There, I got to see two more hockey games last night. Well, almost two.
I saw two periods of the BGSU-UIC Consolation game and the Maine-RPI
game.
 
 
There was a different BGSU team out there last night, as compared to
Friday night. They once again missed scoring on a 5-on-3 opportunity
early in the game, but played well overall. When I left, they were
leading 2-1 and finished 4-2.
 
 
Maine-RPI:
 
This was an excellent game, with fortunes fluctuating rapidly.
 
 
The first period went to Maine, as they out-hustled and out-played
RPI most of the time. They took a 2-0 lead about half-way through
this period. At one point, Maine was on power play for 6 continuous
minutes, but managed to score a goal only with about a second left
in the power play. RPI got a PPG later and the first period ended
at 2-1.
 
 
The second period belonged to RPI, as they were all over Maine. They
scored another PPG to tie the score. And then went on a rout scoring
2 more goals to take the crowd out of the game for a while. Maine got
a goal to pull within one and at the end of the period got a power
play, but failed to convert.
 
 
This period was entirely even. Both teams scrambled back and forth
and finally Maine got on board to tie the score and send the Alfond
faithfuls to a frenzy. This was becoming reminiscent of last year's
NCAA Championship. But, the magic was'nt there this time around :(,
as RPI got the game winner on a PPG - well, on paper it was not a
PPG, with the goal coming a second or two after the power play was
over; but the whole setup occured due to the power play, so I would
call it a PPG.  That's the way the game ended with the final score
being 5-4.
 
 
Overall, a well-played game. Maine had the upper hand in shots on
goal (45-30, at the end, I believe), but could'nt punch it in, sigh..
 
 
 
Obligatory Whining About The Refs :) :
 
In the third period, apparently, the refs decided that they were'nt
going to call anything. I only wished that they had stuck to this
decision entirely. After watching blatant non-calls (at least to me),
they call `holding' on Maine, of all things. Jeez... This would be
the only call they would make in this period, as they went back into
their shells and let everything go by again. It was tough to see such
an evenly matched game (the score was tied before the call), being
decided this way. Oh well, perhaps if Maine had got the call, I
would'nt be so bitter :( ..... There, I feel a little better now
though :).
 
 
 
More Thoughts On The Maine Team:
 
1. The power play has major problems - both on offense and defense.
They hardly managed to score one last night. I think they are between
15-20% for the year and they played true to that with RPI. As I said
before, in the first period Maine went on power play for 6 mins. with
a 5-on-3 of about 30 seconds stuck in between, and barely managed a
goal.
 
   The power play defense was'nt much good either, as they allowed 3
PPG's last night. They allowed RPI to set up rather easily in the
zone and seemed confused at times.
 
 
2. The overall defense still has the same problem that I mentioned
in my last post. They are'nt finishing off their checks along the
boards. The 2 non-PPG goals that RPI scored last night came of,
beacuse the defensemen put only a partial check and then allowed
the RPI forwards to walk in on the goalie.
 
 
Congrats to the RPI team for putting up such good performances against
Top 10 teams and winning the Dexter Classic Championship. And also to
their faithful fans who showed up in such great numbers at the Alfond
last night.
 
 
Cheers
Venky