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Interesting game this Saturday. Who wins and why?

Hill Murray 4-2

HM 5-3. They are relentless and Lechner is the states best coach. Even losing Guenzel and Heinrich early to USHL and Sampair to graduation won't slow them down. Hill always reloads. Plus they need to give STA a taste of AA hockey

I think the Pioneers will prevail in this one. However they will need to finish much better then they did last night vs SSP.

How early does one have to get to St. Thomas arena to get a seat for this game?

St Thomas hasn't won in a few years and only has two wins in the last 5 years in this conference rivalry. It is amazing how good Hill is this year with what they've lost from last year. Hoping for a great game.

inthetwine wrote:How early does one have to get to St. Thomas arena to get a seat for this game?

I'd be curious for thoughts from others. Did not attend Lourdes game but attended Cretin game, and while it was packed there was plenty of room for people to find seats if they had wanted to, which I was surprised.
Cretin is historically a much bigger rival and would expect [in a vacuum] that the Hill game be less attended. I also don't know how the weekend/weekday aspect affects this. There will be enough parking, but I wouldn't guess you'd need to be too early.

inthetwine wrote:How early does one have to get to St. Thomas arena to get a seat for this game?

I was at last years game between these two team, and there were seats available throughout the game. A typical Private vs Private occurance.

Knowing the talent on both teams fairly well, I have to go with Hill 4-2. 3-1 if Zevnik plays especially well (.944 save % and 1.25 GAA). Since they dumped most of STA's returning players into the Elite League last fall, I saw each of them roughly a dozen times..

Henry Hart is a quick little center but hangs onto the puck way too long and is only somewhat effective at this level.. Alex Johnson, Austin Sattler & Matt Perry were not effective at all in the Elite League. In fact Hill had 4 F's in the League (lavalle, Brown, Slattery, & Funk) and all 4 had more points then the highest STA scorer..

So I don't know where STA is going to get their O from against Hill (I know Versich and Novak are doing well so far, but still...). STA's D are strong and Zevnik can be extremely difficult to beat but I can't see that overcoming Hill, with the way they are playing right now...

The goalie matchup between Dugas (.949 save % and .97 GAA - against 3 top 10 teams) and Zevnik should be interesting sideline to the game. Dugas has the better stats and has palyed #1, #7, #8, & LVS while Zevnik's stats have come against 3 mediocre teams and #3 Minnetonka. He had 17 saves on 19 shots against Tonka (3rd goal was an EN.) Both of these G's were among the 4 chosen for the two Elite League All-Star Teams - MN White & MN Red.. STA's Dougherty made MN Red at D and Willie Brown from Hill made the team at F.

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Wallyworld wrote:So I don't know where STA is going to get their O from against Hill (I know Versich and Novak are doing well so far, but still...). STA's D are strong and Zevnik can be extremely difficult to beat but I can't see that overcoming Hill, with the way they are playing right now...

The Cadets' best two forwards didn't play in the elite league...

Not disputing anything you said, but that matters quite a bit. Looking for a good game tomorrow night!

BodyShots wrote:

inthetwine wrote:How early does one have to get to St. Thomas arena to get a seat for this game?

I was at last years game between these two team, and there were seats available throughout the game. A typical Private vs Private occurance.

Typical with a half decade of dominance on one side and not a lot of hope on the other. CDH has decided to roll over in hockey and give beating STA at basketball a better shot.

Saturday night bouts I've been too where always pretty full, especially compared to when the Academy was stuck with the 2:30 pm games and the University wanted the later times.

HM 3-1.

I also heard STA has two players out with concussions. I don't know who they are but supposedly two of there better players.

STA just can't put the puck in the net against the better teams. And to score against Dougas, you need forwards in front of the net and crash for rebounds. Not a STA strength there either.

Is the Hill-Murray/St Thomas game on-line live tonight? Thanks. Hill by a couple...

With the fan voting being 17-3 in favor of Hill, that says a lot.. Since both are private schools with a good deal of vitriolic sentiments directed their way, I don't think that is what is going on here. Either there are a lot of Hill fans and they are voting with heart over head or Hill really is that good compared to STA.

But, any time you have good D and an excellent G (like Zevnik) it's never a sure bet.. So I wouldn't be shocked if STA upset Hill.. People are talking about how many of these matchups in a row Hill has won but if you were at the first game between the two last year, STA definitely outplayed Hill and deserved to win. Dugas saved Hill's rear in that game big time. It was a 2-1 Hill win but shots were 36-21 STA and that definitely reflected the play.

In fact, in the last two years, the first game between these two has been decide by a goal while the second meeting had Hill winning 4-2 and 5-2. This could be attributed to Lechner's tendency to play around with his lines more than most coaches in order to have them firing on all cylinderst by tourney time... So history says, this first meeting should be fairly close

Is this game streaming online anywhere?

Granttenn wrote:With the fan voting being 17-3 in favor of Hill, that says a lot.. Since both are private schools with a good deal of vitriolic sentiments directed their way, I don't think that is what is going on here.

There are a lot more STA haters than HM ones.

And HM is probably better this year.

What an amazing, well matched game tonight!

Hill-Murray defense was some of the best I've seen in a long time. With the exception of roughly 3 minutes during Hill's 5 minute major and the 2 goals in the 3rd, they totally shut down the Cadets' offense. Many of the shots came during the 5 minute power play, many great scoring chances that they simply couldn't finish, but very few high quality scoring chances outside of that. St Thomas has a couple lines that are very selfless and pass often and were totally shut down tonight; guys in the right place at the right time and amazing goalie play. I would be surprised to see them give up more than 3 goals in a game all season.

Was not impressed with Hill's offense tonight. Maybe it's a testament to the defense of St Thomas, but it didn't seem like they could get much going all night. They hit two pipes and did have 2 or 3 random quality scoring chances, but aside from that, there wasn't much there.

The play seemed to be in Hill's zone a majority of the game, but the Cadets' couldn't put it in front of the net when they needed to. Numerous missed passes at key moments as well. They had two good goals.

I saw two very evenly matched teams, both led by a very strong defense play tonight. There is the potential for these two to play twice more this season and I wouldn't expect either to be high scoring.

Great game tonight; go Cadets!

Awfully quiet...

This one was all Lechner.. Coasting into 3rd with a 1-0 lead he changes up the lines and within 10+ minutes they give up 2 goals. Totally unbelievable...

If you were there, you know what I mean. After killing off a major to end the 2nd period, Hill had everything going for it and king of Ego's Lechner changes up the lines... I think he does this on purpose sometimes to create turmoil... Well, I'd like my $6 back if your going to coach like that... Guess what - after your ingenious move you can "play like we don't have a lead"

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Wally, I'd hold off on speculation about reasons behind the line change in the third. I presume there was more to it than ego.

hockeyfan893 wrote:Wally, I'd hold off on speculation about reasons behind the line change in the third. I presume there was more to than ego.

He sat one of their key 1st line F's to teach him a lesson. I know how he works.. And it screwed parts of the other lines up in the process - not to mention missing 1st line talent down the stretch ... Typical Lechner..

But conversely, what kind of message does it send to the team/players if you don't take action in a situation like this? Historically, Lechner has shown that he is willing to make tough choices, despite the potential sacrifice on the scoreboard.

There were plenty of other things to worry about in Hill's performance than a line adjustment in the third. They were flat. Offense has been stagnant recently, and STA outplayed them the whole game. The better team won tonight.

hockeyfan893 wrote:But conversely, what kind of message does it send to the team/players if you don't take action in a situation like this? Historically, Lechner has shown that he is willing to make tough choices, despite the potential sacrifice on the scoreboard.

There were plenty of other things to worry about in Hill's performance than a line adjustment in the third. They were flat. Offense has been stagnant recently, and STA outplayed them the whole game. The better team won tonight.

Must not have seen game in the same way. Hill started slowly but completely outplayed STA once it got going and in 2nd until the major. Would have done the same in 3rd without Lechner's changes. 'Quicker to puck all night' and that was a statement made to me by the STA fan sitting next to me. She said Hill was smothering their offense and getting to pucks quicker - 'like they had more kids on ice' - which ended heading up ice. All they had to do was keep doing that..

. Plus were not talking about sitting a kid because of a dumb penalty or consistently poor plays.. That, I could see - for long run.. Kid wasn't playing up to Lechner's very high expectations, so he makes a rash decision to sit him down... I just think it could have been handled in a way that didn't cost the other kids - and fans who traveled in from out of state to see this game..

So Wally, for two years all I read on this forum is that Lechner is the best and now he is a bum? Hey they lost it happens!

keepyourheadup wrote:So Wally, for two years all I read on this forum is that Lechner is the best and now he is a bum? Hey they lost it happens!

I was at the game tonight and agree with Wally, Hill blew this game in the third with the changes...why change things up when your winning 1-0? Hill goalie played well and deserved better...