{"id":27660,"date":"2005-10-07T11:04:56","date_gmt":"2005-10-07T16:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2005\/10\/07\/200506-western-michigan-season-preview\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:56:19","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:56:19","slug":"200506-western-michigan-season-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2005\/10\/07\/200506-western-michigan-season-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2005-06 Western Michigan Season Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"
History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time.<\/i> — Anonymous<\/p>\n
Have you heard the one about the team that can score from nearly anywhere on the ice but allows goals from nearly anywhere as well? <\/p>\n
Of course you have. It’s the recent history of the Western Michigan Broncos. <\/p>\n
Anyone following Bronco hockey can tell you how exciting the WMU offense can be. Last year, Brent Walton had a breakout season to become one of the top scorers in the country, and the Broncos had the ninth-best power play in the nation. But while WMU averaged close to three goals per game, it allowed close to four — a recipe for going nowhere any time soon.<\/p>\n
“That’s something that we need to improve upon,” says head coach Jim Culhane. “We’ve implemented some new defensive zone coverage and new neutral zone coverage. We’ve proven that we can score goals. We play a real exciting style. <\/p>\n
“I think we need to compete better defensively. We have a group of players who really enjoy competing offensively, but we need more buy-in from our players to compete defensively.”<\/p>\n
In other words, some players need to grow up.<\/p>\n
It’s fun to score goals. You get that great rush of adrenaline, the light goes off and the horn sounds, and the fans adore you. It’s like when you were a kid, when everyone converged on the puck because getting the puck to the net was the only concern of everyone on the ice except for the goaltenders. <\/p>\n
College hockey is different game from that of childhood, a different game from the junior scene, too. The Broncos need commitment from every forward on that team to play every system, including those that favor defense.<\/p>\n