Man does April of 2018 feel like a long time ago

Man does April of 2018 feel like a long time ago
by wearendhockey (2024-11-23 20:49:51)

This program has steadily declined since then.

8 games in and we have 3 points. Just 2 more than Penn State and they have three league games in hand on the Irish. For whatever excuses can be made about being short handed, this team is just not very good. No depth, obviously. No speed. No physicality. Whatever skill they do have is buried in a complete inability to find 5 guys to put on the ice at the same time who play like they've had more than 2 practices together. I don't even know what the hell I have been watching when I have managed to tune in, but it doesn't even resemble some of Jackson's bad teams here, like 2009-2010 or 2014-2015.

It looks like Notre Dame hockey has been left to whither and die on the vine. Seems like inexcusable mismanagement. And it isn't like what is being put on the ice is just a one-off this season. This downfall has been going on since that loss on April 7, 2018 (to what was likely the least impressive NCAA champion in the modern era). With the exception of one season, each of the 7 seasons since 2017-18 has been more troubling than the prior one. You have to wonder how much the team's lack of competitiveness and NCAA success for what will be 6 years will affect getting recruits who will succeed in NCAA hockey. I do know that Sheahan should not have had his hands tied for two years. If he is going to succeed, he could have learned even more as the head coach the last two seasons than being one of multiple assistants. Jackson is a legend, yes, but a good part of that legend was winning titles somewhere else. I hope letting him write his own ticket won't eventually be proven to have done lasting harm to the teams chances to return to what it was years ago.

Aside from the several stupid penalties we

took this weekend leading to multiple PP goals for the gophers we played pretty well. Maybe our best games of the year despite losing both games. There is an obvious difference in high-end talent favoring the gophers (absolute snipe by Snuggerud and oliver Moore’s pass on his back was a thing of beauty as a couple of examples). However, we generated a fair amount of offense against a good defensive team but couldn’t quite convert. The two frosh on D looked like they belong which is encouraging. After running this gauntlet of playing 3 top-5 teams over 3 weeks I fully expect us to hammer Harvard next week in Belfast.