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Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

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  • #31
    Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

    For only the 3rd time since I have been a Notre Dame hockey season ticket holder (somewhere north of 30 seasons), I am foregoing the Notre Dame hockey game tonight. The first time was when I was too sick to go. The 2nd time I was at a wedding. And this time? I don't want to go. And this has ZERO to do with the fact that the team can't score a PPG to save their lives. Or that they can't protect a 2-0 lead going into the 3rd. Or that we are refusing to return the favor to LSSU or UAH or Niagara by playing in their barns. Or that we are playing LSSU or UAH or Niagara (no offense meant whatsoever) instead of or in addition to DU or Penn State or Miami or Michigan.

    Rather, I am tired of leaving that shiny new arena with a sickening headache from the ear-splitting volume of the constant noise blaring from the sound system. I'm tired of the jumbotron imploring the hyperactive kids to "get louder" and parents encouraging said kids to go ahead and scream. I'm tired of being told to look at all the signs from the Meijer sign station so those with no artistic ability whatsoever can get their 15 minutes. I'm tired of the fan of the game being awarded to the loudest, most obnoxious person in the building. I'm tired of everything at that place that takes the attention away from the only reason there IS that place. A game of hockey between two college teams. That is ALL I am interested in. I shouldn't need to wear earplugs at a sporting event (unless I am in the infield at Talladega). I shouldn't have to hear other people's kids screaming. I shouldn't be directed to the jumbotron at every stoppage to salute this or cheer that. I. Don't. Care. About anything else but hockey.

    Hockey. That's all I want. And Notre Dame is doing their best to drive a very-long-time season ticket holder to stay home on Friday and Saturday nights and watch some other school's team instead. I miss Mark Van Guilder. I miss Christian Hanson. I miss the dump the team used to play in. Where the main attraction was Mark and Christian and the game. Because in the end, that's all I want. To watch hockey. Am I the only one?
    Last edited by Jeff_Jackson_for_Pres.; 11-29-2014, 12:45 PM.
    "Hockey is the only tribe I belong to." --Jack Falla

    "Why, as a matter of fact, I suggested starting a hockey program to Father Callahan, our president. He was downright interested until we came to the use of sticks, and then he threw up his hands. He said, 'No, that game is not for our University. Notre Dame will never endorse any game that puts a club in the hands of an Irishman.' " -- Knute Rockne: All American

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    • #32
      Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

      Originally posted by Jeff_Jackson_for_Pres. View Post
      For only the 3rd time since I have been a Notre Dame hockey season ticket holder (somewhere north of 30 seasons), I am foregoing the Notre Dame hockey game tonight. The first time was when I was too sick to go. The 2nd time I was at a wedding. And this time? I don't want to go. And this has ZERO to do with the fact that the team can't score a PPG to save their lives. Or that they can't protect a 2-0 lead going into the 3rd. Or that we are refusing to return the favor to LSSU or UAH or Niagara by playing in their barns. Or that we are playing LSSU or UAH or Niagara (no offense meant whatsoever) instead of or in addition to DU or Penn State or Miami or Michigan.

      Rather, I am tired of leaving that shiny new arena with a sickening headache from the ear-splitting volume of the constant noise blaring from the sound system. I'm tired of the jumbotron imploring the hyperactive kids to "get louder" and parents encouraging said kids to go ahead and scream. I'm tired of being told to look at all the signs from the Meijer sign station so those with no artistic ability whatsoever can get their 15 minutes. I'm tired of the fan of the game being awarded to the loudest, most obnoxious person in the building. I'm tired of everything at that place that takes the attention away from the only reason there IS that place. A game of hockey between two college teams. That is ALL I am interested in. I shouldn't need to wear earplugs at a sporting event (unless I am in the infield at Talladega). I shouldn't have to hear other people's kids screaming. I shouldn't be directed to the jumbotron at every stoppage to salute this or cheer that. I. Don't. Care. About anything else but hockey.

      Hockey. That's all I want. And Notre Dame is doing their best to drive a very-long-time season ticket holder to stay home on Friday and Saturday nights and watch some other school's team instead. I miss Mark Van Guilder. I miss Christian Hanson. I miss the dump the team used to play in. Where the main attraction was Mark and Christian and the game. Because in the end, that's all I want. To watch hockey. Am I the only one?
      It's funny that you just posted this and I just happened into your thread. I'm with you.

      I have always disliked the canned music at Conte Forum, but I just realized last night how much I hate it, and that it may be reason enough to keep me away from the game I love. I have fellow season ticket holders that I chat with every home game, that sit in front, behind, and to the side of my seats. We often chat during timeouts and between periods. I realized last night that there really isn't a peaceful moment during breaks in the game... the music is always blaring! Pretty sad that you have to shout, rather than talk, to communicate with your friends.

      Stick with the pep bands and get rid of the canned music... or at least turn the volume down half way. Sheesh.
      'Eavesdropped the BC forum in USCHO. A range of intellects over there. Mostly gentlemen, but a couple of coarse imbeciles' - academic_index, a Brown fan

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      • #33
        Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

        The only hope for this team -- and it's slim at best -- comes from a couple of quotes out of the coach and the captain. "it's not easy to win college hockey games and we've taken it for granted around here for a few years" (emphasis mine) came from Jackson, while Fogarty offered up "they score and it’s like we just let down. It’s been happening the past few years here (emphasis again mine) and it’s definitely something we need to change if we want to get back on the right track." Perhaps something is finally dawning on the leaders of this program that the whole thing is broken and it isn't just a matter of playing poorly in a few games or drawing some tough matchups.

        But what kind of a da m ning indictment is it when players and coaches are only now owning up to years of this kind of effort. They have been handed the goose that lays the golden egg around here and done nothing but go backwards. Watch Anders Lee or Riley Sheahan skate against the best hockey players in the world once or twice. You'll see that this team has been attracting some extremely talented players. But since they moved to the palace that is the Compton Family Ice Arena no one has been held accountable for the fact that they -- players and coaches alike -- have all fallen far short of where they could have been. The one notable triumph, the final CCHA playoff championship, was subsequently tainted by that joke of a performance in Toledo -- from both the team and it's head coach. And it came against the worst edition of the CCHA since Notre Dame rejoined the league. Fewest teams with an overall winning record and fewest teams in the NCAA tournament since the field expanded to 16 teams. The fact is the CCHA was awash in mediocrity in 2013 -- a mid major at best -- and Miami was actually the best team in the conference anyway.

        Last night was the worst game I have seen since the Jackson regime took office in 2005. Nothing comes close. Not the 2010 playoff loss to OSU. Not the horrible weekend against Alaska Fairbanks two seasons ago. Nothing. The only reason I won't use the "quit" word is because the team never bothered to start playing. I am hard pressed to point to a game in Poulin's last season where I saw a lazier effort in every phase of the game. There was zero compete in the Irish skaters last night.

        Every Irish player who dressed -- with the exceptions of Katunar, Petersen and Johnson -- should be ashamed and embarrassed. Petersen could have played a great game, and he still would have lost 3 or 4-1. Johnson barely saw the ice as far as I can recall. And Katunar was the only player who seemed engaged on the bench during most of the contest. And Jackson and Pooley have utterly failed in preparing this team or finding ways to improve them in any of the facets of the game where they fall short. That team took the ice with no idea how to win a game against a very beatable opponent. But that doesn't excuse the fact that once on the ice that same team seemed to decide amongst themselves that there didn't seem to be any reason to actually try.

        Jackson spoke of "blowing up the power play" before the second Niagara contest. Well, break out the dynamite again only this time take it to the entire team, players, coaches and gameplanning alike.
        Last edited by WeAreNDHockey; 11-30-2014, 01:49 PM.

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        • #34
          Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

          to Jeff jack for Pres... Honestly I'm a very new hockey fan but have fallen in love with college hockey. I follow it more than anything, and know more about ND hockey players than any other sports team. I like the fact that they salute a vet every game, and I've had some friends like some of the music. The fan of the game always seems.... well they are hardly ever cool fans. The signs are....blah usually.

          I find myself wanting more pep band, better cheers to get the crowd more involved etc. I look at some other barns/videos and I keep thinking, why can't we do cool stuff like that at Notre Dame??? I don't mean all the rude, classless, cursing stuff that you see at some places (lets not name any names, Michigan tech, western, Vermont I hear?) But sometimes I see some of those barns and go...... that is college hockey. And then I see this high end entertainment show we call ND hockey. I love going to Compton, but I do wish we had more of a college hockey atmosphere at times.

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          • #35
            Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

            I didn't see the OSU game but I heard they were flat as all get out. They were this way against Minnesota in the first game, Merrimack in the second game. It's almost like they don't care or have pride that they wear ND. Something has to change, they are making me disgusted. 38 in the pairwise and I wonder if my other team (mich state) might finish higher? seriously wonder if they can win another game? (AT least boston college is losing too. Anytime Boston anything loses I'm a little happy).

            They have won 1 of the last 9? PP stats are who knows what now. They finally outshot someone (30-28) but I have to imagine when you are up 5-1 you aren't shooting much. LOL
            I wish I could laugh at it.

            This is why I hated the saying "what matters is how we are playing in Feb and march." No it doesn't, unless you plan on winning the conference tournament. Lets face it, that isn't a safe bet for any team. They've completely put themselves in a place where Feb. and March doesn't matter. The only reason it still does is because we put Boston anything at the end, and dang do I not like those schools (I only hate Tech worse...) So hopefully they can do something so they can ruin Boston U's season and then beat BC.

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            • #36
              Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

              Originally posted by irishstate View Post
              to Jeff jack for Pres... Honestly I'm a very new hockey fan but have fallen in love with college hockey. I follow it more than anything, and know more about ND hockey players than any other sports team. I like the fact that they salute a vet every game, and I've had some friends like some of the music. The fan of the game always seems.... well they are hardly ever cool fans. The signs are....blah usually.

              I find myself wanting more pep band, better cheers to get the crowd more involved etc. I look at some other barns/videos and I keep thinking, why can't we do cool stuff like that at Notre Dame??? I don't mean all the rude, classless, cursing stuff that you see at some places (lets not name any names, Michigan tech, western, Vermont I hear?) But sometimes I see some of those barns and go...... that is college hockey. And then I see this high end entertainment show we call ND hockey. I love going to Compton, but I do wish we had more of a college hockey atmosphere at times.
              I actually agree with everything JJfP posted. All of it could disappear and I'd be happy.

              One of the huge issues I have with all of the ancillary nonsense on the video board and the sound system is that it takes the focus away from the ice and the actual game. Whether or not any fan feels it is entertaining seeing the "fan of the game" or the constant admonitions to "GET LOUDER!" or picking the loudest, most hyperactive and in need of a real recess during school hours and not an increase in his Ritalin dosage kid to ride the Zamboni, no one is actually there for any of that. If they throw open the doors and offer us all of that but neglect to put an actual Notre Dame game on the ice, the crowd will number approximately zero.

              What's worse is that there is literally no down time from any of it. If any crowd actually wanted to spontaneously get behind an Irish hockey team in the thought it might motivate them through a tough stretch of minutes, the sound system and video boards would prevent it. As soon as there is a stoppage of play, something blares over the sound system and the fans are all drowned out, often unable to communicate with a person sitting 5 feet away.

              Way back in the old days I was told I had to stop bringing in my little maritime air horns because they were "too loud." Never mind the fact that the device was often the only noise being made in the days when too much of the crowd sat on their hands all game long, and that little kids would sometimes ask if they could be the one to blow the d a m n thing after a goal, nope, too loud I was told. Eventually the NCAA passed a rule prohibiting fans from bringing in artificial noise makers like that, but really, too loud? The goal horn that we blow when the team takes the ice or after goals is 100 times as loud as anything I ever brought in.

              As for the salute the veteran at every single game this cheap grace is hollow and has got to come to an end. Cheap grace was written about by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the 1930s, and he called it the grace we bestow on ourselves unearned, granting redemption without repentance. Perhaps a tenth of a percent of all the American people have seen any actual hardship from more than a decade of a war on terror, but we feel oh so good standing and applauding someone else's sacrifice. Cheap grace perfectly describes the way we have fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which asks of us merely that we "support the troops" without actually taking any real risks or making any tangible sacrifices.

              In addition, singling out the military as the only segment of society worthy of this kind of public recognition demeans the sacrifice and service of the untold 1000s in our communities who also deserve it. There are dedicated clergy sacrificing their own comfort or worldly goods to help shelter the less advantaged. Salute one of them. Or one of the many local teachers, both private and public school alike, who we entrust our youth to every day, and who often go above and beyond, spending money out of their own pockets because taxpayers or parents don't see fit to fund the schools sufficiently, to teach our children. Or local firefighters like Jamie Middlebrook, who volunteered for years to serve his community as an on call firefighter and gave his life serving the citizens of New Carlisle doing so. Or how about 2 local police officers who acted in incredibly heroic fashion in saving lives at a local grocery store when a madman with a gun entered. Cody Skipper and Jason Tripp -- the latter a guy I have known since he too was an employee at another location of that grocery store chain and someone who loves the game of hockey (he was a teammate of mine on a beer league team) are those police officers and are as worthy of this kind of a salute as any person out there. And before anyone thinks I am a pacifist or anti military, believe me you don't know me. It's just that none of these dedicated public servants are getting the same kind of recognition, and they all serve our communities in ways that are immediately felt. Many put their lives on the line every day doing it.

              As far as I'm concerned none of this really belongs at a hockey game. Drop the puck and play the freeking game.

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              • #37
                Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                Well since you mention clergy and Dietrich Bonhoeffer with hockey.... I can't disagree with that. LOL And knowing people in the other areas you've mentioned, I can see your point. We can recognize them too. Although I still like that they do salute a vet.

                There could be more replays of the actual game, like penalties, goals, hard hits etc. instead of some kind of loud music. Something that at least keeps the focus on hockey instead of all the other stuff.

                Perhaps all the extra stuff going on is what stops us from doing or making any cool cheers you find elsewhere. We are so lame. All we have is "go irish, beat (whoever)" and when we score who knows what we say to the goalie (since it seems to change slightly). Really only the band says any cheers. We don't say anything when we go on the power play. or anything when the penalty is on us. or anything when they score. Or anything when anything happens. It would be fun to have some kind of culture that really gets you into the game.

                PS. I find some of the intro stuff to be annoying this year. and the sound clips are terrible anyway at times.

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                • #38
                  Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                  Originally posted by WeAreNDHockey View Post
                  I As soon as there is a stoppage of play, something blares over the sound system and the fans are all drowned out, often unable to communicate with a person sitting 5 feet away.
                  Speaking of stoppage of play. What's up with all the timeouts? I made the trip out for the Lowell games and I was amazed at how many timeouts there were during the games. It seemed like every two minutes they were coming out to clean the ice. I understand the tv timeouts but it just seemed like there were way too many stoppages of play. At Lowell and they don't come out to clean the ice.

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                  • #39
                    Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                    Originally posted by boblav1 View Post
                    Speaking of stoppage of play. What's up with all the timeouts? I made the trip out for the Lowell games and I was amazed at how many timeouts there were during the games. It seemed like every two minutes they were coming out to clean the ice. I understand the tv timeouts but it just seemed like there were way too many stoppages of play. At Lowell and they don't come out to clean the ice.
                    A lot of teams are cleaning the ice now during TV timeouts. Most ND games not on a regular cable TV channel have been shown on NBCSports.com and those have the regular number of timeouts and they are all long enough to clean the ice. In the last few years of the CCHA the league instituted "tv timeouts" for all games, regardless of whether or not they were actually on TV as a fairness measure since there were only 2 or 3 teams regularly getting on TV. I have no idea if Hockey East does this. If they don't, I can understand why it seemed like ND had so many, but that was a normal amount for us.

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                    • #40
                      Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                      Originally posted by WeAreNDHockey View Post
                      A lot of teams are cleaning the ice now during TV timeouts. Most ND games not on a regular cable TV channel have been shown on NBCSports.com and those have the regular number of timeouts and they are all long enough to clean the ice. In the last few years of the CCHA the league instituted "tv timeouts" for all games, regardless of whether or not they were actually on TV as a fairness measure since there were only 2 or 3 teams regularly getting on TV. I have no idea if Hockey East does this. If they don't, I can understand why it seemed like ND had so many, but that was a normal amount for us.
                      Thanks.

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                      • #41
                        Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                        Originally posted by irishstate View Post
                        There could be more replays of the actual game, like penalties, goals, hard hits etc. instead of some kind of loud music. Something that at least keeps the focus on hockey instead of all the other stuff.
                        Notre Dame I think generally feels it is beneath them to show replays of controversial plays on the video boards, a very misguided and transparent attempt to appear "classy." They also are very quick to blare something over the sound system at the first hint of a bad call by a referee, thus preventing fans from letting the refs know what they think. Maybe they are getting away from this because they did show replays of the waived off goal against UML, so that was a welcome sight at least.

                        Perhaps all the extra stuff going on is what stops us from doing or making any cool cheers you find elsewhere. We are so lame. All we have is "go irish, beat (whoever)" and when we score who knows what we say to the goalie (since it seems to change slightly). Really only the band says any cheers. We don't say anything when we go on the power play. or anything when the penalty is on us. or anything when they score. Or anything when anything happens. It would be fun to have some kind of culture that really gets you into the game.
                        In the final few seasons at the Joyce the crowd was much more involved. The band was the main source of music and while they did play a few things over the PA it wasn't the constant Jock-Rock crap we put up with now, and it wasn't at a dangerous volume level, and it wasn't at every stoppage in play. The place was a lot more intimate than the CFIA and players on both teams and the referees were always able to hear what was directed towards them by a lot of individual fans as well as the collective crowd.

                        Despite the fact everyone considered the place a dump (it wasn't, it was just cramped and small and didn't have all the bells and whistles the CFIA has) I loved it. We were just as good at home there as we are in the CFIA. Better if you consider we didn't load up on NCAA bottom feeders for non-conference play on a regular basis. We are 9-0 the last two seasons against LSSU, UAH and Niagara. Hockey was what mattered.

                        Notre Dame is wandering through some very dangerous territory right now. There is a serious disconnect between where they were when the CFIA opened and where they are now. All the crap going on there that I hate has done nothing to make the team more formidable than it was at the Joyce, nor has it helped preserve large crowds. No games with fewer than 4000 in attendance in the first 3 season and now 5 already this year. Sellouts are happening with much less frequency now than in the first two seasons (11 in each of the first two regular seasons, 6 last year in more home games than ever before and on a pace this season for 5). As they've added more and more distractions to the experience, the average crowd has shrunk and the sellouts have dropped quite alarmingly. The response from Notre Dame will probably be to add even more distractions and play even more NCAA bottom feeders. And I've got news for the powers that be at Notre Dame. Its' quite obvious you are lying about the crowds at most games anyway this season. Sellouts 3 years ago had few empty seats. Now they have hundreds, if not more. And some of those so-called crowds of 4000? You were lucky to have 2500 in the place.

                        When they opened that building I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 35 years after seeing my first Notre Dame hockey game I was moved nearly to the point of tears as the Star Spangled Banner played before that first game against RPI. Beating BC in the dedication contest a couple of weeks after that was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever witnessed in person. Now there are so many things about it that turn me off, the excitement of going to a game is nearly gone. I didn't even make the opening faceoff for the OSU game. As JJfP said in her post, it isn't the bad hockey. Let's face it, for most of the time I have been a fan, the hockey was mediocre at best, downright awful at worst. I'm no fair weather fan. I can put up with poorly played or poorly coached hockey. But not at the same time I have to put up with 2 and half hours of overwhelming assault on my senses. I go to sporting events because they are fun. When they stop being fun, I stop going. Based on what I am seeing in the ways of 1000s of empty seats at the CFIA, I'm guessing a lot of people aren't finding it fun anymore.
                        Last edited by WeAreNDHockey; 12-02-2014, 10:43 AM.

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                        • #42
                          Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                          I couldn't agree more. I find myself going to fewer and fewer games. When I do go the passions is not there anymore. I would have never missed a game in the years between 06 and 09. It is also why I haven't posted here in quite some time. I just don't care anymore. I could see this happening two years ago and commented here about it. It is only gotten worse. Anyone see the little kid on the video board who had to wear sound suppression things on his ears just so he could attend the game.

                          I miss the JACC, but even more so I miss the hockey that was played there those last 5 years. Folks I don't think it is ever coming back. The arrogance and greed is so great right now at ND that they'll never see the problem. Brian Kelly is the perfect representative of the university and in his words you " better get used to it."

                          So sad.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                            Well, we've seen what Notre Dame can do against the worst the NCAA has to offer. LSSU, Niagara and UMass (collectively 10-37-0) are all 50th or worse in both KRACH and the RPI and the Irish are 6-0 against them. Even then they struggled to put all of them away once, needing empty net goals against each for the final margins on the opening night of each series. Against the other 8 teams on the schedule Notre Dame is just 2-8-2. In those 12 games the Irish have been all over the map, with the only constant the awful power play. They've looked horrible against teams mediocre and good. And they've looked pretty good against a couple of pretty good teams. And there's the OSU game which is in a class by itself. Only time and the next 20 games will tell which team is the real Notre Dame hockey team for 2014-15.

                            Saturday's game against UMass seemed to indicate perhaps the corner has been turned and maybe the OSU game lit a fire underneath a few tails. But there have already been a couple of points during the season where it looked like the same turn was made, only to get right back to doing all the wrong things again. The second games against LSSU and Niagara, but those were against awful teams. The second game against UML, which Notre Dame clearly thought they had won save for one bad call only to follow it up with the lost weekend of the Shillelagh Tournament.

                            This team can no longer lean on the inexperience crutch. All of the new faces have seen plenty of ice time, most of them skating regular shifts. There's been power play and/or penalty kill time for all of them. Petersen and Katunar each have ample experience between the pipes now. The freshmen will have been through their first finals week by the time they take the ice again in Florida. Jackson and the rest of the staff have had 18 games and 2 plus months of practice to see what is and is not being learned. It is time to see some positive results on the ice and in the standings.

                            2 seasons ago after losing another opening round NCAA tournament game as a #1 seed, Jackson blasted the stale atmosphere and tiny crowd in Toledo. Along with all of the other advantages the CFIA was supposed to provide to this program the NCAA was forced to award a regional to this building and Notre Dame because not another entity offered a bid for the Midwest Regional. Hopefully it should be understood that Notre Dame did not submit this bid because they thought that even absent the host team it would be a successful venture. They've been given the gift of home ice -- actual home ice -- not enjoyed by a team in the NCAA in the previous 6 seasons. The expectations -- realistic and completely fair given the level of talent and advantages the program has at its disposal -- were that Notre Dame should be, and WOULD BE, one of the 16 teams in the 2015 NCAA tournament. A failure to live up to that and serious questions about everything related to the program will be begged. Questions about the type of student-athletes they are recruiting. The coaching. Even how they run game day management.

                            Or who knows, maybe it was all about getting the d a m n thing built and nothing else.

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                              Part of me wondered if they had turned a cornor, but I dare not say it.
                              Some sites (like chn and ND own post at one point) said the Irish went 0-9 on the power play, although others have 1 for 10 with Russo's last goal being a PPG. I wasn't there, but seems pretty obvious it was a PPG.

                              On the bright side, first sweep on the road in Hockey East.
                              And really, if you look at it they are in a good spot for conference standings, shoot for a top four and bye first round?? I was hoping they would improve on the 9-9-2 conference play which it looks like they could do.

                              That being said.....
                              OSU game apparently lit a fire under some of them and they played well.
                              which means.....
                              They will take winning for granted again because, well see?? It does come easy.
                              which means......
                              Miami will probably crush them like something fierce.
                              which means.....
                              We win again against LSSU and people are all like. yea we win!!!! and still at .500!!!!
                              which means.....
                              January will suck.

                              Or perhaps we did wake up, we beat Miami somehow. We play Cornell and beat them too. Then suddenly go into Jan. not as rusty as before and start sweeping in hockey east.
                              Sigh, which dream to follow?

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman

                                Russo's goal in the third period was a 5-3 PP goal.

                                Based on what's we've seen so far this season, the up and down nature of the team will continue. We haven't seen sustained success yet, nor have we even seen two straight games where the team played well for a full 60 minutes. After an 18 game sample of this, I have no reason to think anything will substantially change over the next 20 games.

                                We have at least one game in hand (and 2 or even 3 games) on all 4 teams above us in the standings. We hold the tiebreak with Vermont. We still have half our HE games at home. So there is some hope for a decent HE finish, hopefully better than last year's .500, 8th place finish. But with Jackson's oft stated goal of a top-4 conference finish, I will still wonder where the mind-set of the team will be as the season winds down. We're almost there right now in 5th. I hate setting a goal so low. You're Notre Dame for crying out loud. If you have a goal, it should be to finish in first. Period. If you're UConn, don't set a goal other than to win as many as you can and improve as you get used to playing in a much better league. But Notre Dame? The goal should be banners, titles, championships.

                                Our worst problem is that the team is so buried right now in the RPI. 32nd. And if we do start winning and see some radical improvement in that number, earlier wins against Niagara or LSSU may come off our RPI calculation so some of those wins will cease to matter. We don't have to win the Hockey East playoff to get into the NCAAs. Yet. But another mediocre finish in the league and a lack of success or an appearance in Boston in March and we can kiss our chances good-bye.

                                Our next few weekends of action are where it needs to happen. Miami and Cornell (potentially) can help with our RPI, and after that the first few HE games are against teams behind us in the standings. If we come down to the last month needing to make something happen it will be tough. We close with PC, BU and BC. We closed out last year's regular season 5-0-1 and all that meant was 8th place. I'd hate to have to go 5-0-1 this year to salvage any kind of a finish.

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