The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

We are not "built" for a olympic sheet, though that does not mean we can not win at SCSU or CC

Lets close that gap for home ice next week @ Lawson. A victory vs Miami would really set up the outdoor game vs Miami in Chicago the following week.

(01-25-2015 07:40 PM)Bronco nut Wrote:  Colonel we are on the same side here,we just don't always agree on the solution.But in the end Go Broncos!

  012413_flyingv.jpg (Size: 73.1 KB / Downloads: 7)
We're on the same side, Go Broncos!

Lunatic

There were so many of your comments in your last post that I believe are factually off base, with all due respect, I must disagree and chime in:

Bronco hockey is not too big and they are a very balanced team this year. Where they are big, they are very big and why is that a bad thing? We have plenty of “sick hands” skill guys and don’t need to recruit more.

McKee is in the right spot and it makes a lot of sense having him up front. It takes a while to make the transition from playing defense to playing forward and he is progressing nicely.

This weekend, did you not see how many times he was “first” to win the race to the loose puck deep in the SCSU DZ? Did you not see how the two SCSU Finnish defensemen (5’ 8” 162# Ilvonen and 5’ 9” 175# Nevalainen) struggled and could not contain McKee down low? Did you not see how well he protected the puck and was forcing the SCSU defensemen to expend a lot of time/energy attempting to contain him? Did you not see how many 50/50 he won? You don’t think the SCSU defensemen where at times “looking over their shoulder when turning to go get the puck, wondering if the speedy 6’ 5” 255# McKee was right behind them lining them up?

IMO, the constant complaints about what is preceived as a lack of offense is baffling. Isn’t 3 goals pretty good? How many goals do you expect the Bronco’s to score, especially vs. a good team in the NCHC who also has a very good goalie? Did you not see some of Lindgren’s “highlight real” saves that made this weekend? How about the Colgate goalie? Good goalies have over a .900 save percentage and if you put up 30 SOG, that’s less than 2.7 GAA.

Over the last 12 games where the Broncos went 8-2-2 they scored fewer than 3 goals only three times, two of those games ended in loses (Colgate 1-2 and SCSU 0-7) and one ended in a tie (UMD 2-2) with a shootout victory.

Prior to that, during a period where the Broncos went 3-8-2, five of those loses we scored 3 or more goals. We didn’t lose these games because we didn’t have enough offense.

As for not seeing the swirling, fluid attacks from the defensemen, Morrison and Dienes certainly are not a Dekeyser and Wit. That’s a really bad comparison and please don’t make me go there to point out the obvious.

Finally, regarding culture for assistant coaches where they can "chirp in"? Pretty sure Barr’s thumb print is in there somewhere this year. Have you not noticed the difference in our power play this year minus a Balisy, Berchbeck and Osterlee? We are 4th in the country with a 23.47 PP!!!! Last year we were 54th out of 59 teams with 13.26 PP. Have you not noticed the stretch passes they use when they want to open up some of their offense? You think Barr might have something to do with this?

And in regards to Shyiak, a coach with 18 year of division 1 college coaching experience that includes 8 years as a head coach in the WCHA. Do you really think he would even consider leaving a NHL scouting position to take a job as an assistant coach where he would not be allowed to “chirp in”? Seriously? Have you not noticed how he has handled the d-core this year? When have you ever seen 2 WMU freshman defensemen on the number #1 PK? In last Saturdays game those two freshman were called on to shutdown the #16 power play with a 20.35 % conversion rate and were double shifted during a critical game on the road in the third period on 3 on 5 PK??? I’m 100% sure Shyiak has a lot of say and input as to what the Bronco D-core are doing this year.

(01-26-2015 01:24 PM)BroncoFever Wrote:  Lunatic

There were so many of your comments in your last post that I believe are factually off base, with all due respect, I must disagree and chime in:

Bronco hockey is not too big and they are a very balanced team this year. Where they are big, they are very big and why is that a bad thing? We have plenty of “sick hands” skill guys and don’t need to recruit more.

McKee is in the right spot and it makes a lot of sense having him up front. It takes a while to make the transition from playing defense to playing forward and he is progressing nicely.

This weekend, did you not see how many times he was “first” to win the race to the loose puck deep in the SCSU DZ? Did you not see how the two SCSU Finnish defensemen (5’ 8” 162# Ilvonen and 5’ 9” 175# Nevalainen) struggled and could not contain McKee down low? Did you not see how well he protected the puck and was forcing the SCSU defensemen to expend a lot of time/energy attempting to contain him? Did you not see how many 50/50 he won? You don’t think the SCSU defensemen where at times “looking over their shoulder when turning to go get the puck, wondering if the speedy 6’ 5” 255# McKee was right behind them lining them up?

IMO, the constant complaints about what is preceived as a lack of offense is baffling. Isn’t 3 goals pretty good? How many goals do you expect the Bronco’s to score, especially vs. a good team in the NCHC who also has a very good goalie? Did you not see some of Lindgren’s “highlight real” saves that made this weekend? How about the Colgate goalie? Good goalies have over a .900 save percentage and if you put up 30 SOG, that’s less than 2.7 GAA.

Over the last 12 games where the Broncos went 8-2-2 they scored fewer than 3 goals only three times, two of those games ended in loses (Colgate 1-2 and SCSU 0-7) and one ended in a tie (UMD 2-2) with a shootout victory.

Prior to that, during a period where the Broncos went 3-8-2, five of those loses we scored 3 or more goals and didn’t loose these games because we didn’t have enough offense.

As for not seeing the swirling, fluid attacks from the defensemen, Morrison and Dienes certainly are not a Dekeyser and Wit. That’s a really bad comparison and please don’t make me go there to point out the obvious.

Finally, regarding culture for assistant coaches where they can "chirp in"? Pretty sure Barr’s thumb print is in there somewhere this year. Have you not noticed the difference in our power play this year minus a Balisy, Berchbeck and Osterlee? We are 4th in the country with a 23.47 PP!!!! Last year we were 54th out of 59 teams with 13.26 PP. Have you not noticed the stretch passes they use when they want to open up some of their offense? You think Barr might have something to do with this?

And in regards to Shyiak, a coach with 18 year of division 1 college coaching experience that includes 8 years as a head coach in the WCHA. Do you really think he would even consider leaving a NHL scouting position to take a job as an assistant coach where he would not be allowed to “chirp in”? Seriously? Have you not noticed how he has handled the d-core this year? When have you ever seen 2 WMU freshman defensemen on the number #1 PK? In last Saturdays game those two freshman were called on to shutdown the #16 power play with a 20.35 % conversion rate and were double shifted during a critical game on the road in the third period on 3 on 5 PK??? I’m 100% sure Shyiak has a lot of say and input as to what the Bronco D-core are doing this year.

How exactly is McKee progressing nicely? All he does is dump it into the zone and turn the puck over. He was directly responsible for SCSU's first goal on Friday because he can't handle the puck. All he can do is skate and hit and all it leads to is penalties.

Jerry-

I think I already shared with you some details about how Mckee's game is progressing and his positive impact last weekend vs SCSU

Mike has a role to play. He is not going to dangle around guys like a Kovacs would. He should chip the puck up the boards and go it or dump it in to go get it. That's playing to his strengths and playing with in the role which is expected of him. He needs to win the race to a loose puck or finish his check possible forcing a turn over or use his long stick reach to take away a passing lane or plug up the middle, or block shots and back check, back check, back check...

I love the line of Mckee, Hadley and Nong Lambert and they have been very effective as of late being a disruptive force. Did you see how Murray used them in OT vs UMD ??

Did Mckee make a bad decision in Fridays game that resulted a give way? Yes. Was he directly responsible for that 1st goal? NO. He should of just chipped the puck back up the boards off his backhand, as his team mate wasn't providing him any support in order for him to attempt making that pass, but that doesn't mean he isn't capable making good passes.

Should we also call out all the other WMU players who also had give away's or made bad decisions that also resulted in goals or scoring chances on Friday? There were plenty....

As for penalty's, this is another area Mike has progressed in as he is making better decisions. He can't always hit like a Laport, as he is often so much bigger than the other guys he is facing, often a foot taller and 50-75 # bigger. It's hard being checking forward and often having to hold back because guy is just too small.

At the same time, I feel Mike often gets singled out by the refs just because is so much bigger and stronger. I remember last year in the DU conference tournament game there was a 50/50 where he pushed the guy so hard, the guy fell down and Mike got the puck. It was'nt a penalty, he didn't trip the guy, he didn't cross check the guy, he didn't check the guy from behind or infer with him or board him or rough him. He just pushed him, but he was so much stronger, the guy fell down like a rag doll, so the ref just assumed that Mike had to had done something wrong, so he dinged him.

Fever, you make some real good points, and for the most part, I agree with you. If we had a team of Bronco posters, you would be a stout defenseman. Sometimes you are too defensive, even. Chill out.
Chip Dip is a good example of an offensive poster. Sometimes he is too offensive. LOL.
Don't know what that makes posters like me and Brovol. Journalists? Coaches? Smart alec fans maybe?
Anyway, we're all on the same team. It's really enjoyable to follow the hockey team. Go Broncos!

Fever,

First off, props to your detailed insights, and idk if DB deleted my rep button or what because I can't find it, but I'd like to extend some verbal rep points.

Bronco Hockey is scary big this year and I respect it, but this is college hockey and not the OHL. Blashill left us with a team that weighed about an actual 165 lbs/man, and seemed to enjoy finding overlooked diamonds-in-the-rough who could compete well at the collegiate level, although it appears that Coach Murray wants a pipeline of pure NHL-potential players. Reasonable men disagree over these important considerations, and I see both sides. The only horse I've got in this race is Bronco Hockey, so pardon my opinions.

McKee is my favorite player but how are his hands and agility? He's a hungry beast, but I'd be pushing for him to lose an edge most every practice (away from the boards), and would have him losing pucks wide trying to do too much with his hands. If he works his ass off he'll be a stout NHL defenseman, but, "True or False: McKee will be an NHL forward."?

He's too quick for how big he is to compete at the college level, and you alluded to it yourself when you mentioned how he needs to slow down his checks (wasted energy) because he's got too much momentum due to his size. We ought to file a discrimination case against the NCAA on his behalf, due to his size disability. Let's get Julie Mack on this.

Who on your list of hands-guys should have the green light to try to maintain possession while entering the zone under the right matchup situations? My list might have Tiffels, Kovacs, LaPorte, Hargrove, Dries, Novak, Muir, maybe Pitt, Nong-Lambert and a few others ... who am I missing? There must be a few... or do you think there are none?

Regarding utilizing Morrison on offense: Morrison's skating, hands, awareness, and creativity are impressive. DeKeyser is a defensive defenseman, and Morrison strikes me as more of an offensive defenseman in terms of his strengths, so you're right that this is a bad comparison. And Dienes is no Wit, but he's a solid defenseman, which is all I'm hoping to have back if Morrison ever skates it up.

Finally, I haven't seen a practice so I don't know how the Murray/Shyiak/Barr dynamic works but it sounds stout. I support these coaches through and through.

I support this team with all my heart, and have dual NCHC.tv subscriptions so that I've got a stream or two to give away each week.

Go Broncos

Quote: Sat 2/24 game thread, WMU @ SCSU

Okay what am I missing? obvious typo never corrected
FWIW Our Broncos do not have a game 2/24 (February 24th) this year.

Yeah, they moved our February 24th game to February 30th.