Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

[hockeyfan111]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

UConns 7-2 thumping of Maine (I think it was Maine) earlier in the year had me wondering how things would go this past weekend. Thought BC getting two points this weekend would have been healthy; getting four is splendid. Balanced attack today and once again excellent goaltending. We should not forget about the defense as they certainly had something to do with the back to back shutouts.

Next up BU and then a long trip to VT for a single game. Starting to build a little momentum and a pretty nice string of games. Coach King and Kennedy seem to be getting the most out of the team. Go Eagles.

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

We should not forget about the defense as they certainly had something to do with the back to back shutouts.

I'm starting to think things aren't as dire as I had been feeling. We're just a different team than we're used to.

We're a good to great defensive team. I think we're second best in the conference defensively after NU, slightly ahead of UNH in that category as well, believe it or not.

Offensively, realistically we're only better than UVM, UConn, and Maine.

However, combine the two categories and we're anywhere between 3rd and 6th in the conference (it's really, REALLY a logjam right now, and will continue to be so).

For the record, I think NU is the real deal this year. I think they'll get a bye, to be honest.

NU and BC are two teams who can probably eek their way to a win against just about anyone by keeping it scoreless.

[Bergey1]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

I'm starting to think things aren't as dire as I had been feeling. We're just a different team than we're used to.

We're a good to great defensive team. I think we're second best in the conference defensively after NU, slightly ahead of UNH in that category as well, believe it or not.

Offensively, realistically we're only better than UVM, UConn, and Maine.

For the record, I think NU is the real deal this year. I think they'll get a bye, to be honest.

NU and BC are two teams who can probably eek their way to a win against just about anyone by keeping it scoreless.

I'm still not sold on NU's offense, and I wouldn't be surprised to see BC ahead of NU in offensive categories at season's end (or even sooner, it's only a matter of time.)

I'm so pumped by NU's start, and we are definitely SO MUCH better than in years past, but it's hard to tell if we're the "real deal" in terms of getting a postseason bye or even winning a postseason game. We've had a weak schedule, and frankly the best team we've beaten is BC. The real tests are coming up, so hopefully we can keep it going.

/hijacking

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

I'm still not sold on NU's offense

NU's offense is bad. But when you give up 11 goals in 12 games (Really! ) your offense doesn't need to be anything better than abysmal to actually compete.

[Bergey1]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

Yes, but my main point was that I would consider BC's offense to be better than NU's.

Offensively, realistically we're only better than UVM, UConn, and Maine.

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

Yes, but my main point was that I would consider BC's offense to be better than NU's.

When I was looking through the standings, I put them as tied offensively. It looks like we're on the same page though.

[joegrav]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

BC has (way, way, way) more individual offensive firepower than Northeastern does, the question has been getting them to fire independent of what Ms. Thunstrom does. It seems like 80% of BC's offense is reliant upon Allie either scoring, or creating such a good chance that someone else is wide open to score.

They still need to adjust offensively and start at least getting two consistent scoring lines.

But the defense has been pretty good, despite giving up a lot of shots on goal. I really think the d-men (and goalies!) are this team's strength.

The penalty kill is 32-for-36 in conference games (nice!). The power play is 2-for-31 (not so nice!). That kinda sums it up. Gotta find some more goals, but the defense has been good enough to keep BC going strong. I have confidence that more goals will come.

[rinkrat890890]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

I've gotten to only one game so far this season, yesterday, so I can only judge yesterday. I do not see a lot of crisp tic tac toe passing. I saw a lot of passing to unopen lanes creating turnovers. And a lot of scrums in front of the net. They need to play team hockey. They have the talent, not sure why they can't put it together an play hockey.

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

I do not see a lot of crisp tic tac toe passing.

I noticed that the men's team had a lot of problems with tic-tac-toe passing in the nightcap as well, as the puck was bouncing all over the place. That might have been a factor.

And a lot of scrums in front of the net.

Are you kidding? I'll absolutely take scrums. It means we're getting shots on net and crashing for rebounds.

[vellnueve]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

Scrums are still a low percentage way of scoring... they need a couple of players to step up and start setting up quality scoring chances.

[rinkrat890890]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

Scrums are still a low percentage way of scoring... they need a couple of players to step up and start setting up quality scoring chances.

And they are not pretty like tic tac toe passing and scoring

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

Scrums are still a low percentage way of scoring... they need a couple of players to step up and start setting up quality scoring chances.

We are averaging 2.00 goals per game. Two. Dos. At least it is a positive percentage.

If we're getting shots on net and crashing for rebounds, it may not be a pretty strategy but it will pot some pucks.

And they are not pretty like tic tac toe passing and scoring

They all count the same.

[vellnueve]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

They count the same, but you don't win championships that way. And an offense executing proper passing and setting up better chances will score more than 2.00 goals per game.

The problem needs to be fixed... BC will not do anything this year without better execution in transition and on offense.

[hockeyfan111]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

Definately agree about the need for more scoring and have been calculating and documenting for a while that BC is averaging just 2 goals per game; BUT defense/goaltending has been very solid and the offense does appear to be a bit more robust since early in the season (that was an extremely painful time). So about one-third through the season and hoping the progress continues on both ends. Given the youthfulness of the team, BC has alot more upside than other teams that are more junior/senior equipped. No matter how you slice it, it seems like any team in HE could beat another. Thus, make sure we finish in the Top 6 in HE and look for a little March Magic!

[joegrav]

Re: Boston College Women's Hockey '10: Thunstromian Dominance

I have a weird outlook for this season because I think BC will undoubtedly be much better in the second half, but their second half schedule is ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL in terms of level of competition, from Minnesota-Duluth onward almost every game is against a good team. Crazy.

I think this team ultimately settles into ~4th place when March comes, which I'd be happy with, hosting in the first round of HEA. I think that's a reasonable goal right now.