Indeed we don't have a lot of students in town with it being break. I was impressed by our turnout at Augsburg. We had a good 40 or so fans. Many of our loyal followers who live in the cities made the trip to downtown Minneapolis for the game.
As for Stout's play recently, it certainly is in need of improvement. I was thrilled after our UWRF series in which we looked in-sync with great flow on the ice and intensity. Especially from the 4th line of Grimstad, Knoepke and Carr. All three were teammates at Alexandria (NAHL) and their chemistry shows on the ice. It looked like we forgot whatever we put together in that series over break, perhaps too much eggnog? I'm not sure.
Really the achilles heel since opening night has been d-zone. With the injury to Bobby Kuehl the pairings have been shifted and some d-lines have two freshmen playing together and they sometimes make costly freshmen mistakes. If you don't have your d-zone figured out your not going to easily transition out to offense and really be stuck in a bad spot. That's been the case for Stout in some games this season. We are trapped in our own defensive zone because of bad turnovers and a messy transition game.
I think the locker room has lots of frustration and lots of young guys figuring out their role on the team. It will resolve with time, hopefully sooner than later.
The two freshmen goaltenders who have played all the minutes have been pretty solid for freshmen starting out of the gate. Hopper was out pretty quick due to injury but Lescovich has proven himself as a solid goaltender who will give the team a chance to win games.
The team is young due to the injuries to upperclassmen like Kuehl, Morin and Britton. Lots of freshmen are having to step up and fill roles due to loss of some talented upperclassmen.
It's been a roller coaster but Stout is still sitting in a commendable place in the NCHA. We're still within striking distance of the top spot and I hope we can continue improving as we move into playoff time. I've seen the guys play as a very talented and dangerous team, they just need to iron out the little things and come to play every night.
Fritz, how are those new blades treating you? Practicing for pond hockey supremacy I hope.
Holler at me and I'll strap on the vapors and we'll dangle.
. What gives???
