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Matsumoto scored with about 40 seconds or so left to make it 3-2 but BG couldn't get the game tying goal. I caught the last 2 minutes looking for the women's game.

Sounded like the effort was there.

GO HOCKEY

BG's shots on goal weren't tough... they didn't create many scoring opportunities, they play hard, but the athletes are few and far between comapred to Miami... and this is the first time I have seen both teams in person.

redskins4ever wrote:BG's shots on goal weren't tough... they didn't create many scoring opportunities, they play hard, but the athletes are few and far between comapred to Miami... and this is the first time I have seen both teams in person.

If that's true, that's bad news for BG. Miami has really built a nice program. Congrats on the win.

I have to agree with redskins' assessment. We outshot Miami, but our scoring chances were much fewer than Miami's. The effort was there, but the talent is not on par with Miami. Hopefully the Redhawks (or Falcons) rip the Bucks tomorrow night.

I was there tonight, too, and redskins4ever is right, for the most part. The only omission that I will take umbrage with (what a cool word that is ) is how much heart the Falcons showed tonight. In all honesty, I was expecting this team to get outmatched in every aspect of this game going in. I have a lot of respect for what Enrico has done down in Oxford, and Miami is a tough, tough team - there is a reason they are in the top 5 currently. Our boys, however, went out there and actually controlled a big hunk of this game. Spratt played a darn good game, too. A couple of goals from Miami were simply the result of good plays by good players, but the first goal they got was a garbage goal that resulted from a lucky kick off the back boards.

Also, the reason that we outshot Miami for the entire game was because our defense was actively negating scoring opportunities. Our defensive effort, in my opinion, was pretty impressive, actually (especially given the level of competition). Our downfall in this game, as it has been for much of this season, was our inability to control the puck offensively. As I'm sure Saxy and USGFreddie got tired of hearing tonight, I couldn't comment enough on our inability to make an outlet pass into the neutral zone. On the whole, our team's passing ability leaves a LOT to be desired; however, I must say that we did a much better job of containing the puck in the offensive end, both on the PP and 5 on 5. I was pretty impressed with that.

All in all, I think that the boys showed some marked improvement in this game from what I have seen earlier in the year. After having a few hours to digest all of this, I'm actually pretty optomistic for the rest of the year. If we can maintain some momentum going into tomorrow and capitalize on a solid effort against Miami and in Alaska, I think that this team may really turn things around this year.

Obviously not the end result we wanted, but it sounds a lot better than what was going on earlier in the year. I'm thinking the Alaska trip did some really good things for this team. The key is to keep that positive outlook going the rest of the year.

It sort of contrasts with what the Duluth team seems to be dealing with. Weston's game story quoted their coach saying his team didn't play particularly hard against OSU. It usually takes a lot to get a coach to admit something like that. We might be able to catch them tonight with their heads down.