Johns Hopkins 2023

[lilax]

There were so many "what-ifs." Jays nearly won that game like 5 times but just couldn't finish it. The game-losing turnover is getting all the attention but what the heck was Szuluk doing on PSU's game-tying goal off the restart to make it 11-11 at the end of the 4th? He was in no man's land. Even still, that's a jump shot from 10 yards away and not the greatest angle — that's a save Marcille can make.

There was a bunch of chaos on the last goal. Penn St. had just taken a shot wide off the faceoff, Hopkins was still getting players on the field and Malone had rushed to get the ball back into play. A very smart move on his part.

It looked like Szuluk was trying to get the defense organized. You can see him pointing and trying to get a crease slide ready. I don't think he realized he had taken 5-10 steps away from his man.

[Big Dog]

Shoulda woulda coulda. You can play Monday morning quarterback all you want but the bottom line is they had multiple chances to win the game in the 4th and then again in overtime and they didn't make the one play they needed to make. At 2-0 in-conference and on a 5-game win streak maybe they lost that killer instinct. I do think with the game on the line they were playing a bit too much not to lose, e.g. Degnon electing not to fire that long pass to Angelus.

You move on. It adds some importance to next weekend's Homecoming game vs. Ohio State. Had we entered that at 10-3 overall, 3-0 in the B1G and an NCAA berth looking extremely likely, you might have been in danger of laying an egg in front of the Golden Jays of 1953. But now we need this one. I expect the Jays to play well.

Ohio State is now a must-win game.

Taking Penn State to two OTs at Penn State is a pretty good effort this season.

But the NCAA selection committee will probably look down on any team that finishes with a losing streak, and the Blue Jays are facing a realistic scenario where they lose their final four games.

This Hopkins squad has been resilient and their effort to date has been admirable.

Still, good effort won’t count for much anymore moving forward. Blue Jays have some deficiencies they need to fix if they want to accomplish more than a winning record.

The 2023 Blue Jays are a good team, but they are wildly inconsistent and streaky, even within a single game. Against maybe the toughest B1G conference schedule ever, that won’t get you very far.

I’m optimistic the Blue Jays will put things together for a strong finish to the season.

We’ll see.

DocBarrister

I find the new pessimistic Doc very disturbing given I'm not happy they lost but see it for what it was. (The sun might be rising in the West).

The team lost on Saturday for the reasons someone posted higher up. Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way or a call goes against you. The call withholding call was awful because it should have been a push from behind. It happens.

I don't think PM had a great final minutes in that game. The EMO play was not a great idea. I understand the idea of holding the ball for the last shot in practice but I'd rather score and force PSU to make a play. In the end it cause Hopkins to not even take a shot. Agreed that Degnon has to take one of those two 12-14 yard shots. Gotta get a ball on cage than lose the ball. PM's call with 3-4 second left in the EMO that the refs didn't see didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Hopkins isn't getting a good shot off there - maybe he was setting up the defense.

I think overall the offense didn't look very good. If Melendez doesn't have a career game, PSU wins that in a walk. But, I also think that is a testament to Hopkins depth this year (not something said in the past) that Hopkins can get scoring from all over the line-up to keep them in games. The final turnover was brutal. Bad decision (probably should have looked back farther to the goalie) compounded by not a great throw. Shrug shoulders - it happens.

Hats off to PSU, they didn't make any real big mistakes in the last part of the game.

Something in the coach's coffees. Same thing happened on Friday when two underdogs had the ball for a last shot and sat on it -- allowing the close-in D to stand around and rest -- until the offense had to force a bad effort. Both ended up losing in OT.

Perhaps coaches will rethink this strategy.

[LaxAllStars]

https://laxallstars.com/quint-kessenich ... l-10-2023/

Hopkins at #7

[44WeWantMore]

Seven matches Massey and is a couple ahead of the Power Rankings.

He got tired of first sentences on #4 and #3 and did not paste it to #2.

[primitiveskills]

Shoulda woulda coulda. You can play Monday morning quarterback all you want but the bottom line is they had multiple chances to win the game in the 4th and then again in overtime and they didn't make the one play they needed to make. At 2-0 in-conference and on a 5-game win streak maybe they lost that killer instinct. I do think with the game on the line they were playing a bit too much not to lose, e.g. Degnon electing not to fire that long pass to Angelus.

You move on. It adds some importance to next weekend's Homecoming game vs. Ohio State. Had we entered that at 10-3 overall, 3-0 in the B1G and an NCAA berth looking extremely likely, you might have been in danger of laying an egg in front of the Golden Jays of 1953. But now we need this one. I expect the Jays to play well.

Ohio State is now a must-win game.

Taking Penn State to two OTs at Penn State is a pretty good effort this season.

But the NCAA selection committee will probably look down on any team that finishes with a losing streak, and the Blue Jays are facing a realistic scenario where they lose their final four games.

This Hopkins squad has been resilient and their effort to date has been admirable.

Still, good effort won’t count for much anymore moving forward. Blue Jays have some deficiencies they need to fix if they want to accomplish more than a winning record.

The 2023 Blue Jays are a good team, but they are wildly inconsistent and streaky, even within a single game. Against maybe the toughest B1G conference schedule ever, that won’t get you very far.

I’m optimistic the Blue Jays will put things together for a strong finish to the season.

We’ll see.

DocBarrister

I find the new pessimistic Doc very disturbing given I'm not happy they lost but see it for what it was. (The sun might be rising in the West).

The team lost on Saturday for the reasons someone posted higher up. Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way or a call goes against you. The call withholding call was awful because it should have been a push from behind. It happens.

I don't think PM had a great final minutes in that game. The EMO play was not a great idea. I understand the idea of holding the ball for the last shot in practice but I'd rather score and force PSU to make a play. In the end it cause Hopkins to not even take a shot. Agreed that Degnon has to take one of those two 12-14 yard shots. Gotta get a ball on cage than lose the ball. PM's call with 3-4 second left in the EMO that the refs didn't see didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Hopkins isn't getting a good shot off there - maybe he was setting up the defense.

I think overall the offense didn't look very good. If Melendez doesn't have a career game, PSU wins that in a walk. But, I also think that is a testament to Hopkins depth this year (not something said in the past) that Hopkins can get scoring from all over the line-up to keep them in games. The final turnover was brutal. Bad decision (probably should have looked back farther to the goalie) compounded by not a great throw. Shrug shoulders - it happens.

Hats off to PSU, they didn't make any real big mistakes in the last part of the game.

Something in the coach's coffees. Same thing happened on Friday when two underdogs had the ball for a last shot and sat on it -- allowing the close-in D to stand around and rest -- until the offense had to force a bad effort. Both ended up losing in OT.

Perhaps coaches will rethink this strategy.

I agree with this. Play to win the game. Run your EMO and get the best look you can, regardless of how much time is left. Your defense has played a great second half and has been lights-out on last minute possessions the entire year. Trust them.

[HopFan16]

Yeah definitely don't love playing for the last shot. Understand the thinking behind it but I'd rather they just run the normal EMO and if you can't score then you tip your cap and see if Penn State can beat you with however much time is left. But hindsight is 20/20. Even with that decision they STILL had other chances to win. Several. At the end of the day the players on the field didn't make the one play that mattered.

Despite the faceoff disparity, we still outshot them by 10. Also turned it over 8 fewer times, and cleared better. We got beat on non-faceoff GBs by a few, which PM will not be happy about, but I think that was a product of PSU playing at home and having a chip on their shoulder after the Jays mollywhopped them last year.

I am not happy they lost but they will grow from this — both players and coaches. Pretty sure it was the first OT game of PM's tenure? If there's another one, I'd bet they won't overthink it and will approach it with more of a killer mentality.

We need to turn the page and put this Ohio State team out of its misery. Don't even give them a chance. Jays need a solid win and a confidence builder before we head to College Park and the B1G tourney.

[nyjay]

We need to turn the page and put this Ohio State team out of its misery. Don't even give them a chance. Jays need a solid win and a confidence builder before we head to College Park and the B1G tourney.

Agree. This is a big game. A win and everything is right with the world again. A loss and we'll be able to see darkness on the horizon again (even if that's probably unfair at this point).

[1766]

We need to turn the page and put this Ohio State team out of its misery. Don't even give them a chance. Jays need a solid win and a confidence builder before we head to College Park and the B1G tourney.

Agree. This is a big game. A win and everything is right with the world again. A loss and we'll be able to see darkness on the horizon again (even if that's probably unfair at this point).

I expect Hopkins to win this game in what will probably be close. Feels like every B1G is going to be close from here on out.

OSU has their backs against the wall but they aren't the same team away from home as they are at home, though that can be said for basically every team in the league.

[jrn19]

In conf games so far not involving OSU, home teams are 4-2 and 2 OT wins this weekend by Rutgers and Penn State going other way easily could have flipped it. Here are home/away record splits for non-OSU teams in league

MD: 3-2 H/4-2 A
JHU: 5-2 H/4-2 A
PSU: 5-0 H/2-2 A/0-1 neutral site
RU: 7-0 H/1-3 A
Mich: 2-2 H/3-2 A

Rutgers stands out quite a bit. Penn State some but they beat Cornell on the road as well, so they’ve done well away from Panzer. Generally everyone is also solid regardless of location.

then we have OSU…5-2 H/0-3 A/0-1 neutral… and -37 goal differential away from home in 4 games. Not great for them they have to win at least one of their next two games on the road to play a home game the rest of the way

[1766]

In conf games so far not involving OSU, home teams are 4-2 and 2 OT wins this weekend by Rutgers and Penn State going other way easily could have flipped it. Here are home/away record splits for non-OSU teams in league

MD: 3-2 H/4-2 A
JHU: 5-2 H/4-2 A
PSU: 5-0 H/2-2 A/0-1 neutral site
RU: 7-0 H/1-3 A
Mich: 2-2 H/3-2 A

Rutgers stands out quite a bit. Penn State some but they beat Cornell on the road as well, so they’ve done well away from Panzer. Generally everyone is also solid regardless of location.

then we have OSU…5-2 H/0-3 A/0-1 neutral… and -37 goal differential away from home in 4 games. Not great for them they have to win at least one of their next two games on the road to play a home game the rest of the way

Injuries are part of the game and you play with who you have. However, in all 3 away losses, Rutgers was either without their leading scorer or without their starting fogo and AA LSM.

Not sure how much of a difference it would have made against either OSU or Hopkins as the team just didn't play well across the board but at Army is a different story.

So, while slightly misleading, you are what your record says you are.

[HopFan16]

In conf games so far not involving OSU, home teams are 4-2 and 2 OT wins this weekend by Rutgers and Penn State going other way easily could have flipped it. Here are home/away record splits for non-OSU teams in league

MD: 3-2 H/4-2 A
JHU: 5-2 H/4-2 A
PSU: 5-0 H/2-2 A/0-1 neutral site
RU: 7-0 H/1-3 A
Mich: 2-2 H/3-2 A

Rutgers stands out quite a bit. Penn State some but they beat Cornell on the road as well, so they’ve done well away from Panzer. Generally everyone is also solid regardless of location.

then we have OSU…5-2 H/0-3 A/0-1 neutral… and -37 goal differential away from home in 4 games. Not great for them they have to win at least one of their next two games on the road to play a home game the rest of the way

Injuries are part of the game and you play with who you have. However, in all 3 away losses, Rutgers was either without their leading scorer or without their starting fogo and AA LSM.

Not sure how much of a difference it would have made against either OSU or Hopkins as the team just didn't play well across the board but at Army is a different story.

So, while slightly misleading, you are what your record says you are.

You can play that game all day. Against Loyola earlier this season Hopkins was without its top two attackmen, a starting defenseman and captain, the starting LSM, a FOGO, and three middies. Literally half the lineup. It happens. Pretty much every team is better at home than on the road but even when you take that into account, Rutgers has been over-indexing on home wins for several years now. They are clearly not as strong on the road and there's lots of data to back that up this year and in previous seasons. There isn't much about it that's misleading.

Also a bit disingenuous to say Cameron didn't play against Hopkins.

[1766]

In conf games so far not involving OSU, home teams are 4-2 and 2 OT wins this weekend by Rutgers and Penn State going other way easily could have flipped it. Here are home/away record splits for non-OSU teams in league

MD: 3-2 H/4-2 A
JHU: 5-2 H/4-2 A
PSU: 5-0 H/2-2 A/0-1 neutral site
RU: 7-0 H/1-3 A
Mich: 2-2 H/3-2 A

Rutgers stands out quite a bit. Penn State some but they beat Cornell on the road as well, so they’ve done well away from Panzer. Generally everyone is also solid regardless of location.

then we have OSU…5-2 H/0-3 A/0-1 neutral… and -37 goal differential away from home in 4 games. Not great for them they have to win at least one of their next two games on the road to play a home game the rest of the way

Injuries are part of the game and you play with who you have. However, in all 3 away losses, Rutgers was either without their leading scorer or without their starting fogo and AA LSM.

Not sure how much of a difference it would have made against either OSU or Hopkins as the team just didn't play well across the board but at Army is a different story.

So, while slightly misleading, you are what your record says you are.

You can play that game all day. Against Loyola earlier this season Hopkins was without its top two attackmen, a starting defenseman and captain, the starting LSM, a FOGO, and three middies. Literally half the lineup. It happens. Pretty much every team is better at home than on the road but even when you take that into account, Rutgers has been over-indexing on home wins for several years now. They are clearly not as strong on the road and there's lots of data to back that up this year and in previous seasons. There isn't much about it that's misleading.

Also a bit disingenuous to say Cameron didn't play against Hopkins.

Cameron played for exactly 1 minute for 30 second man up's and any subsequent time until a stoppage.

If you want to call that playing, fine.

What's not a debate is the offense looks a lot different with him in it.

As to the Loyola game, it wouldn't shock me if those guys did play and a different result was had. Again, that's sports and the results matter. But to not look deeper into those losses is surface scratching.

[DocBarrister]

Shoulda woulda coulda. You can play Monday morning quarterback all you want but the bottom line is they had multiple chances to win the game in the 4th and then again in overtime and they didn't make the one play they needed to make. At 2-0 in-conference and on a 5-game win streak maybe they lost that killer instinct. I do think with the game on the line they were playing a bit too much not to lose, e.g. Degnon electing not to fire that long pass to Angelus.

You move on. It adds some importance to next weekend's Homecoming game vs. Ohio State. Had we entered that at 10-3 overall, 3-0 in the B1G and an NCAA berth looking extremely likely, you might have been in danger of laying an egg in front of the Golden Jays of 1953. But now we need this one. I expect the Jays to play well.

Ohio State is now a must-win game.

Taking Penn State to two OTs at Penn State is a pretty good effort this season.

But the NCAA selection committee will probably look down on any team that finishes with a losing streak, and the Blue Jays are facing a realistic scenario where they lose their final four games.

This Hopkins squad has been resilient and their effort to date has been admirable.

Still, good effort won’t count for much anymore moving forward. Blue Jays have some deficiencies they need to fix if they want to accomplish more than a winning record.

The 2023 Blue Jays are a good team, but they are wildly inconsistent and streaky, even within a single game. Against maybe the toughest B1G conference schedule ever, that won’t get you very far.

I’m optimistic the Blue Jays will put things together for a strong finish to the season.

We’ll see.

DocBarrister

I find the new pessimistic Doc very disturbing given I'm not happy they lost but see it for what it was. (The sun might be rising in the West).

The team lost on Saturday for the reasons someone posted higher up. Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way or a call goes against you. The call withholding call was awful because it should have been a push from behind. It happens.

I don't think PM had a great final minutes in that game. The EMO play was not a great idea. I understand the idea of holding the ball for the last shot in practice but I'd rather score and force PSU to make a play. In the end it cause Hopkins to not even take a shot. Agreed that Degnon has to take one of those two 12-14 yard shots. Gotta get a ball on cage than lose the ball. PM's call with 3-4 second left in the EMO that the refs didn't see didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Hopkins isn't getting a good shot off there - maybe he was setting up the defense.

I think overall the offense didn't look very good. If Melendez doesn't have a career game, PSU wins that in a walk. But, I also think that is a testament to Hopkins depth this year (not something said in the past) that Hopkins can get scoring from all over the line-up to keep them in games. The final turnover was brutal. Bad decision (probably should have looked back farther to the goalie) compounded by not a great throw. Shrug shoulders - it happens.

Hats off to PSU, they didn't make any real big mistakes in the last part of the game.

I expressly state I am optimistic that the Blue Jays will finish strong and you say I am “pessimistic?”



DocBarrister

[DocBarrister]

F*ck, Deans has a cast on his right hand

Kind of got buried in the thread, but it would suck if he has a significant injury. Looked more like a splint, but what do I know? He was becoming a real force at LSM. Would be a big loss.

He had been playing so well. Would be a big bummer indeed if he can't return this season.

Kaufman is the next man up. He was playing a lot in the first half but as the game went on it felt like Brown was taking virtually every shift at LSM. Obviously his length is tantalizing but I think he's still figuring out how to use his body to his advantage.

Dixon mentioned we might see Raposo with a pole. Didn't happen but that'd be wild. Give Todaro or Bowler a chance before you resort to that.

We're lucky Brown has burst onto the scene as well as he has otherwise there'd be an issue at pole given Deans' injuries. Although that issue was already mitigated to some extent with both Smith and especially Mazzone's ability to play on the faceoff wings.

Jays are still #4 in the RPI after the loss last night. A top 10 win over GTown and three other top 20 wins. No bad losses (for now...we'll see where Loyola ends up). I think our magic number is 1. Would sure be nice to unofficially "clinch" an NCAA tourney berth in front of all the alums next week.

I agree. I think one more win and we’re a bubble team (likely in). I think we still need two more wins to be assured an NCAA tournament berth, and three more wins for a home game. Win the B1G tournament and we’re a top four seed. We probably lost any chance for a top seed with the loss to Penn State.

DocBarrister

[Basement Bias]

Just beat OSU! Dislike (maybe not a strong enough word) the Bucknuts in everything!

[dms87]

Based on the ebb and flow of the season, I never expected the win at Penn State. It was asking a lot with all the close wins.

Couple of thoughts on the Hop O. They force and look to pass the ball inside way to much still and don't read that situation as well as they should for this time in the year. Do the thing necessary to open the crease up. To many killer to's feeding inside. Go back to the picks up top on the middie sweeps, allowing Collison and others to get hands free to allow some distance shots. Keep shooting Matt. Time to make adjustments to teams adjusting for you. But please don't have Peshko up there. He is not that athlete. He is very good running his defender off the picks though.
Also, as stated by someone else, if you are passing to the crease the feeder has to hit the cutter's stick in a place that allows catch and shoot immediately.

Angelus did not seem dangerous Sat. He only looked to pass. I thought it was obvious. He had several shots available that I thought he needed to take. 3 shots for all the time the ball is in his stick when the O is struggling felt very light.

I worry about 6, 7 and 8 saves, which is what our goalie has had in 3 of the last 4 games. I get the 7 v Michigan were in one half.

OSU has not been good on the road thus far. Hop at home by 2 Sat.

[primitiveskills]

Based on the ebb and flow of the season, I never expected the win at Penn State. It was asking a lot with all the close wins.

Couple of thoughts on the Hop O. They force and look to pass the ball inside way to much still and don't read that situation as well as they should for this time in the year. Do the thing necessary to open the crease up. To many killer to's feeding inside. Go back to the picks up top on the middie sweeps, allowing Collison and others to get hands free to allow some distance shots. Keep shooting Matt. Time to make adjustments to teams adjusting for you. But please don't have Peshko up there. He is not that athlete. He is very good running his defender off the picks though.
Also, as stated by someone else, if you are passing to the crease the feeder has to hit the cutter's stick in a place that allows catch and shoot immediately.

Angelus did not seem dangerous Sat. He only looked to pass. I thought it was obvious. He had several shots available that I thought he needed to take. 3 shots for all the time the ball is in his stick when the O is struggling felt very light.

I worry about 6, 7 and 8 saves, which is what our goalie has had in 3 of the last 4 games. I get the 7 v Michigan were in one half.

OSU has not been good on the road thus far. Hop at home by 2 Sat.

Agree on cutting down on forcing the crease, though a lot of those have been in end-of-shot-clock situations. Re: Collison, everyone is wise to that sweep move now. He hasn't beaten anyone with that in the past 3 weeks. He's a good passer, maybe put him in situations where he's more of a threat to shoot or feed? They've done this with Grimes and he's been more effective.

[dms87]

Re: Collison, everyone is wise to that sweep move now. He hasn't beaten anyone with that in the past 3 weeks. He's a good passer, maybe put him in situations where he's more of a threat to shoot or feed? They've done this with Grimes and he's been more effective.

Agree, I don't remember many times, if at all on Sat night, that they cycled the ball around to get Matt on a shortie from behind the goal, like they did for Grimes. Once or maybe twice this year when doing his sweep he has run his guy off a pick up top and kept going toward the goal. Doesn't mean it it will result in a goal, as I recall him holding on to long and turning it over, but you have to put that thought in the D's head. These guys know these in game adjustments, without the coaches calling for it, and I'd like to see them call things out and make these changes more often. If 8 guys can score, find a way to make as many dangerous as possible in each game to get the D moving. I did not see that Sat.

[51percentcorn]

Boy pretty quiet around here - little nervous perhaps? Ernie just got the notes up which seems a little late too. Hopefully the team is angry and confident after letting one slip away. It's no secret Ohio State has not played that well on the road and they struggle to score against what would be considered upper echelon teams: 8 against UNC (was a W however)/6 against UVA/13 against Cornell slightly misleading Cornell led 16-10 with 9 minute left/3 against Notre Dame/11 against Rutgers/9 against Penn State/11 against Maryland - 61 goals in those 7 games - averaging under 9 goals a game. Seems pretty clear - get to 13. Of course easier said than done - must do better on face-offs and they are not easy to guard with 7 guys netting 9 goals or more though Shean/Myers and Borda are a little top heavy (Myers and Borda were high school teammates of Marcille BTW).
The shame of the Penn State game - could have had a realistic chance of sewing up the #1 seed if Rutgers defeats MD in New Jersey

Tried to do scenarios if Hopkins wins on Saturday but the tables turned out like crap - suffice to say I think we are Wolverine and Scarlet Knight fans for a day
A win saturday pretty much guarantees playing at home in the first round but does not get you the bye to the semis

[HopFan16]

Another story line is that OSU has beaten us four times in a row. If Penn State had the "revenge" factor going for them last week, then it belongs to us this time around.

The Buckeyes have two defensemen in Van Buren and Hudgins who are something of matchup erasers (though can be beaten off ball). I assume they'll cover our two primary threats in Angelus and Melendez, meaning Degnon will have to do some work against their #3 guy and we may rely even more than usual on the midfield to produce. Collison — three straight without a goal — your time is now my friend. Getting Bauer back (he appeared only briefly vs. PSU) will help some.

If Smith can keep Myers in check I feel good about our defense holding them in the 9-11 goal range which you would hope leads to a W. OSU has struggled a bit on faceoffs since their #1 guy went down with an injury a few weeks ago. I don't know his status for this one. Before Doc says it for the fourteenth time, I will: The FO crew — all three guys + the wings — has to do better. Maybe it's the Homewood turf but we've been better facing off at home vs. away this season. Dunn in particular. He's 48% this year overall, but 54% at home.