we started getting pucks deep rather than trying to carry in we had nothing of a forecheck - they never had any trouble making it one and done. Getting pucks in deep is useless unless you’ve got bodies there to do something.

but we really did play poorly without the puck. We'd dump it deep but we led the forwards chasing the puck too much and UMD got a stick on it first. Although their second goal leaked in when maybe it shouldn't have, had Morris made that save but left the puck active, we did not have defenders positioned well enough to keep UMD skaters away from it. I'm not a particularly good hockey player, but I always prided myself as a good defensive forward because I was rarely out of position. I generated little offense other than lucky bounces but the other teams didn't score when I was on the ice a whole lot because I knew where to be and could check someone off the puck or be in his lane to prevent a good shot or effective pass. Positioning, play away from the puck and puck support is important at any level of the game, but I think it becomes more and more important the higher along the evolutionary chain the players are.