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Michigan State Hockey 202?-202?

aallenpollreisz said:
Two very different types of pain over the prior weekend. On Friday, it felt like we hung around until the dam broke in the third. On Saturday, MSU came out unmotivated and the dam broke instantly. (On the whole, despite somewhat pulling it together in the last 25-ish minutes, I was quite disappointed with Saturday's game.)

In a weird way, I think this weekend will set the tone for the rest of the season. Ferris isn't great. It will probably say a lot about the direction and motivation of this team if MSU finds itself struggling again.
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We’re in the middle of our annual November swoon so we need to grab wins anywhere we can. Every game after this weekend is typically at best a coin flip so these games are big.
 
Also, we’re ranked 21 in the PWR which is funny. If we didn’t fall on our face on opening night against AF we might be on the bubble for the NCAA tourney.
 
Pretty good game from the boys last night. The 2nd period felt sloppy but the rest was fine.

Our offensive woes continue despite what looks to me a team more capable offensively from top to bottom. I don’t know how to fix it.

One thing that does drive me nuts is how many scoring opportunities we seem to blow by trying to set up too many pretty passes. We blew two 2 on 1’s in the 2nd period from ill advised passes in addition to a few great opportunities in the first period. In the 3rd we seemed to get a little more urgency and hey, we popped the winner. I was never a “shoot the puck!” guy but we take looking for the “perfect shot” a little too far.
 
Very good win against Ferris on the road last night. Awful start with a bunch of bad penalties, turnovers, sloppy defensive play and a comical short-handed goal, but the finish - three goals in, like, eight minutes, including the GWG with 21 seconds left - was extremely strong.

Good night for Cesana. Lewandowski is also getting his legs back.
 
Pirateasaur said:
One thing that does drive me nuts is how many scoring opportunities we seem to blow by trying to set up too many pretty passes.
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This was still an issue last night. It really seemed like a few guys were trying to get on Sportscenter.

Actually, this has been an issue for a while now. I don't want to say that it seems like a hallmark of the Cole era, but it always seems like there's one pass too many when we get the puck in a good spot. It's frustrating stuff.
 
aallenpollreisz said:
This was still an issue last night. It really seemed like a few guys were trying to get on Sportscenter.

Actually, this has been an issue for a while now. I don't want to say that it seems like a hallmark of the Cole era, but it always seems like there's one pass too many when we get the puck in a good spot. It's frustrating stuff.
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I first noticed it when the famed KHL line used to do this but they were skilled enough to pull it off on occasion. This team has some skill but not that much. Our lack of goal scoring and our somewhat low shot totals could be helped somewhat by just taking what’s available. I am not saying to go full PSU but we pass on several legit scoring chances most games.

But great comeback on the road. It feels good to close on these winnable games. Wisconsin at home next weekend is another opportunity.
 
Well, we’ve been quite critical of the program for a long time now but I’m very pleased with what I saw this weekend. Tonight was an especially good performance. We handled Wisconsin’s speed on the forecheck well and looked dangerous and confident with the puck offensively.

UW threw a ton of pucks at DeRidder but many were so routine that he may as well have been playing catch in the yard with his old man. He was fantastic all weekend when he did need to make a big save.

Well done, fellas.
 
Good weekend. We’re a much better team than last year, especially with Lewie back in the lineup.

add goalie Luca Di Pasquo for next year.
 
I'm encouraged by the scoring by committee that has led to over 2 goals per game over the last 3 games. How that stacks up against Notre Dame and Minnesota (and whether we've improved subtantially more than UMich has potentially regressed) remains to be seen but I'm not holding my breath. I still expect us to be middle-of-the pack in the B1G. In other words, likely just enough to save Cole's job for years to come.

In addition to local goalie recruit Di Pasquo, we gained '04 F Dylan Wegner with Maryland of the NAHL who's also played some games for Youngstown of the USHL:

http://www.nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=32987
 
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FLHockeyMom said:
I'm encouraged by the scoring by committee that has led to over 2 goals per game over the last 3 games. How that stacks up against Notre Dame and Minnesota (and whether we've improved subtantially more than UMich has potentially regressed) remains to be seen but I'm not holding my breath. I still expect us to be middle-of-the pack in the B1G. In other words, likely just enough to save Cole's job for years to come.

In addition to local goalie recruit Di Pasquo, we gained '04 F Dylan Wegner with Maryland of the NAHL who's also played some games for Youngstown of the USHL:

http://www.nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=32987
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oh I have no hopes of ending up higher than 4th. Not great, but a lot better than an annual 7th.

Also, if, and a very big if at that, we can win both games of the GLI and hold our own in the B1G, I don’t think a potential NCAA birth is out of the question? We’re pushing bubble territory right now.

MTU and WMU would be big PWR wins. I do think it’s pretty unlikely we take both of those games but it’s fun to dream for a week, at least.
 
Granted, I still don't think Wisconsin is any good, but MSU looked really, really good this weekend. You can tell Lewandowski is getting his conditioning back and is gluing that line together.

The Thanksgiving break is well-deserved. Hopefully, we'll keep our conditioning up and heal some lingering injuries.
 
Pirateasaur said:
Also, if, and a very big if at that, we can win both games of the GLI and hold our own in the B1G, I don’t think a potential NCAA birth is out of the question? We’re pushing bubble territory right now.
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Given our strength of schedule, 20-ish wins should be enough to get us into the tournament.

That's a good rule of thumb for MSU for just about any year, actually.
 
aallenpollreisz said:
Given our strength of schedule, 20-ish wins should be enough to get us into the tournament.

That's a good rule of thumb for MSU for just about any year, actually.
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While I appreciate the optimism, I just don't see us winning 12 of 20 games when only 6 of those games are against opponents currently ranked below us. Furthermore, it's a bit premature to read anything into the Pairwise when a team like Cornell (7-1) is ranked #23. But I'm admittedly less bullish on this team than most, and always hope to be proven wrong.
 
Recruiting news…MSU signed 3 for next year this fall: Basgall (smaller defensive dman), Shoudy (potential checking line forward), and Russell (decent scoring numbers in USHL). Missing is Winter Wallace who has had problems scoring in the USHL.

Also add Jack Sparkes as a verbal probably for 2023. A big 6’8” dman from Ontario.
 
wsummers said:
Recruiting news…MSU signed 3 for next year this fall: Basgall (smaller defensive dman), Shoudy (potential checking line forward), and Russell (decent scoring numbers in USHL). Missing is Winter Wallace who has had problems scoring in the USHL.

Also add Jack Sparkes as a verbal probably for 2023. A big 6’8” dman from Ontario.
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In other recruiting news, it looks like Michael Feenstra, '01 dman with Dubuque, decommitted, unless the team's 12/03 line-chart is mistaken.
 
Last series before the break at ND. A split would be a good way to cap off a solid half of the season. I never feel good about playing ND, though. It almost certainly can’t be the case but if you told me MSU has never beaten the Irish since the B1G started I would not be confident that was incorrect.

Update: ok, I got curious and checked. We have beaten the Irish several times, including once last year. There was one year, 2018, we went 0-6. Clearly it left an impression.
 
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Pirateasaur said:
Last series before the break at ND. A split would be a good way to cap off a solid half of the season. I never feel good about playing ND, though. It almost certainly can’t be the case but if you told me MSU has never beaten the Irish since the B1G started I would not be confident that was incorrect.

Update: ok, I got curious and checked. We have beaten the Irish several times, including once last year. There was one year, 2018, we went 0-6. Clearly it left an impression.
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This team would do VERY well to split each of its remaining series the rest of the way. I'm not holding my breath, but that would be great progress. Let's see how they look tonight/tomorrow vs. ND - I see the games are being broadcast on NBCSN.
 
Well, we got our wish, albeit by the skin of our teeth. ND is nails but we hung in there well enough. A good first half for the team and probably our best start in years. That 20 win mark still feels miles away with our remaining schedule, though.

I just noticed that last night technically goes down as a tie? The first OT? That sucks.
 
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Verbal from Christian Kim, a California forward. He has put up big numbers on his AAA junior team. Probably at least 2 years away from landing at MSU.
 
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