New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

[J.D.]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

One other tidbit...Caron said BC is youngest team in the country. I know they're always among the youngest, but didn't know they were again the youngest.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

Late arriving crowd at Conte, but pleasantly surprised that the place eventually filled in, despite the students still being away on break. Surprisingly penalty-free game, with most (if not all?) of them in the first period. I thought Bunyon and Gravallese did well to let the teams play, although I suppose it was not something that favored UNH. I rarely put any stock into SOG stats, and tonight's game was an excellent example how truly meaningless SOG's can be. BC had the best of the chances - most if not all in transition - and were absolutely ruthless with their finishing. I'm not sure DeSmith could be faulted for any of the goals, and before someone comes up with the next attempt at pushing for more time for Jeff Wyer, there was really only one quality stop included in his eight 3rd period saves.

I haven't had time to read through many of the other posts, but I will say this (and I think Coach Umile reassuringly saw the same stuff I was seeing) ... I spent the game watching the UNH d-men, and for the most part, I thought they held up pretty well. But Knoedel had an absolute nightmare out there, and by my count was on the ice for four of the five BC goals. I thought his play was directly responsible for at least three of those goals. Simply put, things he probably got away with against the rest of Hockey East came home to roost tonight on big old #5. If nothing else, he got schooled, and with Coach Tortorella's guidance, hopefully he will learn and adjust from the experience. If not, then I'm afraid he is just going to be someone they can't afford to put out there against either of the top two BC forward lines. I thought Pesce overall played pretty well for a freshman on the same pairing, in his first outing against BC. Kostolansky and Agosta may have been the best UNH D pairing on the night (I guess I expected Agosta to be the "Achilles' heel" that Knoedel turned out to be, but he looked pretty good). The top pairing did not have its best game, but they battled and were routinely out there against BC's best. I was a little disappointed in TVR, who seemed to get a little selfish with the puck in the latter stages of the game, but by then I'm sure there was some level of frustration settling in.

The Correale/Willows/Camper line was a bright spot for UNH, but that probably seems to have been a by-product of them skating against BC's unimpressive 3rd and 4th lines most of the night. I thought BC made a bunch of mistakes in their own end, and UNH only took advantage of the first one for their first goal, while others just didn't get punished. But that's the mark of any really good team ... finding a way to win when you're not playing your best. And you can disagree with me if you'd like, but I really don't think BC played all that well tonight. They have played better I'm sure, and by history you know they will play better down the stretch run of the season. Likewise, I don't think UNH as a whole played all that poorly. But in certain areas (see above) they came up very short - throw in forwards not up to their usual backchecking standards from earlier in the season. And if those issues don't get fixed, it's hard to see how UNH gets past March again this year.

Not going to be able to get to tomorrow night's game, but it will be interesting to see how UNH reacts to this loss. At some point later in the season, UNH is going to have to beat BC or someone of their ilk to extend their season, or even win a title (HEA or otherwise - I know, dare to dream). But they're going to have to play with more focus, discipline and conviction than they did tonight. Tomorrow night gives them a chance to convince themselves it can be done. We'll see.

One last note ... the #johnnyhockey stuff was embarrassingly overdone, and it's obviously unoriginal. I'm guessing he doesn't want OR need the added attention, as he's got to be on a very short list of top Hobey candidates anyway without all the extra media blitz and hoopla. JMHO.

[J.D.]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

BCs third and fourth may be "unimpressive" on the scoresheet, but with a full lineup, they have clear defined roles and know what their job is. They did it well tonight. It wasn't a great first period, but over the next two periods, UNH hardly had a sniff. A very thorough performance. Good goaltending, great play from the top forwards and enough team defense...a formula that has BC as once again the best team in the league.

I could do without the johnny hockey stuff but it's not like it's a marketing campaign from BC. Just some texts from fans trying to get on the scoreboard. And obviously just a joke about johnny football. The first I ever heard johnny hockey came from the world junior announcers. Not a big deal.

[sterlippo1]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

One note on UNH: good, solid team, but I just don't see the top end offensive talent that strikes fear in the opposition.

agree, still the second best team we have seen so far as the useless rankings suggest ............ BC totally out of sorts the first 10 minutes or so then played a great final 50. We will get a much better performance the the 'cats tonight at Lake Whitt i suspect. UNH really needs this one tonight

[claver2010]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

dear god, this leah hextall character is brutal

6th straight win for BC over UNH

BC on 19 game unbeaten streak at home.

Impressive

One other tidbit...Caron said BC is youngest team in the country. I know they're always among the youngest, but didn't know they were again the youngest.

I think we've been the youngest team in the country every year for a while now. I assume that'll continue with the massive class coming in next year.

[JB]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

UNH has now stopped doing all the little things that got them off to a good start.

Outside shots & not going to the net ... check
Not doing the smart little things on D ... check
Standing around on the pp ... check (for more than a month now)

Alas the world has returned to normal

[sterlippo1]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

watched some of the replay late night and still could not figure out what took 5 minutes to review on the non goal by BC . It wasn't WBIN replays they were looking at

[WildShawn]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

UNH has had a great season so far. Suddenly:
Too many uncovered forwards.
Too much talent.
Traditional Umile weaknesses, e.g., ineffectual powerplay, lack of mental focus, passes to nowhere, inability to play the body.
BC is an outstanding team. Thank you for putting everything into perspective.

Shocking that your first post of this relatively decent season comes after the first game that UNH is completely outclassed in. Predictable.

[WildShawn]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

watched some of the replay late night and still could not figure out what took 5 minutes to review on the non goal by BC . It wasn't WBIN replays they were looking at

It was pretty cool to hear the ref mic'd up for the replays though.

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

It was pretty cool to hear the ref mic'd up for the replays though.

Absolutely, that is just the coolest, isn't it? I wish more networks did this.

[Scott]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

One note on UNH: good, solid team, but I just don't see the top end offensive talent that strikes fear in the opposition.

Team defense got them off to a great first half of the season...not sure as to why it seems to be lacking now.

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

Team defense got them off to a great first half of the season...not sure as to why it seems to be lacking now.

Defense can be all well and good until you play BC. Then things go out the window. I think the criticism of the UNH defense is someone harsh. BC didn't pile up dozens of Grade A chances. The Hayes goal was a bit strange that found its way through a few legs with guys back. Gaudreau made two fantastic passes that no one can really handle - the last one was especially good and impossible to defend against when you get entry and a curl back like that and then someone just suddenly makes a dart down to the far post. I could maybe get upset for the partial breakaway, but the D man recovered and clearly forced Gaudreau to have to shoot on the backhand on the near side of the net, which he roofed past a foolish DeSmith (more like Duuhhhhh Smith) anyway.

We'll see what happens tonight.

[Onion Man]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

Watching a BC vs. UNH game, the one thing that comes to mind is how clean the games are. Up and down and no dirty stuff from either team despite the score. Other teams (Cornell) should take note.

[WildShawn]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

So, matheson's kind of a piece of crap, eh?

[claver2010]

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College Fri Jan 11/Sat Jan 12

Radio is absolutely destroying hansen

Did Goumas die on the ice?

Oh no he just milked a call hopped back to the bench and didn't miss a shift