Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Wanted: Goal scorers (updated)

In today's edition of The Free Press, I wrote this column about Minnesota State's biggest need: goal scorers. The Mavericks were clearly frustrated following Saturday's 2-1 loss at Wisconsin. They were quiet, almost to the point of being speechless. The feeling seemed to be that they couldn't have played any better, with the exception of putting the puck in the net.

The column begins with a discussion with Mike Louwerse following Friday night's 3-2 loss in Madison. Louwerse scored one goal and assisted on the other. It was his fourth goal and fourth assist of the season. Not good enough, he said. "I need to produce." He's not alone.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks have been getting beat, not by fourth-line forwards but by the WCHA's best players, guys who will be on the All-WCHA teams at the end of the year -- Matt Frattin (20 goals), Jason Zucker (17), Craig Smith (15) and Jordy Murray (14), for example.

Here's a list of the WCHA's top goal scorers and -- updated -- the tops from each team, including MSU guys:

WCHA top 10
1. Matt Frattin, North Dakota, 20
2. Jason Zucker, Denver, 17
3. Tyler Johnson, Colorado College, 16
4. T-Matt Read, Bemidji State, 15
4. T-Justin Fontaine, Minnesota Duluth, 15
4. T-Craig Smith, Wisconsin, 15
7. T- Drew Shore, Denver, 14
7. T-Jordy Murray, Wisconsin, 14
7. T-Justin Schultz, Wisconsin, 14
10. T-Matt Ambroz, Nebraska-Omaha, 13
10. T-Mike Connolly, Minnesota Duluth, 13
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Other WCHA teams
16. T-Milos Gordic, Michigan Tech, 11
16. T-Jay Barriball, Minnesota, 11
20. T-Tommy Grant, Alaska-Anchorage, 10
25. T-Ben Hanowski, St. Cloud State, 8
25. T-Justin Jokinen, Minnesota State, 8
25. T-Michael Dorr, Minnesota State, 8
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Other MSU players
38. T-Chase Grant, Minnesota State, 7
38. T-Kurt Davis, Minnesota State, 7
38. T-Eriah Hayes, Minnesota State, 7
53. T-Rylan Galiardi, Minnesota State, 6
76. Four MSU players tied with 4

7 comments:

VoiceOfReason said...

I think the output from guys like Corey Leivermann and Zach Lehrke has been very disappointing so far this season. These guys produced big offensive numbers in both high school and in juniors and have done next to nothing thus far. If the Mavericks could get some increased production from some of these older freshmen, that might help jumpstart a stagnant offense.

DancingHockeyPuck said...

Agreed VOR. The thing is to me neither guy has even made plays or been in position to even look like a potential goal scorer. We have been looking for a consistent go to goal scorer since who??? Travis Morin??

Unknown said...

Ummmmm..When was the last time Lievermann was active for a game much less on the same line 2 games in a row. How about we play him with some consistency before we compare him to Morin.

DancingHockeyPuck said...

Whose comparing him to Morin? There is obviously a reason you just don't dress somebody for this long of a stretch...

Anonymous said...

Leivermann has tremendous upside IMO. He has good offensive instincts and seems to have great vision, something we desperately need. However, he is the least game ready freshman we have because of his lack of skating ability. The olympic rink hasn't been kind to Corey. He'll have to improve his strength and skating before he expects to a.) get more consistent playing time, and b.) blossom into the good player he is capable of being.

Unknown said...

DancingHockeyPuck.....For argument sake, how can "neither guy has even made plays or been in position to even look like a potential goal scorer" when they are not active?
Maybe I took the Morin comment wrong but how can you say that, and then "There is obviously a reason you just don't dress somebody for this long of a stretch"?????
As Shane and Barreiro like to say...You can't have it both ways.

So which is it, he's not in "position" to make plays, or there is "Obviously a reason he's not dressing for this long of a stretch?!?!?

DancingHockeyPuck said...

I can have it both ways. They play in games, they don't make enough plays to stay in the lineup. How hard is that to figure out? When you're on the bubble of either playing or sitting in section 320, you just have to get it done when you're out there. It's not that hard to figure out.