I am sorry to that Carol missed the game. She has already reported the
significa of the game. I will give some stats and commentary from an
MTU fan perspective.
 
MTU  0 0 1 - 1
MINN 2 1 0 - 3
 
MINN - Dziedzic 5 (Bianchi, Trebil) ppg (5 on 3) 7:18
MINN - Bonin 11 (McHugh) 14:30
 
2nd Period:
 
MINN - Checco 2 (Trebil) 15:42
 
3rd Period:
 
MTU - P. Mikesch (Lebel, B. Peterson) ppg 0:32
 
Goalie saves:
 
Ram (MTU)       18 11  8  - 35
Callinan (MINN)  8  7  9  - 24
 
(Does the above statistic tell you anything?)
 
Power plays:
 
MTU 1 for 7
MINN 1 for 6
 
OMMENTARY:
 
I listened to the game on radio in Houghton: (Bob Olson has to find
some one besides Dave Fisher for color. He has good stats but there
there is a lot left out of his analysis.) Carol observed that MTU
played well. I am not certain that I can agree. During the first
period we had on 8 shots on goal to Minnesota's 18. During the first
power play we had only one weak shot. I think we actually played
better and got more shots off when we were short handed. Some said
that because the Mariucci (I hope I got this right, Carol, [thanks])
Arena ice surface is generally larger than most of the WCHA surfaces
that this affected MTU play. I can't agree. Certainly, the 200'x
100' olympic surface favors better skaters but MTU has played this
way since November. To attempt to blame the loss on the ice is
apologetic. THe major problem that I see with MTU's play currently
is the inability to pull the trigger and our preference for a
defensive game.
 
IT IS BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE. Unfortunately, MTU has been
waiting to receive from its opponent. THen finding itself down
in the third period, it finally starts to open up a little. But
too little too late. If one were compare the number of shots
that MTU has taken to the number of shots scored, MTU has a
tremendous efficiency rate. But I think we are waiting for the
perfect shot. We finesse and pass ourselfves to death. We need
to get closer to the edge: we can not survive on 24 shots per
game. We have gone too many periods where we have less than
10 shots (and in many cases less than 5 shots although not this
game). A good defense helps win hockey games but an offense
wins hockey games. MTU has shown that its skills are commensurable
to most other teams: despite our lack of offense, no one has been
able to blow us off the ice. Most of our games have been close:
we have lost 5 one goal gaols and four over time games. In each
case we have won only 1. IF there is a cause, it is the inability
to put the puck on goal solidly.  Conversely, our opponents are
shooting with lower efficiency but scoring. THis was the tenth
time this season that Jamie Ram has had more than 30 saves per
game.
 
NOTE: Jamie Ram has started in 97 games, a new record for a goalie at
MTU. I certain he would have preferred a win for this record.
 
Tonight we give another go.
 
Walt Olson
MTU looking for the win