Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

[altazo]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

You posted that the U 18's were 0-8-1 vs. the USHL. That is simply not true, and I only posted to clarify that. In fact I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of 17 year old (not ALL, but most) USHL players would rather be in the NTDP program and on the U 18 team given the opportunity, because as you stated, it's basically a ticket to a top flite D1 program scholarship.

Also, many of those kids verbally commit to the D1 school of their choice 2 or even three years before they actually arrive on campus. It's very different than at the D3 level where some kids decide to come a month or two before classes start and only after they've exhausted all their avenues of playing D1 or somewhere else.

[Hammer]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

A couple things may be a little out of character for me, but....

Interpret the result however you wish. Adrian and the U-18 team were tied after overtime, and U-18 won the shootout. If you want to say "tie", fine, and if you want to say "well, U-18 won the game", fine as well. I don't care.

Adrian got the first two goals on the game, one on a breakaway by Dahlinger and another on a tip-in by Kuzyk. U-18 got a late 2nd period goal and an early 3rd period goal to tie it up.

The U-18 team is really good this year, even better than most years. They've got a lot of size and an incredible amount of skill. Oh, and judging by the roster, we saw the real deal tonight, not 14 guys from the U-17 team and the bottom half of the U-18 roster.

I really, really hate to go here, but the officiating was the worst I've ever seen in my life. I have never once thought that a crew would actually be biased toward one team, but I'm convinced tonight that was the case. I'll take the worst D-III referee working a game tonight, and he'll look like Bill McCreary compared to this imbecile. This Rankin guy is going to be working house leagues until he's 80 if that's all the better job he's going to do. I'm not going into details, but you had to see it. First we're going to play 4x4 in OT, then we start OT with 5x5. Then we're going to a 3-man shootout, but the thing went 4 rounds (USA won the shootout 2-0). The zamboni driver comes out to dryscrape the ice and wets down the area right in front of Adrian's goaltender, and gets to the blue line before a linesman tells him how to prep the ice for a shootout. An amateur-hour production out of the officiating crew. Very disappointing.

Adrian's got a helluva team, again. The only way they're not going 20-0 in the MCHA again this season is if they have a bad night and a couple bounces go the opposition's way. If Graham can mesh with Skelly and Miller again, that top line is going to be just as deadly as in years past. There's depth in the 2nd and 3rd lines, and the top 4 defensemen are as solid as I've seen yet.

[Pioneerfan11]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

Having seen the U-18 team absolutely throttle Utica last week with that same "real deal" lineup on the ice, I can say from experience that they are incredibly good.

So, I don't care that I have never seen Adrian play... I am convinced that they are a very, very good team. This easterner will definitely not miss the chance to see them in Oswego later this season.

[NorthernLite]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

I think the shots on goal wound up 41-32 for the U-18's.
Brad Fogal in my mind, was Adrian's best player on the ice. He made some incredible saves. Not too often has he been called upon to be the difference in a game. He was definitely the difference in this one.


The U-18's carried the play in the first 2 periods
Adrian played shorthanded for 16 miniutes. I can only recall Adrian having 4 powereplays. I believe all goals were even strength.
Adrian are no strangers to the penalty box ........but this ref only saw one colour most of the night.
Adrian surprisingly killed two off in the third......and still managed to outshoot and outplay them in the third. The U=18's were hanging on in the final minutes.

A great result considering it was our first game of the year and he U-18's have played 13 games....including victories over some good college teams.
and all but one player is commited to high profile DI programs.

For any hockey fan this was fun to watch !

[Hammer]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

NL, that's a fairly good summation of what we saw last night.

Couple points of clarification here.

According to the flyer we grabbed last night with the roster sheets, the U-18 team sits with a 6-5-0-2 record this season. I'm assuming this is against USHL competition.

Also, from what I saw, three of their players are not committed to D-1 schools next season: F Chase Balisy, F Brandon Saad (their leading scorer), and F Austin Czarnik (a relation to Michigan's Rob Czarnik, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see this Czarnik end up in Ann Arbor as well). Everyone else is going D-1, either to a school in the CCHA, WCHA, or Hockey East, except for Iles, who is off to Cornell.

I would have liked to have seen Michigan recruit Jack Campbell in net, but Andy Iles (Cornell commit) has been nearly his equal this season, stat-wise and was very good last night. He didn't give us anything cheap, much like the rest of the U-18 team.

Jarred Tinordi (I'm assuming Mark's kid) stands about 6-foot-20 and is built like a Dodge Ram, and is exactly the kind of defenseman you want on your team, but can't stand to watch play against you. He's going to be a high-PIM guy at Notre Dame next season, even under Jeff Jackson. He's got 24 PIM in 13 games already this year.

[aerogroup2]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

NL, that's a fairly good summation of what we saw last night.

Couple points of clarification here.

According to the flyer we grabbed last night with the roster sheets, the U-18 team sits with a 6-5-0-2 record this season. I'm assuming this is against USHL competition.

Here is a link to the U18 schedule and results http://www.usahockey.com/USANTDP/def...1_01&ID=233680

[ACBulldog]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

I was also at the Adrian US-18 game last night and the officials were horrible. The calls were very one-sided. Adrian played very well and if they play like that all year long I think and undefeated season might be coming. I know that there are Adrian haters every where but hopefully this year we will show them that we should have been in the tournament the last two years. Go Bulldogs!

[norm1909]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

Then why do you feel that a shootout loss to them warrants Adrian moving up in the polls as you elude to in the MCHA thread?

IMO, a tie in regulation play to a respected program versus the losses of some the ranked teams could give some credence to a claim for Adrian moving up, but it wasn’t an NCAA DIII team and nevertheless, it wasn’t a win. As was noted, regular season polls won’t be starting until November 9.

[BulldogProf]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

Thanks for the update from the U18 game. I wasn't able to make it, unfortunately, but am looking forward to the opening weekend.

So here's the question I've been mulling over. What does Adrian have to do to convince the naysayers? Given that the MCHA will still be considered weak, winning the AQ obviously won't be sufficient (and rightly so). Will winning a single game in the tournament be good enough? Would losing a close first-round game on the road against the top-seeded team be good enough?

[Hammer]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

Short answer: Win a tournament game.

[Matthew Webb]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

Short answer: Win a tournament game.

Considering the wave of emotions that somehow pollute this topic...I'm not even sure that would be enough.

[Hammer]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

How about if that first game is a quarterfinal game and they end up in the National Semifinal?

[PSUChamps2001]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

What does Adrian have to do to convince the naysayers? Given that the MCHA will still be considered weak, winning the AQ obviously won't be sufficient (and rightly so). Will winning a single game in the tournament be good enough? Would losing a close first-round game on the road against the top-seeded team be good enough?

All the above and being consistent with it year after year. I don't think anyone in the Adrian program wants to be a one hit wonder, they want to be known as a respectable program year in year out. Teams like Curry, Lebanon Valley, and Wentworth all went through the growing pains of having a great record/high point leaders that made their fans feel they were the next coming of God. HOWEVER, ADRIAN IS NOT those teams. They are a much higher calibar then any one of those in their early existence, but what is enough? Enough to what? Are you wanting the "naysayers" to put Adrian in the same breath of a SNC, Middlebury, Norwich, Plattsburgh? Putting Adrian as the top or one of the top teams in the West? Putting Adrian as the top or one of the top in the Nation??

Adrian will be very dangerous this year for several reasons:

1) The finally "could" have the chance to prove themselves, they still have to win the conference.
2) There is a very good chance the team they end up playing will be seeing Adrian live for the first time, and if they have the "oh it's just Adrian" mindset could be golfing early.
3) It's the playoffs, anything can happen
4) Yes, they (Adrian) are good

As I was discussing with a fellow poster a few weeks ago in regards to the Adrian/Oswego matchup, anyone who says this isn't a HUGE game for Adrian is lying out their teeth. They've waited 3 years now to make a HUGE statement against a perennial powerhouse (and I am sorry Neumann fans, but you are not a powerhouse).

"Its a meaningless game" - Maybe for the polls, but as I said Adrian has been waiting for 3 years to prove they belong, and no that doesn't mean I am saying they (Adrian) don't believe that they don't belong. Adrian may not come out and say it, but you would have to believe that these types of games have a championship type feel to it. On the flip side, I think it will be a lot harder for Oswego to "get up" for a game against a (and dont flip out BullDog fans) "newbie". Adrian has no history and really no rivalry with the Lakers on the ice, so what does Oswego have to gain. Tradition vs Recognition.

The game reminds me of the last OSU/RIT matchup in their transition year. RIT had nothing to gain, and OSU had nothing to lose but to make a statement. What happened? OSU came out and beat the Tigers 4-2.

Some people will use it as an excuse if Adrian wins, some people will make another excuse if Adrian loses.

Fact of the matter is, until the MCHA gets to be a "respectable" conference (which with the AQ will come in time) you will always have naysayers no matter how many Championships Adrian comes away with. IF the top NCHA/MIAC and Adrian can't work out schedules to where Adrian gets the opportunity to play the perennials on a consistent basis, there will always be naysayers.

All I know is I am glad Oswego is on break that week so tickets won't be an issue for a should be great game.

[Hammer]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

I think you'll see a lot of the talk settle down if Adrian goes and wins a first round game this year and plays respectably well in a 2nd tournament game, with the understanding that they go a little further next season, when a good chunk of this team would be seniors. I'm not going to speculate further than two years away, as it's dangerous enough to be talking about next season before this one is roughly 10 days old.

As a matter of fact, outside of this thread (where this chatter certainly belongs), and for a while on the Oswego thread, there really hasn't been much Adrian talk that I have noticed, one way or the other. I suspected this would be the case once the MCHA got the AQ. I guess you could say that things might have started to settle already (at least I hope).

[zamboney]

Re: Adrian Hockey 2009-10: A New Hope

So here's the question I've been mulling over. What does Adrian have to do to convince the naysayers?

What "naysayers" might you be referring to? Please post a recent example of "nay saying" . I cannot remember a post since the end of the season or at least the granting of the AQ that has disparaged or denigrated Adrian. If by naysayers you mean those of us that are not willing to start engraving the Dlll Championship with Adrians name I will grant you there are a few.
It is generally acknowledged they are a good team. Seemingly since the AQ there seems to be a consensus that time will tell, they have a shot and it will be fun to see what they can do. You have not been on here in months ( "mulling" I would imagine...time consuming ) and come back with an uninformed provocative post. Frankly after all the past hyperbole from devoted Bulldog fans anything short of a National Championship would be...interesting