Millsy's Look Back at 2013-14 -- The Beaver Pond's Discussion Board

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Date Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 04:23:50pm
Author: Millsy
Subject: Millsy's Look Back at 2013-14

With the 2013-14 season in the books, it is time to take a look back at the season that was.

First off, I want to say THANK YOU to Jeff Jubinville, Radoslav Illo and Matt Hartmann for the years they put in with the Beaver Hockey Program, especially Matt, who didn�t see a lot of ice time due to injuries, but showed up every day and gave it his all! Once a Beaver, Always a Beaver.

This season was another one of uncertainty for the Beavers and their fans, which seems to have become a mainstay over the last few seasons. 2009-10 started out with how would the team respond to their first Frozen Four run (a NCAA at large bid), 2010-11 started out with how would the team respond to their move to the WCHA (a WCHA Final Five appearance and victory) and then this year, how would the team respond to the new look WCHA.

I think a lot of people had high expectations, including the team themselves. The new WCHA was now a group of teams without the big boys, the powerhouses. It was anybody�s ball game. And this team really came out of the gate with a VERY tough non-conference schedule, at St. Cloud, Minnesota at home, Miami at home and North Dakota. All of these teams were ranked at one point during the year, with St. Cloud and Minnesota holding #1 at times. At times, there were flashes of offense and at times there were flashes of defense. But it seemed like they could never put the two together at once. Before Christmas, this team played 10 weekends without a bye weekend. Then it was two weeks off for the holidays and then four more weekends at it before getting a bye. That is 14 out of a 15 possible weekends of play (can�t play Christmas Weekend), I don�t think many teams had that type of a schedule this year. Add the injuries this team sustained (how many broken hands were there?), it made it a definite marathon of a season.

The 2013-14 team was young, one of the youngest we have seen on Beaver ice over the last several years. With only three seniors and six juniors, that meant a lot of leaning on the underclassmen to pick up the slack. Couple that with what was listed above and it doesn�t always bode well. But next year the seven sophomores will be a year older as will the 10 freshmen. I feel this youth had a lot to do with the lapses in Beaver Hockey that we have grown accustom to. At time, it seemed like this team was trying to play an offensive style, and thus left the goaltenders out to dry, and then at time it seemed like they were trying to play a defensive style, and thus lack the scoring punch that was needed.

So what will 2014-15 hold? Well, I think there is a lot of promise there, and I trust the coaching staff to be able to put it together. With the loss of Illo, Jubinville and Hartmann, the Beavers only lose 34 points out of 237 scored this year. They will return their top four scorers in Cory Ward, Markis Gerbrandt, Matt Prapavessis and Brendan Harms, who combined for 97 points. Eight of the top ten scorers will return. A lot of the underclassmen saw significant time in many roles. And we always know that recruits are a roll of the dice, but there looks to be some good ones coming in. As always, they will need to adjust to the college game, but if they can make that transition quickly, it could create some interesting competition for playing time.

I don;t believe the cupboard is bare. So, for next year, with their class standing for next year and career totals:

Forwards:
Cory Ward (Jr) 74 GP, 27G-17A-44 Pts.
Markus Gerbrandt (Jr) 69 GP, 19G-11A-30 Pts.
Brendan Harms (So) 38 GP, 7G-14A-21 Pts.
Danny Mattson (Sr) 86 GP, 10G-35A-45 Pts.
Phillip Marinaccio (So) 36 GP, 5G-6A-11 Pts.
Nate Arentz (So) 23 GP, 3G-5A-8 Pts.,
Phil Brewer (Jr) 68 GP, 5G-8A-13 Pts.
Mitch Cain (Sr) 82 GP, 4G-9A-13 Pts.,
John Parker (Jr) 42 GP, 5G-5A-10 Pts. (Freshman season with Maine)
Charlie O�Conner (So) 31 GP, 2G-1A-3 Pts
Bob Kinne (So) 26 GP, 1G-2A-3 Pts.
Brad Robbins (Jr) 44 GP, 1G-3A-4 Pts.
Corey Petrash
Jordan Heler
TJ Roo
Myles Fitzgerald
Gerry Fitzgerald
Leo Fitzgerald
Jay Dickman

Defense
Matt Prapavessis (Sr) 112 GP, 8G-38A-46 Pts.
Graeme McCormack (Jr) 60 GP, 3G-15 A-18 Pts.
Ruslan Pedan (So) 38 GP, 3G-10A-13 Pts.
James Hansen (Jr) 44 GP, 1G-6A-7 Pts.
Sam Rendle (Sr) 111 GP, 8G-20A-28 Pts.
Sam Windle (Sr) 97 GP, 2G-5A-7 Pts.
Carter Struthers (So) 7 GP, 0G-0A-0 Pts.
DJ Jones (So) 12 GP, 0G-0A-0 Pts.
Brett Beauvais
Justin Baudry (maybe this year)

Goalies
Andrew Walsh (Sr) 61 GP, 18W-30L-11T, 91.1 Sv%, 2.76 GAA
Jesse Wilkins (So) 15 GP, 3W-8L-3T, 91.2 Sv%, 2.72 GAA
Reid Mimmack (So) 3 GP, 0W-1L-0T, 87.3 Sv%, 3.35 GAA
Michael Bitzer

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