When you aren’t playing the league’s best team, an early four-goal deficit is much easier to dig out of. Detroit did just that against a relatively young program in Monmouth.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Monmouth 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | Monmouth | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 14 | Faceoff Wins | 7 |
| Clearing | 18-20 | Clearing | 19-20 |
| Possessions | 35 | Possessions | 29 |
| Goals | 9 | Goals | 8 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .257 | Offensive Efficiency | .278 |
In contrast to the previous game, Detroit showed that holding a possession advantage can help steal a contest when the team isn’t quite as efficient – as long as that efficiency gap isn’t too great.
Notes
Shout out to Ben Gjokaj, who won two-thirds of his faceoffs. He chased Monmouth starting FOGO Keegan Teluk after a 3/12 start (and it must be noted that while Teluk was hardly one of the country’s best specialists, he was far better than .250 on the year, and one of his three victories was on a violation from the Titans), then held his own with a 5/9 mark against replacement Chandler Vanderbeek. Without a 7/9 mark in the fourth quarter, the Titans aren’t in position to make the big comeback.
That comeback was impressive indeed, and actually started in the third quarter. After Monmouth drew the second half’s first blood to take a 5-2 lead, Detroit closed the score to one by the time the fourth quarter began, then continued its run with two more to open that frame and take its first lead. The teams went back and forth through the middle of the quarter before UDM took a two-goal lead with 1:36 remaining, and Monmouth’s goal with five seconds left was obviously not going to be enough to stage a comeback of their own.
Kyle Beauregard (4G), Andy Hebden (2G, 1A), and Mark Anstead (2A) were the offensive standouts for Detroit. Those three assists were the full output in that metric for UDM, so it was a day for individual offense, rather than sharing the ball.
It should come as no surprise that Jason Weber had a nice game, and with 14 saves and eight goals allowed, there’s an argument to be made that he was the MVP. His saves were spread throughout the contest, so there’s no “he turned it on and Detroit made a run” moment, but when you have a strong performance, you have a chance to win, and both Weber and the Titans did just that.
Detroit’s man-up has spent time as one of the nation’s best, and while that wasn’t the case in 2016, it had a nice day in limited opportunities against Monmouth. Detroit capitalized on both its opportunities (while the man-down went 1/2 stopping the Hawks).
Detroit committed a bunch of turnovers in this one (raise your hand if you’re surprised), with 16. Monmouth did force nine of them, but again, we see that the quickest way for UDM to make incremental improvement is to value the ball better.
Elsewhere
Boxscore. Detroit recap. Monmouth recap. Highlights. Photos.
Up Next
Detroit headed to Buffalo to take on Canisius.