Comments on The Blog That Yost Built: College Hockey Showcase in Review

Yeah, I was really happy to see WMU on the schedul...

2006-11-30T09:19:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I was really happy to see WMU on the schedule this week. It'll be a nice tune up for ND. Hopefully they aren't looking ahead to what should be a huge weekend!

Colin: I agree with everything you said about the team as a whole. I could live with a .900 save percentage out of Sauer. You'd like it to be better, but as long as he's making the saves he needs to make and bails us out once in awhile on the mistakes, we'll be fine.

I don't know about moving Jack to forward at this point. If it's just getting him on the ice more often, then I'd be fine with it because I'm sure he'd thrive with as much ice time as we can give him (though he has played 26-30 a lot this year already). Kampfer scares me though.

Though, if the offense is struggling in any particular game, I think it'd be a great idea to move him up for a shift or two. He seems like the type of guy that could spark something real quick. Whether it's on a rush, the forecheck, or if he just kills someone.

The most telling thing about the Minnesota game is...

2006-11-29T22:45:00.000-06:00

The most telling thing about the Minnesota game is that every summary I've read says we played worse and worse each period. So, you know, I'm willing to give us the benefit of the doubt there. And we had been playing well, so I have to consider it some kind of anomaly.

My overall impression is that this team is growing, getting better and NOT exhibiting the maddening tendencies we saw last year. The streakiness they showed at the beginning of the year seems to be gone and the intensity is up. I know JJ is the best player on this team, but we seem to follow TJ. His up and down play is our up and down play. He's been intense, a two-way player, and we look all the better for it. Rohlfs is another key to this team, too. He's always had the hustle, but he's shown a little flash too. He lets Kolarik play on the second line, which keeps the scoring lines more evenly talented.

We're on pace with last year's offense, but our defense is clearly improved. I think we can probably get away with Billy playing like a B+ goalie (meaning @ .900 sv pct, I guess) because I don't think there are any real dominant goalies out there right now in the CCHA, at least that I can think of.

Also: how about getting Jack a few shifts at forward in critical games? Could we get away with that at D?

Couldn't pick a better rebound game after that Gop...

2006-11-29T02:46:00.000-06:00

Couldn't pick a better rebound game after that Gopher debacle than a home tilt against Western--a team we've absolutely owned forever, back in the friendly confines of Yost. And we do need to rebound, because after the Western home-and-home is the Notre Dame home-and-home, which has massive CCHA regular season title implications.