From SB Nation/Addicted to Quack
By Duck_Caught_Upstream
The Oregon Ducks hockey team was in Alabama this past weekend to take on the Frozen Tide. These teams played back in Eugene in early November and split the series in Eugene, with Oregon getting the additional point from an O.T loss in the second game. For the games in Eugene I thought Oregon thoroughly out played Alabama and was a little unfortunate/undisciplined and that lead to Oregon only getting 3 of 4 possible points.
This past weekend Oregon was able to do what it couldn’t in November and got the sweep over the inferior Alabama team with a 2-1 win on Friday night and a 5-4 win on Saturday night. Sadly I was unable to watch and track these games as Alabama is the first team on Oregon’s schedule that does not stream its games live for free on YouTube. I assume this lack of access to watching the ACHA hockey team was the deciding factor for leaving the football team out of the CFP.
In addition to securing 4 of 4 possible points on the weekend the Ducks also ran into a famous alumni in Alabama.
As I was unable to track these games and the Ducks 2024 schedule is now complete I thought I would give an update on how the Ducks are performing in the team stats that I track. I have decided to exclude the UNLV games. As UNLV continues its quest to lock down the ACHA D-1 title they are currently the number 6 team in the division and those games are not representative as compared to the rest of the Ducks schedule.
Through 5 non UNLV weekend series this year here are the Ducks team stats expressed as percentages.
Shots For – 60.73% (Meaning that Oregon has accounted for over 60% of all shots registered during games played as opposed to there opponents 40%)
High Danger Chances for All Situations – 57.33%
High Danger Chances 5 on 5 – 57.89%
Power-Play – 13%
Penalty Kill – 74%
Team Save Percentage – .876
Oregon as a team has played quite well with a 61% SF%, 57% HD%, and 58% 5 on 5 HD%. A good figure for these stats would be between 52-54%. Anything above 55% is quite good.
The bigger reason Oregon only has a 4-5-1 record outside of games against UNLV I would say has been due to special teams.
For special teams Oregon’s 13% Power-play is about 5-7 points below minimum threshold for having a passable power-play and and 9-12 points below the threshold of what I would define as a good power-play. Having a struggling Power-Play in the NHL and high level of hockey where the talent across teams is more comparable usually comes down to coaching and Power-Play scheme. In Oregon’s position of having recently moved up a division my assessment is that they don’t quite have the necessary skill to have a more functional power-play.
Oregon’s penalty kill of 74% is about 1-5 points below the minimum threshold for having a passable penalty kill and 6-8 points below the threshold for what I would define as a good penalty kill. The PK has been slightly better than the Power-Play but still a weakness for the Ducks. Combine the two areas of special teams together and that has been the difference for the Ducks losing close games to Iowa State, Colorado, and Alabama.
The goaltending save percentage has been about 3.3 points below average but I believe the biggest reason for this is because the Ducks have likely played first year goalie J.P Marinaro more than expected this season due to the tragic situation that hit the team before the season started. Goalies playing at a new level simply need time to get acclimated to higher level shooters and J.P probably just needs more time to develop. This is evidenced even at the highest level of pros as Goalies often break into the NHL at a much older age as compared to there skater counter-parts. J.P to his credit appears to have played well this past weekend as he got his first win with the Ducks and only allowed a single goal which even without tracking is a very good performance.
The other goalie George Serbin I think has been great for the Ducks and has done his part to give the Ducks a chance to win when he has played.
Overall it has been a lot of fun tracking this team this season and I look forward to the 2025 slate in the new year. Hopefully the Ducks can continue to build upon there strong team play and improve the special teams to keep ascending the ranks of ACHA D-1 in 2025.
(Originally published at https://www.addictedtoquack.com/2024/12/9/24317127/hockey-oregon-alabama-recaps)
