I'm a little stunned and pretty sad.

This was, by far, the toughest loss I have ever experienced in all these years of watching hockey at Notre Dame.

I was trying to put a post together that made sense from some sort of an analytical standpoint but I'm too frustrated. UMD played well yes, congratulations to them, but this was not like the Denver game last year. We played like crap then, but playing our best we probably would have lost that game. Had we played our best tonight, we'd have won this game easier than we've won a game in 2 months. But tonight, I could fill up an entire notebook cataloging mistakes I saw, from players and coaches alike.

As was posted by someone else, I feel like we let a huge opportunity slip through our hands. It wasn't effort, I know everyone left it all on the ice. It was obvious the team was physically, mentally and emotionally empty when the game ended. But the winning team was too. We just made mistake after mistake.

I hate that in 2018 we judge a season too much on what happened during the last game you play. Right now I'm guilty of that, and that's unfair. But unless and until this team finally wins the final game of the year, this one is going to be remembered as an unbelievable opportunity gone unrealized. I'll feel better about the season in a couple of days. Right now though, this one just sucks too much.

We were such a good team this season.

We looked composed all game last night. UMD had their moments, they skated hard, they played well. But we never looked outclassed. We never looked hapless. That game could have been ours and nobody would have been surprised. Notre Dame had a great season that fell just short of near perfect. Kudos all around, but more painful than any other season ever.

Don't disagree on much but....

except for a bad tag team play by Peeke and Morris, it's 1-1 in regulation. And we know what happens in OT - Hockey Gods time. So the film breakdown shows all of the stuff you mention you and I both know from long experience that this game is least susceptible to that. The thing I'll give UMD credit for is that they do what we generally do so well - cram shooting lanes and throw blocks.

arguably the best season in the history of the program - lot

to be pleased about.

I don’t think there’s any argument *

Like CJC, I'm not an X's and O's type with respect...

...to hockey, but have watched for a long time (like, 50+ years), and the following comes out of that context.

I agree that we had a hard time generating organized rushes that presented significant threats; we certainly made mistakes, and two of those (actually, more than two, within two situations) led to the total offense of UMD. Our spacing often seemed poor, and our passes often seemed to be just off the target's stick. When we did have chances in the offensive zone they were usually well-defended, and when they weren't we shot the puck inaccurately and, again, couldn't seem to get the puck on the stick of a player coming open by the net (the few times that really happened).

My impression is that the energetic play of UMD had a lot to do with that--they were highly disruptive from the neutral zone back into their end, getting to pucks and getting in our way. It had a physical effect on where we could go with the puck and probably a mental effect, too, as we seemed to rush some passes and get in our own ways. Maybe this represents some degree of a lapse in coaching; usually when the other team focuses on one approach to the game it leaves opportunities elsewhere. But UMD's philosophy seemed to be to just play with utmost energy, and we didn't directly match or strategically counter that.

Having said that, we played with a lot of energy, too. It just shaped up as a night when neither team was going to have a lot of offensive success. Another way to consider the outcome is to note the impact of random events in a game between two fairly evenly matched opponents. What if Cale seals the post on their second goal? What if we get just one slightly different angle to one of the pucks that seemed to be laying around in the blue paint, or a slightly different bounce of the puck itself down there?

Yes, very frustrating, but to put it in a nutshell, I felt like UMD was too disruptive, and we had no answer to their play.

That very much agrees with what I saw.

Moreover, I think the fact that it was a virtual home game for tUMD played very much to their advantage with the style of game that they played. I was worried that at some point, the energy from the crowd was going to translate to an extra jump on the ice, and I think that came to fruition in the third period.