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Eastern Michigan plays aggressive first period and tries to hold onto a 3-1 lead the rest of the game but fail, yet come back to earn 3 points in a Shootout.

Ann Arbor, Michigan- The Eastern Michigan Eagles and the Iowa State Cyclones introduced the new Overtime system to us live in a 4-4 tie after overtime. The Eagles then took the shootout from the Cyclones 2-1, in what ended up being a very exciting set of hockey.

The first period was the Eagles best period of the night. The Eagles came out and took advantage of a couple of Iowa State miscues to score their three goals. The first goal was just a wonderful play from Paddy O' Reilly that he roofed over the Iowa State goalie's head. Iowa State did respond two minutes later with a goal of their own from Andrew Murdoch who had a hat trick for the evening. The Eagles put solid pressure on the Cyclones throughout the period as Dave Aliff and Frank Garcia also scored. However, Iowa State also had their own chances to score and make the game even more interesting but thanks to Sam Horton's strong play (a repeating theme in this game), the Eagles took a 3-1 lead into the locker room. 

In the second period the Eagles seemed more focused on holding their lead instead of trying to increase their lead. The second period was played for the most part in the Eagles end forcing Sam Horton to make a few difficult saves and a couple saves worthy of Sportscenter Highlights. The Eagles played very passive and just turned themselves into a team that was going to allow Iowa State many chances to get back into the game. On a beautiful play with 9 seconds left in the second, Iowa State scored to make the game 3-2 going into the third period. 

The third period had the Eagles scoring a goal by Robert McNamara early on to make the score 4-2 and things were looking pretty decent for the Eagles. However, the Eagles became even more passive and allowed for Iowa State to tie the game up and played with this same passive style when the game was tied. It almost looked like the Eagles were just trying to be content with the game as was, and was willing to accept the result of what was going to happen regardless of it being positive or negative. I can understand playing a defensive style protecting a 2 goal lead, but not maintaining much puck control in the offensive zone and allowing Iowa State to do a lot in the offensive zone, is not exactly a promising situation for the Eagles to be in. Sam Horton ultimately saved the game from going completely into Iowa State's favor in my opinion. 

The overtime period was quite exciting compared to the second and third period being a little more defensive laden. The action in overtime was your typical 4v4 hockey with the two teams trading outstanding scoring opportunities, but having both goalies making the saves that needed to be made. Outstanding action and frantic action was what made the game exciting in Overtime and made it nerve wrecking for us Eagles fans and the family of Iowa State Fans sitting right in front of us. 

The first shootout that the Cube has seen in a while was really a demonstration of good goaltending and some nerves on the Iowa State shots. Sam Horton won the shootout for the Eagles by making a couple of huge saves against the Iowa State attacks. Mike Koveleski and Frank Garcia scored the two goals necessary to beat Iowa State's goaltender Matt Herman to secure an additional point in a 2-1 shootout victory.

The Iowa State Cyclones looked exactly like I had envisioned them. Their primary objective was to shoot the puck on net and then use their two or three other forwards to take the rebound and pound it home. For about 2 periods the Eagles did a good job stopping the lanes of getting the puck on net. The Iowa State players were very aggressive at getting the puck and did a very good job preventing the Eagles from doing a ton. Iowa State's downfall came from themselves just making minor errors and really in a tie game they fought back and showed a lot of heart to get it to that point. However, we can also to an extent thank the Eagles for this.

The Eagles tonight looked like a group of individuals focused on getting their own plays working, and not really worrying about the team as much as a whole. The fourth goal of the Eagles on the other hand was the one real example of beautiful execution of a 2 on 1. However, the offensive attack was not as crisp as it should be. The goals were for the most part not due to beautiful plays but due to an individual making a good play or an Iowa State mistake. This is a minor complaint considering that they won, but I would just feel a little more confident seeing more passing and more cohesion with the team. Just to emphasize the point a bit more, the first two goals were unassisted. The Power Play (an example of a team needing to work together), was anemic and didn't produce much of anything tonight. It just seemed like a night that the Eagles thought they had in the bag and just figured the game was going to be won.

What impressed me the most about this game was simple. The play of Sam Horton. He made a few outstanding saves for the team and really kept them in it. This was in my mind the key to the game was his play and saved the Eagles.

The Penalty Kill was also outstanding as they were never really out of position at any time during the Ohio Power plays. The Eagles just attacked and pressured the Ohio players, while at the same time played back and protected the lanes of Sam Horton. The penalty kill just impressed me again. It was fundamentally sound hockey being played, and against a technical defensive team the Eagles played the style to perfection.

The Eagles played tonight not to lose. However, looking at the end result of this weekend, taking 7 points from the Cyclones I wouldn't be too sour about it.  

B 
Offensively the Eagles are still a little weak in my mind. A majority of this game was played in the Eagles own zone, and were forcing their defense to step up (which they did). The Eagles need to play a little more physical and get up on the plays a bit more. I understand when playing a more defensive style of play that the chances will be more limited. However, when the Eagles have a chance in the offensive zone, there should be more effective passing and opportunities to score than they had been getting. (Note: This was the same as the Ohio game.) One thing though is that offensively it doesn't seem as if the Eagles are working together as a unit. It was more of an individuals effort tonight. 

B+ 
The defense did a decent job tonight, their performance against Ohio looked a lot better to me. Iowa State took advantage of a lot of minor things the Eagles did wrong, and it seemed as if a large majority of shots were getting onto Horton. However, by no means was it a poor job.

B 
Kind of a hard judgment really. It was almost a case of the Power Play not working very effectively.

A  
Sam Horton did a wonderful job as usual.

B+  
The Eagles tried not to lose tonight and ended up tying. However, the Eagles did a decent job tonight. I would just like to see a tad bit more aggression and a bit more assertiveness in the offensive zone. It is also important for the Eagles to start working together instead of almost being "selfish." Setting up plays will do wonders for them if they can be executed properly. However, the Eagles got 3 points and that's good enough in my book.

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