Interesting that you would mention this aspect. I'm not as informed in the details of ice hockey tactics as I am in several other sports, yet at times it looked to me as if we were playing a zone defence while Notre Dame was playing a man-to-man offense, if that makes any sense....our defending tactics were consistently a step too slow relative to their puck control tactics.
There was a period of time just after the second ND goal in which during 5 x 5 hockey the puck seemed to spend an eternity in the RPI end. Notre Dame had such control that it looked like a power play, even though it wasn't. There would be two RPI players covering a space in which there was one Notre Dame attacker, which allowed Notre Dame players to pass to an open spot on the ice while a teammate simultaneously moved to that open spot. I knew enough to notice that when ND moved the puck around, they did not pass to a static teammate but timed the pass so that puck and teammate arrived in the same place at the same time. Then when someone scrambled to cover, they would do the same thing again, and again, until they got a clear look. I was very impressed. It reminded me of some Arsenal soccer teams from several years ago, or Barcelona, well-organized disciplined patient and relentless.
Overall, I think it is really good to play against the best teams at the beginning of the season, it helps you measure where you are, and more importantly, it gives you a first-hand vision of what you want to aspire to. It takes mental conditioning as well, you can't just react, you need to learn how to discern those subtle cues in your opponent's body language that help you anticipate what he is planning to attempt before he actually executes. I remember trying to coach that skill another sport, and at first my 'students' did not even know what I was talking about, sometimes you have to experience it first-hand before you really start to pay attention.
