The Lakers are four games into the 2018 season, and here's some things we've learned so far.
1-The Lakers are not a top four team in the country right now. After being beaten 4-2 and 5-0 by #3 Minnesota, and 6-1 and 5-3 by #2 Wisconsin in the first two weeks of the season the Lakers fell from the tenth spot in the polls, immediately feeling the effects of their tough non conference schedule. Yesterday, although the shots were lopsided in Wisconsin's favor, Mercyhurst was down by a goal with a minute left reminding us that in hockey anything can happen. The Lakers didn't get the result they wanted, but hopefully feel they got better over the course of these four games, and will be ready to go with the next team up.
No team started the season with a similarly difficult schedule as Mercyhurst, other than maybe UMD, who has faced Boston College and Minnesota. UMD, led by head coach Maura Crowell, went 2-1-1 in that span, giving an early indication they are better than originally expected. They started the season ranked at ninth.
We know the Lakers aren't top four in the country right now, so the question becomes are they top ten, top twenty? I believe they can be a top ten team, and they still have the opportunity to prove it. We’ll learn more next weekend as they take on CHA foe, the Syracuse Orange. The Orange are 0-1, having lost to BC yesterday.
2- Sophomore goaltender Leah Klassen, from Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON got the start yesterday for Mercyhurst for the first time. This was surprising, as I expected Sarah McDonnell to start yesterday in lieu of Kennedy Blair, just to try to spark something. Whether McDonnell is injured or whether Klassen has emerged as the second goalie is irrelevant. It's impressive for any goalie to play their first college game against an offense like Wisconsin’s (Kennedy Blair did the same last year, when she started for Mercyhurst at Wisconsin). Wisconsin finished fifth in the nation in offense last year, and with the return of Olympian Emily Clark, and Annie Pankowski who was a final cut for Team USA, Wisconsin will once again have one of the best offenses in the country. Klassen made 35 saves and gave up four goals in her collegiate debut, for a save percentage of 89.74%.
3 - Emma Nuutinen has three points in four games, including two goals against two top ranked teams. Emma did good things for Mercyhurst as soon as she joined the team last year, but it wasn't until a December series versus Syracuse that she got her first goal as Laker, at which point her production shifted into a higher gear. To see her finding the back of the net early, against top competition bodes well for the Lakers. The same can be said of sophomore center Alexa Vasko, who is relied upon in all situations, and potted a goal against Wisconsin yesterday.
4- Freshman Emily Pinto (Mississauga, ON) may be small in stature, but she is showing up big on the scoresheet early. The five foot three forward has two goals and an assist in her first four college games. She is one to watch for sure next weekend, as the Lakers take on the Orange.
5- One of the themes yesterday online was fans struggling with streams. I was only able to watch about a period and a half of the Lakers-Badgers game due to issues. The Clarkson RMU feed was out most of one of its games, there was talk of Colgate OSU stream issues, and even one of the NWHL games was having issues. Other than the NWHL stream those are all streams that viewers had to pay for, adding insult to injury.
There's not much to say, other than to point out the frustration of this experience. At the end of the day, you want the players to get a first class experience at a Div I school. If my experience as a fan can't even register on the list of priorities, I totally get it (although parents would justifiably be less forgiving). But these kinds of experiences only fuel my hope that one day we can have a high level women's pro hockey league, and be able to watch it regularly on TV. Yesterday was a reminder of one of the ways in which it is difficult to be a women's sports fan.
6- I read that the Minnesota Mercyhurst series of last week was very fast paced. I can believe it, watching what I saw of Mercyhurst Wisconsin this weekend. Mercyhurst's speed is a positive they can take forward to their next series, making it a point to be the team that pushes the pace of the game. The Mercyhurst defenders do a nice job getting their heads up and finding forwards who are streaking down the wing through the neutral zone.
7- Mercyhurst's power play has gone three for sixteen, or 18.8% to start the season. Again, considering the opponents and considering Mercyhurst's historical pp success rate of around 13%, that's excellent, no matter how early it may be. The penalty kill is operating at 80%. I wish I had seen more, but it was encouraging to see sophomore Rachel Marmen quarterbacking the first power play unit against Wisconsin the other day (and doing a decent job).
That's all for now. I wish I had a clever hockey saying sign off, but oh well. Looking forward to watching the Lakers take on Syracuse next week. Ever the optimist, I have a feeling that not only is the streaming free, it's going to work too!
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