Re: Irish Hockey: Straight Inta Compton
I guess we found a new head coach, anybody that can determine who wins or loses a game before they even drop the puck, must be sent by the Hockey Gods. Anybody that can persuade the whole bench and half the crowd, that we we're going to loose, just by throwing his stick and helmet. needs to be standing behind the bench, not sitting on it. Imagine what he could do if he was a unifier and a positive influnce for his team. I'm not judging, just saying.
Dad
While we'll never know what would have happened if Jackson had made a different decision, I don't think Summerhays' emotions were the problem Saturday. While it's probably best to react stoically to any setback, he's hardly the first athlete to have it out with a coach, here or anywhere else. He made huge strides I thought against MSU when the team needed him the most. When the team was doing its job in front of him, he did his job. When they didn't, he played his position well and didn't let a couple of bad situations get worse, something he didn't do in his previous couple of starts. And when the skaters REALLY gagged it up, he made 2 tremendous saves, keeping the game scoreless the first time, and keeping the lead the next. I think he's shown a lot of growth in the last month, and if Jackson would have shown the same confidence in him the team shows, this season would look a little different right now.
At any rate, I think Summerhays is going to start this weekend
(remember, my usual disclaimer applies). It's time for Jackson to put him out there in a real win-or-go home situation. For one thing, Summerhays has proven to be the better choice more often than not this season. He's stopped a couple of long losing streaks, and has played better in most of the bigger games. Yes Johnson has the BC game, but Summerhays came up huge against MSU, has our only win against FSU, and stoned BU, UM and Minnesota very effectively.
Then we can take a look at the actual record in the post season. Johnson has made 9 starts, so he has the experience. But his record isn't stellar. In fact, it isn't particularly good. A few games smacked of what we have seen this year. Through 9 post season starts, he's just 4-5. The GAA is 3.55 and the save % is a mediocre .876. He had to be pulled from a horrible start against OSU in 2010. OK, we'll give him a pass since he wasn't the only one who wanted that season over. But he gave up 2 goals against Lake State last year in game three of that series.
The goals came in the second period on just 3 shots. The team got up 2-0 in game two and he couldn't hold the lead, giving up 4 goals in just over 2 periods of game time. 2 of the goals came in the final 90 seconds of periods 1 and 2. That was followed up by a forgettable game in Detroit against Miami, giving up 6 goals on just 24 shots before being relieved. He gave up 4 goals in the FF last season, and while 3 of those were on UMD power plays, the Bulldogs took only 18 shots to get the 4 goals. After that, Notre Dame held UMD to just 3 more shots. In fact of his 9 post season starts, he's only been lights out in 1. If you take out the UNH game from last season, the post season numbers become an indefensible 3-5, 3.91, .857. Those numbers won't get us out of the CFIA this weekend.
This team is going to need a miracle run to get to Detroit, let alone the NCAAs. With the odds stacked against them, it would be completely wrong to NOT see what Summerhays can do. While this post seems like it's "take a pot shot at Mike Johnson" it isn't. Those are the numbers. Jackson has said repeatedly he didn't recruit Steven Summerhays to sit. Now is the time to put a little meaning behind those words.
