Playoffs? You kidding me? The Saint Thomas Tomyies roll into town for the first round of the CCHA playoffs for a best of three series. The Huskies were 3-1 vs the Tomies this season, but the games were all fairly close. Even the 6-2 win in November was tied 2-2 going into the third period. With that in mind I was a expecting a much closer series than you might think from a matchup between the 2nd and 7th seeds.
Friday, March 3rd Michigan Tech 1 – St Thomas 0
Oh boy that game wasn’t good for my physical or mental health. This was way to close for comfort, especially against a team like the Thommys who always seem to find a way to stay in the game and make things tense.
Yeah that looks about right, lots of good chances for both teams in this game. Both goalies played excellently, something something thank God we have Blake on our team. In general Tech did a good job keeping St Thomas to the outside and gave up very few shots from the slot. But unfortunately the Thomees were able to get the a lot of chances from in close to the net, I found it a little concerning that the majority of those chances in tight came from established offensive zone time and not breakaways which is typically what we see from St Thomas.
Saturday, March 4th Michigan Tech 5 – St Thomas 4
So on Friday I was watching and wishing the Huskies would score more goals. Luckily on Saturday night I got my wish, unfortunately the Thomies also kicked their offense into gear and it was still a one goal game. Not any better for my stress levels, but at least it was entertaining.
This game actually feels a lot like Friday, its just more pucks went in the net. The Huskies had more shots from the slot and the Tomieys had more chances right in front of the net. Again while St Thomas had a few breakaways, most of the their dangerous chances came from established offensive zone time. I’m not sure if I’m happy that Tech didn’t give up many breakaways, or concerned about how much time St Thomas was able to keep control of the puck in our zone. Maybe a bit of both.
I’m not even gonna say it. It is a little concerning that (in general) the players who had the best xG% for tech were the ones who played the least and the ones who played the most were the ones who had worse xG%. That being said, it is certainly possible that the players with less ice time got put into more favorable situations and were setup for success. Factors like quality of competition and where you are starting your shift can have a big impact here and that isn’t something this chart accounts for in any way.
No thoughts, just vibes
no vibes, just stress.
Closing Time
I hope you enjoyed taking a look at some nice charts and graphs with me. If you have any questions about the charts, my analysis, or just want to say hello, please leave a comment or reach out to me on the THG discord server (@Augie) and I’d be happy to try and answer your questions.
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