PSU MLAX 2023 Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
PSU playing really well, except for FOs. Michigan has the advantage in FOs, 11-5, and one of PSU's 5 was with a couple of seconds left in the 1st qtr, so winning it was of no advantage.
PSU received a cross-check penalty with 2.? sec left in the half, so Michigan will play the first 57 sec of the 3rd qtr up a man. Plus, there won't be a FO to start the half.
@ColinPSU -- what are your thoughts on the the game?
PSU received a cross-check penalty with 2.? sec left in the half, so Michigan will play the first 57 sec of the 3rd qtr up a man. Plus, there won't be a FO to start the half.
@ColinPSU -- what are your thoughts on the the game?
12-10 UM now. Michigan changed GK’s at the half and the freshman has come up with some big stops. UM has come out on fire in the 2nd half and PSU is flat. FO’s are still lousy for PSU.
sorry, I had to depart early in the 4th qtr.
Michigan extended the lead to 16-11. PSU rallied, but had dug too deep of a hole for themselves.
I don't know enough about this team. Did they underperformed in the B1G tourney? I seebUM won the tourney and they were lower ranked. I recall someone alluded to earlier in the season that PSU was weak in the face-off phase of the game. Is that their major weakness?
Sometimes, you have to give the other team some credit. Michigan has two (if I recall correctly) guys that are exceptional at FOs. It isn't necessarily a major weakness of a team if another team dominates FOs. It could be a major weakness of one team, or it could simply be that it's a major strength of the other team..
PSU lost in the NCAA semis a few years ago to Yale, in part because Yale had a ridiculously good guy on FOs. But PSU beat Yale a year later (I think that's the interval) when Yale still had the same guy handling FOs.
Or look at the recent B1G tourney semi between PSU and Michigan. Michigan dominated FOs in the 1st half, but PSU lead at the half, 10-8. Michigan changed GKs for the 2nd half, and PSU had several offensive plays where they had excellent shots on goal, but were stopped by the "new" Michigan GK.
It's easy to point to Michigan dominating the FOs in their semifinal matchup, and that did contribute to PSU losing the match. While FOs have a big impact in LAX (as you can't score if you don't have the ball), how a team executes their offense, how a team executes their defense, the goaltending they get, how many turnovers they commit, how many penalties a team is assessed, etc. all have an impact on the outcome of the match.
PSU will likely be challenged against teams that have elite FO guys. But PSU has excellent attackers, an excellent GK, and a D that generally causes problems for opposing teams and also limits the attempts by the other team's O. That's enough strengths to win most matches. Only time will tell if it's enough to win all their matches in NCAAs.
If @ColinPSU is around, he's far more knowledgable about MLAX, so I'd be curious to hear his response to your question, and his take on PSU's team.
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Thanks for your detailed response Tom. That was helpful.
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