Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...
1. Big hole: Blame a lax start, the goaltending or the penalties. Either way, the Mavericks put themselves into too big of a deficit — 3-0 — early against the third-ranked Pioneers before finally waking up and doing something about it. First the penalties ... Three penalties in the first 10 minutes of the game got MSU out of its rhythm, even as it killed them all off (Denver was 0 for 6 on the power play). "I think we've gotten better at killing penalties," coach Mike Hastings said. "But I'm OK if we don't keep practicing it on Fridays and Saturdays." The Mavericks were called for 12 penalties totaling 35 minutes. With just under two minutes left in the game, Jean-Paul LaFontaine's major for checking from behind, all but quelled MSU's comeback attempt.
2. Goaltending issues: On to the goaltending ... Denver's Sam Brittain stopped 33 of 36 shots, and coach George Gwozdecky called him his team's best player. Still, Juho Olkinuora is slated to start Saturday's game, while back in Colorado, Adam Murray is nursing an injury. Three top-flight goaltenders. Not a bad problem for Gwozdecky. As for the Mavericks, they're looking for one. Starter Phil Cook allowed three goals on 12 shots before being lifted for freshman Stephon Williams at 3:28 of the second period. Williams stopped seven shots in the second and saw only one in the third, which Daniel Doremus ripped over his shoulder from the high slot and ended up as the game-winning goal. Combined, Cook and Williams have a .884 save percentage and a 3.16 goals-against average this season.
3. LaFontaine heats up: Prior to the bad penalty at the end of the game, Jean-Paul LaFontaine showed the spark he had most of last season. Perhaps the empty-net goal against the Gophers a week ago got him going. The sophomore finished Friday's game with two goals and an assist, which moved him up to second place on the Mavericks' scoring list behind Matt Leitner, who had a picture-perfect assist on LaFontaine's second goal, which came with an extra attacker on the ice and made it 4-3 with just under two minutes to play. LaFontaine has three goals and four assists so far and continues to lead the team in shots on goal.
Deep thought: Friday's attendance at The Cell was 3,184, nearly 1,700 fewer than the number who came for last Saturday's game against Minnesota. That's disappointing and puzzling, considering the buzz created by that win over the Gophers and the fact that another top team and national power, No. 3 Denver, was coming in.
Around the WCHA: North Dakota 3, St. Cloud State 0 ... Colorado College 3, Bemidji State 2 ... Minnesota at Alaska Anchorage (late)
7 comments:
The first thing you learn about Maverick Hockey
IS THAT THE MAVERICKS
Never Get Anything That They Don't EARN.
They Don’t Stop Til Everything They Got Is GONE.
They Play
Straight ahead!
They Never back up!
They Never back down!
THEY Go full throttle!
Wide open!
If They Get Tired
They don’t show it.
Must Dig a little deeper
When you think you can’t dig no more!
AND WHEN THE GAME IS
OVER,
They are Still Only Thinking About WINNNIG.
That’s way to play Maverick Hockey.
LETS GO MAVS
Those refs were B-R-U-T-A-L last night. I don't know if the Mavs would have tied or won it anyway, but it takes a lot of patience to watch officials like that. The game in regulation went well after 10 PM due to those guys. That should be an embarrassment to them and the league. Plus, they kept calling a lot of dives as trips - I guess MSU should have 'Let the Bodies Hit the Floor' before the refs finally figured that out in the 3rd. No wonder Denver gets so many breaks - they must have 'tripping class' during practice. Could we please ship these officials off next year to conferences that truly deserve their services?
You forgot to mention that the TEAM must alao play as a TEAM for 60 minutes.
And sit those who don't to wake them up!
Same guys, same issues and nothing changes, thus the same results of falling behind and coming up short!
Go Team
We know that Cook can be really good or let in softies. That unfortunately will not win long term in WCHA. I would play Williams for a few games straight and see if he can do it. It was all about the penalities. Three in first ten minutes! How could we ever get it going. Our penalty kill is much improved our PP is not. We showed the last couple weeeks in my opinion that at full strength we can play with anyone.. Full Strength being the key. If the same guys are taking penalties then they have to sit , period. I wouldn't mind goal saving penalties but for the most part these are undisciplined bad penalties. When we are on our game we are really good. We just need to find that for 60 minutes. Go Mavs.
I did want to add that I thought also there was alot of diving by Denver. This is something the leaque should address with the refs. It really hurts the intergrity of the game.
The Maverick Teams
that played unselfish
old school Team
HOCKEY had Home ice
VS the Gophers in
the playoffs.
The teams took the
BROOM to the Gophers
for the 1st time
ever in Mpls and
and in Kato.
These teams battled
every shift and
competed in wcha
games. They put team first.
2005-06 28 12 13 3 0.482 7th
2006-07 28 10 13 5 0.446 7th
2007-08 28 12 12 4 0.500 4th
2008-09 28 11 13 4 0.464 8th Expected more of this Team
Mavericks teams never get LUCKY THEY have to earn it
Simple.
Shuffle the line up.
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