We made it through the first weekend with two big wins. SJU beat Gustavus 5-2 on Friday and then came back two days later to beat St. Olaf by the same 5-2 score on Sunday. This is the first time since the 2004-05 season that SJU Hockey started the year with two wins. This is a great start, but there is a lot to improve on before we head into this weekend against Concordia-Moorhead.
Here are some key points from this past weekend:
· Sophomore forward Matt Colford ended the weekend with 5 assists and came away with the MIAC Hockey Player of the Week.
· Seven Johnnies finished the weekend with multiple points and 14 Johnnies registered a point.
· SJU power play ended the weekend at 41.7% (5-for-12) on the power play, which is also good for second best in the country.
· SJU had a combined special teams of 59.1% while also going 2-for-10 on the penalty kill.
· SJU was outshot on the weekend, 75-67.
· Both SJU goalies finished the weekend with well over a 93% save percentage.
So with all that said, there were a lot of good things to take away from the weekend, but there were also some things that we definitely need to improve on before we head into this weekend against Concordia. The biggest thing that we need to work on is our defensive-zone coverage. We have great skill on our team and we are able to put the puck in the net, but we need to tighten up things in our D-zone so that we don’t give up over 30 shots per game. We will be putting a lot of stress on our goalies if we continue this trend.
Looking forward to Concordia, this will be a huge challenge. SJU alum Chris “Gordie” Howe always gets his guys ready to go and always has them working hard. This series is always very important every year. Last year, we played these games very early in the season, similar to this year, and Concordia came into our building and beat us both games. That is a huge hole to climb out of with only 16 regular season MIAC games, so we need to have a better start to conference play this year. It will not be an easy task because Concordia was the only other team in the MIAC Showcase to come away with two wins. They beat St. Thomas on Saturday 1-0 and then beat Hamline on Sunday, 3-2 in overtime. Concordia only gave up two goals the entire weekend. A big part of this was that they went 10-for-10 on the penalty kill, so this weekend will be the #2 power play in the country vs. the #1 penalty kill in the country. Concordia is also #1 in the country in combined special teams. I should also mention that both of their goalies have over a 94% save percentage with freshman Sam Nelson having a shutout against St. Thomas.
This weekend is going to be a huge test for both teams. The interesting thing is that it feels like a playoff weekend and it is the second weekend of the year.
The only game that will be broadcast on 660 “The Bear” this weekend will be the Friday night game as the Saturday conflicts with Johnnie Football. With that said, you can watch both games through Concordia’s online live stream. You can find the link to this live stream on the gojohnnies.com web site under the Johnnie Hockey schedule.
Thanks for all your support and Go Johnnies!
