This TEAM IS DAM GOOD

MACMAN · Post by **MACMAN** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 10:34 pm

Hey we lost a pair this weekend, but weve got one hell of a good HOCKEY TEAM.
WE played MI better than 99% of thier competition thus far this year, and I bet if our guys get a crack at them in the CCHA playoffs we will take them.
But till then, there are no more doubts, no more were nots this or that. WE ARE TOP CONTENDERS in the CCHA, WE PLAY like it week in and out and now were heading to a tournament WE SHOULD WIN and the back side of our schedules knowing we can beat any of those teams, now lets go out and do it!

jpfalcon09 · Post by **jpfalcon09** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 10:52 pm

We should be able to beat about 50% of the CCHA. I dunno if we could take Miami, Sparty, ND or U of M in a 3 game series, but we can certainly hang with them. This weekend was very encouraging, and now let's hope the holidays can provide some much needed rest and to also have a good tourney showing. Gotta feel good for the second half of the season.

jgeyer · Post by **jgeyer** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 11:09 pm

The freshman goalie Eno should have played both nights and BG might have had a split. Paluch finds ways to lose. Macman remove that picture before I puke.

Bleeding Orange · Post by **Bleeding Orange** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 11:54 pm

I'm not saying that it has anything in the world to do with Paluch (jgeyer, get a friggin' grip), but I'm getting pretty tired of these moral victories.

Jimmy needs to be backing up Nick. Period. This team has no consistency to speak of, and I can't help but think this two headed monster in the crease has a part to play in this act. Nothing against Jimmy, but comparatively, he is playing like a backup, not a guy who should be getting 50% of the starts.

jpfalcon09 · Post by **jpfalcon09** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:26 am

I agree, Eno is better than Spratt at this point of the season. Flip-flopping goalies doesn't do you any good if neither can get into a groove. Also, why wasn't Cepis in Friday night? We could have used his speed and puck movement on the PP. I couldn't believe it when I saw he was out of the lineup.

Moral victories can be used because last year was so bad. We've hung with UM and ND this year, and that is a good measuring stick to see where we are. Hockey teams generally fulfill their potential about a month before the season ends. I think with a bit more polish to our game, and more aggressiveness with leads, the team is gonna be alright. It'll be a learning curve until then, but two 3-2 losses essentially to Michigan are going to help confidence wise for the 2nd half of the season.

Altoid_storm · Post by **Altoid_storm** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:38 am

I'm not sure why Cepis wasn't in last night. All of the players that don't play sit up in the top of the stands and I saw all of them up there except for Russ and Cepis. I'm not sure why.

Bleeding Orange · Post by **Bleeding Orange** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:56 am

jpfalcon09 wrote:I agree, Eno is better than Spratt at this point of the season. Flip-flopping goalies doesn't do you any good if neither can get into a groove. Also, why wasn't Cepis in Friday night? We could have used his speed and puck movement on the PP. I couldn't believe it when I saw he was out of the lineup.

Moral victories can be used because last year was so bad. We've hung with UM and ND this year, and that is a good measuring stick to see where we are. Hockey teams generally fulfill their potential about a month before the season ends. I think with a bit more polish to our game, and more aggressiveness with leads, the team is gonna be alright. It'll be a learning curve until then, but two 3-2 losses essentially to Michigan are going to help confidence wise for the 2nd half of the season.

You're probably right on that last point, but I don't want to just read about the potential of this team, I want them to fulfil it. I've no doubt that there has been growth in both attitude and ability on this team, but they need to bring everything together. And this may be stupid, but if there are players checking in here, I would rather them read about how proud we are of their progress and how, as a result, we have higher expectations for them. I don't think this "rah rah!" BS gets anybody anywhere - except for maybe proving other people wrong in one poster's case. I don't come here to read about other posters' grudges, though. I come here to read about hockey.

bgsufalcon24 · Post by **bgsufalcon24** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 1:13 am

Well, now we're down to .500 in the CCHA, 5-5, with an overall record of 8-6. I'll still take that given where we've been. But at the same time, we are not close to being a truly elite team yet. The two elite teams we've played this season (Notre Dame and Michigan) we're 0-4. And we're yet to play the grandaddy of them all (Miami).

Now hopefully we won't go 0-10 against the CCHA's big 4 (ND, UM, MIA, and MSU), but realistically speaking 2-8 sounds about right, with 3-7 pushing it a little bit. That said, the key games down the stretch will be the games against Ferris, WMU, Alaska, Ohio State, Lake Superior, etc. We need to beat those teams and beat them good in order to have a home playoff series and not have to face Miami/Michigan in the 2nd round of the CCHA playoffs.

AZIce · Post by **AZIce** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 2:36 am

The article in the Sentinel said Cepis was out Friday night for "violating team rules". I listened to Friday's game and the UM annoucers talked as if Spratt played well on Friday, maybe some of you who where there might say otherwise, but I think we win on Friday if we have Cepis in the game. However, I give Pooch credit for sitting the guy if he broke a rule, regardless of the opponent and meaning of then game.

San Fran Falcon · Post by **San Fran Falcon** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 3:14 am

I'm just bitter. So, I apologize ahead of time. It's great to see our hockey squad ranked and "hanging" with Michigan. But, WE LOST! So, in the entire scope of things, we're sliding. I can't say we're DAM good at this point. I wouldn't even say we're DAMN good either (the N is silent Macman).
I'm not a hockey guru, so I'm not going to get crazy. All I remember is learning to appreciate and enjoy the game of hockey when I came to BG. I was fortunate enough to see one of our Hobey Baker winners in action (Brian Holzinger) while I was at school. In fact, I think that was the last time we actually had a team that competed for CCHA titles. All I know is that I've followed our hockey squad since I've graduated (I've followed the wins and losses for the last 10 years). It seems like we've been losing way too much over the last decade. I don't claim to know anything else, other than BG hockey isn't or hasn't been how I remember it since I left back in 1997. I'm hopin' we can get back to respectability.

PegCityFalcon · Post by **PegCityFalcon** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 3:57 am

Why is everyone jumping on the Nick Eno bandwagon? Is everyone else seeing something that I'm missing? Spratt stood on his head Friday night an allowed 3 goals. Eno looked lost the entire game and allowed 3. The defence looked a lot better behind Eno than they did behind Spratt. This is a great team we narrowly lost both games to the top team in the CCHA and possibly the number 1 team in all of 2A hockey.

FlyingBurrito4 · Post by **FlyingBurrito4** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 5:10 am

Altoid_storm wrote:I'm not sure why Cepis wasn't in last night. All of the players that don't play sit up in the top of the stands and I saw all of them up there except for Russ and Cepis. I'm not sure why.

Out of respect for Cepis I'm not going to elaborate too much on why he wasn't playing Friday. I do know the situation however and let's just say it did involve the cops, but he ended up turning himself in. Thus the reason for only sitting out the one game and not more additionally.

Falcon Fanatic · Post by **Falcon Fanatic** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:50 am

jgeyer wrote:The freshman goalie Eno should have played both nights and BG might have had a split. Paluch finds ways to lose. Macman remove that picture before I puke.

I was at the Friday game, but not the Saturday game. Spratt played VERY WELL Friday night!! He gave us every chance to win that game. The guys played their azzes off, but they were worn out by the end, when the weasels were able to kick it up a notch. Jimmy did not let in any soft goals and he played REALLY WELL! I have only seen Eno play a few games and am very impressed with him also. He isn't a fancy goalie, just covers the net well and puts himself where he needs to be time and time again. I think we are very lucky to have two solid goalies right now. I am as disappointed as anyone with the "moreal" victories, but I do feel that we are headed in the right direction and can hang with anyone in any given game. The team attitude is good and that is the most important thing that is making things happen this year.

One more thing...Svendsen's knee was injured in the Friday game. Hope the time off is what he needs to get healed and back on the ice!!!

GOOD LUCK IN THE BADGER CLASSIC!!!
SWEEEEEEEEEP 'EM!!!!

Freddie · Post by **Freddie** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:24 am

Anybody that thinks we can pin Friday's loss on Spratt (or on Paluch for playing Spratt) must have their head up their butt. He never had a prayer on the 1st goal, two sharp passes and a perfectly placed shot. Michigan dominated play over the first 5-6 minutes of the 2nd period, and Jimmy made several GREAT saves to keep us alive, and give us a chance to come back...which we did. If we could have found some way to extend that lead to 3-1, we could have took them out of their game plan.

dannyk · Post by **dannyk** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:36 am

Yes we are out of the gate with a decent record but we are just beating up on the sludge of the conference. Right now in the CCHA there is a HUGE seperation from the haves and the have nots.

Having Mich, Mich St, and Miami do well on the national scene hides the lower half of the CCHA from view from the general public. I would venture to say that we have some of the worst teams in all of college hockey this year mucking around in the CCHA.