The Titans ended a two-game mini-slump against Jacksonville on Saturday, and in the process all-but sealed their berth into the MAAC Championship. Good weekend in Detroit.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Jacksonville 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville | Detroit | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 10 | Faceoff Wins | 9 |
| Clearing | 14-15 | Clearing | 17-18 |
| Possessions | 26 | Possessions | 28 |
| Goals | 7 | Goals | 8 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .269 | Offensive Efficiency | .286 |
Both teams cleared pretty well – nobody was setting records on the ride Saturday. They were about even on faceoffs, which I guess is bound to happen when two pretty bad faceoff teams (both around bottom 10 in the country) square off. Anything close to 50% is pretty good for this Detroit team, and they should be able to win a lot of the game in which they don’t get killed there.
In a one-goal game, the winning team is bound to have a better efficiency mark, unless there’s a big disparity in possessions. One possession either way could have changed the outcome, so the difference is amplified.
Notes
As noted above, the faceoffs went much better than the season average for UDM. In fact, they were just one loss – by non-regular faceoff man Nick Garippa, for example – from being dead even. This was a pretty slow game, so each faceoff was pretty important, and the Titans were able to hold their own.
Offensively, Shayne Adams was once again the focal point with Joel Matthews out of the lineup, but unlike last year, he had plenty of help, as well. His four goals were matched by two goals and two assists from Alex Maini atop the points board. Wes Steen added two goals – his first points of the season – to close out multi-point days.
On defense, you will assuredly be SHOCKED to find out that Jordan Houtby and Jamie Hebden led the team in caused turnovers with four and three, respectively. Chris Nemes wasn’t far behind with two of his own.
A.J. Levell had a good day in goal, saving 10 of the 17 shots he faced. Six of those saves came in the fourth quarter (in which he only allowed one goal) to will UDM to a win.
The Titans looked a lto like Michigan in terms of their scoring pattern. They ran up a 3-0 lead, then allowed six straight from the end of the first quarter through the middle of the third. Unlike Michigan, however, they were able to respond in a big way. Five straight goals earned them the win.
For Jacksonville, T.J. Kenary’s four goals and Max Gurowski’s three assists led the team on the day. Kenary had been underachieving compared to expectations to this point on the year, but his big day came at the expense of the Dolphins’ leading scorer Cameron Mann, who had just one goal and one assist.
Both teams were terrible on the man-up, going a combined 0-for-10. In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Detroit actually committed fewer penalties than Jacksonville.
Elsewhere
Coach Holtz postgame:
A.J. Levell and Wes Teen postgame interview. UDM official site recap. Jacksonville site recap features a typo in the headline. Good times.
Jim Davenport photo gallery in three parts.
Up Next
Detroit has a non-conference date against Bellarmine next weekend before closing out the MAAC slate at VMI. The ECAC opponent isn’t going to have a great effect on their greater season-long goals (now amounting to “win the MAAC tournament or bust”), but it is a chance to add a non-conference victory.
The bigger game is the one against VMI, but even that might not be super-relevant to the conference standings by the time it rolls around.
Tim, great recap as usual…I liked the Titans grit in this game…They played hard and with some conviction and it helped them win the day…It was a huge win for them, an emotional win for Coach Holtz and his staff to be sure…They are not perfect and I think me and a lot of Titan fans are still waiting for them to put a complete game together…They have some moments where they look like they could compete with any team in D1 and then they go and look inept at times… Jacksonville scored 6 un-answered and almost had a 7th when the tide turned… Then it was a war in the 4th… AJ was stellar and had some help from his friends the Pipes, and J’Ville’s goalie got lucky with some pipes too…The next two games: Bellermine and VMI will be key for them if they can build toward that full game effort… If they can’t do it, the MAAC tourney will be dissapointing for them… If they can play a full game top to bottom in the MAAC Tourney, I believe they could win their first NCAA birth…Face offs, Man up and ball control with goals will be the key… No defensive lapses… They saw zone defense from Jacksonville and forced them out of it…which was good! Loved the leadership out of Hebden and Janer especially on man down late in the game…Looking forward to Senior day! Go Titans! Thanks again Tim!
We’ve seen flashes of great potential with this Detroit team, and there have also been some times that they’ve looked awful.
The key is to be more consistent with the highs (and to prevent the lows from getting too deep). If the Titans can play well for two games in Poughkeepsie (even 1.5 games, really, depending on the first-round matchup), they have an excellent shot at making their first-ever NCAA Tournament.