You really have to have won a lot of small battles and shown some strong will/had results to show for it to have positive reflections on a game wherein you were out-shot by 55 and ultimately were defeated by multiple goals, but that is precisely what the MCLA Trailblazers did against the strongest team in MASCAC tonight. While Plymouth State did what they do in terms of playing with speed both in transition and in hemming opposing teams in their defensive zone and were ultimately the victors, the strong showing in the second period by the Blazers provided a lot of optimism. The skill combo of Sean “Knuble” Schifferl and Cade Herrera (the latter of whom, tonight, reminded me a fair bit of Johnny Gaudreau with his combination of quickness, hands, and hockey IQ while netting a hat trick in the second stanza that singlehandedly brought the score to 4-3) combined for five points and demonstrated their reliability yet again. Beyond that, the comeback effort saw an excellent performance by a good chunk of the team en masse at backchecking and blocking shots. I would have to particularly praise Quinn Murphy (who also tallied a 4-on-3 PPG) and Shane Green for their efforts at keeping the game close. The game eventually did get away from this group, but through no fault of their own, and while Plymouth State were overwhelming effectively wire-to-wire, the near erasure of the deficit was no accident.

Mathew Gover, meanwhile, continues to amaze between the pipes. Per EliteProspects, headed into this game, he was fourth in NCAA D3 in saves (while having at least 194 fewer minutes played than each of the three netminders ahead of him) while facing the second-most SOGs per game out of all goaltenders with 10+ games played that are in the top 50 in total saves behind only Anthony Aureliano of Western New England University. Tonight, he put in a performance that will keep him high on those sort of lists. The ceiling is high for the freshman from Atkinson, NH. The remainder of the season is a gauntlet for the team as a whole, as they will be on the road for three out of their final four games. Individual performances like the ones we saw tonight against the best team in the conference will overcome the lack of home ice advantage, however.