Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...
1. Changing the culture: Mike Hastings was hired to change some things about the way MSU hockey is played, and one of those changes has to be the program's penchant for penalties. There's no easy fix there, apparently. Rather it's slow, like evolution. The Mavericks played better than they did Friday night for two periods and trailed 1-0 at that point. But a Chase Grant cross-check 10 seconds into the final period turned into a total unraveling by the visitors. The Huskies went up 2-0 at the 27-second mark and 3-0 38 seconds after that. At that point, Hastings pulled rookie goalie Stephon Williams. Wheels were off. St. Cloud State finished 3 for 7 on the power play.
2. Credit where credit is due: Ryan Faragher was the clear-cut No. 1 star of the game, as the Huskies' sophomore goalie held the Mavericks scoreless until 52 seconds remained in the game. When it was 1-0 in the second period, Faragher made two huge saves, one on a tip-in try by Grant midway through the period and another on a slick backhanded shot by J.P. Burkemper, who had a step on a defender as he rushed into on net. That play happened with 1:50 remaining in the period. Add that game time to the first 1:05 of the third period, and that's quite a turnaround.
3. Mosey on over: Mavericks senior defenseman Evan Mosey scored both of the Mavericks' goals during the series. Each came late in the game when St. Cloud State had it all but won. Mosey now has seven career goals — four coming against St. Cloud! With the offensive talent that MSU has up front, Hastings said that if you had told him that Mosey was going to score two goals in the series, he would have guessed that it was going to be a pretty good weekend for his team.
Deep thought: The
series sweep was St. Cloud State’s first over the Mavericks since the 2008-09
season. Saturday’s game was the final regular-season meeting between the two
schools as WCHA foes.
Read The Free Press game story here.
Around the WCHA: Cornell 3, Colorado College 2 ... Alaska Anchorage 3, North Dakota 3 (OT) ... Bemidji State 3, Nebraska Omaha 2 ... Wisconsin 2, Minnesota Duluth 2 (OT) ... Denver 5, Michigan Tech 2
Up next: It's Gopher week, with the Mavericks going to Mariucci on Friday and Minnesota coming to Mankato on Saturday.
3 comments:
Either MSU is the most unlucky team of all time with opposing goalies being hot every weekend against them, or they are not doing enough to score. Something has to give - other teams still find ways to beat great goal tending. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if this is not the last time we see St. Cloud for a series in the WCHA. It may take a few years, but they'll eventually find out that just 'cause UND wants you to spend all your money on hockey doesn't mean you'll make all of it back.
The goalies are not as hot as made out to be. While in the second game we did a better job of crashing the net after the shot for the most part no one was in front prior to the shot. Almost every goalie in this leaque can look great with no one in front of them. Their goalie did make some great saves but I feel we make goalies look better than they are by not having traffic in front before the shot. Coach has to come up with guys who will take the beating in front without taking penalties.
You are spot on hockeyfan.
Surely this coach can see that live or on film.
Remember that season we had three D on the PP when they put Boe in front of the net. It worked a few times.
Not to mention again that the PP needs retooling.
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