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MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

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  • #31
    Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

    Yeesh, LSSU got outshot 120-29 last weekend.

    I don't want to count on much, especially since even Denver didn't get the sweep last week, but if we could take two that would provide some confidence heading into Minneapolis.
    Go Green! Go White! Go State!

    1966, 1986, 2007

    Go Tigers, Go Packers, Go Red Wings, Go Pistons

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    • #32
      Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

      It's easy to get ahead of ourselves (and heaven knows I've been guilty of that a few times), but I'm encouraged by the comments I've seen here regarding the first two weekends. I'm also hearing from those who've been around the program a long time who are pretty much saying the same things. "Eye-opening" and "haven't seen this for few years" are part of the recurring theme.

      So I'm pretty juiced for this weekend. Also for the pre-Halloween festive atmosphere. Kinda on that theme, I wonder if "Munnsters" could be a nice name for the student section. Or maybe DC Comics - but then that could get legally tricky.
      Last edited by owslachief; 07-02-2018, 10:50 PM.

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      • #33
        Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

        With either 2 or 3 fewer games than the rest of the league, the Khoderenko-Hirose-Lewandowski line represents three spots all tied for 7th in overall B1G scoring.

        Belated congratulations to Mitch Lewandowski, whose 4-point night in his 3rd game as a freshman helped him earn Big 10's #1 star honors last weekend.

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        • #34
          Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

          Quick look at the stats through 4 games.. I see MSU is 25% on the power play. What an improvement from last year. Could be a huge difference if it keeps around 20% or higher all year.

          PK is at 78.9% which isn't great but I expect improvement in that area as the year goes on with such a young team...
          Last edited by gomsuman; 10-26-2017, 11:25 AM.

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          • #35
            Originally posted by owslachief View Post
            It's easy to get ahead of ourselves (and heaven knows I've been guilty of that a few times), but I'm encouraged by the comments I've seen here regarding the first two weekends. I'm also hearing from those who've been around the program a long time who are pretty much saying the same things. "Eye-opening" and "haven't seen this for few years" are part of the recurring theme.

            So I'm pretty juiced for this weekend. Also for the pre-Halloween festive atmosphere. Kinda on that theme, I wonder if "Munnsters" could be a nice name for the student section. Or maybe DC Comics - but then that could get legally tricky.
            I think that things are looking up for sure but I'm trying to keep in my mind that competition from at least a few B1G teams will be quite a bit stiffer than BG and WMU. i'm gonna take the same approach I am with the football team and just enjoy improvement and hopefully a few more wins than the last couple years. Maybe the hockey team will surpass expectations like the football team?

            I think LSSU will be tougher than the box score with Denver might indicate. They kept up just fine with NMU and MTU who appear to be decent teams. Plus, they're largely the same squad that embarrassed us a year ago.

            The students can be The Cole Train. I don't much care for jazz, though.
            Last edited by Pirateasaur; 10-26-2017, 10:55 PM.

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            • #36
              Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

              Originally posted by Pirateasaur View Post
              I think that things are looking up for sure but I'm trying to keep in my mind that competition from at least a few B1G teams will be quite a bit stiffer than BG and WMU. i'm gonna take the same approach I am with the football team and just enjoy improvement and hopefully a few more wins than the last couple years. Maybe the hockey team will surpass expectations like the football team?

              I think LSSU will be tougher than the box score with Denver might indicate. They kept up just fine with NMU and MTU who appear to be decent teams. Plus, they're largely the same squad that embarrassed us a year ago.

              The students can be The Cole Train. I don't much care for jazz, though.
              Cole Train . Could be wee obtuse for the average 20-year old, but you never know ... MSU does have an accomplished jazz program.

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              • #37
                Originally posted by owslachief View Post
                Cole Train . Could be wee obtuse for the average 20-year old, but you never know ... MSU does have an accomplished jazz program.
                If they watched "Mr. Holland's Opus," they'll be good.
                CCT '77 & '78
                4 kids
                5 grandsons (BCA 7/09, CJA 5/14, JDL 8/14, JFL 6/16, PJL 7/18)
                1 granddaughter (EML 4/18)

                ”Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
                - Benjamin Franklin

                Banned from the St. Lawrence University Facebook page - March 2016 (But I got better).

                I want to live forever. So far, so good.

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                • #38
                  Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                  Heeeyy yet another win we can enjoy in person. I believe we have surpassed last season's impressive home win total of 2. Ties it if you count the U-18 game.

                  Pretty solid performance. Felt like the ice was tilted our way just about all night. I wonder if LSSU had some heavy legs from that trip out west and the bus ride as we beat them to the puck much of the night. Credit to them for still fighting until the very end because it would have been easy to pack it in once we went up 4-0 and I don't feel MSU necessarily dropped their guard or anything. I suspect the Lakers will have better jump tomorrow so we best come out ready to match their intensity.

                  PP didn't score but got some good looks and controlled the puck well. PK was fine, really. LSSU unfortunately managed to pop a couple at the very end of two of them.

                  I previously mentioned the Kamer-Apap-Sanford line as playing well but I thought they had a pretty rough night. Did not threaten much offensively and got hemmed in the defensive zone on several occasions. They must be better tomorrow night if we want that sweep.

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                  • #39
                    Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                    I also like the look of the power play, albeit short of breaking through. But there's plenty of pressure there and it begins with puck movement and good rotation.

                    It was not a pretty start with some inexplicable turnovers, including probably the worst one I've ever seen Osburn commit - nearly in MSU's own crease - but #31 cleaned them up. Incredibly, MSU only faced 5 shots while working to right the ship and hit their stride.

                    But the rest of the game was basically all Spartans. Some unfortunate penalties - including the first one in period 3 that essentially gave LSSU and it's 35% power-play a two-fer: A bouncing puck leading to a goal and an immediate man-advantage for goal #2. Then - understandably for a young team - we somewhat went into shell mode and survived the last few minutes of the game.

                    So, facing a team that gave up 120 shots last weekend, Spartans unsurprisingly got their chances and thankfully buried enough of them. Great to see Jake Smith get his first. Esteves looked really good on an all-freshman line, was active and had 3 shots.

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                    • #40
                      Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                      How was that for some fun? Two delayed penalty goals, I think two PP goals, and overall good puck movement. It's crazy how much better we are at simply passing the puck and keeping it in the zone. No more skips over sticks or just plain off-the-mark passes. Oh, and first sweep in a year and a half!

                      LSSU's goalie gave up a lot of rebounds. I'm starting to see how Denver put up 129 over two days.

                      Only downside of tonight was the third period. I'm not sure if the team let up, or Cole told them to take a little easier so it wouldn't get chippy, but it didn't have that same intensity as the first two periods. And the 5 on 3 could have been better. Worked the puck around but didn't get off a quality shot. Odd contrast to the regular PP, so maybe it's just a matter of not practicing enough?

                      Wait, one more downside. The Lake State fan who screamed one word phrases in a shrill voice. NET! SKATE! GO!

                      Next week will be an interesting test. By far the most talented team we'll face, but they haven't set the world on fire. A couple TV games next week, too!
                      Go Green! Go White! Go State!

                      1966, 1986, 2007

                      Go Tigers, Go Packers, Go Red Wings, Go Pistons

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                      • #41
                        Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                        Originally posted by Spartanforlife4 View Post
                        How was that for some fun? Two delayed penalty goals, I think two PP goals, and overall good puck movement. It's crazy how much better we are at simply passing the puck and keeping it in the zone. No more skips over sticks or just plain off-the-mark passes. Oh, and first sweep in a year and a half!

                        LSSU's goalie gave up a lot of rebounds. I'm starting to see how Denver put up 129 over two days.

                        Only downside of tonight was the third period. I'm not sure if the team let up, or Cole told them to take a little easier so it wouldn't get chippy, but it didn't have that same intensity as the first two periods. And the 5 on 3 could have been better. Worked the puck around but didn't get off a quality shot. Odd contrast to the regular PP, so maybe it's just a matter of not practicing enough?

                        Wait, one more downside. The Lake State fan who screamed one word phrases in a shrill voice. NET! SKATE! GO!

                        Next week will be an interesting test. By far the most talented team we'll face, but they haven't set the world on fire. A couple TV games next week, too!
                        Danton chose not to play the top line the last 12 minutes of the game because we were in control of the game and they only had two shifts total in the 3rd... So he wanted to give those other guys a chance on the 5 on 3 powerplay and the rest of the period. It also gave some rest to the HKL line before Minnesota this weekend.

                        I agree this weekend will be interesting to see how we compete on the road against a very good team.

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                        • #42
                          Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                          I had to miss Saturday's game so it looks like I missed a very rare relaxing win.

                          I feel a little bad it was Whitten, York and LSSU we had to beat up all weekend. I'd like to see that program succeed under them.

                          Hard not to be very pleased with what we've seen so far but the next month will show us what this team is made of. An Anastos team would go on a 5 week losing streak right about now so let's hope Cole can continue to get this team to break old habits.
                          Last edited by Pirateasaur; 10-30-2017, 10:08 AM.

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                          • #43
                            Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                            Originally posted by Spartanforlife4 View Post
                            Only downside of tonight was the third period. I'm not sure if the team let up, or Cole told them to take a little easier so it wouldn't get chippy, but it didn't have that same intensity as the first two periods. And the 5 on 3 could have been better. Worked the puck around but didn't get off a quality shot. Odd contrast to the regular PP, so maybe it's just a matter of not practicing enough?
                            3rd period - more minutes from guys who haven't seen a lot of ice time - Pavelek, Crzcek etc. - plus it looked like more a keep-away style down the stretch.

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                            • #44
                              Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                              Some little factoids pointed out in today's CHN article
                              https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ne...Pound-LSSU.php

                              * It's the first time MSU has won 4 games in October since 2009-10 (oddly, Torey Krug's first year here).
                              * It's MSU's best record in October since going 3-0-3 in 2010-11. In other words, two coaches ago.

                              One additional thing - Mitchell Lewandowki's 9 points in 6 games. With that he's tied with two others at #1 among all D1 freshmen.

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                              • #45
                                Re: MSU Spartan Hockey - Episode VII - A New Hope

                                Originally posted by gomsuman View Post
                                Danton chose not to play the top line the last 12 minutes of the game because we were in control of the game and they only had two shifts total in the 3rd... So he wanted to give those other guys a chance on the 5 on 3 powerplay and the rest of the period. It also gave some rest to the HKL line before Minnesota this weekend.

                                I agree this weekend will be interesting to see how we compete on the road against a very good team.
                                That would explain it. Even better that we still out shot them and kept the shutout.
                                Go Green! Go White! Go State!

                                1966, 1986, 2007

                                Go Tigers, Go Packers, Go Red Wings, Go Pistons

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