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MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

gomsuman said:
I have never been a fan of using forward's as defensemen on powerplay's. This isn't the NHL where you have Ovechkin or someone like that who can handle it. Especially this year where MSU finally seems to have 4-5 defensemen who can handle the puck pretty darn well.

I was really impressed again with the overall team speed and skill. Princeton just seemed like clearly a lesser team talent-wise. I can't remember the last time I thought that.

The one downside I saw against Princeton was that a couple guys seemed to get pushed around pretty easily (lambdin took a few good hits). Now I don't know how much of that is the fact that they are 18-19 year olds playing against 22-25 year olds but if that is the price of having a highly skilled team I'll take it in a heartbeat.
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I also am not a fan of forwards playing defense on the PP. I think I mentioned this before but if they get caught having to play a 1on1 or something the other way they are often exposed as not the greatest at skating backwards and defending.

I thought we took care of Princeton as well as I figured we could realistically hope for. They are likely not a great team but are experienced and unknown thus far. They did edge out the U-18 team the following night. MSU personally knows how that is not always an easy game so Princeton is probably not dreadful, at least.

A few of our goals were of the grubby variety closer to the net. That is good to see because we're not going to be sniping the lights out. The power play did look better but Princeton was much more passive on the PK than Denver.

I will be out of town but Tech is up next. It feels like almost every game they edge us out by the slimmest of margins these days. They are only 3-5-1 but considering their opponents and how they played I would guess they are a fair bit better than their record.
 
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Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

I think as long as you do as we did Friday, shifting guys between point and wing, the thing with 4 forwards can work. Goal #1 was good evidence of that. You work it right and the guy filling the space vacated at the blueline can easily take care of anyone breaking the other way. You get a pair of forwards who know how to backcheck or take away the extra pass, perhaps the missing 2nd d-man is a non-issue.

Another topic, and since I love numbers ... of the 12 goals MSU scored, Osburn was on the ice for 8 of them. What does that say about his value to the team right now, as a sophomore? Is it too early to make some historic comparisons? :)

So the optimistic side of me wants a say: A couple weekends ago MSU gave up 9 straight goals agains Lake State - the last 5 on Friday and the first 4 on Saturday. 5 of those goals were with MSU on the PK. So of the 20 goals MSU has given up, 9 of them came during a bad 3-period stretch, with 8 freshmen dressed for their first weekend of play. Hmmmm.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

Spartanforlife4 said:
Hey, a winning streak!
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Which was nice.

Too much inexperience, too beat up, too overmatched by a veteran team to keep it going. Everything that could go wrong did, including the 5-on-3 to put us down 3-1 and an awful mental mistake near our own net to make it 4-1.

Gotta get Stenglein, Appleton and Rosburg back. Gotta get Gatt healthy. The short week isn't going to help.

Scarsella and Chrcek filled in admirably, but so far Ghaffari (despite the gaff) seems like a cut above the other freshmen D.
 
owslachief said:
Which was nice.

Too much inexperience, too beat up, too overmatched by a veteran team to keep it going. Everything that could go wrong did, including the 5-on-3 to put us down 3-1 and an awful mental mistake near our own net to make it 4-1.

Gotta get Stenglein, Appleton and Rosburg back. Gotta get Gatt healthy. The short week isn't going to help.

Scarsella and Chrcek filled in admirably, but so far Ghaffari (despite the gaff) seems like a cut above the other freshmen D.
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We were missing Stenglein, Appleton and Rosburg? That's very rough. Hopefully none are serious.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

A split, which is more then what I expected.
This week is Ferris, maybe a split..........
Still saying a 4-10 Non-con record and 7-13 in the B10.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

owslachief said:
Which was nice.

Too much inexperience, too beat up, too overmatched by a veteran team to keep it going. Everything that could go wrong did, including the 5-on-3 to put us down 3-1 and an awful mental mistake near our own net to make it 4-1.

Gotta get Stenglein, Appleton and Rosburg back. Gotta get Gatt healthy. The short week isn't going to help.

Scarsella and Chrcek filled in admirably, but so far Ghaffari (despite the gaff) seems like a cut above the other freshmen D.
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After the game Anastos said that too much water was on the ice which caused Ghaffari to lose control of puck. Actually I also blame Lethemon a little bit for not being at all ready... the puck sat there for a good second or two before the Michigan Tech player got to it. Seemed like a combination of all three though, two freshman mistakes and bad ice.

Injuries are definitely a problem right now, especially on the forward side... just don't have the depth quite yet to survive three injuries at the same time. Overall though I have been really impressed with the play of all the freshman and sophomores so far. If you combine those two classes with two more good ones MSU may be quite a team all of a sudden.

Also I believe Osburn was on the ice for every goal this weekend. Which would make him on the ice for 11 of 15? Krug comparisons too soon?
 
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Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

gomsuman said:
After the game Anastos said that too much water was on the ice which caused Ghaffari to lose control of puck. Actually I also blame Lethemon a little bit for not being at all ready... the puck sat there for a good second or two before the Michigan Tech player got to it. Seemed like a combination of all three though, two freshman mistakes and bad ice.
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Considering that it was the third time in the weekend that a defenseman coughed up the puck within 10 feet of the goal and allowed a scoring chance to a Tech forechecker (Lucchini had one and I believe Neville was the other) I don't think you can just chalk it up to water on the ice.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

John J. MacInnes said:
Considering that it was the third time in the weekend that a defenseman coughed up the puck within 10 feet of the goal and allowed a scoring chance to a Tech forechecker (Lucchini had one and I believe Neville was the other) I don't think you can just chalk it up to water on the ice.
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Definitely a lot of freshman mistakes so far on the backend (which will happen when you skate 4 freshman defensemen). I was just relaying what was said by the coach after the game... don't shoot the messenger!
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

Pirateasaur said:
We were missing Stenglein, Appleton and Rosburg? That's very rough. Hopefully none are serious.
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Anastos seemed to hint that Rosburg could miss a few games. I cannot tell but did anyone catch whether the OT goal celebration got a little out of hand? I sure hope youthful exuberance was not the cause of Appleton's injury! There seemed to be quite a lot of happy piling on. Have no idea what's up with Stenglein.

But as of start of play Saturday, here were notable Spartans not dressed:
Appleton (So)
Stenglein (Sr)
Pavelek (Jr)
Rosburg (RS Fr)

That's an entire line's worth of experienced forwards, btw.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

Decatur Spartan said:
A split, which is more then what I expected.
This week is Ferris, maybe a split..........
Still saying a 4-10 Non-con record and 7-13 in the B10.
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But - that means *no NCAAs again! THAT'S REALLY DISAPPOINTING!

Now Spartan Volleyball, on the other hand ...



unless MSU pull a Houdini and wins the tournament of course!
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

owslachief said:
Anastos seemed to hint that Rosburg could miss a few games. I cannot tell but did anyone catch whether the OT goal celebration got a little out of hand? I sure hope youthful exuberance was not the cause of Appleton's injury! There seemed to be quite a lot of happy piling on. Have no idea what's up with Stenglein.

But as of start of play Saturday, here were notable Spartans not dressed:
Appleton (So)
Stenglein (Sr)
Pavelek (Jr)
Rosburg (RS Fr)

That's an entire line's worth of experienced forwards, btw.
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Appleton was injured early in Saturdays game.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

This headline from Neil Koepke: " Spartans Will Learn From Saturday’s Loss".

It seems this is the mantra of the current regime. 'We're still learning". "Baby steps".
Yes I know it is a 'Young' team. But enough already with the learning statements. We are now six years into a five year rebuilding plan. Or if you prefer, first year into the second five year rebuilding plan. Either way, progress has, and continues to be negligible. Deeply disappointed when tCHHCoMSU received that extension last spring.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

Decatur Spartan said:
This headline from Neil Koepke: " Spartans Will Learn From Saturday’s Loss".

It seems this is the mantra of the current regime. 'We're still learning". "Baby steps".
Yes I know it is a 'Young' team. But enough already with the learning statements. We are now six years into a five year rebuilding plan. Or if you prefer, first year into the second five year rebuilding plan. Either way, progress has, and continues to be negligible. Deeply disappointed when tCHHCoMSU received that extension last spring.
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Well when arguably all of MSU's 8 freshman skaters are seeing the ice there will definitely be some learning moments early on this year as they finally get game experience with each other... Now if it continues for more than a month or two thats when MSU has a serious issue.

I think the last two recruiting classes have panned out pretty darn well (Granted I have only watched 4 games so far). Maybe well enough to warrant one more year for Anastos even if it is another mediocre season for MSU. But that's just my opinion
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

Decatur Spartan said:
This headline from Neil Koepke: " Spartans Will Learn From Saturday’s Loss".

It seems this is the mantra of the current regime. 'We're still learning". "Baby steps".
Yes I know it is a 'Young' team. But enough already with the learning statements. We are now six years into a five year rebuilding plan. Or if you prefer, first year into the second five year rebuilding plan. Either way, progress has, and continues to be negligible. Deeply disappointed when tCHHCoMSU received that extension last spring.
Click to expand...

And yet I hit the reset button on giving the 2016-17 program a pass. So, I am looking to see some things happen that will restore my faith:
1. Major improvement overall from November to February. What this means to me is fewer turnovers, a maturing power play, 3 or 4 true goal scorers emerging, and "wins, baby!".
2. These same freshmen take the steps NEXT season that we're supposed to see from year 1 to year 2. This has been lacking and has been a source of irritation to me as a fan.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

owslachief said:
And yet I hit the reset button on giving the 2016-17 program a pass. So, I am looking to see some things happen that will restore my faith:
1. Major improvement overall from November to February. What this means to me is fewer turnovers, a maturing power play, 3 or 4 true goal scorers emerging, and "wins, baby!".
2. These same freshmen take the steps NEXT season that we're supposed to see from year 1 to year 2. This has been lacking and has been a source of irritation to me as a fan.
Click to expand...

Agree completely with this Owslachief.

For the first time in a long time I watched MSU dominate the play for most of the final 10 minutes in the 1st period after going down 2-0 on Saturday (Credit to MTU for only giving up 1 goal in that time frame). That was a combination of skill and desire to win that I haven't seen in quite awhile here at MSU. A 5/3 powerplay goal and a bad give away from a freshman that made it 4-1 is what ultimately deflated the team to the point of no return. Not to mention we were skating essentially 3 forward lines vs MTU's 4 lines.

Count me as a glass half full guy until I see otherwise with this years team. I have been nothing but impressed with the team. Hopefully the next thing that comes is the Wins.
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

Prediction for tonight: 3-2 win for MSU.

Anybody heard anything regarding any of the injuries? Is MSU still skating essentially 3 forward lines tonight?
 
Re: MSU Spartans 2016-17 (Volleyball Looks Like a Legit Alternative)

gomsuman said:
Prediction for tonight: 3-2 win for MSU.

Anybody heard anything regarding any of the injuries? Is MSU still skating essentially 3 forward lines tonight?
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Holy **** there's a game tonight! :eek:
 
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