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HEading out there and being down , what is it two guys for issue last year, will Williams bring in some guys to fill the gaps, or just roll with what he has.
Even being down these two guys, I think from what I saw we will see production, and some strong goal tending. I would like to see the goalies each get a game out of this series, then split time against the NTDP (just played MI and lost 2-4).
I think we could take the weekend, but will likely come out with a split.

I think the goalies will be splitting weekends until one of them shows a clear dominance for the number 1 spot. With two guys out on Friday (3 if Solway doesn't play) Williams will have to fill those holes. Guys would get too tired rolling 3 lines and if somebody gets hurt or thrown out you are totally screwed. I expect Shea and Ruel will get to play at least one game (probably in place of Rushing and Peltoma). We'll see Sinclair and Rodriguez get in the game on Friday to replace the suspensions. If Solway is out McIntosh will have to move back to forward to make four full lines.

Is there a new rule allowing teams to dress 19 skaters instead of last year's 18 or did we do that just because it was an exhibition game on Saturday?

As of last Saturday, Shea and Ruel had yet to be declared eligible to play by the NCAA.

I believe the issue is the cost of flying everybody out to Minny. Hopefully, they will all get to go. The fact that we are discussing rotating goalies is a very good sign. I hope that Ruel and Shea get to play this weekend. They are both very good and the sooner they start playing the better.

I Think we should be competitive this weekend and if we were playing them later in the season with our full compliment of players I would predict a sweep. However due to current circumstances, I am predicting a split. We will win Saturday nights game.

bgbill wrote:As of last Saturday, Shea and Ruel had yet to be declared eligible to play by the NCAA.

Do you know what the hold up is?

yea, clearing house should have been done a while ago, odd.

First and foremost this could turn into an ugly weekend. David Solway is unlikely to play after the serious hit he took in the exhibition opener. Also, James Perkin and Kai Kantola still serving suspensions from last years playoff bought with Ohio State takes three of our best forwards off the ice. If were looking for even a split with Minny St. guys like Finegan, Boyd, Dee, and Petruska are going to have to carry the load, as well as peak performance from our D. After watching last weekend our D looks very solid with 5 good D men and a couple questionable guys. Finally Goaltending is going to have to be outstanding. I see Eno taking net in the first game due to his experience with how roadtrips go and being settled in and letting Hammond sit back and take in the atmosphere of his first big road trip. Then Hammond in net Saturday night to close out the series. I am very excited about this Hammond kid, even when he seemed outta position in the Wilfrid game he made up for it with his glove, he has a quick snag with the leather!

Personal prediction of mine is I could see a possible split in the series and hoping that Friday night we can go in and catch em off guard and get off to a quick start.

Lets get this season revved up!!

Mankato Free Press has a good MSU hockey blogger. Looks like he'll be live during the games.
http://www.mankatofreepress.com/hockeyblog

Just a couple quick notes until the video is posted:

- Solway was concussed on Saturday. The MRI and X-Rays on his shoulder came back negative, but in NFL terms he's "doubtful" for this weekend.
- No news on Shea or Ruel. Coach was pretty short on this topic and didn't seem like he was willing to expound on it.
- No starting goalie at this point. Coach is leaving the position open for competition and will play whoever earns the spot.

There's some other tidbits but you'll have to wait till the video goes up*.




*I was having some internet issues so I'm very late getting it uploaded to Vimeo.

bgbill wrote:Mankato Free Press has a good MSU hockey blogger. Looks like he'll be live during the games.
http://www.mankatofreepress.com/hockeyblog

You should have gone all reporter on him and kept asking

sum1udontknow wrote:First and foremost this could turn into an ugly weekend. David Solway is unlikely to play after the serious hit he took in the exhibition opener. Also, James Perkin and Kai Kantola still serving suspensions from last years playoff bought with Ohio State takes three of our best forwards off the ice. If were looking for even a split with Minny St. guys like Finegan, Boyd, Dee, and Petruska are going to have to carry the load, as well as peak performance from our D. After watching last weekend our D looks very solid with 5 good D men and a couple questionable guys. Finally Goaltending is going to have to be outstanding. I see Eno taking net in the first game due to his experience with how roadtrips go and being settled in and letting Hammond sit back and take in the atmosphere of his first big road trip. Then Hammond in net Saturday night to close out the series. I am very excited about this Hammond kid, even when he seemed outta position in the Wilfrid game he made up for it with his glove, he has a quick snag with the leather!

Personal prediction of mine is I could see a possible split in the series and hoping that Friday night we can go in and catch em off guard and get off to a quick start.

Lets get this season revved up!!

Yeah I'm predicting a split weekend too, although MSU-Mankato is not as strong as the team we saw last season, they even had a close scare with their CIS exh team, winning in OT last weekend. If Solway, Kantola, and Perkin were in the lineup I'd predict a sweep but without some of our top players it's a toss up.

Without Solway, Perkin, and Kantola, we're toast. Minnesota State wins easily both games.

We're not that talented to begin with, so once you start subtracting players it makes things even tougher. We'll have our opportunities down the road, hope I'm wrong, but I think this will be a very rough weekend to start the year.

I think if we come out of this weekend with a split we'll be pretty fortunate. It's gonna be tough with all of these freshmen d-men still getting adjusted in addition to playing without several of our best forwards.

I just hope that our goalies can both put up good game(s). They're probably going to have to be stellar this season if we're going to have a chance at a good season, IMO. I also hope that if one goalie is clearly outplaying the other through November or December that Williams decides to stick with the one that is playing the best.

I know that for the last several years, as long as our top two goalies have been healthy, that they have split time in both weekend games. A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that no goalie has been significantly better than the other. But if it does happen, then I hope that we stick with the guy who gives us the best chance to win, regardless of experience and class rank.

DWhite21 wrote:I think if we come out of this weekend with a split we'll be pretty fortunate. It's gonna be tough with all of these freshmen d-men still getting adjusted in addition to playing without several of our best forwards.

I just hope that our goalies can both put up good game(s). They're probably going to have to be stellar this season if we're going to have a chance at a good season, IMO. I also hope that if one goalie is clearly outplaying the other through November or December that Williams decides to stick with the one that is playing the best.

I know that for the last several years, as long as our top two goalies have been healthy, that they have split time in both weekend games. A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that no goalie has been significantly better than the other. But if it does happen, then I hope that we stick with the guy who gives us the best chance to win, regardless of experience and class rank.

I agree, Lets see who puts up the better game and then ride that horse.

bgsufalcon24 wrote:Without Solway, Perkin, and Kantola, we're toast. Minnesota State wins easily both games.

We're not that talented to begin with, so once you start subtracting players it makes things even tougher. We'll have our opportunities down the road, hope I'm wrong, but I think this will be a very rough weekend to start the year.

Arent' Perkin and Kantola are only out for Friday? And don't count out the rest of the guys just yet!!!