SLU Hockey 2011-2012

[drewcu]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Didn't see it posted here or on Heisenberg but it appears you received a commitment from Holderness D-man Gavin Bayreuther for 2014.
Cheers,
Drew

[css228]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Agree with you 100%. I really liked SLU not quitting and giving it everything they had. I wouldn't want to face us in the playoffs. As for the officiating, I'm not going there as doing so solves nothing and will just raise my BP.

BTW, "thanks" SLU Administration for giving the Cornell Band the best seats in the house. I really like the Cornell Band, but don't like SLU putting them right next to the SLU Student Section. Duh! As an FYI, students do not count in the attendance figures at Appleton as there's no turnstyles there and students get in for free or via an "E-ZPass" Card. There's no way there were less than 3,000 at the Cornell game (listed as 1,933).

A really fun weekend - it was great to be there and thanks go out once again to Pat and Eric for their hospitality.

SLU needs a pep band. A potentially great rink is ruined by piping in music over a loud speaker and an obnoxious goal horn. Any rink as classic as Appleton should embrace its age. No goal horn, no recorded music, just a band and a crazy atmosphere. Then it'd easily be the second best rink in ECAC hockey (to the venerable Lynah Rink of course!)

[TimU]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

SLU needs a pep band. A potentially great rink is ruined by piping in music over a loud speaker and an obnoxious goal horn. Any rink as classic as Appleton should embrace its age. No goal horn, no recorded music, just a band and a crazy atmosphere. Then it'd easily be the second best rink in ECAC hockey (to the venerable Lynah Rink of course!)

We'll get right on that for you.

[StayPuftMMcu]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

SLU needs a pep band. A potentially great rink is ruined by piping in music over a loud speaker and an obnoxious goal horn. Any rink as classic as Appleton should embrace its age. No goal horn, no recorded music, just a band and a crazy atmosphere. Then it'd easily be the second best rink in ECAC hockey (to the venerable Lynah Rink of course!)

The problem with this is current students have to take initiative, and it takes an enormous amount of money to start a brass band from scratch. A sousaphone alone can run like $4000+ for a good one, so you'd have to come up with a lot of people interested and some really good reasons to justify the funding. I'm all for SLU getting a band, especially as a Clarkson band alum. It would've made the rivalry just that much better.

[css228]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

The problem with this is current students have to take initiative, and it takes an enormous amount of money to start a brass band from scratch. A sousaphone alone can run like $4000+ for a good one, so you'd have to come up with a lot of people interested and some really good reasons to justify the funding. I'm all for SLU getting a band, especially as a Clarkson band alum. It would've made the rivalry just that much better.

Oh I'm not saying it is easy. I'm just saying a rink like that deserves to be treated like the artifact it is.

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

SLU needs a pep band. A potentially great rink is ruined by piping in music over a loud speaker and an obnoxious goal horn. Any rink as classic as Appleton should embrace its age. No goal horn, no recorded music, just a band and a crazy atmosphere. Then it'd easily be the second best rink in ECAC hockey (to the venerable Lynah Rink of course!)

I would love to see SLU get a band, but as has been noted, the cost of starting that up, in today's economic times, is a pipe dream IMO. Years ago, they would bring in a semi-local high school band. Sure, it was better than nothing, but (with no disrespect to the high school kids who volunteered their Fridays/Saturdays) they didn't exactly sound good... at all.

As to getting rid of the, as you call it, obnoxious siren? I honestly hope they never get rid of it, and would actually prefer they go back to years past where it would go off for more than 1.5 seconds. I would almost guarantee you that the players feel the same way, the siren is very much an integral part of the atmosphere at Appleton.

[Get the Puck Outta Here]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Go Saints! Lets get home ice and carry some momentum into the post season.

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Must win @ Dartmouth to get home ice in the 1st round.

[critsports]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

A tough one tonight for the Saints. They played well at Harvard but not well enough. I thought we could have had a bit more spunk and jump at times but compared to how we played when I was in Albany a few weeks back, well....they were a ton better than that. In fact were it not for Girard standing on his head several times the outcome could have been different.
We missed some opportunities......
-The 5 minute penalty at the start of the game was critical. Crimson almost killed it off and we scored at the end but if we could have potted a couple to start we could have got them on their heels a bit more.
-We had one PP that was totally squandered....we spent about a minute and a half in our own end.
-In the first period in particular and some in the second Girard put some rebounds out in areas where if the puck bounced right or we were in right spot we could have scored some rebound goals.

We pretty much (IMO) carried the play for the better part of two periods even though we were down 2-1. We needed to come out in the third and take over but it went the other way around. We had one sequence where we got really sloppy and careless and it led to Harvards third goal.

All in all it was Girards night. I stood with Leckster and several times we thought for sure the puck was going in only to have Girard kick out a pad, an arm or dive across to stop the puck. It was his night and he was the star of the game.

Gotta win tomorrow or its road time.

By the by a lot of SLU hockey royalty at the game tonight. There was a players reunion before the game with almost 100 people in attendance.

[Muskieman]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Women's Team advances to ECAC Semis., with a 2-0 win at Dartmouth this afternoon and a series sweep on the road. Here's to hoping the Men also win in Hanover tonight.

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Well, we got home ice for atleast 2 more games against Dartmouth. Hopefully we can be rid of them in 2, then on to likely Union or Cornell, since I honestly don't see too much for upsets below us. Who knows though.

Hoping that I'll be home for atleast 1 of the games this weekend, but no idea when I'll be home. Haven't been to Appleton this year for a game.

[number 16]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Great win last night. We came out on fire in the 1st and then the game settled into pretty much a defensive battle - possibly because only 1 penalty was called in 60 min of hockey. I can't say enough about these freshmen. They entered without much fanfare but have been great in the 5games I've seen ( all on the road). Last night Pat Doherty, Chris Martin and Tommy Thompson were all over the ice. Martin's hussle setting up the empty netter was MUCH appreciated - we have lost too many this year in the last seconds. Best fo luck in the playoffs. GO SAINTS!

[Got 6, Want More]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

A few comments:

Mike pretty much told the story at Harvard. We certainly had our chances and the Harvard goalie stood on his head at times and was just lucky the others. He did give up some juicy rebounds and then made the stops on the second, third and fourth shots. I have to say, although he was clearly the #1 star of the game, with rebounds like that and some more puck luck I could see him getting shelled some nights. Obviously, Friday night that did not happen. It was just one of those games really. We did not have the jump I expected we would and it was not our best effort, but we still had more than enough good chances to put the game away early. Harvard's goals - 1) weak shot from the point that changed directions about 3-4 times, 2) a bit lucky in that shot was deflected and ended up by the side of the net where a Harvard player was standing all alone he picked it up and stuffed it home, 3) beautiful wrister on a bad SLU turnover and then an empty netter. Harvard is decent but beatable. I am stunned that H and Q-Pac got byes. I have a feeling this will be the year where the bye doesn't guarantee anything.

The Dartmouth game was pretty even. SLU's first goal was a beauty, good head man pass from Martin to Carey, who hit the line at high speed, Carey sent the puck all the way across the ice to Flanagan who one-timed it five hole. Second one was a drop pass from Essery to George Hughes who put it in off the post. Third was as pretty of an empty netter as you will ever see - we iced the puck and Chris Martin took off like a rocket (he was probably 10 feet behind the guy at the blue line and beat him to the puck to negate icing and he tapped it in the corner over to Gunnar Hughes who brought it out front and slammed it in. Extremely even game. SLU had the edge in play in the first. Dartmouth had the edge in play for the first half of the second and then it was even the rest of the time. Only one minor penalty called in the game. It was a week tripping call on Carey who actually made a nice check, and there were two pretty blatant interference penalties on Dartmouth where Essery got pulled down at center ice and where Carey got picked hard on the forecheck late in the 2nd, but by ECAC standards that was about the best officiating I have seen in the ECAC in a while. At Harvard it was so bad it was comical - both ways. At least they made the right call on the major to Harvard to start the game as the guy went for Gunnar H's head plain and simple. So some ECAC refs know that rule, just not the refs we had the weekend before.

Some standouts from the Dartmouth game - Wenny made some great saves, Mobley had the jets on, Gunnar Hughes was outstanding, Martin continues to impress me, Doherty had a great game but I thought was forcing it a bit at times in front of his hometown crowd, Essery is so steady and makes such key plays at both ends of the ice and Flanny is just Flanny who can dangle with the best of them and on D I thought Baker, Austin and Hughes had good nights. Austin absolutely demolished a kid with a hip check in the first. Very clean game, very little BS, Kudos to Dartmouth for playing hard and with class and going an entire game without a penalty called.

Some comments on how the league ended up:

For us, 8th is disappointing but we were so close to 3rd, given some of our struggles at times in the season, that is a good finish. If that Cornell game had gone the way that it should have (I now know the disallowed goal was pure horse****), we would have been playing for a bye on Saturday.
For Union, congratulations!
For Cornell, Saturday night proves karma is a *****.
For Q-Pac, I will wonder for a while how that team got the bye. They are not as talented as some teams below them but luck was on their side (and RPI).
For Harvard, ditto from Q-Pac but they did outplay us on Friday and they beat Clarkson when they had to.
Colgate has not picked a good time to hit a wall. Falling from controlling their own destiny to get third to fifth and losing four in a row is not the way any team wants to go into the playoffs.
Clarkson - who knows what happened there. Did not expect them to get swept this weekend after three points the weekend before. Now they face a desperate RPI that has gone on a tear. That could be interesting.
Yale - These guys are playing better lately. But I hope Princeton finds a way to win.
Dartmouth - I think these guys are better than 9th and they play us very tough. They prove parity is alive and well.
RPI - may be the hottest team in the league at the moment and are playing with desperation. Good luck to them.
Princeton - I hope they win, but need to pick it up a notch.
Brown - I am glad we will not be playing them any time soon...they gave Colgate all they could handle at Starr, wouldn't be surprised to see them do it again.

Parity is alive and well. There is very little separating any team from another on any given night. The playoffs makes me miss the old days were you could take certain nights off and still expect to win. Now it just comes down to who wants it more, who wins the little battles, who has more jump and sometimes gets a lucky break.

The only good news is we got home ice and we earned it with a good, tight win at Dartmouth. Need two more games in a row just like last night.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

A few comments:

Mike pretty much told the story at Harvard. We certainly had our chances and the Harvard goalie stood on his head at times and was just lucky the others. He did give up some juicy rebounds and then made the stops on the second, third and fourth shots. I have to say, although he was clearly the #1 star of the game, with rebounds like that and some more puck luck I could see him getting shelled some nights. Obviously, Friday night that did not happen. It was just one of those games really. We did not have the jump I expected we would and it was not our best effort, but we still had more than enough good chances to put the game away early. Harvard's goals - 1) weak shot from the point that changed directions about 3-4 times, 2) a bit lucky in that shot was deflected and ended up by the side of the net where a Harvard player was standing all alone he picked it up and stuffed it home, 3) beautiful wrister on a bad SLU turnover and then an empty netter. Harvard is decent but beatable. I am stunned that H and Q-Pac got byes. I have a feeling this will be the year where the bye doesn't guarantee anything.

The Dartmouth game was pretty even. SLU's first goal was a beauty, good head man pass from Martin to Carey, who hit the line at high speed, Carey sent the puck all the way across the ice to Flanagan who one-timed it five hole. Second one was a drop pass from Essery to George Hughes who put it in off the post. Third was as pretty of an empty netter as you will ever see - we iced the puck and Chris Martin took off like a rocket (he was probably 10 feet behind the guy at the blue line and beat him to the puck to negate icing and he tapped it in the corner over to Gunnar Hughes who brought it out front and slammed it in. Extremely even game. SLU had the edge in play in the first. Dartmouth had the edge in play for the first half of the second and then it was even the rest of the time. Only one minor penalty called in the game. It was a week tripping call on Carey who actually made a nice check, and there were two pretty blatant interference penalties on Dartmouth where Essery got pulled down at center ice and where Carey got picked hard on the forecheck late in the 2nd, but by ECAC standards that was about the best officiating I have seen in the ECAC in a while. At Harvard it was so bad it was comical - both ways. At least they made the right call on the major to Harvard to start the game as the guy went for Gunnar H's head plain and simple. So some ECAC refs know that rule, just not the refs we had the weekend before.

Some standouts from the Dartmouth game - Wenny made some great saves, Mobley had the jets on, Gunnar Hughes was outstanding, Martin continues to impress me, Doherty had a great game but I thought was forcing it a bit at times in front of his hometown crowd, Essery is so steady and makes such key plays at both ends of the ice and Flanny is just Flanny who can dangle with the best of them and on D I thought Baker, Austin and Hughes had good nights. Austin absolutely demolished a kid with a hip check in the first. Very clean game, very little BS, Kudos to Dartmouth for playing hard and with class and going an entire game without a penalty called.

Some comments on how the league ended up:

For us, 8th is disappointing but we were so close to 3rd, given some of our struggles at times in the season, that is a good finish. If that Cornell game had gone the way that it should have (I now know the disallowed goal was pure horse****), we would have been playing for a bye on Saturday.
For Union, congratulations!
For Cornell, Saturday night proves karma is a *****.
For Q-Pac, I will wonder for a while how that team got the bye. They are not as talented as some teams below them but luck was on their side (and RPI).
For Harvard, ditto from Q-Pac but they did outplay us on Friday and they beat Clarkson when they had to.
Colgate has not picked a good time to hit a wall. Falling from controlling their own destiny to get third to fifth and losing four in a row is not the way any team wants to go into the playoffs.
Clarkson - who knows what happened there. Did not expect them to get swept this weekend after three points the weekend before. Now they face a desperate RPI that has gone on a tear. That could be interesting.
Yale - These guys are playing better lately. But I hope Princeton finds a way to win.
Dartmouth - I think these guys are better than 9th and they play us very tough. They prove parity is alive and well.
RPI - may be the hottest team in the league at the moment and are playing with desperation. Good luck to them.
Princeton - I hope they win, but need to pick it up a notch.
Brown - I am glad we will not be playing them any time soon...they gave Colgate all they could handle at Starr, wouldn't be surprised to see them do it again.

Parity is alive and well. There is very little separating any team from another on any given night. The playoffs makes me miss the old days were you could take certain nights off and still expect to win. Now it just comes down to who wants it more, who wins the little battles, who has more jump and sometimes gets a lucky break.

The only good news is we got home ice and we earned it with a good, tight win at Dartmouth. Need two more games in a row just like last night.

Based upon your comments, be thankful Q-Pac didn't win.

Best of luck vs. Dartmouth.

[Got 6, Want More]

Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012

Well, we got home ice for atleast 2 more games against Dartmouth. Hopefully we can be rid of them in 2, then on to likely Union or Cornell, since I honestly don't see too much for upsets below us. Who knows though.

Hoping that I'll be home for atleast 1 of the games this weekend, but no idea when I'll be home. Haven't been to Appleton this year for a game.

I don't know. Clarkson lost two in a row and RPI is on fire. Brown gave Colgate everything they could handle last game at Starr and can bore teams to sleep and have some capable forwards, I'll never count out a team coached by Bob Prier and Princeton does have some talented guys and Yale is capable of self-destructing with penalties and defense and goaltending lapses. Don't know how many upsets there will be but I'll be suprised if many of these series in the next two weeks don't go three games.