I was just watching the long 2011 National Champ Highlights and I had a couple of thoughts...
1. Mike Connolly. I've seen the highlight where he scores a shorty against Yale and then drills the Yale player after the goal and just stares him down. That=awesome. But today was the first time I noticed the first highlight against Union where Reiter makes a save and MC also drills a Union player into the net. Did he do that a lot? And how did he not get a penalty? Either way, both highlights typify the kind of player he is: talented, strong on the puck, and plays with an edge. He was way better than I realized at the time.
2. The FCC power play of old. Something they did a lot of the time was this: one of them would sit in front of the net, the other would be on the side, pass the puck towards the guy in front of the net and that player would fake a shot but actually let the puck go by them to the third player on the other side of the net and that third player would shoot. This play worked a lot of the time. How come we don't do that on the power play now? Are we just not as talented? I know the FCC line was the best in college hockey at the time but I wonder why we don't try that play more?
3. This year's team is really talented. They are competing better than I thought they would. When they are playing their best, and Crandall shows up, they can play with and beat almost any team in the country. See Notre Dame, Minnesota, North Dakota, St. Cloud (Friday night game) etc. Consistency is the biggest thing missing. But if Crandall keep playing well, like Reiter did in 2011, this team might be able to make the NCAA's and even do some damage there. Let's hope that happens!