Do We Have a Goaltending Controversy?
Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:46 pm
For the first time since Schneider's freshman year we have multiple goalies with 10+ games. Milner was originally thought as insurance as no one really knew when Muse would be ready to start the year. The initial reports were out until November but we heard it was possible until Christmas. Needless to say Milner has provided much, much more than expected.
Before discussing here are the stats, along with some notes:
Muse: 21 games, 11-8-2, 2.42 GAA, .911 Save %
Milner: 12 games, 9-2-0, 2.04 GAA, .915 Save %
Muse rates: #3 in GAA in HE, and #5 in Save %
Milner rates: #1 in GAA in HE, and #4 in Save %
After Beanpot, I don't think anyone who follows the program thought this would be an issue but since winning a couple of weeks ago Muse is 0-2-0 and Milner is 4-0-0. So from that standpoint it looks like Milner will be getting the majority of the minutes. In the words of Lee Corso not so fast my friend. If you look at those games Muse hasn't played poorly, he has given up 5 goals in 2 games. There are two points to why I don't think it's as controversial as it appears: 1) competition & 2) experience.
The games Milner has played in this year:
1) Merrimack 4-3 W, 10/30
2) @ Maine 4-3 W, 11/20
3) @ UMass 3-1 W, 12/4
4) @ Harvard 3-2 W, 12/9
5) SLU (Denver Cup) 2-5 L 1/1
6) PC 4-1 W, 1/12
7) BU 4-5 L, 1/22
8) UML 2-1 W, 2/13
9) NU 7-1 W, 2/21
10) Merrimack 7-0 W, 2/23
11) UMass 2-1 W, 2/26
If you look at who he has played against this year in HE they are ranked: 7, 3, 8, 10, 4, 4, 4, 7, & 8 along with 2 non top 25 OOC teams. So he hasn't exactly played many big games at all this year. If you had to rank in importance the games thus far this year (followed by who was in net.
1) BU (Fenway) -Muse. While it only counted for 2 points in HE, the publicity surrounding this event was huge
2) BU (Beanpot) -Muse. Soldout crowd at the Garden Muse holds strong and pulls out an important trophy for the young team.
3) Denver (Denver Cup) -Muse. Clearly the #1 team in the country. Muse saves 35 out of 39 as BC falls 4-3.
4) @ UNH -Muse. Big sheet, clearly a top team in HE this year.
5) @ BU -Muse. The 5th was difficult to choose I was debating between home BU for revenge for Fenway as well as 1st round Beanpot. But Agannis is always a tough environment and Muse pulls out a 4-1 victory.
So if you look at it Milner's biggest game was probably first round @ Maine, it was his first road game in a tough environment against a team that was supposed to be pretty good in HE. What this shows me is that, at least thus far, York has had the confidence in Muse when push comes to shove. Clearly he thinks Milner can be a very good goalie as he has played him 3 in a row (I don't think anyone saw that coming). I think it is also unfair to look at Muse's record compared to Milner as Muse has played almost all of the big games this year.
I know you only find out what you have through experience but at this stage I trust Muse more in the big stage. That being said, Milner has been extremely impressive and has made the decisions going forward very difficult for York & Co.
My guess is that we see Muse on the big sheet on Friday and on Senior Night on Saturday. I also think that they will split the HE quarters (BC has locked up either the 1 or 2) and will play Muse going forward beyond that. But hey what do I know?
Before discussing here are the stats, along with some notes:
Muse: 21 games, 11-8-2, 2.42 GAA, .911 Save %
Milner: 12 games, 9-2-0, 2.04 GAA, .915 Save %
Muse rates: #3 in GAA in HE, and #5 in Save %
Milner rates: #1 in GAA in HE, and #4 in Save %
After Beanpot, I don't think anyone who follows the program thought this would be an issue but since winning a couple of weeks ago Muse is 0-2-0 and Milner is 4-0-0. So from that standpoint it looks like Milner will be getting the majority of the minutes. In the words of Lee Corso not so fast my friend. If you look at those games Muse hasn't played poorly, he has given up 5 goals in 2 games. There are two points to why I don't think it's as controversial as it appears: 1) competition & 2) experience.
The games Milner has played in this year:
1) Merrimack 4-3 W, 10/30
2) @ Maine 4-3 W, 11/20
3) @ UMass 3-1 W, 12/4
4) @ Harvard 3-2 W, 12/9
5) SLU (Denver Cup) 2-5 L 1/1
6) PC 4-1 W, 1/12
7) BU 4-5 L, 1/22
8) UML 2-1 W, 2/13
9) NU 7-1 W, 2/21
10) Merrimack 7-0 W, 2/23
11) UMass 2-1 W, 2/26
If you look at who he has played against this year in HE they are ranked: 7, 3, 8, 10, 4, 4, 4, 7, & 8 along with 2 non top 25 OOC teams. So he hasn't exactly played many big games at all this year. If you had to rank in importance the games thus far this year (followed by who was in net.
1) BU (Fenway) -Muse. While it only counted for 2 points in HE, the publicity surrounding this event was huge
2) BU (Beanpot) -Muse. Soldout crowd at the Garden Muse holds strong and pulls out an important trophy for the young team.
3) Denver (Denver Cup) -Muse. Clearly the #1 team in the country. Muse saves 35 out of 39 as BC falls 4-3.
4) @ UNH -Muse. Big sheet, clearly a top team in HE this year.
5) @ BU -Muse. The 5th was difficult to choose I was debating between home BU for revenge for Fenway as well as 1st round Beanpot. But Agannis is always a tough environment and Muse pulls out a 4-1 victory.
So if you look at it Milner's biggest game was probably first round @ Maine, it was his first road game in a tough environment against a team that was supposed to be pretty good in HE. What this shows me is that, at least thus far, York has had the confidence in Muse when push comes to shove. Clearly he thinks Milner can be a very good goalie as he has played him 3 in a row (I don't think anyone saw that coming). I think it is also unfair to look at Muse's record compared to Milner as Muse has played almost all of the big games this year.
I know you only find out what you have through experience but at this stage I trust Muse more in the big stage. That being said, Milner has been extremely impressive and has made the decisions going forward very difficult for York & Co.
My guess is that we see Muse on the big sheet on Friday and on Senior Night on Saturday. I also think that they will split the HE quarters (BC has locked up either the 1 or 2) and will play Muse going forward beyond that. But hey what do I know?