Re: The University of Notre Dame Hockey: 09-10. Let's Live It Up!
As more and more games go by I think it is becoming obvious the issue isn't just what we see, but WHO we don't. It is turning out that last years senior class is missed a lot more than I feared it would be.
In retrospect, I believe this class was the most valuable group of seniors the program has ever had. The leadership on and off the ice they provided is missing, plain and simple. I believe all the captains on this year's team have struggled mightily to keep the team focused and have failed to smoothly transition to roles of expanded responsibility. In addition I think the on-ice play of the two main leaders, Ryan Thang and Kyle Lawson, has suffered a huge drop off. Thang, who scored at a pace of nearly .75 points a game in his first three years has disappeared offensively. And while Lawson is still scoring at a similar pace as in his first three years, his play in his own end has been inconsistent at best, and is suffering from all of the same maladies as everyone else (bad passing, bad decisions, hasty play, turnovers). 2 years ago in the run to the national championship game I thought he was the teams most valuable player. While leaders and captains don't always have to be your best players on the ice, sometimes they do. On this team I think we expected these two to be much better on game nights.
More acutely the scoring punch and offensive creativity the class of 2009 provided is missing as well. The freshman class has fallen far short of replacing the 45 goals scored by the departed seniors, and adding in the sophomores who we figured to get more playing time has done virtually nothing to change that total. This is completely different than the last couple of years, when incoming players did a much better job of replacing graduated offense. The 10 players who have skated this year who are either freshmen, or sophomores who did not play regularly (if at all) last season, have netted just 11 goals. After picking up 3 points (2g, 1a) in his first 3 games, Kyle Palmieri has scored just 4 more in 16 games. Only Riley Sheahan has performed well enough throughout his freshman season. And in a collective 98 games skated this year the sophomore class has scored just 8 goals. And 7 have come off the stick of one player, Billy Maday. In 31 games so far at Notre Dame Patrick Gaul has yet to find the net. This little production out of nearly half your skaters is unacceptable. Especially in a sport and league where freshmen and sophomores routinely play a large part in your success.
The one area that has suffered the least by the loss of a senior has been in net. Mike Johnson has been every bit as good as anyone could have expected. Especially considering he was thrown into the mix as number one after coming here as the presumed number two goalie. The only problem I have seen is that he now knows he has to hold the other team to two goals or fewer if Notre Dame is to be able to regularly earn points. While Jordan Pearce thrived in this role in 2008 as the team suffered a similar scoring drought, he did it with the benefit of having apprenticed under David Brown and having spent the better part of three seasons under the Dome. Whatever success this team has the rest of the way, Mike Johnson is going to earn a lot of the credit. However bad it may go, he will likely deserve little of the blame. Either way, this team is putting too much pressure on a freshman goaltender. In his freshman season even David Brown was not expected to shoulder this much of the burden as he had the experienced Morgan Cey to equally share the load.
With 13 CCHA game left, there is still ample time for this team to improve on its fortunes. 9 of those are against teams with more points in the CCHA standings, providing opportunities to move up the league ladder. And 4 are against Western Michigan and Bowling Green, points that should be won under any circumstances. 5th place is still well within their sight, and 4th place and a first round bye isn't out of the question should this team suddenly figure out all that is going wrong.
While I won't count them out until the time comes to clean out their lockers, it appears that this time will come a lot sooner than most of us expected when the puck dropped in October. The fact is, this team looks just as tentative and just as overmatched as they did in March against Bemdji State, and as they looked against Alabama Huntsville to open the season.