the pipes at UMTC.
CC isn’t the only team not getting what they expected from their goalie play. Coming into the season, one thing that Saint Cloud knew that they could not lose is Mike Lee, their only goalie with experience behind now graduated Dan Dunn. And here it is, SCSU now has to rely on a senior who has never played a minute in a college game that counts and two freshmen as Lee is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery. A Huskies season with some, albeit limited, promise of competing has turned into an all out fight for home ice for the first round playoffs.
Yet another story of goalie trial by fire is taking place in Denver. Sam Brittain last year made Denver into a real force backing up all the Pioneers scoring with good goaltending. A knee in Denver’s last game in the 2010-11 season forced Brittain to have surgery and will keep him out until at least mid-January. All coach George Gwozdecky asked is that backup Adam Murray keep the Pioneers in the hunt while Brittain heals. Not going as planned as Denver has used freshman Juho Olkinuora in relief of Murray on multiple occasions, because really, he couldn’t have been any worse than the starter…but he was. It got so bad at Michigan Tech that Gwozdecky was compelled to try no goalie.
In the meantime, while Denver waits for their goalie to come back from injury while showing up rival CC’s Howe in a game last Saturday, 5-4. The place holder beat the expected league #1...go figure.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Minnesota - Duluth Hosts Alaska - Anchorage for Two Game Series
UMD Meets UAA in First of Two Home Series for Bulldogs
Make hay when the sun shines. It is an old adage that is still used extensively be people in sales. In this case, it is the perfect outlook and mind set for UMD. The Bulldogs host Alaska – Anchorage this weekend in Duluth and then UMD will close out their 2011 home games hosting Minnesota State – Mankato the following weekend. The next home game for UMD after November 19 is January 20, 2012.
The Seawolves started the season on a tear going 3-0-1, but have since gone 0-4-0. The difference is clear, the first four were non-conference and the last four were WCHA conference games. Dig deeper in Anchorage’s record and their story becomes murkier.
UAA played some decent non-conference teams, most notably two WCHA teams. The Seawolves went 2-0-0 against Saint Cloud State and Nebraska – Omaha in their non-conference portion of the early season. Even more intriguing is UAA traveled to UNO for their first WCHA games and were swept in Omaha 4-1 and 3-1.
The first meeting between UAA and UNO was in Alaska so maybe it is a home state thing for Anchorage. But Anchorage hosted Minnesota – Twin Cities in their most recent WCHA action and were decidedly swept 5-0 and 3-1.
The Seawolves’ struggles should give UMD confidence on the weekend, but measured confidence. UMD has seen the lows this season and have fought their way back to being very competitive. It is no time to sit back on recent laurels.
UMD’s Turnaround. UMD has the third longest national unbeaten streak in the nation at six games. It is the longest currently in the WCHA. There is no secret about the improvements. It comes from goaltender play of Kenny Reiter.
Reiter’s impressive weekend at Denver earned him the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honor beating out the likes of UMTC’s Patterson.
To us at the HighHorse, we saw the vote going to either University of Minnesota net minder, but then you see the stats of Reiter at Denver where he put up five shutout periods after giving up 3 goals in the first period Friday. So that first period wasn’t good, but how he responded on the road for the next five definitely makes him deserving of the honor.
Sleeping Around. As stated prior, UMD has two weekends of home games left before mid January of 2012. In between the Bulldogs will play four series, eight games, away from home. Those opponents are Michigan Tech, Wisconsin, Western Michigan, and Nebraska – Omaha.
These next two weekends are important games for UMD to keep the momentum going before the extended road trips.
By the Stats. This week we are trying a new format and have embedded the StatPack for UAA and UMD here in the preview.
It is refreshing to see UMD finally come around on their stat categories and have the edge against an opponent. UMD has to remember that stats don’t win the games, but they should be well aware as they have been battling back from a subpar start to the season.
Weathering the Storm, SOS? It is embarrassing to be talking PairWise (PWR) this early in the season, but here it goes. The advantage of looking at the ratings this early is to judge the strength of schedule (SOS) of games played so far.
In the PWR, the Bulldogs have played eight games against the top 25 in the PWR going 4-3-1. The only team with more games against the top 25 (known as the TUC or teams under consideration) is Northern Michigan who have played 10 games against TUC.
Prediction. The UMD defense has come together and Kenny Reiter is playing at the top of his game. UAA has not showed much after a hot non-conference start. Finding the goal has been difficult and will likely continue to be difficult this weekend at AMSOIL Arena for the Seawolves. This will be a UMD sweep.
Around the WCHA.
Nebraska – Omaha at Bemidji State: After a tough start, the Mavericks have been playing better and finding some scoring. The Beavers have played well at home and should be able to hold off the Mavs enough to earn a split.
Saint Cloud State at Minnesota State – Mankato: SCSU has been playing very good hockey recently, but have struggled early in the season on the road. The Mavericks have had a tough season so far at home and on the road mainly due to injuries. If Austin Lee can play well enough MSUM can get 2 points, but we think SCSU is the better team and will leave Mankato with 3 points.
Minnesota – Twin Cities at Wisconsin: UW is back at home after a tough trip to St. Cloud. The Badgers have played well at home and should be able to continue even against a Gopher team that is really clicking right now. This is the second rivalry series for the Gophers in two weeks and will again bring the fireworks. Bottom line, you should expect to see top efforts from both teams and thus a split.
Colorado College at Denver (Saturday only): In a strange scheduling move, these teams play one game this weekend and play the second of this “series” on December 2. Denver's struggles in net will continue and CC will come home with the win.
Make hay when the sun shines. It is an old adage that is still used extensively be people in sales. In this case, it is the perfect outlook and mind set for UMD. The Bulldogs host Alaska – Anchorage this weekend in Duluth and then UMD will close out their 2011 home games hosting Minnesota State – Mankato the following weekend. The next home game for UMD after November 19 is January 20, 2012.
The Seawolves started the season on a tear going 3-0-1, but have since gone 0-4-0. The difference is clear, the first four were non-conference and the last four were WCHA conference games. Dig deeper in Anchorage’s record and their story becomes murkier.
UAA played some decent non-conference teams, most notably two WCHA teams. The Seawolves went 2-0-0 against Saint Cloud State and Nebraska – Omaha in their non-conference portion of the early season. Even more intriguing is UAA traveled to UNO for their first WCHA games and were swept in Omaha 4-1 and 3-1.
The first meeting between UAA and UNO was in Alaska so maybe it is a home state thing for Anchorage. But Anchorage hosted Minnesota – Twin Cities in their most recent WCHA action and were decidedly swept 5-0 and 3-1.
The Seawolves’ struggles should give UMD confidence on the weekend, but measured confidence. UMD has seen the lows this season and have fought their way back to being very competitive. It is no time to sit back on recent laurels.
UMD’s Turnaround. UMD has the third longest national unbeaten streak in the nation at six games. It is the longest currently in the WCHA. There is no secret about the improvements. It comes from goaltender play of Kenny Reiter.
Reiter’s impressive weekend at Denver earned him the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honor beating out the likes of UMTC’s Patterson.
To us at the HighHorse, we saw the vote going to either University of Minnesota net minder, but then you see the stats of Reiter at Denver where he put up five shutout periods after giving up 3 goals in the first period Friday. So that first period wasn’t good, but how he responded on the road for the next five definitely makes him deserving of the honor.
Sleeping Around. As stated prior, UMD has two weekends of home games left before mid January of 2012. In between the Bulldogs will play four series, eight games, away from home. Those opponents are Michigan Tech, Wisconsin, Western Michigan, and Nebraska – Omaha.
These next two weekends are important games for UMD to keep the momentum going before the extended road trips.
By the Stats. This week we are trying a new format and have embedded the StatPack for UAA and UMD here in the preview.
It is refreshing to see UMD finally come around on their stat categories and have the edge against an opponent. UMD has to remember that stats don’t win the games, but they should be well aware as they have been battling back from a subpar start to the season.
Weathering the Storm, SOS? It is embarrassing to be talking PairWise (PWR) this early in the season, but here it goes. The advantage of looking at the ratings this early is to judge the strength of schedule (SOS) of games played so far.
In the PWR, the Bulldogs have played eight games against the top 25 in the PWR going 4-3-1. The only team with more games against the top 25 (known as the TUC or teams under consideration) is Northern Michigan who have played 10 games against TUC.
Prediction. The UMD defense has come together and Kenny Reiter is playing at the top of his game. UAA has not showed much after a hot non-conference start. Finding the goal has been difficult and will likely continue to be difficult this weekend at AMSOIL Arena for the Seawolves. This will be a UMD sweep.
Around the WCHA.
Nebraska – Omaha at Bemidji State: After a tough start, the Mavericks have been playing better and finding some scoring. The Beavers have played well at home and should be able to hold off the Mavs enough to earn a split.
Saint Cloud State at Minnesota State – Mankato: SCSU has been playing very good hockey recently, but have struggled early in the season on the road. The Mavericks have had a tough season so far at home and on the road mainly due to injuries. If Austin Lee can play well enough MSUM can get 2 points, but we think SCSU is the better team and will leave Mankato with 3 points.
Minnesota – Twin Cities at Wisconsin: UW is back at home after a tough trip to St. Cloud. The Badgers have played well at home and should be able to continue even against a Gopher team that is really clicking right now. This is the second rivalry series for the Gophers in two weeks and will again bring the fireworks. Bottom line, you should expect to see top efforts from both teams and thus a split.
Colorado College at Denver (Saturday only): In a strange scheduling move, these teams play one game this weekend and play the second of this “series” on December 2. Denver's struggles in net will continue and CC will come home with the win.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Still Trying to Make Statements
UMD Makes First Trip to Denver in Two Years
In a season of tests, UMD is embarking on their most difficult in the young season. Denver is a very inhospitable place for the Bulldogs in recent years. Granted they did not play at DU last season, but the seniors on this UMD squad are 1-5-0 at Denver including playoff games.
This is a new year and UMD is 1-0-1 on the road…not much of a road record to go off of and it is against a (arguably) weaker non-conference opponent. The challenge is definitely present and waiting for UMD in Denver.
Conversely, the Pioneers have only played two games that count at their home building. They are a perfect 2-0-0. And the Pioneers are not to a great start in the record book just like the Bulldogs, but they are playing at home and that means something especially this year in the WCHA.
Shoot Away! UMD has outshot their opponents in every game this season and their record is what it is. Denver has outshot their opponents in all but one of their games. The Pioneers are 2-2-1 when outshooting their opponent and 1-0-0 when being outshot.
See the College Hockey HighHorse UMD/DU StatPack for a breakdown.
Prediction. It is too tall of an order to think that UMD can go into Denver and sweep the series. Reiter has been getting stronger in the net, which had to happen. He will really be tested this weekend by some really good players for the Pioneers. UMD will be able to score, but score enough is the question. The last time Denver was swept in a WCHA series was November of 2008, almost three years ago. Maybe they’re due? Nah, but this won’t be a wasted weekend for the Bulldogs as they salvage a split at Denver.
Around the WCHA. There are some really hot teams in the league and we see them staying hot this weekend.
Minnesota State – Mankato at Michigan Tech: Tech seems to be a good team at home and will continue to be against a bad MSUM. Huskies sweep in Houghton.
Wisconsin at Saint Cloud State: Both teams are playing inconsistently…meaning: a split.
North Dakota at Minnesota – Twin Cities: UMTC is playing teams at the right time and are definitely one of the best teams (quite possibly the best) in all of NCAAs right now. Currently the goal tending is top notch and the defense is good because the offense has been so good. We see a couple very high scoring very close games similar to the series against UMD and UMTC come out with a sweep of the down spiraling UND. This series will likely be another 90 shots per game weekend for both teams.
Colorado College at Nebraska - Omaha: Finally, a good test for CC. It looks like a sweep for the Tigers of CC, but in the end we see this being a 3-pointer for Colorado College playing at Omaha.
Bemidji State at Lake Superior State: LSSU will continue their winning ways and take 4 points in a home sweep of the coming-back-to-earth Beavers.
In a season of tests, UMD is embarking on their most difficult in the young season. Denver is a very inhospitable place for the Bulldogs in recent years. Granted they did not play at DU last season, but the seniors on this UMD squad are 1-5-0 at Denver including playoff games.
This is a new year and UMD is 1-0-1 on the road…not much of a road record to go off of and it is against a (arguably) weaker non-conference opponent. The challenge is definitely present and waiting for UMD in Denver.
Conversely, the Pioneers have only played two games that count at their home building. They are a perfect 2-0-0. And the Pioneers are not to a great start in the record book just like the Bulldogs, but they are playing at home and that means something especially this year in the WCHA.
Shoot Away! UMD has outshot their opponents in every game this season and their record is what it is. Denver has outshot their opponents in all but one of their games. The Pioneers are 2-2-1 when outshooting their opponent and 1-0-0 when being outshot.
See the College Hockey HighHorse UMD/DU StatPack for a breakdown.
Prediction. It is too tall of an order to think that UMD can go into Denver and sweep the series. Reiter has been getting stronger in the net, which had to happen. He will really be tested this weekend by some really good players for the Pioneers. UMD will be able to score, but score enough is the question. The last time Denver was swept in a WCHA series was November of 2008, almost three years ago. Maybe they’re due? Nah, but this won’t be a wasted weekend for the Bulldogs as they salvage a split at Denver.
Around the WCHA. There are some really hot teams in the league and we see them staying hot this weekend.
Minnesota State – Mankato at Michigan Tech: Tech seems to be a good team at home and will continue to be against a bad MSUM. Huskies sweep in Houghton.
Wisconsin at Saint Cloud State: Both teams are playing inconsistently…meaning: a split.
North Dakota at Minnesota – Twin Cities: UMTC is playing teams at the right time and are definitely one of the best teams (quite possibly the best) in all of NCAAs right now. Currently the goal tending is top notch and the defense is good because the offense has been so good. We see a couple very high scoring very close games similar to the series against UMD and UMTC come out with a sweep of the down spiraling UND. This series will likely be another 90 shots per game weekend for both teams.
Colorado College at Nebraska - Omaha: Finally, a good test for CC. It looks like a sweep for the Tigers of CC, but in the end we see this being a 3-pointer for Colorado College playing at Omaha.
Bemidji State at Lake Superior State: LSSU will continue their winning ways and take 4 points in a home sweep of the coming-back-to-earth Beavers.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
UMD at Denver: The StatPack
UMD is still diffing out of their statistics hole and things are getting better. In comparison to opponents, it still isn't up to par for an upper half WCHA team. This weekend against the Pioneers will be a challenge and the stats will not get padded when playing a strong team like the Pioneers.
This weeks StatPack:
This weeks StatPack:
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
WCHA: Gwozdecky the Mad Hatter; Power Outage in Grand Forks
Goalie Injury Brings out Mad Hatter in Gwozdecky
The injury bugs seems to be catchy.
After taking advantage of an injury riddled Minnesota State – Mankato team in a home sweep, the Pioneers of Denver found themselves using their back-up goalie due to an injury to starter Adam Murray. Freshman Juho Olkinuora was pressed into duty in the Friday night game at Michigan Tech. The Huskies won the game 7-2, but that isn’t the real story here. The real story in the game is that the Mad Hatter of the WCHA, George Gwozdecky, struck again.
Olkinuora’s performance must have been sub-par, or maybe it was the whole Pioneer team that disappointed their coach. Gwozdecky, known for regularly practicing without a goalie, pulled Olkinuora for 1:26 in the 3rd period. And it wasn’t the end of the third, it began at the 13:04 mark of the period. He must have seen enough and wanted to send a message by pulling Olkinuora. Message that night wasn’t received because the Pioneers gave up three empty net goals in that 1:26 stretch in the third to fall behind 7-1.
Gwozdecky is a great coach and his views on playing without a goalie is always interesting. It stretches back in my experience to a Saturday night game in Duluth during January of 1995. Down by 2 with about minutes to go, Gwozdecky pulled his goalie and Denver did tie the game after multiple minutes of extra attacker play. The game ended in a tie and went to overtime where it stayed a tie. In the post game comments, Gwozdecky remarked that his team’s empty net play was so good that night he thought about pulling the goalie in OT. Truth? Maybe not, but it very well may have crossed his mind.
In another game featuring a freshman goalie, Saint Cloud’s Ryan Faragher made quite the entrance into WCHA play with a shutout of the Sioux at North Dakota.
The 4-0 loss by North Dakota either showed the brilliance of Faragher or the hot/cold nature of the traditionally great Sioux scoring machine.
In the game SCSU took two 5-minute major penalties, one at 7:35 of the first and the second at 1:44 of the second. So the Huskies played almost two thirds of the game two skaters disqualified, not to mention the ten minutes of shorthanded play. Additionally, during the second major, SCSU took a minor penalty to go down to three skaters to UND’s five for a full two minutes of the major penalty.
In all UND 0 for 7 on the power play to start the season 0-3-0 in the WCHA before their first league win the next night, 3-1, against the Huskies. Can this be the slow Sioux start we got so accustomed to in recent years?
The injury bugs seems to be catchy.
After taking advantage of an injury riddled Minnesota State – Mankato team in a home sweep, the Pioneers of Denver found themselves using their back-up goalie due to an injury to starter Adam Murray. Freshman Juho Olkinuora was pressed into duty in the Friday night game at Michigan Tech. The Huskies won the game 7-2, but that isn’t the real story here. The real story in the game is that the Mad Hatter of the WCHA, George Gwozdecky, struck again.
Olkinuora’s performance must have been sub-par, or maybe it was the whole Pioneer team that disappointed their coach. Gwozdecky, known for regularly practicing without a goalie, pulled Olkinuora for 1:26 in the 3rd period. And it wasn’t the end of the third, it began at the 13:04 mark of the period. He must have seen enough and wanted to send a message by pulling Olkinuora. Message that night wasn’t received because the Pioneers gave up three empty net goals in that 1:26 stretch in the third to fall behind 7-1.
Gwozdecky is a great coach and his views on playing without a goalie is always interesting. It stretches back in my experience to a Saturday night game in Duluth during January of 1995. Down by 2 with about minutes to go, Gwozdecky pulled his goalie and Denver did tie the game after multiple minutes of extra attacker play. The game ended in a tie and went to overtime where it stayed a tie. In the post game comments, Gwozdecky remarked that his team’s empty net play was so good that night he thought about pulling the goalie in OT. Truth? Maybe not, but it very well may have crossed his mind.
In another game featuring a freshman goalie, Saint Cloud’s Ryan Faragher made quite the entrance into WCHA play with a shutout of the Sioux at North Dakota.
The 4-0 loss by North Dakota either showed the brilliance of Faragher or the hot/cold nature of the traditionally great Sioux scoring machine.
In the game SCSU took two 5-minute major penalties, one at 7:35 of the first and the second at 1:44 of the second. So the Huskies played almost two thirds of the game two skaters disqualified, not to mention the ten minutes of shorthanded play. Additionally, during the second major, SCSU took a minor penalty to go down to three skaters to UND’s five for a full two minutes of the major penalty.
In all UND 0 for 7 on the power play to start the season 0-3-0 in the WCHA before their first league win the next night, 3-1, against the Huskies. Can this be the slow Sioux start we got so accustomed to in recent years?
Friday, October 28, 2011
Special Teams Key When Bemidji Visits Duluth
Special Teams, Goaltending Favor Bemidji
It is not secret that UMD was sparked by their power play last season. Couple that with a better than decent penalty kill and we all know where that took the Bulldogs.
Fast forward to this season.
The power play has started to come around and be productive. After last weekend, the Bulldogs convert power plays at a 20% rate good for 16th in the nation. No reason to panic, in fact the rate is good and should get even better as the power play units get more chances.
The penalty kill has been a glaring low spot for this year’s Bulldog team. They are currently at a 70% kill rate which is not in the top 40 in the nation. That is an improvement from the 55% kill rate before last weekend’s series at Providence. That is not a misprint, 55% four games into the season. The current rate is bad, but looking at where the Bulldogs came from, it is a great improvement.
See all the stat comparisons in the HighHorse StatPack.
The test gets more difficult this weekend on both ends of the special teams. The most glaring mismatch is the 4th ranked BSU power play against the UMD kill. The Bulldogs will have their hands full especially since UMD averages 18.67 penalty minutes per game, eighth highest in the nation. Arguably, the series will be won and lost based n the UMD penalty kill versus the BSU power play.
You might think that UMD would have a chance to extract their own goals on power play because a 20% conversion isn’t bad. But the Beavers are a well disciplined team committing only 10 minutes per game on average.
Special teams are important this weekend as with any college hockey series. But with the way both teams are going, it likely could be the determining factor of the series.
The other factor that is a close second to special teams in determining the series will be goaltending. Bemidji seems to have it clicking while UMD is still trying to feel their way through.
Reiter has seemingly been deemed the number one, but likely not because of his play. Instead it is the lack of good play in the nets for back-up Aaron Crandall.
Crandall has played only one game, but it was a forgettable outing where he stopped only 78% of the shots he faced. Now that is only one game, but it must also be showing up in practice for Reiter to have the last four consecutive starts.
We said it last week and it applies here again, a Bulldog resurgence needs to start in goalie play. The late tying goals by opponents need to stop. The team must be able to trust themselves and their netminder that they can hold a one goal lead to the end.
Keep Shooting? UMD has outshot their opponents in all six games this year, but are still 2-3-1. The total shots on goal are UMD 221, Opponents 158. The Bulldogs need to start burying those shots or keep the fewer shots faced out of the net. Better yet, do both!
Prediction. This will be the weekend that UMD comes out in their building and wins a series. Now we don’t see a sweep occurring, but UMD will take three points from the Bemidji.
Around the WCHA. Besides the UMD – BSU series, there are four league series and one non-conference set.
Denver at Michigan Tech: Denver comes in playing really good hockey and shouldn’t really have a problem in Houghton. Tech is trying to regain their magic before they fall into a downward spiral like last year. Home cooking for the Huskies won’t be enough as the Pioneers sweep.
Saint Cloud State at North Dakota: This is a bad weekend for SCSU to get the Sioux. UND will be ready to make a statement and they will with a sweep at home against a struggling Huskies team making their WCHA season debut.
Nebraska – Omaha at Wisconsin: These are two teams that have Jekyll/Hyde problems this season. Both teams are coming off of home sweeps, but inconsistency still reigns. This series will end in a split.
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities at Alaska – Anchorage: The Gophers aren’t invincible as demonstrated in a home loss to Vermont last Sunday. It was the Gophers first loss and first goals given up this season at home. Anchorage has shown they are formidable in Alaska and that is why this series will be a split.
Colorado College at RPI: We still strongly believe that the Tigers are the best of the WCHA and they will have little trouble dispatching RPI in New York.
It is not secret that UMD was sparked by their power play last season. Couple that with a better than decent penalty kill and we all know where that took the Bulldogs.
Fast forward to this season.
The power play has started to come around and be productive. After last weekend, the Bulldogs convert power plays at a 20% rate good for 16th in the nation. No reason to panic, in fact the rate is good and should get even better as the power play units get more chances.
The penalty kill has been a glaring low spot for this year’s Bulldog team. They are currently at a 70% kill rate which is not in the top 40 in the nation. That is an improvement from the 55% kill rate before last weekend’s series at Providence. That is not a misprint, 55% four games into the season. The current rate is bad, but looking at where the Bulldogs came from, it is a great improvement.
See all the stat comparisons in the HighHorse StatPack.
The test gets more difficult this weekend on both ends of the special teams. The most glaring mismatch is the 4th ranked BSU power play against the UMD kill. The Bulldogs will have their hands full especially since UMD averages 18.67 penalty minutes per game, eighth highest in the nation. Arguably, the series will be won and lost based n the UMD penalty kill versus the BSU power play.
You might think that UMD would have a chance to extract their own goals on power play because a 20% conversion isn’t bad. But the Beavers are a well disciplined team committing only 10 minutes per game on average.
Special teams are important this weekend as with any college hockey series. But with the way both teams are going, it likely could be the determining factor of the series.
The other factor that is a close second to special teams in determining the series will be goaltending. Bemidji seems to have it clicking while UMD is still trying to feel their way through.
Reiter has seemingly been deemed the number one, but likely not because of his play. Instead it is the lack of good play in the nets for back-up Aaron Crandall.
Crandall has played only one game, but it was a forgettable outing where he stopped only 78% of the shots he faced. Now that is only one game, but it must also be showing up in practice for Reiter to have the last four consecutive starts.
We said it last week and it applies here again, a Bulldog resurgence needs to start in goalie play. The late tying goals by opponents need to stop. The team must be able to trust themselves and their netminder that they can hold a one goal lead to the end.
Keep Shooting? UMD has outshot their opponents in all six games this year, but are still 2-3-1. The total shots on goal are UMD 221, Opponents 158. The Bulldogs need to start burying those shots or keep the fewer shots faced out of the net. Better yet, do both!
Prediction. This will be the weekend that UMD comes out in their building and wins a series. Now we don’t see a sweep occurring, but UMD will take three points from the Bemidji.
Around the WCHA. Besides the UMD – BSU series, there are four league series and one non-conference set.
Denver at Michigan Tech: Denver comes in playing really good hockey and shouldn’t really have a problem in Houghton. Tech is trying to regain their magic before they fall into a downward spiral like last year. Home cooking for the Huskies won’t be enough as the Pioneers sweep.
Saint Cloud State at North Dakota: This is a bad weekend for SCSU to get the Sioux. UND will be ready to make a statement and they will with a sweep at home against a struggling Huskies team making their WCHA season debut.
Nebraska – Omaha at Wisconsin: These are two teams that have Jekyll/Hyde problems this season. Both teams are coming off of home sweeps, but inconsistency still reigns. This series will end in a split.
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities at Alaska – Anchorage: The Gophers aren’t invincible as demonstrated in a home loss to Vermont last Sunday. It was the Gophers first loss and first goals given up this season at home. Anchorage has shown they are formidable in Alaska and that is why this series will be a split.
Colorado College at RPI: We still strongly believe that the Tigers are the best of the WCHA and they will have little trouble dispatching RPI in New York.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Minnesota - Duluth vs Bemidji StatPack
The numbers are getting better for the Bulldogs as more games are played, especially the games that UMD wins. This weekend won't be easy, but it can't be as grim as this week's HighHorse StatPack looks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)