What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

Both semi finals games and the championship are on CBS Sports. The consolation game on Saturday is not televised.

I think one win will be enough to keep them in the overall #1 seed. I ran some numbers in the pairwise predictor and it appears that North Dakota, even win just win, will remain at #14 in the pairwise. Since 15 (WCHA) and 16 (Atlantic) are already taking those bottom 2 slots, any other upsets would bump the Green Plague out.
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

First Time said:
No...but their were massive lack of execution issues...especially the 1st period in every game.
This team trusts their ability to come back but man they can't keep doing it and survive.
Click to expand...

Not sure I'd call them "massive" but there certainly were execution issues. To me part of the issue is their unwillingness to play "ugly". The pretty tic tac toe passing isn't always going to work and so you have to be willing to just dump it in and grind away, throw pucks at the net, etc. Create those ugly chances. Miami did a good job keeping them outside and it seemed at times they got frustrated with it - they kept trying to make the extra "pretty" pass and the result was often a rush in the opposite direction.
 
Last edited:
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

Dirty Bottles said:
Not sure I'd call them "massive" but there certainly were execution issues. To me part of the issue is their unwillingness to play "ugly". The pretty tic tac toe passing isn't always going to work and so you have to be willing to just dump it in and grind away, throw pucks at the net, etc. Create those ugly chances. Miami did a good job keeping them outside and it seemed at times they got frustrated with it - they kept trying to make the extra "pretty" pass and the result was often a rush in the opposite direction.
Click to expand...

I think part of that is we need a couple big bodies who are willing to really mix it up. A few of our forwards have some decent size, but they're not utilizing that size. It might be the flaw in Motzko's style, trying to keep the team from the PK as much as possible. He may very well have coached the team into being overly averse to the physical game. That kills teams going into the NCAAs.
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

That's just not how they play. A heavy, physical game is not suited for this team. This team relies on speed, creativity, and depth, especially at home on the big ice. I think that's partially why they have trouble against WMU. The Broncos are generally a bigger team that plays a more physical brand of hockey. If they run into a team like that in the NCAAs on a smaller rink it could be trouble (I don't know who that team is).

I like this team to beat North Dakota later today and advance to the final on Saturday. Gonna be tough opponents both games regardless of who it is.
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

Mostzko is gone. No way he doesn't take the Gophers job
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

Hardware would gave been lovely but we have won that one before. Hard enough to rattle off four in a row, seven would have been super tough. Hope we had our slip up yesterday and roll on from here. Getting back to the X is way more important than sweeping at the X this weekend. One game st a time... #JWF
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

Kind of a BS regional we got stuck with but the boys were gonna have to beat some very good teams to win a title anyway.
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

Its pretty obvious they moved Duluth and Mankato there for attendance purposes and traded them with some eastern teams. I'm ok with that and I like the 3 local teams playing there. It would be a great regional to attend too. Denver played such a good, structured, defensive game last night. They deserved to win. St Cloud is a deep, talented, offensive team and they really couldn't generate much because of how well Denver played their scheme. Focus and prepare for Air Force now. We do not want a repeat of what happened against Ferris State two years ago.
 
ThePowerConference said:
Its pretty obvious they moved Duluth and Mankato there for attendance purposes and traded them with some eastern teams. I'm ok with that and I like the 3 local teams playing there. It would be a great regional to attend too. Denver played such a good, structured, defensive game last night. They deserved to win. St Cloud is a deep, talented, offensive team and they really couldn't generate much because of how well Denver played their scheme. Focus and prepare for Air Force now. We do not want a repeat of what happened against Ferris State two years ago.
Click to expand...

Sioux Falls is already sold out, Mr. Obvious
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

They've never cared about the butts in the seats before...just the money and those seats are already sold. They say it's travel cost but they royally screwed bracket integrity for this.
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

ThePowerConference said:
Ok, then why did the committee put Kato & Duluth there then?
Click to expand...

They're putting the "region" back in "regional." Or, more likely, what cetihcra said about eastern attendance and travel costs.

Either way, it's like they've resurrected the old North Star Cup, minus Minnesota, and with the more colorful of the Serratores. Win-win!
 
Re: 2017-18 St. Cloud State Season Thread - Second Attempt

So we got #6 (Mankato) and #12 (UMD) instead of what we should have got in #8 (Michigan) and #9 (Northeastern). First glance, didn't care that much. Closer look, yes, Mankato's RPI is considerably higher than the two #2 band teams behind them. I just can't see this happening to Minnesota, North Dakota, BU or BC if they were #1 overall seeds. Think you could have swapped UMD and Northeastern but Mankato should have went out east to Cornell's bracket.

Maybe the only positives are: we are familiar with both teams if/when we get by Air Force and both of those teams are coming off two losses. They better not look past Air Force.

BTW, was at the tournament this past weekend. Thought the Huskies moved the puck pretty well both nights, especially early on against Denver. Denver took advantage of their opportunities, the Huskies couldn't put them in the back of the net. Wasn't a momentum draining loss at all. Don't take the bad penalties (looked like frustration penalties) and they should be just fine this weekend.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top