At Marquette is Toughest Test Yet

Up and down again, the season goes, as we follow up a solid weekend against Traverse City, with a somewhat lackluster weekend against Alpena. We did split however, even winning handily on Friday, which leads me to a conundrum:

Am I just spoiled by a team that is already in first place in their division and is tied for the most points in the entire league? Am I expecting too much? Do I expect a win every single game? Because if that’s the case, that’s an unreasonable expectation. A healthy mindset? Yes. But an unreasonable expectation.

So, I thought about this for a little while and then it struck me as pretty obvious… no. What I had become accustomed to, was a consistent effort and quality decision making – things that, for one reason or another, to my eye, didn’t seem to be there this past weekend.

The coaching staff must not have been too excited with the team’s effort either, and scheduled a couple extra days of practice – read: skating – to get that message across. With the way Marquette is surging lately, a performance like last weekend’s could end up as a Rangers blowout.

The loss of Ringel, both as a player, and as a leader, obviously hurt the on-ice performance. Additionally, the absences of Kramarz and Barbis are further depleting the defensive corps.

With this depletion on defense, a forward had to step back and pick up some shifts. This responsibility came to Brent Dexter… a constant threat up front. With Washnock still out, these injuries start to take their toll on the forwards as well – and changes to the lines become a necessary adjustment, and can have a temporary effect on productivity.

What was consistent against Alpena, and all season for that matter, has been goaltending. Heading into the season, losing the services of a goaltender like Zapolski, left a lot of question marks between the pipes.

But, Bartus has grown into an outstanding netminder, and one of the top five statistically in the league, and Tibbett now is playing great and flashing just as much brilliance after re-gaining his confidence. Every night, they put the team in a position to win, and have stolen their fair share of Phantoms wins as well.

More good news is that Kramarz and Ringel are both back on the ice… but neither is participating in any drills, and are probably unlikely to see any action this weekend.

The line of Blakey, Hirschfeld and Graham lit up the ice again this weekend, accounting for nine points on five total goals over the two games. As the coaches have been saying, they are really starting to get more and more comfortable with each other out on the ice, and compliment each other very well.

I am excited for these Marquette games… even more than St. Louis – I think Marquette is going to develop into a better team by season’s end. Looking at the Rangers statistics, they are one of only a handful of teams with four players that have at least 20 points (Pietila, Bussell, Condon, and Gallagher – the Phantoms have seven such scorers) Pietila has 18 points in the last 10 games.

Moreover, I think Marquette has really found their stride here in the middle of the season, going 7-2-1 in their last 10. They have played mostly North Division teams (arguably the best division in the NAHL this season), with the exception of a few against an average Fargo-Moorhead team, and they beat the current leaders of the other divisions (North Iowa in the Central and Wichita Falls in the South) at the Showcase in September.

I’ll even go as far as saying: I think playing in Marquette will be our biggest test so far this season, and I think they are the second best team in the North, behind us. St. Louis has just had an easier schedule.

Marquette has a goaltender (Brooker) that is in the top five in the league in save percentage as well. The Phantoms haven’t faced a goalie in the current top 12 since the Showcase.

Furthermore, the Rangers rank in the top four in both power play and in penalty killing, and they will be all geared up to face the first-place Phantoms and defend their home ice..

This will be a great barometer for both teams, and I guess we’ll know more by this time next week.