It's time for the season's first installment of YWA, where you, the hockey fan ask a question, and I try to give you an answer. There wasn't a lot of participation this week. Hopefully, you'll have more questions as the season goes on. Away we go (questions are paraphrased, by the way) ...
Do you think the Mavericks have the right mix of talent on their power play to at least make the upper half of the conference in power-play success? The Mavericks scored only two power play goals on 17 chances last weekend and both of those were 5x3 goals. They'll have to do better than that, obviously. I think they do have the right people. Mick Berge is a goal scorer. Kael Mouillierat's return this weekend ought to boost productivity. I liked what I was seeing from Mike Louwerse around the net against Bemidji. I think Kurt Davis runs the power play very well at the point and showed it last weekend. Last year, former Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer, who sees a lot of games throughout the year, said MSU moves the puck on the PP as well as anybody. Most of those players are back. The question is: Can they finish? Can they score goals?
What are the chances we'll see Austin Lee at some point this season? Next year he'll be the lone returning goalie. I'm sure coach Troy Jutting would like to see Lee get his feet wet before next season, since Mike Zacharias and Dan Tormey are graduating. But I don't see him potentially sacrificing games in order to prepare for next season. This is not to say that Lee would lose games -- actually, he looked very good in practice as a redshirt last season -- but the Mavericks, maybe more than anybody, have found out that every game is important for the Pairwise rankings. That doesn't mean that Zacharias is going to play 36 games this year, but it might. Next season is next season.
You mentioned that the Mavs had officially practiced for only one week prior to the Bemidji State games. Did this go for every team or was this just a decision made by MSU? One week doesn't seem like a whole lot. It's not a lot of time, but it's how they do it in college hockey. The NCAA sets a start date -- in this case, Oct. 4, and the teams go from there. Last year, the Mavericks went two weeks before playing Michigan Tech. Tech had played two games the weekend before and looked more polished as they swept MSU. But the first day is really just the first full day. Players skated almost daily in "captains practices" for three or four weeks. Also, over the last couple of weeks, coaches were allowed two hours of on-ice time each week to practice with their teams.
Jury is still out on our penalty kill? Probably. It was good last weekend, allowing two goals on 21 chances, including a 4x3, but 25 shots. Zacharias was their best penalty killer, although I thought Rylan Galiardi did a fine job. He blocked several shots. The Mavericks ought to know much more about their PK after this weekend.
Thoughts on the updates to the Alltel Center? I was going to do a post on this, but then I thought most people don't care about the press accommodations. However, since you asked, the new media area(s) at the civic center are a very nice upgrade from the temporary tables we've used over the last several years. I never complained about my seat before; it was one of the best site lines of any of the arenas in the WCHA. But it could a difficult place to work, especially during crowded, SRO games. Now, it's one of the best places in the league to work and watch a game. There are nicer press boxes with worse views of the ice. But this might be the best combination of view and work space, with maybe the exception of Denver. And I like still being somewhat in the crowd and getting a feel for what the atmosphere is like.
Now if we could just get that center-ice scoreboard with video replay. ...
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