Until Saturday, Notre Dame was the top team in the country (and for good reason). This one probably could have been even uglier.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Notre Dame 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | Notre Dame | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 7 | Faceoff Wins | 15 |
| Clearing | 12-20 | Clearing | 18-18 |
| Possessions | 27 | Possessions | 41 |
| Goals | 5 | Goals | 14 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .185 | Offensive Efficiency | .341 |
The gap in efficiency wasn’t huge – though it was indeed sizeable – but the possession margin was huge. UDM couldn’t clear and couldn’t win faceoffs. Unless you’re going to crush it in effiency (as opposed to, say, almost getting doubled up there), that’s not a recipe for success.
Notes
Starting where the game does: on faceoffs. Freshman Mike Sforza was the best of Detroit’s options, but even that resulted in a 6/17 (.353) performance. He had only one ground ball, so wing play played a role in his (relative) success. However, Notre Dame is a good faceoff team, and it’s very clear that Detroit will not be this year.
The Titans’ clear was terrible (among the 23 turnovers Detroit committed), giving the Irish their large possession advantage. If I had some sort of effective offensive efficiency metric – not including failed clears as possessions – the disparity would have been even bigger.
In reality, all of this game could have been much uglier. The Irish had almost as many shots in the first quarter as Detroit did all game. The score was 12-2 after three quarters, and Notre Dame let up a bit in the fourth (Detroit had a 3-2 advantage in that quarter on the scoreboard), including several personnel changes like a goalie switch.
The Detroit extra-man had three opportunities, and scored on one of them, not up to the last couple years’ standards, but a sign of hope. The issue? On the other side of the special teams, Notre Dame was perfect on its two attempts. If Detroit is going to have a hard time scoring even-strength and instead rely on the EMO, they’d better be able to shut it down when the opposition – especially a team that doesn’t need the advantage to score – has the same chance.
UDM assisted on three of five goals, including the man-up score, and despite a meager showing on the scoreboard, had three multi-point scorers. Mike Anstead, Sean Birney, and Alec Gilhooly all had an assist to go along with a goal (Andy Hebden and Mike Spuller had a goal each).
It hasn’t been easy sailing for Jason Weber so far this season, and he faced 28 shots, letting in half of them. It’s hard to blame him too much against a team like Notre Dame – who clearly outclasses UDM up and down the roster – but it’s clear that the NCAA’s save percentage crown will not be on his mantle this year.
Elsewhere
Boxscore. Detroit recap. Notre Dame recap. ND highlights.
Up Next
Things went quite a bit better – though still no wins – the following weekend in a Columbus double-dip.