#8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

[Pump It Up]

No clever title this time. North Dakota (5-4-2) is coming off a tie (with 3x3 OT winner, if you're into that sort of thing) and loss to new #1 Denver last weekend. The Sioux are winless in their last 6.

St. Cloud State (6-4-0) most recently swept Colorado College in Colorado Springs and has either swept or been swept every series this year. The four losses were on the road in Mankato and at home against Duluth. They've swept Minnesota, Huntsville, and the aforementioned CC.

Last year was the first time in over a decade that the two teams did not play four regular season games. The single series was played in St. Cloud with UND winning 4-3 on Friday, followed by a 6-1 SCSU win on Saturday.

A "Fire Berry" thread was started this morning on SiouxSports. Let's do this.

[Dirty]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

Make it 8. SCSU win and tie.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

North Dakota had problems with the Gophers. Not sure what is going on with them.

[icehawk]

North Dakota had problems with the Gophers. Not sure what is going on with them.

Right now they couldn't score on a broomball net.

[burd]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

North Dakota had problems with the Gophers. Not sure what is going on with them.

Right now they're just glad to be over this run of good opposition.

[St. Clown]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

Right now they couldn't score on a broomball net.

We have the goalies to cure what ails you.

[Pump It Up]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

We have the goalies to cure what ails you.

Driscoll (Fr): 2.92 GAA, .884 SV%
Smith (Soph transfer): 3.61 GAA, .867 SV%

The primary difference, as I see it, is the team has simply played better in front of Driscoll up to this point. Also I'm willing to cut him a little slack as a freshman trying to figure out an elevated level of play. Bob started Driscoll both nights last weekend, so I'd say start him on Friday and if he plays well, start him on Saturday. Motzko has never been a big goalie rotation guy, so I hope one of them can start to figure it out and take the reigns full time.

For what it's worth, Cam Johnson is sitting at 2.45 GAA, .895 SV%.

[St. Clown]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

Driscoll (Fr): 2.92 GAA, .884 SV%
Smith (Soph transfer): 3.61 GAA, .867 SV%

The primary difference, as I see it, is the team has simply played better in front of Driscoll up to this point. Also I'm willing to cut him a little slack as a freshman trying to figure out an elevated level of play. Bob started Driscoll both nights last weekend, so I'd say start him on Friday and if he plays well, start him on Saturday. Motzko has never been a big goalie rotation guy, so I hope one of them can start to figure it out and take the reigns full time.

For what it's worth, Cam Johnson is sitting at 2.45 GAA, .895 SV%.

Watching Friday's game, I thought that Driscoll should have kept out two of the goals that he did let in the net. The one goal that I wouldn't assign to Driscoll, IMO, was either just a pretty goal or a D breakdown - take your pick and I could go either way.

Both of them have shown flashes of becoming good net minders for the Huskies, but they're just not up to snuff yet. They're young and still trying to get accustomed to game play at this level. Until they do mature, though, we shouldn't expect either of them to steal the occasional game for us the way Faragher and Lindgren did over the past few years.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

Watching Friday's game, I thought that Driscoll should have kept out two of the goals that he did let in the net. The one goal that I wouldn't assign to Driscoll, IMO, was either just a pretty goal or a D breakdown - take your pick and I could go either way.

Both of them have shown flashes of becoming good net minders for the Huskies, but they're just not up to snuff yet. They're young and still trying to get accustomed to game play at this level. Until they do mature, though, we shouldn't expect either of them to steal the occasional game for us the way Faragher and Lindgren did over the past few years.

Not holding my breath. The past few goalies have been good pretty much from the moment the got in net. Dunn, Lee, Faragher and Lindgren were all very good from the get-go. I will say that I think the defense has been pretty lackluster, so I don't want to write off the goalies just yet.

[St. Clown]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

Not holding my breath. The past few goalies have been good pretty much from the moment the got in net. Dunn, Lee, Faragher and Lindgren were all very good from the get-go. I will say that I think the defense has been pretty lackluster, so I don't want to write off the goalies just yet.

The D needs to tighten up, but there are three guys that I like - Cholowsky, Ahcan and Nevaleinen. After that, they could all use some work. Widman, I know from where I was sitting during the Ferris game last year, right behind FSU's bench, was being called out by FSU's forwards as the guy to exploit. The words "He sucks" were repeated. Often. And then they proved it.

[First Time, Long Time]

The D needs to tighten up, but there are three guys that I like - Cholowsky, Ahcan and Nevaleinen. After that, they could all use some work. Widman, I know from where I was sitting during the Ferris game last year, right behind FSU's bench, was being called out by FSU's forwards as the guy to exploit. The words "He sucks" were repeated. Often. And then they proved it.

Widman is not as bad as you make him out to be and I'd put Schuldt and Borgen over the three you mentioned.
They are a work in progress but anyone who expected any different after what we lost was fooling themselves.

[MaizeRage]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

Not holding my breath. The past few goalies have been good pretty much from the moment the got in net. Dunn, Lee, Faragher and Lindgren were all very good from the get-go. I will say that I think the defense has been pretty lackluster, so I don't want to write off the goalies just yet.

I don't think that is true at all. Dunn was never good. Lee wasn't able to win the job outright from Dunn as a freshman. Faragher was what we was all the way through, though he was two years older as a freshman than Driscoll. Lindgren only started five games as a freshman and was pretty meh.

There's only two other goalies in the NCAA that are young enough to still be drafted, but haven't been besides Driscoll, and neither of them are very good either. It's tough to play goalie at that young of an age. I'm not saying he will turn it around, because that is tough to do too, but it is still early.

[St. Clown]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

Widman is not as bad as you make him out to be and I'd put Schuldt and Borgen over the three you mentioned.
They are a work in progress but anyone who expected any different after what we lost was fooling themselves.

Widman is as bad as I said. He just is. Hell, Ferris State specifically exploited him for an entire game. I watched them pull his jock down around his ankles, causing him to trip while they beat Lindgren (who was having a bad game, sure). That was how FSU scored its first goal. Watching SCSU last weekend, there was Widman again tripping over his own feet, and this time he wasn't even being pressured.

Borgen is solid, but not good, and he's not really improving anymore. I should have given Schuldt more credit. That was a miss on my part.

[First Time, Long Time]

Widman is as bad as I said. He just is. Hell, Ferris State specifically exploited him for an entire game. I watched them pull his jock down around his ankles, causing him to trip while they beat Lindgren (who was having a bad game, sure). That was how FSU scored its first goal. Watching SCSU last weekend, there was Widman again tripping over his own feet, and this time he wasn't even being pressured.
-

That was the only goal he was on for in the game too.
If FSU was exploiting him, they didn't do that good a job at it, no matter what they said on the bench.
Schuldt and Prow were burned more often than he was.
Widman is a guy who is at his best when he is not noticed...yes he will make mistakes but I don't know of a dman who doesn't.
The D and goaltending will get better as the year progresses and that's all we can really ask for.

[St. Clown]

Re: #8 North Dakota @ #12 St. Cloud State - November 18-19

That was the only goal he was on for in the game too.
If FSU was exploiting him, they didn't do that good a job at it, no matter what they said on the bench.
Schuldt and Prow were burned more often than he was.
Widman is a guy who is at his best when he is not noticed...yes he will make mistakes but I don't know of a dman who doesn't.
The D and goaltending will get better as the year progresses and that's all we can really ask for.

Are you Frank Drebin?