As Steve Mizerak would say: "Two for the price of one, how can you go wrong?"
Both Bob and Steve have raised some interesting points about MSU's problems,
which I sort of led off anyway in responding to Lee's observations of MSU at
the Showcase.
First I'll address Bob's points, then Steve's
Bob wrote:
>If it were not for MSU's defense the team would be sitting close to the cellar
>in CCHA standings. The only saving graces the Spartans have enjoyed to date
>are Mike Buzak and the defensive line -- including the freshmen!
I would say without our goaltending, we would be at the bottom of the confer-
ence. But I would include Chad Alban in that, too, who is now second in the
CCHA in GAA (Buzak is currently 5th). While one could say that Chad has only
seen action against "weak" teams (with the exception of Wisconsin), he has yet
to allow more than 3 goals in any appearance. I've been sort of amazed at
Chad's performance, but his speed makes up for the lack of size (as Ken Landau
calls him, 5'8" and 160 soaking wet).
The goaltending has made up for the fact that the Spartans' play in their own
zone (this includes the forwards as well) has not been good. They have not
done a good job of clearing the puck and have let teams keep them penned in
their own zone for long stretches. A lot of this goes with play along the
baords, which the forwards especially don't seem to do enough of in their own
zone.
>But the real problem MSU has faced (and with which it has not yet come to
>grips) is the lack of a strong offense. In far too many games the puck has
>spent most of the time in the Spartan zone. Even UIC was able to control the
>puck against us better than we've been able to control the puck against most of>our oponents. That's how they managed to tie us in Chicago.
In my view, just as defense is a five-man chore (actually six, with the guy
between the pipes), offense is a five-man chore. After the initial rush,
either by carrying the puck into the zone or playing dump-and-chase, the de-
fensemen become part of the offense. I don't think the defensemen as a whole
have played poorly at the point (I would appreciate a few more shots from out
there) but the forwards have not done well, like above, in work along the
boards.
This leads me to one of the problems I've always had with the style of play the
Spartans tend to adopt far too often for my taste. Maybe it's just me, but it
seems like they're looking for the goal that's going to make the cover of
Sports Illustrated. You know, the nice perfectly timed pass, the fake on the
goalie and putting it where Grandma hides the peanut butter, followed by being
able to skate around for a while with your arms raised in the air until
your teammates come up and bury you under a pile.
Unfortunately, most goals in hockey aren't scored that way. There are a lot of
"garbage" goals where you get a bad rebound and score, or a kick off the boards
(a la LSSU's lone goal against MSU in their last meeting) or simply where you
have poked at it a few times in front of the net and the goalie makes a mistake
and misses the puck or it slides under him. Right now, MSU isn't getting the
picture-book goals and, IMO, aren't working hard enough to get the "garbage"
goals. Most of that goes to the forwards, but the defense shares some of that
responsibility.
>Steve Guolla (who shows moments of brilliance) and Anson Carter (who is "often
>around when something happens" but has yet to MAKE anything happen) are both
>impressive -- when they're working. But I haven't seen either of them get
>really serious yet. Both seem *loaded* with talent. The season is more than
>30% played, however, and IMHO it's still unfocused talent.
I think it goes beyond Carter and Guolla. You could probably say the same
about Steve Suk, Rem Murray, Dean Sylvester, Brian Clifford. Most of the
"grunt" work I've seen on this team so far has come from the third line, with
Crane, Tuzzolino, Clarke, Ferranti, etc. The freshman line got a little
spoiled early but seem to be learning now that all goals don't come that easy.
In closing off Bob's comments, let me say that I don't think the defense (and
I'm speaking of the defensemen here) is all that bad. Their job is made tougherby the lack of the Spartans being able to put shots-on-goal and keep up the
pressure in the offensive zone. But the high number of shots the Spartan net-
minders have been seeing does go somewhat to the defensemen, and that number is
going to have to come down. I don't think we can expect Buzak or Alban to be
facing a minimum of 35 shots a night and be able to keep it up for long. Or we
could end up seeing a few more nights like the one in Ann Arbor.
Now to Steve's comments:
>Robert Gaskins remarked that the problem with the Spartans is that they
>spend too much time in their own end, and blames this on the offense. I'd
>disagree. This is the fault of the defense. It is the defensemen who have to
>get the first passes out of the zone.
I would agree to a certain extent, but once the puck's been in your zone for
about 15-20 seconds, defense becomes a six-man squad.
>We're not getting many shots these days, because we
>don't have the puck, but a good percentage of those taken are going in. When
>they get the opportunities they're scoring, they're just not getting the
>opportunities.
There's a caveat here. Looking at generic numbers, an average goaltender is
going to have about an 83-85% save percentage on a normal night. In other
words, he'll let about 1 shot in every 6 or 7 in. A good goaltender may hover
around 90% or a little higher. He'll let about 1 shot in 10 in. A goaltender
having a bad night or a poor goaltender may be anywhere between 75 and 80%.
He'll let one shot in 4 or 5 in. (This is for a normal night of let's say up
to 30 shots. When shot numbers start getting up around 40 or so, save percen-
tages tend to be a bit higher, unless the game becomes a blowout.)
Agianst Michigan and Minnesota this season, MSU got roughly 15 shots in the
game. Considering that both teams have what I would consider above average
goaltending, that means the Spartans were going to get about 2 goals (we got
3 against Michigan). Meanwhile, at the other end, we're giving up 45-50 shots.
In other words, you're putting a helluva lot of pressure on your goaltender to
make the save just to keep up with the stats. Buzak was up to that against
Minnesota, with a save percentage above 92%, but we still lost. When he wasn't
up to it, against Michigan, we got blown out.
I wouldn't say MSU isn't getting some opportunities. But you have to put the
puck on net when you get into the offensive zone. The more times you put the
puck on net, statistically the more chance you have that the opposing goal-
tender is going to blow an easy one. With the talent MSU has, anything under
25 shots a night should be considered absolutely dismal. The most they've had
recently is 37 against UAF in the 5-1 win.
>certainly need to solidify their puck control in their own zone.
They need to do it in both zones. They have a golden opportunity in the game
against OSU. This is a game they can't afford to look past, even though Lake
Superior comes into town on Saturday afternoon.
Even though the season's a little less than 1/3 over, MSU is pretty much at a
make-or-break point. I don't think we can afford to go into January not know-
ing what the lines are going to be on a permanent basis, and Lord knows we
can't go in with a offense struggling like this one is.
Fortunately, as Bob said, the defense (and the goaltending in particular) has
kept us from falling in the CCHA standings. But in order to win the conference
and have a decent shot at the NC$$ title, the offense has to wake up and start
putting the puck on net more. It's been too damn long since we put another
banner up at Munn.
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University 6-1-1, 9-3-1
WVU (Carquest Bowl against South Carolina) '87, UTenn (Gator Bowl against VPI)
'92, MSU (still looking for a head coach [looks like it will be Paterno's Off.
Coordinator at Penn State]) who the hell knows when?
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