Friday, November 07, 2008

Friday Night Suckage

Major amounts of suckage accompanied everything tonight. Suckage for the fans in attendance. Suckage for the players. Suckage for the staff. Suckage all around served up by a hard working team. For the most part the Seawolves didn't suck though. But for about 20 of 60 minutes in MSU's favor, UAA outplayed and outchanced 'em. Once again though, the Seawolves out-penaltied the opposition and exactly what we all know will happen did so. The team with more power play goals came out on top. Mankato went 3 for 9 on their chances. UAA went 1 for 6. The Maverick's best sustained play of the night came in the 3rd period. Anytime you're in a close WCHA game and you outplay the opposition in the final period you're going to come out with points.

Almost scoring is loads of suckage. The Seawolves almost scored more times than I can remember. Don't get me wrong. The team didn't play badly but, they did get whistled for too many penalties. There were a couple more penalties that might have been called against the Mavericks. One of their power play goals developed from a play that should have been whistled offside. But the suckage being felt by Seawolf players, staff and fans can't be put on the zebra's shoulders. Plain and simple the Seawolves had their chances. I thought UAA's penalty kill looked good. The numbers tell a different story though don't they? One of the power play goals did come at the end of yet another 5-on-3 kill (1 minute 27 seconds worth) just 14 seconds before the 2nd penalty would have ended. The crowd had just settled back in from a rousing ovation for the excellent work the penalty killers had done up to that point. That was Suckage-o-rama.

Zacharias made 3 or 4 excellent saves but more often it seemed the one needed bounce wasn't there. They say hard working teams make their own luck. I'd have to agree. One of MSU's goals was the definition of getting a good bounce and even the empty netter was the result of a fortunate bounce. Not to take away credit from Bruess who's hustle earned him the bounce.

Sometimes the result just doesn't come your way. Suckage galore!

For the Seawolves Paul Crowder was definitely the player of the game. He was everywhere and picked up two goals ... one on the power play and one greasy one when he swooped in to bury a rebound past a goal mouth scramble. I'm not going to pin the loss on goaltending as I didn't think you could blame Jonny O for anything bad. Perhaps he was a bit late coming back across? I'll have to watch the game again to see. On the other side of the Jonny coin though, he made a fantastic save near the end of the first and in quick transition Tommy Grant scored a beauty. The 4th line tonight was Smith, Tuton, Lovdahl. That was a little odd to see. The other change was to swap Sean Wiles and Tyler Moir's line assignments. I'd tend to think the change was made in response to Sean's play the last two weekends. I thought he was effective in making a bit more room for Crowder and Grant. The 1st line was buzzing for most of the game with Lunden and Clark getting most of the good chances. And they had more than a few (all the "almosts" I mentioned earlier).

I can't say anyone played badly. Every defenseman at one point or another made a excellent play in their own end. Every defenseman at one point or another made a nice play on transition. Mat Robinson had a couple of nightmares where pucks showed up in his skates instead of his stick while he was cruising unchecked through the slot. One chance he missed and the other Zacharias made his first excellent save of the night. Sigh ... just suckage all around.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have to figure with a 2 goal lead and Sheep-lover wearing the stripes that he is going to do everything in his power to even things up. Other than that, mediocre goaltending from Jonny O. (as usual), a few missed opprotunities, and you end up with an ugly loss.

Where the heck was Selby tonight? I "love" Lovedahl on D but I don't like seeing the D-men playing forward, especially if it means that somebody like Selby has to sit in the stands...

Anonymous said...

Wheres the hot Goalie AT ???? im SORRY it makes no sense

Donald Dunlop said...

The coach had a choice. He's got two goalies who have both played well. One had a couple of better outings but then again they were both Saturdays after a loss. Other factors as well have to weigh on his mind.

I would think this week that Jonny O has felt a bit of pressure after the way Bryce played last weekend. So the coach decides to see if Olthuis can elevate his play. It is the healthiest best possible situation if you've got two goaltenders in a rotation and it's working. You can't blame Shyiak for choosing to stay with the rotation.

Bryce gets his chance to show what he can do Saturday night. If he plays as well as he did at MTU then I'd expect he'll get the nod next week at NoDak.

Kris said...

First, it was major suckage because that was a game that we should have won and needed to win. We played very well in the first. The second and third though there were times were we just let Mankato do their thing. We gave up way too many scoring opportunities and payed dearly.

The PK was good at times but that doesn't cut it. If you want a good PK it has to be good all the time. Especially since when it wasn't good, it was AWFUL. There were times when Mankato's PP just pushed our PK around figuratively and literally.

Bryce should have been in. I understand putting the pressure on John and I don't know how practices are but in game Bryce has won the job. It pains me to say that because John is one of the most sincerely nice guys you will ever meet. Just a class act. But the stats don't lie and right now we finally have a goalie with a save percentage over .9 and an astounding .96 in WCHA play. Let's also note that the .960 was before Friday nights games either top in the league or right under Bachman. That is impressive even if for only two games. It is time to see if he can do the job and get us wins. If the .88 save percentage junk doesn't improve it will be another for sure 10th place. That is the bottom line. If you can't stop the puck you can't win in this league. John's stats have always been in the .88 range. I hoped it would change but at this point our best chance to win is with Bryce.

Of course all this goalie talk is superfluous if we do not minimize the grade A scoring chances and capitalize on our good chances, which we had many of tonight. I will say the type of scoring chances were exciting to watch. The crowd seemed a lot more into the game than usual. It was the type of play and atmosphere we needed until the game went into the mavericks hands.

60 minutes tonight boys!!!

Anonymous said...

It's all the little things that catch up to you in the end trailing by a goal. Passes in the skates when busting down the slot uncovered lead to no goals (twice). Excellent deke's and shooting into the prone goaltender...no goal.
Not to place blame, but you have to pull out some big saves to win in this league. UAA suprised me with their grit, keep banging bodies...Robinson can rock it, let's see a few more guided missles out there. Earn a split tonight fellas.
Mike

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is they KNOW what OLTHIES can do Christiansons only played eight games so his upside is what? Johnnys had fifty plus games its time to see if this other kid is the real deal and can continue to steal games

Kris said...

Big question I have is, where was Selby last night??? I really like what that kid brings when he plays but just like Bryce doesn't seem to get the chance to prove whether he can do it night in night out. Was he sick still or injured? I like Lovdahl and all but he is and always has been played D even in high school. I would think that Selby would have been a better choice at wing than either Lovdahl or Smith.

Anonymous said...

Ya a forth line winger would have made a huge impact..??? Good point. I think bryce could have skated up and you would have had the same result of another forth line winger taking Selbys place.

Anonymous said...

One thing I do know is TONIGHTS GAME is HUGE

Anonymous said...

UAA must win tonight, no tie! Gotta get atleast 2 points staring a road trip to No Dak in the face. Tommy G's goal was sweet!!!

Ogie said...

I will take the penalties as the alternative is a weak squad with little chance of being competative

Anonymous said...

I'm torn. Just like the backup quarterback is the fan favorite, so is the other goal tender. I have a feeling that if Bryce would have been the one to get roughed up last night, I would have been shouting feverishly at the screen (watching online) to bring in the big O. That said, it was absolutely brutal watching 25% of MSUs goals find the twine... also of note here is that Bryce is first in the WCHA in GAA with 0.96 in 125 minutes, conversely O if dead last with 3.38 GAA in 177:45 minutes. Granted, the minutes are not enough to produce a statistically significant sample, and maybe Bryce has been the beneficiary of tight defense. But I for one vote for change... of goal tender.
Other than that, the offense looks better than it has in years. And were it not for the penalties that Shyiak’s boys seem incapable of not accruing, there’s a good chance that our Wolves could be 4-0-1 in the WCHA. Heads up, these problems are fixable. Hopefully they’ll be fixed tonight, cause we need a win.

Anonymous said...

Aa far as Johnnys stats you have to take into consideration we have the worst home shot counters in the country they missed about five shots on goal last night and you can expect the same tonight as for some reason they like to hose the home team ITS BAD REALLY BAD

Kris said...

Anon 4:47,
That is true, but Bryce has played just as many home games as John has except last night which will be evened out presuming Bryce's starting. I think they were actually worse on Zacharias last night than Johnny though. I don't mind if they hose they away goalie and make them look bad though.

Anonymous said...

Good luck to the boys tonite!

GO SEAWOLVES!!!! !

Anonymous said...

dissapointing in stats but morale must've been improved by SHYIAK after the game

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