Michigan Round Up

I do not think it was fair to anyone involved to say we were out played, no matter how the stat sheet may suggest. Thieseen (btw it is pronounced tea-seen, not thee-sen as originally thought, its also LINE-erd not LIN-ard) played very, very well, but I dont think its fair to say he stole it. I think that the most important part about this weekend on the positive side is that the fact that we still score, the offense looked good and Costello and Morris finally got their first goals of the season, as did Birnstill and Russo. I am concerned about the amount of penalties, I am willing to chalk it up to CCHA refs, but I honestly don't think thats it. I still think that the defense got caught off guard a few too many times and had to take really really dumb penalties. If there is is nice part of all that its that on the second night UM went 0-12 on the power-play, very attributed to the fact that NU played very good PK. Other plus' of note:

-Morris is back, he was good in the second night regardless that he did not score a goal
-Ginand-Morris-Costello is a nasty line, cycle the puck very well, Ginand also does well in front of the net
-Rassey could possibly be the second best face off man on this team, if not the best, he also has no respect for his body, he will block ANY shot, he is a great blue-collar type player, works had, skates his best, won't put up amazing stats, but I like seeing him out there, he wont let you down imho
-Esner has come into his own, I take back many of the bad things I've said about him
-outside of Union, this was the first time they didn't blow a lead (see bc, bu, and UM the first game)
-first road win since feb 26 2004 versus bu, also the first of cronin era
-Vitale's head has calmed down, when Jack Johnson was pounding him, he took it, and let Jack Johnson get kicked out, not him

On the bad side (hey we all have to be honest)
-as good is Thieseen is boy does he give up FAR to many rebounds, he needs to be more like a sponge, not a brick wall
-Ginand is struggling to find the back of the net, give it time it won't be a factor but for now I am a tad concerned, however I think coach should let him work through it on the ice, and not bench him
-Passing at times is still and issue, a full sixty minutes of playing well is a must
-Second night power play was not as good as the first, not a true worry since we scored three the first night
-PENALTIES
-shots on goal, we must hold em well under 40, well under

Overall- a solid weekend for NU, taking UM to OT the first night and winning the second. it was about as good as one could ask for. Going into UNH one has to feel good about this team as UNH has dropped their last two to UMass and Yale.

Grade for the weekend: A-/B+