Huh. 

Well, that didn't go like I thought it would. 

The Central Indiana/Zionsville game was very similar to the Dwenger/Lakeshore St. Joe game from last week.  Breaking it down by period, the Knights had 1-0 lead over the Eagles at the end of the first (I should also mention that Indiana State Mr. Hockey candidate, Andrew Fralich opened the scoring for the Knights and finished the game with two points), then all hell broke loose in the second with the Knights adding 4 more goals and the Eagles managing only 1 of their own, while the third period was scoreless.  If you recall, that second period is where the fireworks happened in the last Game of the Week! as well.  The other similarity was the big miss on power play opportunities.  Bishop Dwenger went 0-8 in their loss to Lakeshore St. Joe last week while Zionsville went 0-10 in thier loss to Central Indiana.  I'm about to point out the obvious but when good teams come knockin' and they gift you with power plays, you have to make them pay. 

I guess on the flip side, maybe we should be talking about the penalty kill.  In this case,  the fact that Central Indiana went on the books with 34 penalty minutes and they still beat a solid Zionsville team, 5-1, speaks volumes.  Now that the secret is out of the bag, the rest of the league will be on high alert - but even when you see the semi coming, it's hard to stop it.  With the wins this weekend, the Central Indiana "Nation of Domination" improves their record to an eye-opening 20-3-1.       

And that means my record  drops to 2 - 4, which is a new low in Indiana high school hockey prediction history.  I'm afraid we're starting a bit of a curse here.  But I assure you, I'm dowsing my keyboard with holy water and burning incense as I make this week's call.  So, without further adieu, I give you the INHockey.net Game of the Week!.

There are a few good games on the card this weekend and trying to find just the right one for our Game of the Week! depends on which has the most compelling story.  Sometimes I have to dig a little bit, but I only had to look as far as the INHockey.net rankings to find our story in this week's match-up.   The rankings won't get published until Thursday but here's what played out - Crown Point dropped from their spot at #6  and Munster rose from the #9  spot to take their places at #7 and #8, respectively.  Granted those aren't the biggest moves you'll see in the rankings, however, when you couple that with the fact that this game is a cross town rivalry, it's a recipe for a great game.  That's why Munster vs. Crown Point is our  Game of the Week! for the week of  November 13, 2017.   

Here are the teams:

Crown Point Bulldogs      

We featured the Crown Point Bulldogs in a game against Leo  a few weeks ago.   They were the beginning of my prediction woes when they walloped the Lions 7-2 (I predicted the Lions to win that game).   Since that time, the Bulldogs have gone on to a 4-3 record, beating the weaker opponents on their schedule and struggling against some of the better teams.  Regardless, if the Bulldogs continue doing what they do, we should be hearing from them in the 3A division in the state tournament come March.   

As far as roster performance goes, Mr. Hockey candidate Joe Shaughnessy  leads the Bulldogs with 25 points.  The next closest skater on the roster is Nick Kazmierczak with 18 points.  Calling the Bulldogs offense a one or two man effort is probably not 100% accurate but these two are definitely the heart of Crown Point's goal scoring efforts.  If opposing teams key on Shaugnessy and Kazmierczak with some creative line matching,  it'll make scoring points a lot more difficult for the Bulldogs.

Munster Mustangs

The Mustangs come into this match up  with an overall record of 12-8-0, having won five of their last seven games.  They lost a close one to #1 ranked Lake Central Blue and  another to #12 Riley, but had solid wins against Leo, Homestead, Valpo, and Culver B.  That being said, the Mustangs have an RPI rating of .493  which isn't bad but tells us they need some wins against quality opponents.  They will have that opportunity this week against Crown Point.  

Lacing up their skates for Munster are the monsters of the Mustang's triple threat offense, Jack Sarzynski (43 pts), Shane Dotto (36 pts), and Cole Bocock (23 pts).   These three account for over half of the Mustangs 161 points and at the very least, one of these three should be on  the Indiana State Mr. Hockey Award watch list (coaches, can we get a nomination?).   As I pointed out for Crown Point, a little creative line matching can help contain the threat but keeping a lid on all three skaters for three periods is a tall order.   

After a long hard look, I think the teams match up pretty well.  They both have similar results against like opponents (though up to this point the Bulldogs have played the tougher schedule) and although Munster has scored more goals, Crown Point has actually given up fewer goals.  However, this is a rivalry game, so emotion is a huge factor and can't be underestimated for it's affect on the outcome of a game.   I expect this to be an emotional penalty-filled game and because of that,  just as it has in the last few Game of the Week! features, the power play is going to be a big part of this game.           

Provided they can stay out of the box and the "Triple Threat" can get their time on the ice, I think Munster emerges as the victor of this cross town rivalry, 5 -2 .

There you have it, Hoosier Hockey Faithful.  The Munster Mustangs are my team this week.  You heard it here first!