51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 1:56 pm Nice post 06 - 2 very valid points relative to the upcoming season
Angelus' importance and contributions to last year's season almost cannot be overstated. When he played well and contributed points Hopkins won - when he did not play (Loyola) or was held under control - Hopkins lost. In the 5 losses that he played in - he scored 1 goal and passed out 6 assists. That is 6% of his goals and 14% of his assists (While 5 games of the 17 he played in represents pretty much 30%). In certainly 3 of the most important games of the season (Penn State, BIG semi against Maryland and Notre Dame) he accounted for 3 assists total. SO that tells me that to help towards an even more successful season Hopkins must figure out 2 things - how to get him untracked when he is playing better opponents and defensemen and the converse - more effective alternatives if a Posey or Ajax or one of the UVA condors is giving Angelus problems.
The Denver face-off man is certainly a concern and an important factor in the season opener. You never know about match-ups until they happen and certainly its better to start with the ball more than 50% of the time than not. You certainly wouldn't call Denver a high scoring team from last year - 11.5 goals per game - so the face-off man could allow the PIoneers to get in a rhythm with the Matt Brown offense or become very important for possessions in a low scoring game. February 3rd is anybody's guess for weather.
Denver is a noon game which will feel like 10 am to their players. Then there's the elevation-they're going from and yes I looked this up 5000+ feet above sea level to 300 feet above sea level.
https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-9 ... 18&zoom=14