I didn't think the radio broadcast of Sunday's NMU-UMinn game could
equal the excitement of Saturday's 7-5 thriller, but it did and then
some!  I suspect that NO ONE anywhere expected a Wildcat sweep in
Mariucci Arena.
 
The pressure the Gophers exerted in the first period sounded unbeliev-
able.  After that, it sounded as if the Wildcats gradually moved the
Minnesota attack further and further away from the goal.  The announcers
commented that by mid-way through the third period, although the Gophers
were still putting some shots on goal, many shots were being taken
from the neutral zone.
 
Doug Woog has a reputation as a terrific coach, which is obviously
justified.  Part of that certainly showed through in his pre-series
interview on our radio station.  He commented that goal tending would
decide the weekend's games.  Well, while something like 11 of only
about 45 shots got by Stolp (who, I know, is in fact a fine goalie),
in the series, Saurdiff of NMU let in only 8 of about 85!  Pretty
clear difference.  Saurdiff's GAA isn't nearly as super as it once
was, but his save percentage has to be getting pretty fantastic--at leas
it certainly was for the Minnesota series (about 95%?).  In fairness
to both Stolp and the Wildcat offense, perhaps it was also the case
that the far fewer shots unleashed by NMU were on the average much
higher quality ones.  Stupendous as Saurdiff's performances were, I'm
sure all 'Cat fans don't want to see him face over 40 shots/game very
often.  When Lou Melone returns (and Joe Frederick, for that matter,
since he's a real physical force which has an effect on the other
team's offense regardless of the position he's playing), NMU's defense
should show definite signs of improvement.
 
Final comment:  if anyone has a slice of videotape with Tony Szabo's
game-winning slap shot from Sunday, I bet a lot of Marquette folks
would be willing to pay for a copy.
 
On the College Hockey Computer Rating:  I'm kind of glad I raised the
issue of whether ratings should be adjusted by the season-long perform-
ance of teams' opponents.  It's obviously one which can be argued both
ways.  Frankly, I doubt that the fear of early schedule padding is
one which should be taken too seriously.  After all, as far as I can
tell this is something done to the great benefit of we fans by Keith
Instone.  The media seems to pay no attention to it, and I find it
hard to believe that athletic directors would consciously manipulate
their rather meager schedules to achieve "early padding for TCHCR
purposes."  (At least in the WCHA, there's only room for about 6 non-
conference games anyway.)  I still wonder if the "hotness" and "cold-
ness" of teams shouldn't be taken into account in terms of the value
which is attached to beating or losing to them--maybe use their record
over the 5-10 games previous to the encounter in question?  (This could
go on ad infinitum, couldn't it?!)
 
BTW - although I can certainly understand that Keith may have some
      serious time constraints which requires his not including Sunday
      games in the weekly report, I was disappointed that the results
      of the second NMU-UMinn game wasn't included.  Any chance of
      an update, Keith?
 
Another question--among the variables listed as being part of the
TCHR system is "percentage of goals allowed."  Is this the percentage
of shots which score?  Or is it the percent of the total goals scored
in the game--and if this, how is this different, particularly, from
"margin of victory"?  I guess now that I've written this I do remember
something (from Keith?) which explained that a 3-goal margin ougt to
mean more in a 4-1 game than in a 12-9 game, so perhaps I've just
answered my own question--although I believe weighting victory margin
with this additional variable (or using it in the mix, anyway) seems
to place a premium on being more "defensive" than "offensive."
Final TCHCR question:  when calculating a team's "schedule strength,"
is the current value of each opponent's ranking entered just once, or
once for each time it played the team in question?
 
Anyway, it's a great ranking system and lots of fun to see each week.
Thanks, Keith!!  (and others out there like Dave Smith and Mike
Machnik, too!)
 
Steve Christopher "Wildcats--First in the WCHA Going in to 1992!"