A Stick Too Short
Nearly every night during the winter while I was growing up, I would tune in on the radio to listen to the legendary Bruce Martyn call play-by-play for the Detroit Red Wings. One of Bruce's favorite catchphrases was "a stick too short" to describe a missed scoring opportunity, as in, "Gallant tries to pass it over to Yzerman and he had a stick too short as the puck goes into the corner." It's a wonderfully descriptive phrase that sums up the frustration of a missed opportunity. And if Bruce was in the booth at the Midwest Wireless Center on Friday, it was a phrase he probably could have used more than a couple times.
The Mavericks picked up the game's first powerplay just three and a half minutes into the game. Unlike the Notre Dame series, where Minnesota State struggled to even keep the puck in the attacking zone, the Mavericks were able to set up their powerplay and start working the puck around the perimeter to draw the Huskies out of position. It worked, and the puck was perfectly to newly-annointed sniper Jon Kalinski right in front of the goal. But instead of blasting the puck past freshmen goalie Jase Weslosky, Kalinski had a stick too short, and the puck feebly sputtered off the end of his blade and into the corner. No one goal lead. No fast start. No getting inside the freshmen goalie's head. Just a stick too short.
The Mavericks took the next penalty, giving St. Cloud the powerplay. The Mavericks were more than three-quarters of the way through that penalty kill and seemed poised to kill off the penalty and get back to full-strength. But with just 18 seconds left in the penalty, and the Mavs ready to ice the puck, R.J. Linder was whistled for cross-checking, bringing the puck back into the zone and giving the Huskies a brief two-man advantage. It only took 11 seconds for the Huskies to get a one goal lead, and then another minute and fourteen seconds to score the second. In a 90 second span, the Mavericks went from ready to kill off a penalty to being 0-for-2 on the penalty kill and more importantly, down two goals on the scoreboard. The Mavericks found themselves down 3-0 after the first period, despite being even in shots on goal.
The Mavericks tried to come back, but the tone had already been set. After getting a gift 5 minute powerplay from the official, Minnesota State scored quickly to start the second period. They were only down two goals and still had 4 and a half minutes of powerplay time to work with. Another goal would have given them the momentum and possibly fueled a great comeback. But once again, it was a stick too short for the Mavericks, as they created a few mad scrambles in front of the net, but no one was able to get their stick on the puck to bat it in. St. Cloud killed off the rest of the major penalty and added a powerplay goal of their own later in the period to maintain their three goal lead going into the third.
The Mavericks had their chances in the third as well, but it wasn't meant to be. Potential goals fluttered harmlessly off sticks. While veterans like Dan Kronick and Andrew Gordon showed their experience by calmly burying the chances they got in front of the net, Mavericks like Jason Wiley and Jon Kalinski showed their youth by struggling in those key moments. A night of jubilation was turned into a night of frustration, as Maverick were left to wonder "What if? What if it wasn't a stick too short?"
The Mavericks picked up the game's first powerplay just three and a half minutes into the game. Unlike the Notre Dame series, where Minnesota State struggled to even keep the puck in the attacking zone, the Mavericks were able to set up their powerplay and start working the puck around the perimeter to draw the Huskies out of position. It worked, and the puck was perfectly to newly-annointed sniper Jon Kalinski right in front of the goal. But instead of blasting the puck past freshmen goalie Jase Weslosky, Kalinski had a stick too short, and the puck feebly sputtered off the end of his blade and into the corner. No one goal lead. No fast start. No getting inside the freshmen goalie's head. Just a stick too short.
The Mavericks took the next penalty, giving St. Cloud the powerplay. The Mavericks were more than three-quarters of the way through that penalty kill and seemed poised to kill off the penalty and get back to full-strength. But with just 18 seconds left in the penalty, and the Mavs ready to ice the puck, R.J. Linder was whistled for cross-checking, bringing the puck back into the zone and giving the Huskies a brief two-man advantage. It only took 11 seconds for the Huskies to get a one goal lead, and then another minute and fourteen seconds to score the second. In a 90 second span, the Mavericks went from ready to kill off a penalty to being 0-for-2 on the penalty kill and more importantly, down two goals on the scoreboard. The Mavericks found themselves down 3-0 after the first period, despite being even in shots on goal.
The Mavericks tried to come back, but the tone had already been set. After getting a gift 5 minute powerplay from the official, Minnesota State scored quickly to start the second period. They were only down two goals and still had 4 and a half minutes of powerplay time to work with. Another goal would have given them the momentum and possibly fueled a great comeback. But once again, it was a stick too short for the Mavericks, as they created a few mad scrambles in front of the net, but no one was able to get their stick on the puck to bat it in. St. Cloud killed off the rest of the major penalty and added a powerplay goal of their own later in the period to maintain their three goal lead going into the third.
The Mavericks had their chances in the third as well, but it wasn't meant to be. Potential goals fluttered harmlessly off sticks. While veterans like Dan Kronick and Andrew Gordon showed their experience by calmly burying the chances they got in front of the net, Mavericks like Jason Wiley and Jon Kalinski showed their youth by struggling in those key moments. A night of jubilation was turned into a night of frustration, as Maverick were left to wonder "What if? What if it wasn't a stick too short?"
posted by Chris at 2:24 PM
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