Saturday, May 3, 2008

CSU 14 – UTAH 6 – SEMI-FINALS RMLC

I WANT THAT SILVER CUP BACK

It is Saturday, but barely, and let’s just say I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow, which in a way I already started last night (Friday, an hour ago) when we had a fairly productivity team meeting.  We used the time well.  We patted ourselves very lightly on the back and then we quickly put our 14-6 defeat of Utah to bed so we could get on with the new business at hand, which is of course to come up with some kind of effective plan to bring to our game with BYU tomorrow, the one at 5:00 p.m. MDT that is being played to determine the RMLC Champion, and yes I know we are the big underdog and we don’t have a chance and all that, at least based on our recent games with the Cougars.  Just the same, we’ll go ahead and be there, and yes, fool that I am I think we have a chance, and after our meeting an hour ago I am convinced that we have a unified spirit about our approach as well.  That stokes my fire I can say that for sure. 

SLEEP TIGHT

Who knows if all this will help me sleep any better tonight, but that doesn’t matter because I know what will and I’ll be going there soon.  Hopefully the kids will give me a bit of a break in the morning.  Yeah, that’s going to happen – NOT.

OH YEAH, THE GAME

We played pretty well generally.  They scored first, but then we led the Utes 3-1 fairly quickly, but of course then we let them tie the game at three.

A FUNNY THIG HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO USUAL FORM

So then we went up 6-3 sometime in the second quarter, also something not uncommon for us, but this time it didn’t stop for once.  We didn’t then let Utah back on the field as it were after that run that made it 6-3.  I think we led 7-4 at the half, I’m not positive, but it (game) was pretty much headed in one direction after that, and that was despite a very spirited effort by the Utes.  They played hard and we didn’t let them come back anyway.  What a novel concept.  I’d like it to be the trend.

BYU OR BUST

We did not play well against BYU on April 5^th, but truthfully since then we have been a team making strides.  Our trend recently has been to dominate two statistics and to hold our own in most of the others (not my own EMO, however, which is pretty much loathsome percentage-wise).  Those two stats we have been getting good are ground ball numbers and total shots AT the other team's goal, although our shot-actually-on-goal thing isn’t as impressive as the sheer number of shots, but somehow that is okay with me.  As long as we put real pressure on the opponent’s goal I am good for the most part. 

The places where we have been coming along are clearing and face-off percentages.  Actually our clearing had been decent for a while. I hope it is today/tomorrow.

PENALTY FREE IS TRULY THE WAY TO BE

Also our man down defense has been better, at least a little bit, too.  I worry about being down a man tomorrow because BYU has had way too much success on us recently in that part of the game.  Besides, being man down more than very occasionally inside a game just screws up my little movie.  Being penalty free pretty much always looks good to me.  That is part of what I wish for tomorrow, but of course it is also something that is impossible (almost) to control at times, because I certainly want us to be agro as the Aussies say (aggressive).

HE SHOOTS AND SOMETIMES HE SCORES

So, anyway, we out-shot Utah 50-29, and we got 55 ground balls to the Utes 27.  Those are pretty strong numbers considering that we lost to the Utah Utes a little more than a month ago in 5 overtimes in a game and on a day that THEY won many of the statistical battles I was just talking about.

IT TAKES THE WHOLE FAM DAMILY

I think both California Cooper Kehoe (A - #3 – 2011) and Guitar Joel Tromburg (#9 – M – 2009) both had 4 goals on the night.  It was good team offense for us, however, and even though we accomplished a lot via the dodging/match-up route I still feel like many were involved with the scoring process on most of our goals, and maybe it is okay to not be so obsessed with assists these days.  Well, anyway I haven’t been.  We are getting assists of the kind that don’t necessarily show up on the score sheet sometimes.

GOOD NIGHT

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