Slu 21-22

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Certainly can't argue with a win and a tie on a long road trip against a nationally ranked team and high-powered offense. This was a great weekend.

Penn State was like a heavily loaded freight train taking most of the weekend to build up speed. Their highly touted offense wasn't much in evidence in the first game, but emerged in this one, culminating in a third-period bombardment that let up for only two minutes when we had a power play. The Lions ended up with a shot total in this one that they're more accustomed to, 41.

But, as usual, our defense was stubborn and Lucy Morgan most underrated (best) goalie in college hockey was solid as ever In addition to all those saves, our skaters blocked another 21 shots, led by sophomore Suyeon Eom with four, playing in her second game as a collegian. I was very impressed with her this weekend -- agile and poised in our zone. Glad our coaching staff latched onto her when she visited Canton two years ago with the Korean national team.

And we showed some good offense too, getting some good pressure and clanging some iron in the process. It sure is nice to have Rachel Teslak back -- she jumped right in and reminded us how dangerous she is from the point. I feel like we saw the team stepping up to fill the holes left by our three Olympians, and that's very encouraging. I also liked how many players displayed a 200-foot game this weekend -- defenders going deep on offense and forwards backchecking hard into our zone.

There are always things to work on at the start of the season. There are always players who need some time to gain confidence with the puck. But I'm encouraged by the level this team is already at. I think this is going to be an exciting season.

Next up is PJ Flanagan and his Syracuse Orange at Appleton next weekend -- hopefully with fans!

 

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Two weekend series against top CHA teams, two weekends with a win followed by a tie. This was a really competitive game; Syracuse settled in as the weekend went on, and it made for a fine show with two good-looking teams.

I think our second goal was the sweetest one of the season so far -- Abby Hustler to Shailynn Snow to Aly McLeod for a one-timer to finish it off. Don't miss it in the article's highlight video, at the 45 second mark. Aly was on fire all game in addition to that play -- as was Shailynn, as she led both teams with 6 shots on goal in addition to throwing in some great penalty kill work.

We had a couple of golden opportunities to win it in overtime, including a 2-on-0 breakaway -- Kristina Bahl fed it across to Hillary Sterling, who made a one-touch return pass to get the goalie out of position, but the puck hit a rut and started bouncing just before the return pass, so it ended up not being a clean chance.

This has been a really good start to the season. The big question mark was how the team would generate enough offense without last year's #1, #2, and #6 scorers who are currently preparing for the Olympics. The answer is diversity -- through four games, no one has more than one goal, but nine different players have scored. That's a good sign. And on the back end, Lucy Morgan has continued to frustrate opposing shooters, and our team defense has been very good as usual. Now there's a week off before a tougher test -- a home-and-home Route 11 rivalry weekend. It'll be very interesting to see how the team stacks up against the perennial power up the road.