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Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

MagnessMan said:
It was a hell of an eleven game run. Especially that OT win last weekend. You guys will be in the running for the Four, for sure. Good luck in the second half. Hope to get out there and see your new rink, it looks like a gem.
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In today's world, an eleven unbeaten streak is very good. Just think of Jackson's 1990-91 run as coach of the Lakers when they went unbeaten for 28 games!

Also. on Saturday, ND did not play that badly - the Lakers played pretty well and made ND pay for every penalty (3/3) KK did not have a good game on Friday and Johnson did not on Saturday. ND has an impressive lineup and will be there in March.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

I teach (nearly full-time) at an area community college and a short while ago a full-time position in my department came open. I applied and made the assumption that I would at the very least get a courtesy interview. But here's the thing about assumptions: when you assume anything, it makes an "a s s" out of "u" and "me." (I learned that from an episode of The Odd Couple).

On paper, I would assume Notre Dame will beat Northeastern, but I don't feel like braying.

ND scores more goals than they give up. NU gives up more than they score. ND's PP scores more than 1 out of every 5 chances. NU's PK gives up more than 1 out of every 5 chances. ND's top PPG scorer (Anders Lee, who, I boldly predict, will score 3 goals this weekend) has 5 PPG's. NU has scored 5 PPG's as a team. ND's top scorer (T.J. Tynan) is a sophomore who has 23 points. NU's top freshman scorer (Ludwig Karlsson) + top sophomore (Braden Pimm) + top senior (Mike Mclaughlin) = 23 points.

Since hockey is played on ice, not on paper, I am reminded of the revelation from Christian author John Maxwell, "Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential." Who will have more desire this weekend?
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Jeff_Jackson_for_Pres. said:
I teach (nearly full-time) at an area community college and a short while ago a full-time position in my department came open. I applied and made the assumption that I would at the very least get a courtesy interview. But here's the thing about assumptions: when you assume anything, it makes an "a s s" out of "u" and "me." (I learned that from an episode of The Odd Couple).

On paper, I would assume Notre Dame will beat Northeastern, but I don't feel like braying.

ND scores more goals than they give up. NU gives up more than they score. ND's PP scores more than 1 out of every 5 chances. NU's PK gives up more than 1 out of every 5 chances. ND's top PPG scorer (Anders Lee, who, I boldly predict, will score 3 goals this weekend) has 5 PPG's. NU has scored 5 PPG's as a team. ND's top scorer (T.J. Tynan) is a sophomore who has 23 points. NU's top freshman scorer (Ludwig Karlsson) + top sophomore (Braden Pimm) + top senior (Mike Mclaughlin) = 23 points.

Since hockey is played on ice, not on paper, I am reminded of the revelation from Christian author John Maxwell, "Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential." Who will have more desire this weekend?
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Well said! Most college hockey teams are so closely matched these days, that "on any given night..." who knows. After Northeastern's win over Michigan, they have to be looking at their four win season a little differently. I'm still picking ND both nights, but I'm sure that the series will be a good one--NU is fairly competitive year in and year out.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Things to be scared about with NU:
* Rawlings isn't always sharp, but he's a very big body who can be very hard to get a puck past, and he can steal a game when he's on.
* The Huskies have played very close with BC and Merrimack in losses. The margin from a close loss to a tie or a win is not very big.

For all of that, on paper, you'd have to think that the minimum expectation for ND in the series is 3 points. I think the most probable outcome is one easy win for ND and one close game which ends in a tie or an ND win.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Jeff_Jackson_for_Pres. said:
NU's top freshman scorer (Ludwig Karlsson) + top sophomore (Braden Pimm) + top senior (Mike Mclaughlin) = 23 points.
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I realize you're just making a point here, but in all fairness Karlsson missed the first two games of the season, and while McLaughlin is the top senior on the team, it's only by default as he's also the only senior on the team. He isn't really known for his scoring, but rather his incredible work ethic on the ice. He never takes a shift off, and is a great two-way forward and one of our top PK forwards.

If we play responsibly in our own zone and make quality passes through neutral ice (two things that were huge problems at the beginning of the season, but have improved of late) we can be a tough team. In the games this season when we're 'on', we have been very good at clogging shooting lanes and limiting quality chances in front of the net (we give up a lot of shots, but a very high percentage are fairly harmless perimeter shots). We also create a decent amount of odd man rushes while not giving up many in return.

Another interesting piece of information is that NU has played 5 games against Merrimack and BC (the current #1 and #2 in the rankings, which I know are bogus etc etc, but I still find this interesting) and gone 0-4-1. However, all but one of the losses were 1-goal losses. Of the one goal losses, two of them came in OT, and a third came with 3 seconds left in the 3rd period.

All that said, my expectations aren't very high for the weekend. It's a great test for the Huskies against a very, very good ND team. More than W's, I just want to see the Huskies play sound, disciplined hockey and keep it close.

I'm also just as excited to check out your new arena, the pictures look incredible. Should still be a fun weekend either way, I think we're bringing a decent number of fans considering the distance.
 
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Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Huskies of NU said:
... we have been very good at clogging shooting lanes and limiting quality chances in front of the net (we give up a lot of shots, but a very high percentage are fairly harmless perimeter shots).
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Crap. That is Notre Dame's Achilles' heel.
Huskies of NU said:
I'm also just as excited to check out your new arena, the pictures look incredible. Should still be a fun weekend either way, I think we're bringing a decent number of fans considering the distance.
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Safe travels and check out the tourist-y things around campus and town.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

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Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

They can't play like that two games in a row can they? CAN THEY!? This is one game that I will pay someone to bash my head against the boards just to forget. Any takers?
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Have to admit we were quite surprised when the conference scores were shown on the display. I suppose we'll have to wait for you guys to get over the shock to read any postings on what happened.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Hey, we didn't quit. Of course we didn't start either, unfortunately. What an embarrassment. That was as bad as a few games in 2004-05. Oh well, 9-2 or 3-2, it counts as just one loss. Happily today they get a chance to show it was just that. Hopefully at least one of the goalies shows up. And if we're lucky they will bring some of the skaters along.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

I know this is cold comfort and of no consolation, but I'm sure some of you must have seen that Al-Hunt beat UNO 3 - 1 last night in Nashville for their first win of the season.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

ND Hockey said:
Hey, the penalty kill looked pretty good last night.
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You haven't seen NU's power play before then.... Our Power Play is the best pk in the country! I haven't seen a power play kill itself more than ours! So honestly, that's not really a consolation prize.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Couple of things of note to me after what was a fairly disappointing weekend.

First, Northeastern is better than their record. After a 1-7-2 start, they've won 5 straight, including 3 in a row away from home. 4 of those 5 wins were by 3 or more goals as well. They've got a good mixture of size and speed, and used it well against Notre Dame all weekend, and especially on Friday. My guess is the way they are playing now is a better indication of their potential than the first 10 games.

The second thing that strikes me as worth mentioning is the rather obvious observation that our goaltending is a bit off right now. Johnson is not playing well. There is simply no defending giving up the game tying and game winning goals on the five shots he faced last night after the first period. I'm not commenting on the kind of shape the team is in physically right now, but Saturday's effort was clearly better than Friday's. The team came much closer to matching NE in the corners and played a little more securely with the puck. And holding them to 15 shots was exactly what a goalie needed to see.

I've had a hard time reading the coach when it comes to goalies for the entire time he's been at Notre Dame. Jackson insists Johnson is "his guy" and he clearly hasn't arrived at the conclusion that his number 2 is ready to challenge for the top spot. But the answer can't be in a guy who can't make 5 saves in 40 minutes. Under the circumstances I can't see what else his skaters could have done last night to win this game. It may be unrealistic to think you should win a game when you score just one goal. But it better not be unrealistic when you hold the other guys to just 5 shots after taking a lead.

The remainder of the season will be quite a challenge. The CCHA looks tougher this season than it has since Jackson arrived at Notre Dame. This team has the potential to go a long way, but to make the trip it will need consistent play from what has become hockey's most important position. Play they aren't getting right now.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

I guess it's easy to be gracious in the wake of a weekend sweep but I can't in good conscience leave South Bend without giving props to all of the Domers I was able to meet over the weekend. Genuinely nice people all and none of the arrogance and sense of entitlement that we're used to seeing at certain unnamed institutions located on Commonwealth Ave., in Boston. The ND band was awesome. Kinda surprised, though, that it had to compete with amplified music as much as it did. Compton is such an impressive facility that I can't imagine many potential recruits thinking they wouldn't want to play there. Eddy St. Commons was amazing. Ditto for Fiddler's Hearth.

For CraigP: Smile buddy. It's OK to let your inner Husky shine through.
 
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Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Split-N said:
For CraigP: Smile buddy. It's OK to let your inner Husky shine through.
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Hey, if this really is NU's natural level, and not just an off week for ND, all the better. If it was an off week, well, I'm glad it was NU and not a team I hate (say, Michigan or BU) that took advantage of it.
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

Just one positive I can see this weekend. At least we didn't lose ground in the CCHA by losing to a conference opponent. Saturday night after the game was nice with the skate, at least watching. Since I have never skated in my life (although always wanted to) I was on the bleachers but just seeing the players interact made it worth sticking around for
 
Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton

SwedishJustice22 said:
Just one positive I can see this weekend. At least we didn't lose ground in the CCHA by losing to a conference opponent. Saturday night after the game was nice with the skate, at least watching. Since I have never skated in my life (although always wanted to) I was on the bleachers but just seeing the players interact made it worth sticking around for
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Isn't it fun to watch Stephen Johns in those events? I thoroughly enjoy his interactions with the kids.
 
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