Re: The University of Notre Dame Hockey: 09-10. Let's Live It Up!
As I sit here smiling at my victory in traffic court yesterday (got all 3 tickets thrown out, complete with chuckle from the lawyer who dismissed them), I figure my good fortune has to be a good omen.
*Remember that the games are in E. Lansing Thursday and in Ft. Wayne Sunday afternoon*
ND is a mediocre 5-5-2. The telling stat is that they are -23 as a team. Eesh. Scoring a few more 5 X 5 will help that. Make that...scoring a
lot more... ND averages just 2.25 goals for/game (good...or bad...for 50th in the country). The flipside is great in that they give up only 1.92 goals against/game (that puts them tied for 6th of the 58 D1 teams). Hey, at least there's room for improvement!
MSU is proving that last year was definitely a terrible aberration. They are 9-2-1 with a goals for of 3.33/game (16th of the 58 D1 teams). They give up 2.08 goals/game (9th in the country). MSU is +47 as a team.
ND is led by Ben Ryan with 10 points. He's followed by Calle Ridderwall, Billy Maday and Kyle Lawson (each with 9 points), Kevin Deeth (8) and Riley Sheahan (7). Ridderwall leads the team with 4 PPG's. ND has 8 guys who've scored their 14 PPG's. ND is 20.9% on the PP. They are 89.3% on the PK, having given up 6 PPG's. They average a respectable 5.5 penalties/game.
MSU is led by Corey Tropp with 16 points. He also leads the team in PPG's with 5. He's followed by Derek Grant (12 points and 4 PPG's), Jeff Petry (10 points, all but one of which are assists), Andrew Rowe (9) and Dustin Gazley (8). MSU has 6 guys who've scored on their 15 PPG's. MSU is 21.7% on the PP and 83.1% on the PK, while giving up 13 PPG's. They average 7 penalties/game
Who will be in goal for ND is anyone's guess. I still think Mike Johnson is more solid, but Brad Phillips might be coming on. Johnson is 3-2-0 with a save % of .941 and a GA of 1.61. Phillips is 1-3-2 with a save % of .926 and a GA of 2.12. Coach Jackson has never been a 2-goalie guy, but until one of them clearly shows the gumption to be #1, he is playing the role of one.
MSU should start Drew Palmisano for both games. ND lit him up last year at home, but apparently, he's moved out of Jeff Lerg's shadow. He's 7-1-1 with a save % of .937 and a GA of 1.76.
ND is 4-3-1 when scoring 1st. MSU is 7-1-1 when potting the first goal. There's the key. Keep them off the scoreboard, at least until you can score... ND's 2nd and 3rd periods are the worst for D. They've given up 18 of their 23 goals against in the last 40 minutes of games. (Apparently, they aren't familiar with the line from the movie "Miracle" about the "...legs feed the wolves...") MSU's best O is during the 2nd period. Nearly half of their goals come in the middle 20.
If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat. Let's go, boys.
From experience in the early goings, that ploy doesn't work...