Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free
"YES" to your post.
Last year they played the frozen four with 5 defensemen. I could see them trying to play the top 4 as much as possible during the NCAA's this year.
Nothing unusual about that, 2014 championship played with 4, 2015 with 5.
Sometimes I think when they are playing these lopsided games this year's team cannot maintain their discipline on defense.
spot on IMO, like a pack of wolves, they all want to get in on the feeding frenzy
the good thing there is that when they put their mind to it, they get the job done
It seems like some great plays and setups are left on the table due to something just slightly off with the shot, or not quite handling the pass to finish, etc. ...
how many times has it been that shots from the point have been high or wide?
a comment from the Blake - Breck game would be appropiate here, take a quick shot rather than taking the time to set up, which also gives the D & goalie time to set up
After the men’s team Tom Pederson (late 80’s, early 90’s), everyone else is Annie Oakley by comparison. I swear 2/3 of his shots were wide and/or high. He’d have scored 20+ a year if he put all his shots on net.
I don't think Amanda Kessel has much of a future as a defenseman.
Remember the game Bemidji beat the Gophers last year, Stephanie Anderson scoring the winning goal? The defender was a forward. The forward switched from playing the player to playing the puck, that transition gave Anderson an opening to shoot. Contrast that with the great play Stecklein made on the 2 on 1 against UND a couple weekends ago. Covered the pass until it was too late to pass, then kept the puck carrier from getting a shot on goal.
If someone needs a video of how to play a 2 on 1, there it is.
It’s fine for a forward to hang back at the blueline to cover for a blueliner who is taking it to the net or joining the offensive play, but if the play goes the other way and gets beyond the neutral zone, the goalie better pray because it’s gonna take an act of god with a forward trying to stop it.
The ongoing concern I have is that I'm just not sold on Brooke Garzone as a defenseman. She's never looked comfortable back there and I was hoping that when she spent the entire first half as a third line wing that it was permanent. She looked really good there, but not so much in the last two weeks.
From a roster standpoint, moving Garzone to D makes sense during the regular season to maximize everyone’s playing time, but come crunch time I’d rather see her at wing on the third line. They’ll likely go with 4 D anyway, with Kline as the 5th. I wish she had shot more and taken it to the net herself instead of passing as she is apt to do. It may be a holdover from last year when she was always pulled off the ice to start a line change after making the outlet pass from the Gopher zone, or once the puck was being advanced thru the neutral zone. I don't think she ever entered the offensive zone, except from the Gopher bench. At least until the NCAA.
Her goal against the Badgers, I forget who made the pass, was the prettiest offensive play of this year, IMO. So far anyway.
If not, I guess she'll be well rested for the PK.
