Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater
Red shortened bench, no Perez or tegeler as game went on.
Becker also.
Now I'm not thinking this team is NCAA tourney bound based on the results of these two games, but i will say, I'm not at all concerned about our goaltending. McGovern or Morris. Comments about McGovern giving up rebounds, and yeah, in the third there were a few, but all in all, I thought he was a sponge. Especially when you compare his play to that which we've seen over the past five or six seasons.
This team looked more like Red's first season team, and not last year's. They hustled, they scrapped for the puck, and if they gave it up, they went right after the other guy to try and get it back. Definitely looked more physical. Defense looked better, but they're still plagued by a lot of the things they've had issues with the past few years. Clearing the D zone, putting the puck into safe places, putting the puck right on the other guy's stick. It's frustrating, cause it''s a two-edged sword. Sometimes, they have time, and can be patient and make a better option, but they rush it and make a bad play. Other times, they overhandle the puck, giving the defenders time to get into position to block their pass, or steal the puck. I can't count the number of times they had opportunities to clear the puck and didn't, resulting in turnovers and good scoring opportunities for the other team. But they were outstanding at clearing the puck out of danger spots the later half of the ND game. Hopefully practice and experience will only make them better.
Liked what I saw of the freshmen. I think Robbins is gonna be a real good player, and I liked what I saw of Perez and Gibson also, Gib's penalties notwithstanding. I thought Becker was more solid than Michel, but I confess i didn't really watch Michel that closely.
Schurhammer's got a nice little snap shot on the PP unit though. And that play Brown made on Byron's goal might have been the niftiest little thing we've seen since Nyquist left. .