Re: The D-III National Championship - St. Norbert vs. Norwich
Just got back home, and this is my $0.02:
First Period: Norwich came out flying. During the first 12 minutes, I definitely felt like I did during the Elmira quarterfinal, in which 1 goal was all the Cadets needed to blow this thing wide open. But once they got it, that all changed. Real quick after they went ahead 1-0, I felt like they were sitting back on that 1-goal lead. Maybe it was just a surge in the SNC offense, I don't know. St. Norbert owned the second half of the first, but I'll give the period as a whole to Norwich
Second Period: By far the most even period of hockey. Yes, the score says St. Norbert owned the period, but this was a period of entertaining, fast-paced, end-to-end hockey. 14-9, while probably being accurate, doesn't even begin to show how back-and-forth these teams were this period. This is when I first started feeling we were in for a long haul.
Third Period: This Period, despite the SOG count (which I find strangely accurate), was all SNC. If Norwich had the puck in the SNC zone, it was 1 man, maybe 2, usually with 2 or 3 D on him, and not much s going to flourish from that. St. Norbert worked hard, physical, fast, and smart hockey. They just could not get the shot that would go past Klinger. Norwich was probably very lucky to not let one go in regulation, the way this period went.
Overtimes: I'm grouping this 39:28.2 of hockey together, because I felt like it was all the same story. Norwich pressed and pressed, and St. Norbert was so focused on keeping the puck out of the net that they weren't even trying to get anything going offensively.
The Refs were letting EVERYTHING go, even some hits that were 5-minute-worthy. And I was content with that, until they decided to blow one penalty in the 2OT. If you're going to call one, call 'em all. There were definitely many no-calls that deserved to be calls over that one. I enjoyed watching the two teams play it out physically without Ref interference. A few Cadets limped their way back to the bench, and I only saw this happen to one Knight. SNC was definitely the more physical team, but they were (almost seemingly intentionally) play on their heels the whole time. The final result seemed inevitable for most of the OTs.
I also think SNC was outcoached by McShane, which is not a surprise to me. Not only were the two approaches to the OTs different, SNC seemed to have longer shifts, while McShane kept his guys playing short shifts to keep their legs fresh. This and the more physical style of play from SNC probably accounts for why, IMO, St. Norbert just looked more tired late on, while the Cadets had gas enough for that one last charge for the OTG.
Awards: You can ask anybody sitting around me. At the end of the first OT, I called the BJ O'Brien for MOP decision. It was just that obvious. And Klinger was clearly the All-Tourny team goalie, but only because O'Brien was MOP. The All-Tourny team made a lot of sense to me. There were no surprise names or surprise omissions. SNC's Ryd really deserved that. While Norwich was hte faster team, Ryd was by far the fastest player on the ice. The Cadets did not win a single footrace against him. He's no Neil Musselwhite, but he was still faster than anybody else.
Afterthoughts: Congratulations, Norwich! What a way to celebrate 100 years of Hockey, by winning in 100 minutes of Hockey!
