UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

[e.cat]

Oops, sorry, e.cat; I guess that I have you typecast for SOG. :-)

Just checked KRACH/SOS to include last night's game: UNH 36, Miami 53 and your Bentley 60th out of 60 teams.
UPDATE per USCHO!

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Agreed on BvR and Blackburn... good stuff last night. And glad that MacAdams didn’t end up in the infirmary as well after that early cross-check.

The first 11 minutes of this game were ugly. Outmatched at even strength, PP that I believe didn’t yield the chance for us to get set up, let alone a decent scoring chance. Then a silly turnover that led to Melnick’s goal. Big thanks to Robinson for keeping us in it until we got our skates under us.

Agreed with e.cat on the interweb feed. Mildly annoying. Although if it can happen to Turner sports during their Friday golf money-grab, I suppose it can happen to anyone. It is kind of funny to hear the producer come out of breaks (seemingly always about 7-8 second late, with a “Back to you guys”.

All in all, nice advancement this weekend, it seems. I have a feeling Miami thought going into the weekend that they’d be going home with a minimum of 3 points.

Dan, keep the commentary coming - love your informed take on things.

I'd agree that Miami may have 'looked past' the Wildcats...and I'm sure their capable coach Enrico Blasi warned them about doing that. It's easy to do and hard to overcome if that's the mindset. Not saying that's what happened and as Dan has said, this RedHawk team is on the way back like our 'Cats. The Miami players we saw outside of their bus last night sure didn't look happy. Long trip back for one point. That's ok...we've been there....

And I'd agree the first mins weren't pretty. In fact we are sitting in new seats center ice and the two guys behind us are long time fans. It's fun (most of the time lol) to hear their take on things...one said "you know, this isn't a pretty hockey game here" in the first period..ha! They also are mentioning a lot of things they are seeing that haven't been in place in a few years too so that's refreshing for what it's worth department. In other words...trying to make things work, get points across, and see what the talent at hand can do with it. That's what I see on the ice as well. It's refreshing even tho it won't always yield the W but it paid off last night and this fan will take the 3 points! Love that!

Nice to see you here this mornin' DC...hope to see you and the fam soon!! Let's go 'Cats!

[Snively65]

Just checked KRACH/SOS to include last night's game: UNH 36, Miami 53 and your Bentley 60th out of 60 teams.
UPDATE per USCHO!

Once upon a time, beating a team like BC would be worth something. Not anymore. I will hide in some corner of the Whitt on December 30th. Should be about 5500 empty seats of my choice that night. :-)

Hard to move up when nearly all of your team's competition is bad also, including most of the other HEA teams. Remember those days when we would play a couple of powerhouse Midwest teams, like Nodak, the Gophers, the Wolverines, etc, for weekend series in October? Now those teams are bad, too. Think where our PWR would be if we had even split with UMass-Flagship. At least those two games have propped up our SOS (e.cat's new SOG). Two against PC will soon help also.

As I suggested here before, I do not think our cupcake OOC schedules the past few seasons had much to do with the NRN, but rather good teams did/do not want to schedule us, as that would wreck their SOS and PWR.

[Dan]

Pretty good BVR story in JVRs recent Player's Tribune article...

"The recognition (in Toronto) comes with perks — just not always for yourself. Like sometimes I’d go out with my youngest brother, who looks quite a bit like me, and if I went to the bathroom, by the time I came back, he’d have people buying him drinks and taking selfies with him. He never bothered to correct them."

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/james-van-riemsdyk-nhl

[HockeyRef]

Pretty good BVR story in JVRs recent Player's Tribune article...

"The recognition (in Toronto) comes with perks — just not always for yourself. Like sometimes I’d go out with my youngest brother, who looks quite a bit like me, and if I went to the bathroom, by the time I came back, he’d have people buying him drinks and taking selfies with him. He never bothered to correct them."

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/james-van-riemsdyk-nhl

Ha! That’s awesome...he does look like JvR...

[wildcatdc]

Once upon a time, beating a team like BC would be worth something. Not anymore. I will hide in some corner of the Whitt on December 30th. Should be about 5500 empty seats of my choice that night. :-)

Hard to move up when nearly all of your team's competition is bad also, including most of the other HEA teams. Remember those days when we would play a couple of powerhouse Midwest teams, like Nodak, the Gophers, the Wolverines, etc, for weekend series in October? Now those teams are bad, too. Think where our PWR would be if we had even split with UMass-Flagship. At least those two games have propped up our SOS (e.cat's new SOG). Two against PC will soon help also.

As I suggested here before, I do not think our cupcake OOC schedules the past few seasons had much to do with the NRN, but rather good teams did/do not want to schedule us, as that would wreck their SOS and PWR.

5498.

[Snively65]

Pretty good BVR story in JVRs recent Player's Tribune article...

"The recognition (in Toronto) comes with perks — just not always for yourself. Like sometimes I’d go out with my youngest brother, who looks quite a bit like me, and if I went to the bathroom, by the time I came back, he’d have people buying him drinks and taking selfies with him. He never bothered to correct them."

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/james-van-riemsdyk-nhl

Good story. Similar to Jim Whittaker, first American to climb Mt Everest in 1963, whose twin brother Lou covered for him when Jim was tired of incessant speaking engagements.

[JAB]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Pierson was in the tunnel during the second period along with CK. Didn't see Dawson anywhere but we have at least 3 slinged guys at this point. These kids are really putting it all on the line. Can't believe the effort from all of them. So glad Patrick got the monkey off his back, he looked very relieved.

Couldn't agree more. Boy, was that a gutsy win - haven't seen one like that in years. A shaky first period with two starters out with injuries, two more out during the game, they turn it around: lines are shuffled, they go 5/5 on penalty kill, Robinson blocking, Grasso scoring, Blackburn hustling, Miller flying .... an exhausting and exhilarating win.

[e.cat]

Once upon a time, beating a team like BC would be worth something. Not anymore. I will hide in some corner of the Whitt on December 30th. Should be about 5500 empty seats of my choice that night. :-)

Hard to move up when nearly all of your team's competition is bad also, including most of the other HEA teams. Remember those days when we would play a couple of powerhouse Midwest teams, like Nodak, the Gophers, the Wolverines, etc, for weekend series in October? Now those teams are bad, too. Think where our PWR would be if we had even split with UMass-Flagship. At least those two games have propped up our SOS (e.cat's new SOG). Two against PC will soon help also.

As I suggested here before, I do not think our cupcake OOC schedules the past few seasons had much to do with the NRN, but rather good teams did/do not want to schedule us, as that would wreck their SOS and PWR.

Nothing succeeds like success. A couple of OOC cupcake wins can go a long way to help confidence. Unfortunately (fortunately for UNH) for Miami that didn't play out this weekend.

SOS rules for now but that can change SOG is always lurking in the shadows!

Actually, even though Miami was/is a ranked team, they may have been the cupcake this weekend!

[msprice]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

After watching both games this weekend I was most thrilled at the urgency with which they played. They also actually put someone in front of the net on the power play so changes are happening. Also noticed that although Max is a good player he still makes too many rookie mistakes and still doesn't seem to skate very hard when needed. He made many wrong choices when attempting passes out of the defensive zone. I know this has been discussed much already but after watching the team with and without him, I am not as impressed with his ability to fit in with the team as they are must faster without him. Enough. I thought both of the goalies made great saves, especially Taylor on a few one on none breakouts. Overall, a very exciting atmosphere at the Whit that I haven't seen in years, even though there were very few people there to experience it.

[UNH1932]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Max is a terrific player and his + are far greater than minuses. He is double teamed most of the time and this opens up others in the zone. I wish we had 6 Max Gildon's for our defense. I hope Maass is on the mend.

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Angus Crookshank earns HE rookie of the week honors for his 3 point antics over the weekend well deserved!!

[deltabravo62]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

I don’t think anyone is taking away from Max’s talent level. But I think anyone with eyes can see that he makes glaring mistakes at a seemingly higher rate than the other D on this team. Most of his mistakes come from him being very indecisive in his breakout moves from the defensive end. Opposing teams know his talent level and adjust by applying pressure to him more quickly causing more miscues. If I were the coaching staff I would be working with him on making quicker decisions that do not lead to him back skating behind his own net and turning the puck over as we saw this weekend. His talents are being challenged so now they need to work on him better utilizing his talents. Take a look at Wyse when he carries the puck, he is decisive and attacks the zone with speed and uses his size. This leads to much more success than Max has had this year where he is trying to be patient and waiting too long for something to develop. There needs to be collaboration between him and the coaches to find more success, that’s all there is to it. I believe he can do it, but so far there have been too many mistakes and miscues for someone of his talent level.

[msprice]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

I don’t think anyone is taking away from Max’s talent level. But I think anyone with eyes can see that he makes glaring mistakes at a seemingly higher rate than the other D on this team. Most of his mistakes come from him being very indecisive in his breakout moves from the defensive end. Opposing teams know his talent level and adjust by applying pressure to him more quickly causing more miscues. If I were the coaching staff I would be working with him on making quicker decisions that do not lead to him back skating behind his own net and turning the puck over as we saw this weekend. His talents are being challenged so now they need to work on him better utilizing his talents. Take a look at Wyse when he carries the puck, he is decisive and attacks the zone with speed and uses his size. This leads to much more success than Max has had this year where he is trying to be patient and waiting too long for something to develop. There needs to be collaboration between him and the coaches to find more success, that’s all there is to it. I believe he can do it, but so far there have been too many mistakes and miscues for someone of his talent level.

Agreed, and better stated than my assessment.

[UNH1932]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

How many minutes does Wise toll on the power play? He has been bringing the puck through the zone and is a great skater and wonderful defensemen. He also has the second best defensemen on the team in Maass as his sidekick. I like them all but Max is our best offensive defensemen and he does carry the puck through the zone and in the offensive zone. His defense is very good. It was not Max's fault entirely for BU and Robinson did save his butt once this weekend. Max is the top drafted player on UNH and that is for good reason.

I do hope that Pierson, Maass and Charley will be back soon.