NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

[dogs2012]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

Well, not a ton changed after last weeks games. UMD moves up to second in the conference with the sweep of Miami. St. Cloud takes care of business against WMU. UMD still 8 points back heading into this weekends slate of games. Big series this weekend between Denver and WMU.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

St. Cloud was about what I expected. Your top two lines are very good, I'd argue they're better than UMD's top two lines. UMD has much more depth across all four lines. UMD's defense is the better group but that's to be expected. St. Cloud's goalie I think surprised me the most, he'll keep you guys in most games. Honestly it's a pretty even matchup talent wise. Should be a fun race to the end here.

Where are you coming up with this stuff? There is zero basis to argue that UMD has more depth across all four lines. SCSU is scoring almost a full goal per game more than UMD in NCHC competition and if you look at the individual offensive stats for conference games, SCSU's forwards blow UMD's out of the water. Defensively, I might give UMD a slight edge, but you seem to be ignoring that your goalie has a .940 SV%. Hrenak's is .914. You could chalk that up to quality chances but Hrenak has been a bit shaky this year.

The race for the Penrose is over. St. Cloud is 9-1-2 in conference play and our next four series are against the bottom 4 teams in the conference. We might have it sewn up with two weekends to play.

[dogs2012]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

Where are you coming up with this stuff? There is zero basis to argue that UMD has more depth across all four lines. SCSU is scoring almost a full goal per game more than UMD in NCHC competition and if you look at the individual offensive stats for conference games, SCSU's forwards blow UMD's out of the water. Defensively, I might give UMD a slight edge, but you seem to be ignoring that your goalie has a .940 SV%. Hrenak's is .914. You could chalk that up to quality chances but Hrenak has been a bit shaky this year.

The race for the Penrose is over. St. Cloud is 9-1-2 in conference play and our next four series are against the bottom 4 teams in the conference. We might have it sewn up with two weekends to play.

You can have your own opinion. UMD's got the deepest team in the country in mine. You think offensive stats are the only indicator for quality depth? We've given up 17 goals in conference play, you can chalk some of that up to our defense but it's also a lot of skilled two-way forwards. There isn't a team that comes close to UMD's quality depth across all four lines at both ends of the ice. Our defense finished last season touted as the best defensive group in the country. We returned all 6 starters that won a championship last year, the oldest being a Junior. That defensive unit has only gotten better this year. See the goals given up in conference play for your proof there. And yeah, our goaltender is one of the best in the country. So...yeah, I feel confident saying UMD's got more depth, a stronger defense, and better goaltending. I'll concede you have guys that can score goals at a higher pace than ours. And I'll also concede your top two lines are more talented than UMD's top two. But that's about it...and let's not even get into the postseason discrepancy. Not that SCSU's inability to win in the playoffs has any bearing on conference play, but I'll wait to see how things pan out in March/April. Feeling alright about it.

[Biddco]

The race for the Penrose is over. St. Cloud is 9-1-2 in conference play and our next four series are against the bottom 4 teams in the conference. We might have it sewn up with two weekends to play.

🧐✍️📝

[SCSUBlackandRed]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

Well, not a ton changed after last weeks games. UMD moves up to second in the conference with the sweep of Miami. St. Cloud takes care of business against WMU. UMD still 8 points back heading into this weekends slate of games. Big series this weekend between Denver and WMU.

You are correct. Impressive road sweep with two shutouts on the road by UMD at Miami. Miami has gone into a bit of a tailspin since the two ties against SCSU in Oxford. SCSU played very well against a good WMU team. That's a fast fast team. First one I've seen really keeping up with the Huskies in St. Cloud this year. Going to be a battle when they have to go out to Michigan. UND continues to confound. Bad loss to UNO.

Big weekend again this weekend. DU at WMU is the biggest matchup. Split most likely but I wouldn't be surprised if WMU sweeps, they have been really good at home this year. Thinking split between SCSU and UND but possibility of a Huskies sweep. They are definitely the better team but it isn't easy taking two at the Ralph. Mark down 6 points for UMD at home against UNO.

I won't go as far as Tipsy but the next four series for SCSU could put the conference title on lockdown. If they go 7-1 (at UND, Miami, CC, at UNO), the Penrose is all but mathematically theirs. Would most likely only need 1 win in the last two series (at WMU, UMD) to get the hardware. I'm predicting they go 6-1-1 in that stretch. The loss comes this weekend...

[SCSUBlackandRed]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

And on the Pairwise front, still have 3 of the top 4 spots. Checking the remaining schedules and Jim Dahl's forecast tool, it's looking pretty good for that to hold. Pretty good shot WMU also makes the field, quite possibly in the top 10.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

You can have your own opinion. UMD's got the deepest team in the country in mine. You think offensive stats are the only indicator for quality depth? We've given up 17 goals in conference play, you can chalk some of that up to our defense but it's also a lot of skilled two-way forwards. There isn't a team that comes close to UMD's quality depth across all four lines at both ends of the ice. Our defense finished last season touted as the best defensive group in the country. We returned all 6 starters that won a championship last year, the oldest being a Junior. That defensive unit has only gotten better this year. See the goals given up in conference play for your proof there. And yeah, our goaltender is one of the best in the country. So...yeah, I feel confident saying UMD's got more depth, a stronger defense, and better goaltending. I'll concede you have guys that can score goals at a higher pace than ours. And I'll also concede your top two lines are more talented than UMD's top two. But that's about it...and let's not even get into the postseason discrepancy. Not that SCSU's inability to win in the playoffs has any bearing on conference play, but I'll wait to see how things pan out in March/April. Feeling alright about it.

Touted by who as the best defense in the country last year, and when? Maybe after they won the title some people thought that, but they didn't even have the best defense in the conference going into the tournament. They were 13-11 in conference play and were the last team in the tournament and needed an absurd stroke of luck to even get in. If their defense was so great, how did it even get to that point? They got hot at the right time. Nothing wrong with that, but to act like they were some kind of juggernaut last year is false. The Gophers hung 7 on UMD this year for pete's sake.

[dogs2012]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

Touted by who as the best defense in the country last year, and when? Maybe after they won the title some people thought that, but they didn't even have the best defense in the conference going into the tournament. They were 13-11 in conference play and were the last team in the tournament and needed an absurd stroke of luck to even get in. If their defense was so great, how did it even get to that point? They got hot at the right time. Nothing wrong with that, but to act like they were some kind of juggernaut last year is false. The Gophers hung 7 on UMD this year for pete's sake.

It got to that point because we had 1 sophomore and 5 freshman playing on our defensive pairings. By the end of the year, yeah they were absolutely the most stout defensive team in the country. Look at our goals against in the title run for proof of that. We started out slow but as the talent got more acclimated to the college game things started to click. Starting this year out with all those defensemen returning, deductive reasoning tells me they'd start the year at the top of the totem pole.

As for the Gophers score, who cares? It was the first series of the season and after seeing how things have shaped out, a complete fluke. Miami put up a 4 spot on SCSU, UMD has shut them out all year. Should I use that as my reasoning for why UMD's defense is better? No, they're better because they have higher quality talent that over the course of a year will outperform other defensive units. I don't think it's fair to pick one game or one series and make a claim like that.

[ThePowerConference]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

UMD does have a top defense in the country. Their standing at #3 in the team defense indicates that. St Clouds #2 ranking on team offense would also indicate a top offense. We’ve played enough games now to show that these stats are a pattern, not a fluke.

UMD got hot at the right time last year. St Cloud was a more consistent team during the course of the entire season. Unfortunately, that doesn’t do anything when you get to a tournament and when you lose, the season ends.

I think 4 teams from this conference will qualify for the NCAAs this March, and 2 of them will be #1 seeds.

[UMD21]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

SCSU fans here are starting to sound like Dubbers in here, gettin so triggered... SCSU probably all most certainly have regular season locked down. Arguing about one team having more depth is laughable we’re talking about the top teams in the nation you really think theres a big discernible difference? Must be bored

[SCSU BlackandRed]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

To be clear there is only one arguing.

[St. Clown]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

UMD does have a top defense in the country. Their standing at #3 in the team defense indicates that. St Clouds #2 ranking on team offense would also indicate a top offense. We’ve played enough games now to show that these stats are a pattern, not a fluke.

UMD got hot at the right time last year. St Cloud was a more consistent team during the course of the entire season. Unfortunately, that doesn’t do anything when you get to a tournament and when you lose, the season ends.

I think 4 teams from this conference will qualify for the NCAAs this March, and 2 of them will be #1 seeds.

A big problem for SCSU's tournament game last year is that we had a coach who didn't properly prepare his team, instead spending his time being interviewed by the U of M for their recently vacated HC position.



No, I'm not bitter at the time of that crap. Why do you ask?

[ThePowerConference]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

I'm still bitter. I'm still bitter about Ferris State in 2016 too.

[SJHovey]

Re: NCHC 2018-2019 Season: Quest to put 4+ into Late March-April Dance

I'm not going to put last year on Motzko leaving. College hockey is a different beast from pretty much all other college sports. There just isn't much difference between a team that is the "best" in the country and the team that is say fifteenth best. That's why in the last five years, since reorganization of the conferences, we've seen the #1 seed in each regional upset eight times in its first round game. That's 40%. And that includes two number one overall seeds.

Every team, no matter how highly seeded, needs to be ready to go from the first drop of the puck, and needs a little luck. You give an underdog life in a tournament like that and the next thing you know it's game over.

[First Time, Long Time]

I'm not going to put last year on Motzko leaving. College hockey is a different beast from pretty much all other college sports. There just isn't much difference between a team that is the "best" in the country and the team that is say fifteenth best. That's why in the last five years, since reorganization of the conferences, we've seen the #1 seed in each regional upset eight times in its first round game. That's 40%. And that includes two number one overall seeds.

Every team, no matter how highly seeded, needs to be ready to go from the first drop of the puck, and needs a little luck. You give an underdog life in a tournament like that and the next thing you know it's game over.

That's the thing... According to our own players we weren't ready and a large reason why was the MN/Motzko distraction. He was mentally gone before that game ever started. So yeah... It's on Motzko.