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All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

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Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Dirty said:
And yet when Brett Hextall talks smack, the entire DU team, coaching staff and FSN broadcasting crew gets upset.
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Go to admit that Rakshani here is more about wit than pure smack-talk. The UND name reference is respectful (he named the team properly) and added a factual reference to next year, when the name may not be there.;)

Then he took a shot at his own coach with the "walking across the ice" bit.:D

Hextall is more of an on-ice cascade of smack talk that elevates to the form to high art -- by far the best smack-talker in college hockey. Unfortunately, little of it is suitable for home video.:eek:
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

DU injury update from Mike Chambers. Add Matt Donovan to the walking wounded. He broke his finger against Minnesota State, played against UAA the following weekend and was held out of practice last week. He is probable for this weekend's series. Patrick Wiercioch has not practiced and his timetable is unknown. He is doubtful for the UND series. Chevy is listed as questionable as yesterday was the first day he put the pads on for some "light movement" with equipment. Even if Chevy is able to play, my guess is he would only play one of the games. It is time for Murray and the depth players to step up and perform, no excuses.

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_13803648
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Which is worse doubtful or questionable? :o :(
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

vizoroo said:
Which is worse doubtful or questionable? :o :(
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Both words are meaningless placeholders for teams to cover themselves.

Nobody will know until Friday afternoon who suits up and who doesn't.

Until then, we just bite our towels, hit the wine and hope for the best...
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

I wish Gwoz would stop lying!!!

"Wiercioch, a preseason All-American, suffered a sprain medial collateral ligament in his right knee in the finale against the Seawolves. He was not scheduled to practice Monday and his return is uncertain."

Seriously, though, what a bummer about Donovan. Sounds like our players need to use some better gloves to avoid these broken fingers.

For all the bad news we've been getting on the injury front, the bright side is that Big Joe is probably feeling a lot better. So hopefully he will pick up from the great start that he had. Also, Ruegsegger, Salazar and Maiani can all pick up their games a notch or two. So there's a lot of room for improvement, and if it happens this weekend, it will lessen the impact of the injuries.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Just watched the Gwoz press conference. Nothing new about the injuries as he reiterated what Mike Chambers has in the newspaper. He did say they had a very hard week of practice last week, sounds almost like a training camp. They worked on a lot of things that you don't get to work on in a normal week of practice, especially the areas that the coaches have identified as weaknesses. He has seen a lot of improvement in Murray who has been thrown into the fire. He indicated he is a quick learner who has been watching tapes to see where he has done well and when he has made mistakes.
 
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Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Murray's weaknesses are not technical ones, IMHO. They are mental ones.

His positioning and physical readiness to take shots look pretty sound to these eyes - he's been well-coached and has all the physical tools to be an effective goalie. But we all know that effective goaltending is much overcoming mental challenge as it is about the reflexes at this level.

He can watch the tapes of those goals all day, but not much is likely to change as a result of that. I think he likely feels too much pressure and or not enough confidence, or a combination of both. Whatever it is, it needs fixing.

Besides watching tape, I hope he is also practicing visualization of good results, relaxation and confidence-building exercises, as they are much more likely to produce the desired improvements.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Puck Swami said:
Murray's weaknesses are not technical ones, IMHO. They are mental ones.

His positioning and physical readiness to take shots look pretty sound to these eyes - he's been well-coached and has all the physical tools to be an effective goalie. But we all know that effective goaltending is much overcoming mental challenge as it is about the reflexes at this level.

He can watch the tapes of those goals all day, but not much is likely to change as a result of that. I think he likely feels too much pressure and or not enough confidence, or a combination of both. Whatever it is, it needs fixing.

Besides watching tape, I hope he is also practicing visualization of good results, relaxation and confidence-building exercises, as they are much more likely to produce the desired improvements.
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I suppose offering him a fully tricked out Escalade (with those rotating wheel covers) if he gets a couple of wins this weekend is totally out of the question.

He needs for something good to happen, no doubt about it. Given our recent history with goalies, I have no doubt the kid has talent. Does he have the heart? While it's too early to conclude he doesn't, the early returns haven't engendered much optimism.

Here's a question for you guys in Denver, do the players check out this thread? I'd sure hate to be part of this young man's problem.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Old Pio said:
Here's a question for you guys in Denver, do the players check out this thread? I'd sure hate to be part of this young man's problem.
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They don't post by edict, but most of them do read it, based on the e-mails I get from time to time. The coaches also see it as well, as do journalists and parents.

These guys are D-I athletes - in the top 1-2% of those who play the sport. If they can't handle the postings of 20-25 die-hard DU fans here, they should be playing club hockey or intramurals. I have never subscribed to the notion that die hard fans should never be critical fans - after all, half the fun in life is proving other people wrong. If we serve as a little motivation for the boys, that's great...
 
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Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Old Pio said:
I suppose offering him a fully tricked out Escalade (with those rotating wheel covers) if he gets a couple of wins this weekend is totally out of the question.

He needs for something good to happen, no doubt about it. Given our recent history with goalies, I have no doubt the kid has talent. Does he have the heart? While it's too early to conclude he doesn't, the early returns haven't engendered much optimism.

Here's a question for you guys in Denver, do the players check out this thread? I'd sure hate to be part of this young man's problem.
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Some players probably read here & some don't.

That being said, Murray is a player who less than a year ago had a reasonable expectation to be an NHL draftee. The wheels have seriously come off the bus in that time. This message board is the least of his worries at this point.

Murray played against plenty of college teams last year on the USA Under 18s so its not like he hasn't faced this level of competition.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

dggoddard said:
That being said, Murray is a player who less than a year ago had a reasonable expectation to be an NHL draftee. The wheels have seriously come off the bus in that time. This message board is the least of his worries at this point.

Murray played against plenty of college teams last year on the USA Under 18s so its not like he hasn't faced this level of competition.
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If the coaches can't help get Murray to a decent level by Christmas or so, I think it's not out of the question that DU may needs to look for another goalie for next year, as Chevy might get an offer to jump to the NHL if he keeps playing like he did before the injury. The prospects of Murray and Paulgaard don't engender a great deal of confidence at this point as DU's 1 and 2 goalies unless Murray can get better...
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Puck Swami said:
If the coaches can't help get Murray to a decent level by Christmas or so, I think it's not out of the question that DU may needs to look for another goalie for next year, as Chevy might get an offer to jump to the NHL if he keeps playing like he did before the injury. The prospects of Murray and Paulgaard don't engender a great deal of confidence at this point as DU's 1 and 2 goalies unless Murray can get better...
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If Murray doesn't improve, he might end up in the USHL. It wouldn't be the first time a goaltender went down for a year.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

dggoddard said:
If Murray doesn't improve, he might end up in the USHL. It wouldn't be the first time a goaltender went down for a year.
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A program like DU simply cannot carry a goalie who ranks last -- 81st out of 81 goalies in Division I -- at an 83% saves percentage, and who rankes 80th out of 81 NCAA goalies in GAA (4.36) as Murray currently sits. The improvement needs to be fairly dramatic, and it needs to happen quickly.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Puck Swami said:
A program like DU simply cannot carry a goalie who ranks last -- 81st out of 81 goalies in Division I -- at an 83% saves percentage, and who rankes 80th out of 81 NCAA goalies in GAA (4.36) as Murray currently sits. The improvement needs to be fairly dramatic, and it needs to happen quickly.
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Those are some reeeely ugly numbers all right. And I'm guessing the coaches are as surprised as we are.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Puck Swami said:
Just what you want facing the Sioux this weekend...:eek:
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Ideally it would be nice to have a series with Cupcake U before the Sioux. On the other hand, the way Murray's going, that would just be the difference between single and double digits.

Swami, kid on UAA named Naslund, wonder if he's any kin to DU's silver Olympic medal winning Ron.
 
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Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Some team stats to chew on:

DU is 20th overall in NCAA offense at 3.10 goals per game. I expected them to be 3.5-4.0 this year. 3.10 is okay, but you better have Chevy saving 96% of the shots if you expect to win hardware with that level of offense. DU needs more scoring from the lower lines, and they need it now.

Defensively, DU is 34th overall nationally, which is in the bottom half of all NCAA teams, letting in 3.0 goals per game. Granted, having Adam Murray's implosion and Chevy's injury hasn't helped this number, but at the end of the day, this needs to be down under 2.5 for DU to go anywhere in the playoffs. Certainly, I expected this to be much better than 34th.

Special teams wise, DU is sitting 30th in national power play at 17.5% and 17th in national PK at 86.3. Both of these numbers are also well below expectations, given DU's talent level.

Sitting with a top 5 national ranking at this point with stats like these means one thing - Chevy is carrying the team and he's not even playing. DU needs a lot of guys to step up. Simple as that.
 
Re: All Things DU XXV - Murray Up and Get The Chevy Out of The Repair Shop

Old Pio said:
Swami, kid on UAA named Naslund, wonder if he's any kin to DU's silver Olympic medal winning Ron.
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Not likely directly related. Daniel Naslund on UAA is from Sweden. Ron is a Minnesotan...
 
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