Notre Dame finished with 31 official shots on goal

That doesn't count the 4 posts. That total is a pretty typical output for the Irish this season, as they averaged 30.86 shots per game.

What troubles me though is the shots they don't take, and their tendency to fail to recognize when a shot is there, and when it isn't. This stems from an overall lack of dynamic skilled offensive players, something most who watch them already realize of course.

In a typical game this season I've lost count of how many times they make one extra move that removes them from a prime shooting area, or even one extra transfer from forehand to back or back to fore, and take a much lower percentage shot as a result. They constantly move a deep puck further out for a shot, and among Big Ten teams they are clearly the weakest at generating traffic or crashing the net. The crashing the net part is pitifully bad. We do not have players who get gritty goals at all. Morrison is clutch, but he does that with his skill as much as his grind.

Minnesota played better tonight, and Notre Dame played a little worse, but the amount of time we possessed the puck should have led to more than one goal. Both nights. Morris (or any goalie) should not be prohibited from making one lousy mistake. The first goal was all on him. He should make that save 100% of the time. But the second goal was clearly a team fail, Morris included.

After this much time as a relevant program Notre Dame should be able to recruit the pieces they frequently seem to be missing. When I pounded my head against the glass after near misses in 1973, or 1977, or 1982 those were teams that were almost lost to be wandering that close to an NCAA bid. Not anymore.