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Post being replied to

Good points by wearendhockey

I'm more concerned than pessimistic, although it would be fair to say I do harbor some pessimism as well.

You are clearly more optimistic about the scoring prospects. We were scoring at a good clip in the beginning, but 6 of our first 10 games were against Lake State, Air Force and Wisconsin, all weak teams with porous defenses, especially Wisconsin and Lake State. Burke had 13 of his 21 points against those 3 teams.

After the 8-1-1 start we scored 2 or fewer goals 21 times, not surprisingly losing 2/3rds of those games. And as noted by a couple of us, the offense has been losing steam. We've scored fewer goals than the previous season 3 years in a row.

Of the 16 teams that would be in the tournament if it started today, 11 are in the top 20 in scoring. Of the 5 that are not only Penn State isn't among the top 15 in defense. But to me that says to be in position to make the NCAAs, a solid offense might be more important that a great defense. We need more scoring.

I also expect Stastney to be our most effective player. He does need to shoot more. He has a quick release when he wants to and I think he could easily be among the leagues scoring leaders as far as blueline players. 45 shots on goal from him is not enough. I don't know about doubling that, but I would sure like to see 65-70 or so and see what happens.

Hopefully your sense of optimism is rewarded.