Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

[WildShawn]

All has been relatively quiet on the UNH home front considering the decent start to the season. Hopefully finally getting in their 2nd and 3rd home game of the season will wake people up. Can we expect a couple of good games? Will we see the UMass team that hung tough at Minnesota, or the one that got blown out at home by Army (not Tim Army)?

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

All has been relatively quiet on the UNH home front considering the decent start to the season. Hopefully finally getting in their 2nd and 3rd home game of the season will wake people up. Can we expect a couple of good games? Will we see the UMass team that hung tough at Minnesota, or the one that got blown out at home by Army (not Tim Army)?

I have my cousin, a UMass season ticket holder, coming to the game with me on Friday. He's pretty discouraged after three straight losses to Atlantic teams last week. Over the years UMass has not played that well at UNH, with their last wins at the Whit coming in 2006 (a weekend sweep!?!). UMass lost their top scorers from last year so I imagine there is an adjustment going on, but to lose to the likes of Bentley and Army is hard to fathom. Motto for UNH should be to get on top of them early.

[Federal League]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

I have my cousin, a UMass season ticket holder, coming to the game with me on Friday. He's pretty discouraged after three straight losses to Atlantic teams last week. Over the years UMass has not played that well at UNH, with their last wins at the Whit coming in 2006 (a weekend sweep!?!). UMass lost their top scorers from last year so I imagine there is an adjustment going on, but to lose to the likes of Bentley and Army is hard to fathom. Motto for UNH should be to get on top of them early.

UMass has only played 1 game against an AH team- the loss to Army. I think you're thinking of NU with the 3 straight losses.

[UML]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

I don't think Greg meant the 3 losses were all this year. I'm pretty sure UMass lost to Bentley last year.

[jjmc85]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

This UMass team is no where near as good (in my opinion) as the team that lost to Bentley. That statement in of itself is depressing.

[C-H-C]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

This UMass team is no where near as good (in my opinion) as the team that lost to Bentley. That statement in of itself is depressing.

In Hockey East, anything is possible on any given night. Particularly with back-to-back games. Some hot goaltending can go a long way.

[Jacques "Rabbit" Poriveau]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

Motto for UNH should be to get on top of them early.

You tawking bout de game ou ats zee partay apres zee game?

[jjmc85]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

In Hockey East, anything is possible on any given night. Particularly with back-to-back games. Some hot goaltending can go a long way.

It's true anything can happen on any given night and if I were Umile I'd be driving that point home to my team. However, this UMass team isn't as good as the UMass team that lost to Bentley.

It's a young team and they've played some close games. Only one I saw in person was the loss against BU out at the Mullins Center. I also saw the last two periods of the second Minnesota game on TV. My impression from the limited sample space is that they won't quit and they'll battle and the future looks bright. I think from a UMass point of view, we have to consider this a rebuilding year.

Could they take points this weekend? Sure. Will they? I hope so, but I doubt it.

[WildShawn]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

You tawking bout de game ou ats zee partay apres zee game?

speaking of yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

[WildShawn]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

Surprised this thread isn't closed out already with all of the excitement.

The lack of interest in this team is kind of sad. The place was 1/2 full until the end of the first period last night. The band made up 1/3 of the crowd until then!

The game was pretty much as expected. UNH dominated in all facets of the game, and UMass clogged up the zone and made it a snoozer. The power play looked 10x better than the last time they played at home against Michigan. The passing was much crisper and decisions were instant instead of holding the puck for a few seconds. Digi wasn't tested that often, but had to make some really good saves, especially in the 2nd period. The UMass goaltender made a lot of quality saves as he was under fire much of the night.

4 goals allowed in 4 hockey east games isn't too shabby.

[Nifty16]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

Very quiet after a solid effort last night from the boys, for a 3-0 game it seemed liked a 8-0 game. Have to say UNH dominated the entire game. UMass had a couple of moments of that they put some pressure on but not to many. Had to say the Cats were at least 2 steps faster then UMass last night, then again we all know that could change tonight. Would like to see the Cats shot a little more, UMass was not pressuring the puck handler so think the Cats thought they could pass a little to much when they could have walked in and taken a shot and crashed the net for more chances. But overall pleased with the game and good to see Matty get his first shut out, hopefully will come out with the same effort tonight and keep skating.

[C-H-C]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

Surprised this thread isn't closed out already with all of the excitement.

Very quiet after a solid effort last night from the boys...

Contributing factors:
1. There aren't many UMass fans who post.
2. Some, if not many, UNH fans have been trained to not celebrate early season accomplishments on the Fan Forum.
3. UNH threads don't get a lot of posts unless there is some controversy brewing (e.g., Coach Umile is inept, ill-dressed, etc.; Player X is an over-hyped, no-show; UNH can't attract top recruits; etc.).

I'm looking forward to enjoying the play on the ice tonight at the Whitt.

[WildShawn]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

Contributing factors:
1. There aren't many UMass fans who post.
2. Some, if not many, UNH fans have been trained to not celebrate early season accomplishments on the Fan Forum.
3. UNH threads don't get a lot of posts unless there is some controversy brewing (e.g., Coach Umile is inept, ill-dressed, etc.; Player X is an over-hyped, no-show; UNH can't attract top recruits; etc.).

I'm looking forward to enjoying the play on the ice tonight at the Whitt.

there's a difference b/w celebrating and discussing, and the interest/excitement in this team has plummeted the last few years, not even gradually... I don't care what donkey fans from other donkey schools say/type, and certainly don't let it affect how I discuss my team. I'm not going to get over excited about November, but it is sad how little discussion there is

[Nifty16]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

there's a difference b/w celebrating and discussing, and the interest/excitement in this team has plummeted the last few years, not even gradually... I don't care what donkey fans from other donkey schools say/type, and certainly don't let it affect how I discuss my team. I'm not going to get over excited about November, but it is sad how little discussion there is

I agree 100% has been a very quiet season so far, and don't think it has anything with fans being trained not to celbrate. It is just an odd year not high excpectations going into the year and having 6 our of the first 7 games on the road didn't help the fans, but it did help the team. I think if this play continues we will see more talk. I for one will take what I have seen so far and hope they continue to imporve and like you said dont care what the trolls from other teams say and will not get into a pi%#ing contest with them. I say let gets some hockey talk going.

[C-H-C]

Re: Massachusetts at New Hampshire Friday and Saturday

I say let gets some hockey talk going.

For those who saw the game last night, how did the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines play? According to the boxscore, the scoring came from the 1st line and on the power play (Power Play stats that goblue posted on the "Starting Gate" thread look good).