Chris Vande Velde has the best stats line of the highly touted trio with 3-4-7 a -1 rating, 18pim. and 28sog. in 10 games. Vande Velde is currently 2nd in team scoring, 2 points below former Hobey Baker award winner Ryan Duncan. Vande Velde is 3rd in team goalscoring, 4th in assists, 3rd in shots on goal, and has scored a goal at even strength, on the PP, as well as shorthanded.
Let's see how his and his teams stats stack up to last seasons stats since UND has finished roughly 1/4 of its season already...
Goals/game '07-08 (0.3488), '08-09 (0.30)
Assists/game '07-08 (0.3955), '08-09 (0.40)
Points/game '07-08 (0.7442), '08-09 (0.70)
Shots/game '07-08 (2.033), '08-09 (2.80)
Rank In Individual Scoring '07-08 (3rd), '08-09 (2nd)
Team Goals/game '07-08 (3.0), '08-09 (2.5)
Team GA/game '07-08 (1.86), '08-09 (3.5)
Team GF/GA '07-08 (129/80), '08-09 (25/35)
Team Goals/game Differential '07-08 (+1.14), '08-09 (-1.0)
Team's PP % '07-08 (18.4%), '08-09 (13.3%)
Team Record '07-08 (28-11-4), '08-09 (4-6-0)
Judging by these stats UND was a much better team last season, better offensively, defensively, on the PP, better record, etc. Considering all of this, the fact that Vande Velde is roughly keeping pace with what he did last year on a much stronger team tells you that he's chugging along and keeping his head above water despite being one of UND's top horses at forward.
Jeff Petry has amassed 1-3-4 a -5 rating, 14pim. and 23sog. in 12 games. He sits in 4th in team scoring, 5th in sog., and 2nd in assists. However, just like Vande Velde, Petry's team has taken a significant hit this season. Let's see how Petry and his team stacks up this season vs. last...
Goals/game '07-08 (0.0714), '08-09 (0.0833)
Assists/game '07-08 (0.5), '08-09 (0.25)
Points/game '07-08 (0.5714), '08-09 (0.3333)
Shots/game '07-08 (1.9523), '08-09 (1.9167)
Rank In Individual Scoring '07-08 (9th), '08-09 (4th)
Team Goals/game '07-08 (3.214), '08-09 (1.5)
Team GA/game '07-08 (2.333), '08-09 (2.167)
Team GF/GA '07-08 (135/98), '08-09 (18-26)
Team Goals/game Differential '07-08 (+0.881), '08-09 (-0.667)
Team's PP% '07-08 (20.9%), '08-09 (8.3%)
Team Record '07-08 (25-12-5), '08-09 (4-6-2)
As you can see, both players teams are suffering from key players moving on. If either can repeat their performances from last year on much worse teams, they'll be doing fine, any better and it's a major +.
Then lastly we have Riley Nash. Nash has started off slowly with 0-1-1 in 4 games. However he is way down on his teams scoring list, and there are players putting up some respectable points, so for the time being I'll chalk his unimpressive stats up to being early in the season. However this is a key year in his development and he should be much better in a weaker conference than Vande Velde and Petry play in.
2 comments:
The good news on VDV is that he, along with the entire Sioux team, are slow starters. Watch those #'s climb as the season progresses.
In addition, he has been a beast in the faceoff circle.
The thing that I'd like to see from Vande Velde is a little more offensive play away from the front of the net. He has a good shot, and is also a good passer. It seems like he feels obligated to always get to the front of the net in the offensive zone.
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