Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Strange thread title, I know, but bear with me.

Saturday night marked my third trip to Yost for a BG hockey game, and it also marked the first time I have ever left that building happy. We lost 5-4, but it was quite possibly the most complete game that I have ever seen us play. Despite the loss, we took the #4 team in the country to the wire on their home ice. That is one heck of an accomplishment, in my opinion, especially after what amounted to a blowout loss at home on our own senior night just 24 hours earlier.

Our power play offense looked STELLAR. Best I've seen it all year. We were cycling the puck and getting bodies around the net to get rebounds. Our PP defense wasn't spectacular, but despite the fact that we gave up 3 PP goals, it looked much better than it has for most of the year. Our forecheck was on fire last night. Michigan had a heck of time getting the puck out of the zone when Alex Foster was down there taking on three guys and keeping the puck in the corner (he did this on at least two occasions -- amazing). Our time in the offensive zone was a lot better than I expected it to be. I've never seen us set up for an extended period of time in the offensive zone against a team of Michigan's caliber as we did last night.

Horrell, despite giving up five, was outstanding. There was one point (I think in the second) where I counted six saves in less than ten seconds before he finally gloved the puck while laying down across the crease. I was floored on several occasions by his ability to deal with Michigan's onslaughts, especially on the power play. Unfortunately, Michigan simply has so much talent that there are very few goalies who could give up fewer than 3 or 4 goals against them, even with the great perimeter defense we brought last night. They always, ALWAYS seem to have someone at the right place outside of the crease to fill up the rebounds. I suppose the most frustrating part of last night was Michigan's fifth goal. Horrell took a slap shot (I think from Tambellini) in the chest, closed his arms around it and everyone in the arena, I think, assumed he had it. The puck just fell through his arms, squirted between his legs and sloooooowly trickled into the net. Because the shot came on a breakaway, there wasn't a defenseman close enough to throw a stick down in time. That goal seemed to be more of a fluke to me, and I give Horrell all of the credit in the world for a GREAT game! It was just frustrating because shortly thereafter we scored our fourth goal, which otherwise would have been an equalizer.

Overall, though, this was an awesome game. And, as I said, we did it in one of the toughest arenas in the nation to play in. As I was leaving Yost, there were several older Michigan fans (in their 60's and 70's) who pulled me aside and told me that was the best game they had ever seen BG play. To me, that meant a lot because these people were obviously around when BG was a powerhouse in the 80's. They may have been exagerating a bit, but it still says a lot about where this program is going. We scared the heck out of 7,000 people last night, for sure.

I really do think after last night that we are poised to make quite a run in the CCHA tourney this year. If we end up getting to the Joe after the first round, I wouldn't put anything past this team. We can credit this directly to the leadership of both Pooch and our Seniors. While our seniors aren't leading us in point scoring, they are doing wonders for team unity and morale, which in my mind is the most important aspect of a winning hockey team. I realize that this has been long-winded, and I've probably rambled quite a bit, but this is the first crack I've had at a computer since leaving the game last night, and I still have a bit of a buzz going on after watching us play so well. I am so excited for the playoffs, and the coming years for Falcon Hockey. We are definately going places, and I don't think it will be long before we become a program on the level of Michigan and OSU in the CCHA. There aren't many teams, besides perhaps UNO and NMU that have anywhere near the programatic momentum within the CCHA that we do now.

Also, I was one of 500 people to get a Brendan Morrison bobblehead doll. I haven't really decided what to do with it yet, because it really isn't that well made, and it is in the likeness of a player who has worn both Michigan and Redwings sweaters, so its basically evil. Any suggestions are welcomed. (I've already been told to use it for target practice, but I don't own a gun )

I enjoyed rading your post! Good view point and information.



Sell the Bobble on ebay and spend the money following BG !!

Ummmm.... I'm going to disagree on a couple of points.

Our PP offense was awful, awfully lucky. You're correct in saying that we cycled the puck well but that's all we did. For all the time spent on the PP we didn't get many shots off. The PP goals in the second one went in off the D's skate and the other was a stellar individual effort by Unger and perhaps one of the best goals I've seen lately.

Our PK was also awful. They scored 3 PP goals in the first 20 seconds of power play time. That is really really bad.

All in all we did play an excellent game up there, but a loss is still a loss. Michigan is just that good.

rc_ziggy84 wrote:Ummmm.... I'm going to disagree on a couple of points.

Our PP offense was awful, awfully lucky. You're correct in saying that we cycled the puck well but that's all we did. For all the time spent on the PP we didn't get many shots off. The PP goals in the second one went in off the D's skate and the other was a stellar individual effort by Unger and perhaps one of the best goals I've seen lately.

Our PK was also awful. They scored 3 PP goals in the first 20 seconds of power play time. That is really really bad.

All in all we did play an excellent game up there, but a loss is still a loss. Michigan is just that good.

That was pretty much my point, although I probably didn't convey it well enough. We've never really put too many shots on goal on the power play, which simply seems to be our game. It frustrates me to no end sometimes, but we haven't been the kind of team this year to just throw the puck at the net when up a man. For this reason, I was especially impressed with how we cycled the puck along the perimeter. Our defensemen did an okay job of keeping the puck in the zone at the points, and we were able to beat the Michigan forecheck quite a bit down past the goal line. When we did take our shots on the power play we did a better job than I've seen us do all year of crashing the forwards to the net to pick up the rebounds. That was exactly how we got our first goal, actually. The third shot went in after Montoya had layed out to make the second save.

I was really impressed with us, but yes, Michigoon really is that good. Montoya isn't that great, but their defensemen truly are. We did a great job of neutralizing them along the boards on several occasions, though, which really helped our scoring chances.

I have been sort of frustrated all year by the fact that we are consistently outshot game after game, but I have been realizing more and more that Pooch is trying to coach us into a finesse game -- picking shots wisely and working people down low when we have the position to do it. While this strategy does limit our shots, it increases shot selection and also leaves defensemen in pretty good position to wipe out breakaways in the neutral zone or sweep them to the boards for low-percentage shots.

I will agree with you that our PK was not that great but you have to remember two things: (1) our PK has been pretty dismal all year, and (2) Michigan's PP is phenomenal. There were several occasions where we could have given up more PP goals, but our D tightened up when they need to, especially late in the game.