Last December, Nicole Haase wrote an article in USCHO titled "Santa’s wish list for D-1" the link follows. http://www.uscho.com/2016/12/15/sant...or-womens-d-i/
I found this article to be an interesting read. I know this is something that I should have done at the end of last season, but just for grins let’s see if Santa delivered or not. If the response is good, I’ll do the rest of the conferences but if it’s a “so what” response I’ll stop here.
Let’s begin with the CHA.
Syracuse needed to stay out of the penalty box in the second half of the season. Did they? In the first 18 games they amassed 116 penalties and followed that up with 68 penalties in the last 16 games. Maybe that is why their record improved from 5-8-5 in the first half to 11-5-0 after Christmas. (Not taking in strength of schedule factors). Santa delivered for Syracuse.
Penn State: The wish was to improve their goal differential. In the first 18 games they scored an average of 2.50 goals per game and gave up 3.22 goals per game. In the second half of the season they scored only 1.71 goals per game while reducing their goals against to 2.71. So, statistically they did not improve their goal differential, even with the reduced goals against.
Mercyhurst: The wish was for more scoring. Through the first 20 games they averaged 2.3 goals scored, while giving up 2.65 goals per game. The second half saw the goals against dip to 2.13 while the scoring rose to 3.06 per game. Again, not taking in strength of schedule, Santa delivered for Mercyhurst.
Lindenwood: Needed to find power-play goals as they converted just 12 percent of the time. While 12% is below average in the league, they actually dropped to 9% in the second half of the season. Santa left a hunk of coal instead of a chunk of goals for Lindenwood.
RIT had hoped to find some offense as they were second-to-last in the country with 1.09 goals per game. I’m happy to report that Santa delivered and RIT lifted that average to 1.79 goals per game scoring, while at the same time reducing their goals against from 3.91 to 2.93 for that period. Their winning percentage climbed considerably in the second half of the season.
Robert Morris: The wish was that they find a better penalty kill as it was reported they had given up 23 pp goals in their first 18 games. Researching this I found that they only game up 17 goals in 169 attempts the entire season for an average of 10.1%, which is very respectable. Santa, did you hit the egg nog a little too hard here?
So, that concluded the CHA. What say the group?
I found this article to be an interesting read. I know this is something that I should have done at the end of last season, but just for grins let’s see if Santa delivered or not. If the response is good, I’ll do the rest of the conferences but if it’s a “so what” response I’ll stop here.
Let’s begin with the CHA.
Syracuse needed to stay out of the penalty box in the second half of the season. Did they? In the first 18 games they amassed 116 penalties and followed that up with 68 penalties in the last 16 games. Maybe that is why their record improved from 5-8-5 in the first half to 11-5-0 after Christmas. (Not taking in strength of schedule factors). Santa delivered for Syracuse.
Penn State: The wish was to improve their goal differential. In the first 18 games they scored an average of 2.50 goals per game and gave up 3.22 goals per game. In the second half of the season they scored only 1.71 goals per game while reducing their goals against to 2.71. So, statistically they did not improve their goal differential, even with the reduced goals against.
Mercyhurst: The wish was for more scoring. Through the first 20 games they averaged 2.3 goals scored, while giving up 2.65 goals per game. The second half saw the goals against dip to 2.13 while the scoring rose to 3.06 per game. Again, not taking in strength of schedule, Santa delivered for Mercyhurst.
Lindenwood: Needed to find power-play goals as they converted just 12 percent of the time. While 12% is below average in the league, they actually dropped to 9% in the second half of the season. Santa left a hunk of coal instead of a chunk of goals for Lindenwood.
RIT had hoped to find some offense as they were second-to-last in the country with 1.09 goals per game. I’m happy to report that Santa delivered and RIT lifted that average to 1.79 goals per game scoring, while at the same time reducing their goals against from 3.91 to 2.93 for that period. Their winning percentage climbed considerably in the second half of the season.
Robert Morris: The wish was that they find a better penalty kill as it was reported they had given up 23 pp goals in their first 18 games. Researching this I found that they only game up 17 goals in 169 attempts the entire season for an average of 10.1%, which is very respectable. Santa, did you hit the egg nog a little too hard here?
So, that concluded the CHA. What say the group?
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