Not Quite There Yet
You can pick just about any bad cliche you want. If you jump off a boat in the middle of the ocean, you'll float for a while, but eventually you'll drown. If you keep putting weight on the bar, eventually it will crush you. If you keep playing with fire, eventually you'll get burned. Whichever you choose, the bottom line is that Minnesota State developed a habit of getting themselves into trouble with poor first periods and Friday night losses, and finally, they weren't able to find a way to get out of it this weekend against a good North Dakota team.
Both nights, when Minnesota State found themselves in an early 3-0 hole, my heart said MSU was capable of coming back. But my head kept reminding me that over the past two seasons, teams that go behind 2-0 in WCHA games only win 8.5% of the time, and coming back from behind down 3-0 is pretty much impossible.
When Minnesota State tied the game at 3 both nights, my heart laughed at my head. My head reminded my heart that even though the game was tied, we weren't quite there yet. And in the end, as it often painfully is, my head was right. We're not quite there yet.
The Mavericks are way ahead of where anyone thought they would be right now, and given their difficult schedule so far, they could easily be 0-6 right now. But this team is still a little too young, and makes a few too many mistakes to contend with the top teams right now. I think they will be soon, but it takes time to learn how to win. It takes time to learn how to play for a full 60 minutes. It takes time to learn how to avoid costly third period turnovers in your own end. That experience is one of the few things the Mavericks are missing right now.
The losses last weekend hurt, but it was good to feel that pain. I'd much rather take the sting of a tough loss than the numb feeling of knowing it doesn't really matter if you win or lose. Especially when it looks like even though this team isn't quite where they want to be yet, it looks so damn promising that they'll get there one day.
Both nights, when Minnesota State found themselves in an early 3-0 hole, my heart said MSU was capable of coming back. But my head kept reminding me that over the past two seasons, teams that go behind 2-0 in WCHA games only win 8.5% of the time, and coming back from behind down 3-0 is pretty much impossible.
When Minnesota State tied the game at 3 both nights, my heart laughed at my head. My head reminded my heart that even though the game was tied, we weren't quite there yet. And in the end, as it often painfully is, my head was right. We're not quite there yet.
The Mavericks are way ahead of where anyone thought they would be right now, and given their difficult schedule so far, they could easily be 0-6 right now. But this team is still a little too young, and makes a few too many mistakes to contend with the top teams right now. I think they will be soon, but it takes time to learn how to win. It takes time to learn how to play for a full 60 minutes. It takes time to learn how to avoid costly third period turnovers in your own end. That experience is one of the few things the Mavericks are missing right now.
The losses last weekend hurt, but it was good to feel that pain. I'd much rather take the sting of a tough loss than the numb feeling of knowing it doesn't really matter if you win or lose. Especially when it looks like even though this team isn't quite where they want to be yet, it looks so damn promising that they'll get there one day.
posted by Chris at 12:29 PM
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