The Free Press gamer can be found here.
The box score can be found here.
A couple of notes: Cook's shutout was the first by an MSU goalie since Mike Zacharias did it to the Gophers in double-overtime of the WCHA playoffs two seasons ago. ... Irwin's goal was short-handed. It was MSU's first shorty of the season. Last year, the Mavs had 11 short-handed goals.
More to come ...
9 comments:
Since I think most readers sound interested in the goalie's masks you should do an article on it with pictures and ask them about them. Dan Myers did that for the Reporter a few years back and it was pretty interesting.
Also, how many media people vote on the 3 stars and what do you guys look for? I think more than a few people were shocked at tonight's 3 stars and left scratching their heads...same with the order of the stars last night.
I actually picked them tonight. (I didn't on Friday but I also thought they were out of order -- right players but out of order.)
My reasoning for tonight:
1. Phil Cook with the shutout. He's been really good lately and finally got the shutout. It's MSU's first shutout in two seasons believe it or not -- first since Zacharias blanked the Gophers in 2OT in the playoffs.
2. Zach Harrison. Three assists. One on each goal. Hard to ignore the stats on that one. Made a great pass on the shorty, too.
3. Ben Youds. Really, I wanted to give it to a D-man here because the defense was really good tonight, really held RIT down all game long. Any of the six could have gotten it, I think. Went with Youds. He got another assist. No. 18 on the year.
Really, though, a case could have been made for others. Any of the goal scorer (I thought Irwin played a great game, as did Jokinen). Any of the other D (Channing Boe had a nice game, as did Tyler Elbrecht and Evan Mosey).
Who were your choices?
I agreed on Friday night, right players but the wrong order.
For Saturday night, Cook earned the #1 and I think Harrison was an ok choice for a star but Youds was a big "heck no" in my opinion (which most people around me were saying too). In fact, most game people were talking about his poor playing. The last star should have gone to Irwin or if you wanted a "D", like you said...Boe, Elbrecht, or Mosey. Assist or not Youds played poorly. I think you're a bit caught up in his assist numbers.
I think Youds is a fine choice. He's not flashy in anything he does, but just all around steady. I think he has been our most stable blue liner all year, and has greatly improved over last year's sophomore slump. Also, I much prefer him QBing the PP. Davis should not see as much ice as he has in the past.
I think any reasonable fan can agree that Davis should not see as much ice or be QBing the PP...however, I'm not convinced that Youds is the choice.
Other nights perhaps he's deserved a star of the game. Last night, however, not so much. Plus, I found your argument of why pretty weak.
Some very good points on the D being made. You don't have to be flashy to contribute as Youds does. With the amount of ice he and Davis get, the points make sense.
Having had the chance to see Mosey play at home this weekend, he has good physical presence and is very quick and fast. Several zone breakouts where he beat our forwards down the ice. We need to utilize that more. Look at the Duluth highlight video and his assist to Mike L. He left the zone deep and look where he ends up. Not seen that D speed around here for a while.
He was on the end of one PP and moved the puck well with Davis. Would be nice to see him on the PP or PK as I found some utube and stats from the NAHL. He had 4 SH goals.
He and Elbrecht played well 5/5 together also. Nice to have these two freshmen around the next four years...
Elbrecht and Mosey should expect to see more ice with the way they are playing. Elbrecht size/reach, Mosey physical presence/speed. Nice tandem to have...
Go Mavs
Been out of the loop with family stuff and you guys are picking apart some of the vet's. Perhaps some is justified.
We brought in some talented F forwards and D this season. Just look at the number of games the F forwards have dressed for. on the D side, Elbrecht all but one game. Mosey a handful, but by what I'm reading in these blogs, that looks to be changing. He signed late with MSU and it's possible they needed to bring him in slowly. From what I heard about his Friday game and saw Saturday, he should contribute his 4 years with MSU.
Coach new something when he renewed another 4 years...
You guys all make some very good points as it relates to the F and D rotations.
I'm sure the coaches have a Master Plan going into the home stretch. And it seems to be bringing results.
Shane, would like to hear your thoughts on some of these comments before I post some past Utube links as you seem to be laying rather low?
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