2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

[GuttCheck]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

The five minute major was the turning point, you really can't take that penalty. Irwin seems jinxed on five minute majors, anything close and he is saddled with them. He has just got to figure it out.

It would have been nice to get the points last night, tough pill to swallow after coughing up a 3 goal lead. That said, Denver is really, really good, they remind me of last years swarming BU team. The good news is I actually feel pretty good about the prospects of this UVM team after that game, they need to fix some things, but they showed they can score and the freshmen looked decent.

[GreenCat]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

Denver 1 -Brayden Irwin 0

43-22 in shots... Hopefully we can see a rebound tommorow...

The shots were not indicative of the game. Up until the questionable major on Irwin I thought VT was carrying the playing for the most part. The penalty minutes had a lot to do with the shot discrepencies.

Personally I thought Irwin was awfully close to be being shoulder to shoulder with maybe a 1/2 step behind the DU player. What I think got him was the elbow to the head that made it look even worse.

The 3rd period was rough as the penalty just killed them along with a the bad angle bank in goal.

[snwbrdr]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

not sure what to think overall. Chevrie kind of gift wrapped the game for the Cats and they coughed it up. Two of the UVM goals were soft (Cullity and Burrows - having said that it was nice to see them each make plays and it was nice to see Stacey in front of the net to help screen and create disruption on the edge of the crease on the Burrows goal)

I thought the Cullity call was lame to start with. But whatever, they survived it.

The Irwin call was horrible though. Maybe it was two minutes but no way it's five and the game. That is just an awful call and I sure hope that it does not cause Irwin to go off the tracks and lose his self confidence - he was looking good up until then (excepting the earlier penalty at least).

I thought UVM had the game well under control until that major penalty and I was comfortable with the two goal lead. However, losing Irwin, who the FSN announcers was praising as being dangerous, at that point in the game, and having to kill 5 minutes of PP just killed UVM and gave all the momentum to Denver. It certainly contributed to being fatigued in the 3rd, plus they had to mix the lines up to cover the lost center.

I was a bit disappointed in our D and in Madore coughing up those bad angle goals.

Pleased with the freshman line. They seem to struggle in the D zone but they cycle well in the O zone and have a nice combination of speed, size and skill. Nice to see Stalberg get a point, it was a nice pass to Downing and Downing ripped it, sweet goal. Stacey looked good, he's going to carry his portion of the load. Roloff looked good, I think he should be with Stacey to create an even more dynamic and dangerous first line. Not sure about Marshall and Vock yet. We need more out of them.

I thought the fourth line was pretty invisible, of course they got dismantled when Irwin was tossed, but they are a weakness that puts too much 3rd period ice time on the other lines. The Cats need Milo and McCarthy on the ice to solidify the fourth line.

Would have liked Higgins to do more with the odd man rush - he put it right into Chevrie's gut.

I fear that UVM is going to have to play a LOT better tonight to have a shot. DU weathered the storm and is going to be confident tonight.

Comment on UML. Yes, they might be better than UVM this year (blanking SLU is not really a test - how would they have faired vs. DU?) but it's a once every four year phenomina given their unbalanced roster.

I would rather be consistently competitive year in and year out like the Cats have become. UVM will have a shot at home ice this year. But they will likely need to run the table on the five remaining OOC games after tonight to have a decent shot at the NCAA's. Last year it was 3 points from Miami and four from BU plus only losing one OOC game (at SLU) that got them in.

[bottomdweller]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

Comment on UML. Yes, they might be better than UVM this year (blanking SLU is not really a test - how would they have faired vs. DU?) but it's a once every four year phenomenon given their unbalanced roster.

I would rather be consistently competitive year in and year out like the Cats have become. UVM will have a shot at home ice this year. But they will likely need to run the table on the five remaining OOC games after tonight to have a decent shot at the NCAA's. Last year it was 3 points from Miami and four from BU plus only losing one OOC game (at SLU) that got them in.

This whole unbalanced roster "phenomenon" was a thing of the past. After this season, UML will be bringing in 7 or 8 players. That would give them 6 seniors, 5 juniors, 7 sophomores and 7 or 8 freshmen... doesn't seem too unbalanced to me.

[funnnnn]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

Watched the game on TV... and feeling a bit like Andy Rooney........was it just me but was that one lousy feed, grainy picture, lots of technical glitches.....

But, was far better than listening to with the SID ....errr I mean the Voice of the Catamounts on the radio.

[Patronick]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

not sure what to think overall. Chevrie kind of gift wrapped the game for the Cats and they coughed it up. Two of the UVM goals were soft (Cullity and Burrows - having said that it was nice to see them each make plays and it was nice to see Stacey in front of the net to help screen and create disruption on the edge of the crease on the Burrows goal)

I thought the Cullity call was lame to start with. But whatever, they survived it.

The Irwin call was horrible though. Maybe it was two minutes but no way it's five and the game. That is just an awful call and I sure hope that it does not cause Irwin to go off the tracks and lose his self confidence - he was looking good up until then (excepting the earlier penalty at least).

I thought UVM had the game well under control until that major penalty and I was comfortable with the two goal lead. However, losing Irwin, who the FSN announcers was praising as being dangerous, at that point in the game, and having to kill 5 minutes of PP just killed UVM and gave all the momentum to Denver. It certainly contributed to being fatigued in the 3rd, plus they had to mix the lines up to cover the lost center.

I was a bit disappointed in our D and in Madore coughing up those bad angle goals.

Pleased with the freshman line. They seem to struggle in the D zone but they cycle well in the O zone and have a nice combination of speed, size and skill. Nice to see Stalberg get a point, it was a nice pass to Downing and Downing ripped it, sweet goal. Stacey looked good, he's going to carry his portion of the load. Roloff looked good, I think he should be with Stacey to create an even more dynamic and dangerous first line. Not sure about Marshall and Vock yet. We need more out of them.

I thought the fourth line was pretty invisible, of course they got dismantled when Irwin was tossed, but they are a weakness that puts too much 3rd period ice time on the other lines. The Cats need Milo and McCarthy on the ice to solidify the fourth line.

Would have liked Higgins to do more with the odd man rush - he put it right into Chevrie's gut.

I fear that UVM is going to have to play a LOT better tonight to have a shot. DU weathered the storm and is going to be confident tonight.

Comment on UML. Yes, they might be better than UVM this year (blanking SLU is not really a test - how would they have faired vs. DU?) but it's a once every four year phenomina given their unbalanced roster.

I would rather be consistently competitive year in and year out like the Cats have become. UVM will have a shot at home ice this year. But they will likely need to run the table on the five remaining OOC games after tonight to have a decent shot at the NCAA's. Last year it was 3 points from Miami and four from BU plus only losing one OOC game (at SLU) that got them in.

The numbers on the roster are a season away from balancing out. Now, if you want to talk about the talent Lowell graduates this spring, sure, it's obviously a concern.

About the game:

Agree with you on two points: that major was a terrible call and your dissapointment with the defense. I can see a minor being called there, but the 5 was just an overreaction.

The defense: for such a hyped defense corps, giving up two 2-goal leads has to be frustrating. Denver is a top ten team, but UVM has a big, experienced defense that should be able to hold a lead.

[Ogilthorpe]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

line up changes from last night to tonight:

Franzon in for Burrows and paired with Cullity...Burrows a give away that created a breakaway off post last night....probably keeps him thinking to be sharp at all times beacause Franzon is capable of being in the line-up.

Albertson in for Franklin....has Franklin ever done anything that made you say nice play or good shift?

Switch Downing and Vock, thus top 2 lines are:
Downing-Roloff-Marshall
Vock-Irwin-Stacey , this line will be asked to step up to the challenge.

hoping the team comes in hungry for a win knowing they let one get away, they were the agrressor last night and no need to change that tonight. Shore up some defensive responsibilities and play with confidence. See a lower scoring game tonight.

[Ogilthorpe]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

for those wondering where Eric Perrin is these days he is playing in what is now the Russian elite league khl.ru for avangard. Heard you can make as much there as you can in the nhl....jaromir jagr is on his team, eric may even be his center.

[Catamount93]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

Excellent split on the road at the preseason #1. Almost had 'em both nights, but tough to argue with taking 2 of 4 points from a team of Denver's caliber.

Looks like we might have ourselves a little more offense thant we thought!

[Ogilthorpe]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

great win against a really good team, DU has a bunch of talent, little suspect in net but they'll be a force in the ncaa's.

Madore was the story of this game absolutely saving their bacon in the first period with great save after great save. Uvm came out and played physical and what I take from their play this weekend is they mentally aren't looking back at the players they've lost but looking ahead at the opportunity they have to be the next Stalberg, Lenes, Strong. Irwin was a force and we can only hope he plays like this every night. Downing looks poised to take his game to the next level. He didn't get a lot of time but I like what I saw from Albertson, he's big and strong and plays like he wants a spot in the line-up. The freshman line cycled the puck well and those guys all look like players. When Milo and McCarthy get back they'll be some really tough decisions on who's in and who's out, great problem to have.

Nice confidence builder this weekend heading into the Bc game. Good work 09-10' cats!

[GuttCheck]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

This team does not have a lot of offensive stars yet, but they seem really deep, especially when the injured guys get back.

[charliecatamount]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

Nice win tonight... did the cats score 10 goals in a weekend ever last year? looks like the offense is in good order. Hopefully it wasnt just a weak Denver d-corp and a rookie netminder.

Suprised Denver was even ranked #1 with an unproven goalie, and what seems like a sub par blue line, at least thats what their coach said...

Will be nice to see what BC looks like next weekend, hopefully the goals keep comming and we can get out to a solid HE start.

[jcarter7669]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

I didn't think the loss of Vik was going to break the offense, but I didn't expect the offense to put up 10 goals against #1 Denver. Tough to lose game one, but I have to give the guys credit for coming back out and battling for the win. Nice job and a great PWR win.

Now lets hope they bear down and take start the conference schedule off strong as well.

[funnnnn]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

Always can use the out of Conference wins.

Impressed with the goal scoring effort, as many seemed to come through with solid efforts.

Denver has great forwards, with explosive speed and finishing skills, so I hope that the 9 goals given up by the d is not indicative of the talent of the team because at the end of the day, this team needs to be solid defensively.

I am sure the flight back from Denver was made much better by the solid results from game 2.

[GuttCheck]

Re: 2009-2010 Official Vermont Season Thread

This is probably a gross generalization, but it seems like the Western teams play a much more wide open style of hockey. This series had a ton of odd man breaks off of counter-attacks, much like the early season series with Miami last year. UVM just doesn't play games within HE like that very often, if ever. It was fun to watch.