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Re: Colgate 2012-13
So, the Yale-Gate game Friday was the first time I was able to see the team in person. My thoughts:
1) Our breakout is terrible. I know that Yale has a good, aggressive forecheck, but our constant inability to clear the zone is indefensible. And this is with three senior d-men. Relatedly, as I have been saying for the past few weeks, I think the key to the Class of '17 will be the quality of the d-men. And the goalie.
2) Speaking of which, I thought Mihalek was outstanding against Yale. Especially in the first period in which we were utterly dominated he really kept us in the game. Gotta think that he gets the starting nod on Friday.
3) I really wanted to pay attention to the Spink-Spink-Baun line to see what they're all about. The answer seemed to arrive in the third period as they absolutely controlled play every shift they were out there. What I found particularly interesting was that in my opinion Baun was the best player on the ice in that game for either team. He won pucks in the corner; he staked a claim to the front of the net; he consistently outmuscled opponents. I think it's important to note that Baun was far from the most ballyhooed player in our freshman class, and he has the potential to be quite the player. So, I will take a wait and see approach to the incoming class.
4) I LOVE that the aforementioned frosh line plays with serious edge. None of the them seem to mind mixing it up when necessary. It would be nice if we saw some of the same fire from the upperclassmen.
As for the game, result aside, it was a great college hockey game. We were terrible in the first, but Mihalek kept us in it. We righted the ship in the second and were unlucky that they cashed their only Grade A chance. We completely dominated the first ten minutes of the third; I cannot imagine us playing better. Then, just a terrible shift with about five minutes to go allowed them to tie. But even after that we had several good chances to re-take the lead. As for the game winner, it was just unfortunate. It bounced right off a stick to a Yale player. As it happened I thought, "uh oh, I hope he misses that." But he didn't. Being on the side with the Colgate supporters and seeing our reactions was tough. My favorite was the guy at center ice who threw up his hands, pointed out the time left on the scoreboard to his buddy and stormed out. Ugh; that kind of year.
What did other people who went to the game think?
So, the Yale-Gate game Friday was the first time I was able to see the team in person. My thoughts:
1) Our breakout is terrible. I know that Yale has a good, aggressive forecheck, but our constant inability to clear the zone is indefensible. And this is with three senior d-men. Relatedly, as I have been saying for the past few weeks, I think the key to the Class of '17 will be the quality of the d-men. And the goalie.
2) Speaking of which, I thought Mihalek was outstanding against Yale. Especially in the first period in which we were utterly dominated he really kept us in the game. Gotta think that he gets the starting nod on Friday.
3) I really wanted to pay attention to the Spink-Spink-Baun line to see what they're all about. The answer seemed to arrive in the third period as they absolutely controlled play every shift they were out there. What I found particularly interesting was that in my opinion Baun was the best player on the ice in that game for either team. He won pucks in the corner; he staked a claim to the front of the net; he consistently outmuscled opponents. I think it's important to note that Baun was far from the most ballyhooed player in our freshman class, and he has the potential to be quite the player. So, I will take a wait and see approach to the incoming class.
4) I LOVE that the aforementioned frosh line plays with serious edge. None of the them seem to mind mixing it up when necessary. It would be nice if we saw some of the same fire from the upperclassmen.
As for the game, result aside, it was a great college hockey game. We were terrible in the first, but Mihalek kept us in it. We righted the ship in the second and were unlucky that they cashed their only Grade A chance. We completely dominated the first ten minutes of the third; I cannot imagine us playing better. Then, just a terrible shift with about five minutes to go allowed them to tie. But even after that we had several good chances to re-take the lead. As for the game winner, it was just unfortunate. It bounced right off a stick to a Yale player. As it happened I thought, "uh oh, I hope he misses that." But he didn't. Being on the side with the Colgate supporters and seeing our reactions was tough. My favorite was the guy at center ice who threw up his hands, pointed out the time left on the scoreboard to his buddy and stormed out. Ugh; that kind of year.
What did other people who went to the game think?
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