I see it a little different. I think early on Hayton was a difference maker and played exceptionally but lately he's just been okay. I think we are playing a very defensive style of hockey to limit the number of chances he has to face and this takes away from our attack. In my opinion, despite this, we've still had the better scoring chances in just about every game during the losing streak. I think we've faced some very good defensive teams and some exceptional goaltending. I also believe that the opposition has discovered that Hayton likes to drop early and have been able to take advantage of this. We haven't given up many really good scoring chances but when we do they are going in. We aren't getting that big save and our opponents are. That being said for a very young team I think we are playing exceptional team defense. If Hayton can get hot again it will allow us to take a few more chances offensively. Should be interesting to see how the rest of the season unfolds. I like what the coaches are doing with this team and I like what this team brings to every game. We have everything we need to be successful...we just need to get some results, gain some confidence and go on a roll and i'm confident we can do so. That being said the competition is very strong...very few easy games!
I'm going to have to disagree with you SLUfan........big time !
Firstly, In my opinion, the only game we seemed to play defensively was the first Vermont game when Parks got the start. The other 19 games our D generally seems to be more concerned with trying to score goals rather than not to concede them. They seem to gamble way too much for my liking, which has caused all kind of problems for Hayton and cost us a number of games. Maybe they feel like Hayton will bail them out if they turn the puck over, and he has many times. It must be creating enormous pressure on Hayton, cos if the doesn't stand on his head, we lose. The D needs to start bailing him out.
Don't get me wrong, I think we have some good players that could develop to be great D players, but there are just so many mistakes, especially in our own zone and I disagree with you about the scoring chances, many of them are in the slot and are big chances. In any sport, you usually win championships with defense, and to go to the next level our D has to really improve.
As for Hayton, as a former goalie, I'm going to have to disagree with you here too. I don't understand how you can say he's been OK ! Whereas most D1 goalies are scrambling to go post to post and if they make the save it looks awesome, Hayton is so quick and flexible, especially low, and reads the play so well he consistently makes a lot of huge saves look easy. What's an average game for him is a very good game for most other goalies. He has brought the goaltendering at SLU up another 3 or 4 levels. Yes, I feel he needs to work some more on his game, especially glove side high. I don't think he goes down too quick at all, I actually think he's very patient when it comes to that, rather he seems to have a habit of having his glove a little low and a little close to his body in his stance. I think the problem is that.
At the beginning of the season he was getting 40/50 shots a game, now it's mostly in the 30's, this is why he doesn't look like he's going as much. He's still making lots of bigs saves, unfortunately, most from excellent scoring positions. The first ten games he's let in about the same amount of goals as the second ten (20-22).
It's snowing and miserable outside, so I spent ten minutes going inside the numbers. To date, Hayton leads the nation in shutouts (tied with several others), is 7th for minutes played, 7th for save %, and 3rd for # of saves. He also has the highest GAA in the country amongst freshmen who have played more than 7 games. At present he has tied the all time school shutout recond, and if the season ended today would beat Gusto's all time GAA record and is a 100th of a point from tieing Gusto's all time save % record. Most other top freshmen have only played 7-10 games, while Hayton has played 20 already. Pretty remarkable for a freshman who's starting on a team that was picked to finish 11th out of 12 in the ECAC, and generally has a D that's average at best, to this point. Imagine what kind of sick numbers he would be racking up playing with a D like Cornell, Vermont or Miami.
In my opinion he might well be the best goalie to play here, better than Gusto, Heffler or McKenna. We will just have to see, especially come the tournament. The great goalies play their best when the $$$ is on the table. I give enormous credit to the coaching staff for finding a blue chip player like this and convincing him to play here. Imagine what our record would be if we had had the goaltending we've had here recently. We'd probably be exactly where everyone picked us to be !!!
