Three thoughts from the men’s hockey game.

• Cam Johnson, looked great. Seems solid in the crease and doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of rust to shake off before season opener on Friday against Canisius. Tomek seemed a little out of place and stiff on Saturday, but he hasn’t had much game play in the last two years. Hrynkiw looked smooth and didn’t seem to have a whole lot of issues following the puck, even with a mess of players crowding the lane. I am interested in seeing who will most likely will spend more time dressing as the backup

• The lines have been on everyone’s mind since the end of the year when Caggiula announced that he would not be returning this season. First line looked good with Gersich, Jost and Boeser, but I think that Poganski and Janatuinen will soon be spending time playing with Boeser on the same line. 2^nd line Janatuinen, Gardner and Poganski looked good together, they flowed well and didn’t seem to have issues finding each other. Hoff, Simonson and Wilkie will most likely stay together on the third.  On the fourth line Olson, Bowen and Yon are most likely staying together unless one makes a dramatic change or injuries occur.

•          The Fighting Hawks looked solid in general. They seemed slow for most of the first period, maybe it is just first game jitters? I mean the Fighting Hawks have a lot of pressure on them coming off of winning a national championship and a lot of critics saying that the team is not as solid after losing most of the upper-class men to professional contracts. The leadership team (Ausmus, Poolman, Boeser and Poganski) have some things to overcome but I think they are just the group of men to lead the team on to another playoff run.