Notre Dame Thoughts and 3 Stars

[BGDrew]

- This is a better team than next year, but youth will be our downfall.

- We got speed, and lots of it. However, it was obvious we were out muscled tonight. If you're going to succeed with speed, you have to use a different offense than dump and chase. You have to use the other team's strengths against them.

- Jimmy played decent at best tonight. He has got to make that crease his home. He got pushed around and seemed to not communicate with this forwards. You can't have guys in front of the net screening you. Clear the slot out and force the bad shots from the points.

- McIlrath: NEVER move the puck back to the goalie. Tonight you saw why.

- Too many penalties and dumb plays. I think this goes back to our speed. We need to harness this speed and know when to turn it on and off.

- Cepis has got to learn to play smarter. He doesn't have the size to move the puck in unassisted against 3 guys. I think that aspect of his play will improve the more experience he gets.

My Three Stars:
3) Dan Sexton (BG): Scores his first collegiate goal and throws in an assist too.
2) Justin White (ND): Very impressive player. Had 2 assists and a +/- of +2.
1) Jordan Pearce (ND): Didn't stand on his head, but didn't have to. Made over half of his saves in the 3rd when their offense fell back to play more conservative.

Feel free to add your own 3 stars.

[The Niz]

At the windsor game you could tell Sexton was going to be something special.

Boy, not scoring a goal for a period and a half really killed that crowd tonight. If Notre Lame is really supposed to be no. 8 like I have been hearing, I'd say we may have a pretty successful season.

[Falconboy]

I said after the Windsor game that youth would be our downfall, with all the ridiculous penalties, just alot of freshman who are trying to do too much instead of playing within themselves. Yes, we do have speed but I still think were not big and physical enough yet to sustain an effort vs teams the like of ND and others. We need more guys like Jon Erikson and Russ Sinkawich to go along with the speed we do have.

More than anything we need guys to play under control instead of trying to just hit anything that moves. Playing hard , under control and smarter is the key with this team.

[jpfalcon09]

The team would have likely won the game if their passing was good. However, it was downright brutal at times. I don't think I counted in sequence anymore than two good consecutive passes. I'm sure it's something the coaching staff will stress on, but it gets to get better.

Size wise, we weren't mismatched, I felt ND just had more speed than us. The D played really well and I'm sure Jimmy would like back 2 goals, but they'll be learning experiences. Overall, the team competed really hard and looked much better than last year, so with a few more things sured up, we're going to be alright.

[MACMAN]

- This is a better team than next year, but youth will be our downfall.


* I think the youthfullness on this team is one of its best offerings making it a a very good team, as the season progresses i think this will become more evident.

- We got speed, and lots of it. However, it was obvious we were out muscled tonight. If you're going to succeed with speed, you have to use a different offense than dump and chase. You have to use the other team's strengths against them.

* Loosing Kai for the game and i missed seeing that hit got him sent off the ice took away some of our mussel but its still no excuses. i think it took away more in that the gel of that line suffered greatly and the vocal commands on the ice. Ill take some penalties any day of the week from a guy like this who plays smart aggressive hockey, he is a grinder we have quite a few that play this way again.

- Jimmy played decent at best tonight. He has got to make that crease his home. He got pushed around and seemed to not communicate with this forwards. You can't have guys in front of the net screening you. Clear the slot out and force the bad shots from the points.


* Here I am going to have to just disagree with you. Jimmy played great tonight. This is a good solid goalie he kept this team in the game and that is all we can ask. He was moving strong laterally and telescoping very well on all the angles (reminded more of Roy in this regard...he just stayed square), his tracking was right on and his butterfly and butterfly slide were top notch, the movements he choose to make saves with were best choice, compact and from the center. Jimmy did his part we can not ask for any more from him.... Are defenders and forwards need to and agree with you here clear out in front, they were not consistent with this and this is not Sprats fault
- McIlrath: NEVER move the puck back to the goalie. Tonight you saw why.

*
yea there will be mistakes in every game but to his credit he passes well, see the ice very well and really knows when to put a hit on guy in both fore and back check...good soph here.

- Too many penalties and dumb plays. I think this goes back to our speed. We need to harness this speed and know when to turn it on and off.
Im sort of with you on this, in that when we had the lead we could have played to control the game and the lead

- Cepis has got to learn to play smarter. He doesn't have the size to move the puck in unassisted against 3 guys. I think that aspect of his play will improve the more experience he gets.
*Again Im with you and not...in that while he doesnt have the size to move the puck in against 3 guys, he does have the speed and he represents a clear to threat to any team we play, and when he has three guys on him we clearly have an skater in space near by...and that his play will only get better.

My BGSU stars screw ND dont give a terd about them
1. Spratt What an improvement in your game
2. the team as a whole for the total elevation in play in every aspect.
Last night was the except for those last couple games last season represent to me the best hockey i have seen this team play in an overdue number of seasons. These guys are on track.

My Three Stars:
3) Dan Sexton (BG): Scores his first collegiate goal and throws in an assist too.
2) Justin White (ND): Very impressive player. Had 2 assists and a +/- of +2.
1) Jordan Pearce (ND): Didn't stand on his head, but didn't have to. Made over half of his saves in the 3rd when their offense fell back to play more conservative.

Feel free to add your own 3 stars.

[dforde]

There were some encouraging signs. I think we are definitelty better than last year. Cepis is fast but needs to pass the puck. He can't beat the entire ND team by himself. I thought we had all the momentum and were up 1-0 until the Kantola hit. After that, we were never quite as sharp and energetic. Was kind of a silly hit when all is said and done. We spent the entire second period in the box and playing defense.

Where was Petruska? Don't think he played at all last night.

[Peregrinner]

The issue being brought up about Cepis reminds me of something I used to see from Alex Foster. I remember first seeing him and thinking "damn, he's fast", but also thinking he needed to pass the puck more. There were quite a few times when he would try to beat 2-3 guys alone.

I think the good news is that the speed is the part you can't coach, and the smarts are the part he can work on.

[BGFan]

Give Cepis time. He's used to being able to do that in juniors.....its obviously a different story at this level which he'll learn quickly.

[Altoid_storm]

There were some encouraging signs. I think we are definitelty better than last year. Cepis is fast but needs to pass the puck. He can't beat the entire ND team by himself. I thought we had all the momentum and were up 1-0 until the Kantola hit. After that, we were never quite as sharp and energetic. Was kind of a silly hit when all is said and done. We spent the entire second period in the box and playing defense.

Where was Petruska? Don't think he played at all last night.

I'm not sure why, but he was up in the stands with a few of the other boys (Erikson & Nesdil). Don't know why a bunch of them didn't play last night, but I would have liked to see Petruska play.