UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

[unh_hockey]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

I seldom watch college hockey these days, and barely keep up with UNH in regards to standings. Looks like they are solid by their record. They also looked good against lowell - much more pedestrian of a team than 10 years ago, but that makes them probably more difficult to pair up against ( seems like the D had it out for this goumas guy, but hes our leading scorer). Desmith looks solid. Local kid too. Good to see success there.

UNH's reputation from NHL scouts : good system, subpar conditioning. Might explain their struggles over the years later in the season. The last few years though it seems they have shown up and played good teams tough. Maybe this is changing? Of all of their aspects in regards to recruiting, this was a big one mentioned as a limiting factor for getting kids 'ready for the next level'. With that said, will be watching to see how this team handles everything down the stretch. A strong finish again will only help ( even if they don't win a NT).

[WildShawn]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

UNH is +2 while shorthanded so far this year which is probably best in the nation...

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

The best I can say about last night's game is that UNH won fairly comfortably without playing anywhere near their best hockey. Like the previous poster said, there were times they looked great, but although those times were few, they capitalized on their chances. Having said that, once UML scored their second goal midway into the 3rd period, they had a couple of quality chances to really pile the pressure on the 'Cats. It would have been interesting to see how they reacted to the possibility of frittering away a second 4-0 lead in the space of a week. The fact they did hold UML off is a good sign that they've put that behind them.

I thought DeSmith looked solid, and I would be very surprised to see Coach Umile move away from him tonight at Lowell, where all signs indicate the "bad blood" between the teams may spill over and create a pretty nasty contest. No disrespect to Weyer, who by all accounts played pretty well in the Denver comeback. But based on past history, I think Coach Umile subsribes to the hockey equivalent of the old NFL adage, "If you have two starting goalies, you really have zero starting goalies". And if DeSmith is going to be your guy in goal, then he is likely going to get the nod in all but a few games. And just like in foottball, sometimes if your starting QB/goalie goes through a rough patch, the most popular guy on the team becomes the backup QB/goalie. So DeSmith it is then.

[JB]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

UNH is +2 while shorthanded so far this year which is probably best in the nation...

I had noticed but did dare mention ... there was a dream that was Rome...

It is unbelievable that through 13 games they have scored 2 more goals down a man than given up, I can believe this will continue. I have never looked up this type of record but I can't believe a team has gone the whole season + on the short hand, so UNH will have to come back to earth.

[JB]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

I thought DeSmith looked solid, and I would be very surprised to see Coach Umile move away from him tonight at Lowell, where all signs indicate the "bad blood" between the teams may spill over and create a pretty nasty contest. No disrespect to Weyer, who by all accounts played pretty well in the Denver comeback. But based on past history, I think Coach Umile subsribes to the hockey equivalent of the old NFL adage, "If you have two starting goalies, you really have zero starting goalies". And if DeSmith is going to be your guy in goal, then he is likely going to get the nod in all but a few games. And just like in foottball, sometimes if your starting QB/goalie goes through a rough patch, the most popular guy on the team becomes the backup QB/goalie. So DeSmith it is then.

See I lean toward the view that early season games don't really matter that much, yes all are important. So the real importance of the early season is to be sure you are prepared for whatever possibilities, like DeSmith getting the flu for a big weekend later in the year. So I think it is important to see Wyer in game situations, for experience, for the coaching staff to help him work on whatever. As well as Wyer played in Denver, playing him tonight is low risk (of a loss) high reward (being prepared).

I agree you have to know who your #1 is, but unlike the shorter football season you have the opportunity to develop depth just encase.

I would tell DeSmith the truth, you played great but we need to get Wyer a little ice time and this is an excellent chance, we are depending on you being ready for BU on Thursday.

[Nifty16]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Can't think of a better way to spend the 40 th birthday down in Lowell watching the red hot Cats
Also was lolling at the +2 on the Kill last night that's just unbeilevable

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

See I lean toward the view that early season games don't really matter that much, yes all are important. So the real importance of the early season is to be sure you are prepared for whatever possibilities, like DeSmith getting the flu for a big weekend later in the year. So I think it is important to see Wyer in game situations, for experience, for the coaching staff to help him work on whatever. As well as Wyer played in Denver, playing him tonight is low risk (of a loss) high reward (being prepared).

I agree you have to know who your #1 is, but unlike the shorter football season you have the opportunity to develop depth just encase.

I would tell DeSmith the truth, you played great but we need to get Wyer a little ice time and this is an excellent chance, we are depending on you being ready for BU on Thursday.

I don't necessarily disagree, JB. But we have more than 20 years of past history on how Coach Umile handles his goalies, and there haven't been many times when he has taken the "let's go with the backup" approach. As I'd guessed back near the start of the season, Wyer has played in one of the Colorado games (although even that wasn't a start), and based on the past track record, the next time I'd expect to see him between the pipes would be the USNDT exhibition.

There have been few exceptions where Coach Umile has split time between goalies (perhaps starting with Cavicchi/Heinke in the mid'90's, moving along to the Matile/Conklin situation in '99, the Carney/Ayers scenario a couple of years later, and probably most recently the Pietrasiak/Regan jobshare a few years ago), and arguably in all but the Matile/Conklin scenario, where the redshirt soph played an established, older #1 Matile (who had just taken the previous year's team to the first Frozen Four in a generation) out of a starting job, and took that team to Anaheim, and the closest they've ever been to winning it all. And the fact that even happened at all was as much a situation where Matile was clearly not as sharp as he'd been in the past, and left the door open for Conklin.

Had DeSmith not played well again last night, that door may have opened a small crack. But it didn't, so I expect Coach Umile will likely maintain the status quo.

Having said that ... I'll be just as interested as everyone else to see if the tiger changes its stripes tonight, the old dog learns a new trick, etc.

[JB]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Having said that ... I'll be just as interested as everyone else to see if the tiger changes its stripes tonight, the old dog learns a new trick, etc.

Ahh... I was doing what I would do. Somehow I missed you were commenting on what Umile would do. I would say it is 80%+ DeSmith starts.

[sterlippo1]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

i'll bump your thread for you................ nice weekend. keep it up

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

I don't necessarily disagree, JB. But we have more than 20 years of past history on how Coach Umile handles his goalies, and there haven't been many times when he has taken the "let's go with the backup" approach. As I'd guessed back near the start of the season, Wyer has played in one of the Colorado games (although even that wasn't a start), and based on the past track record, the next time I'd expect to see him between the pipes would be the USNDT exhibition.

There have been few exceptions where Coach Umile has split time between goalies (perhaps starting with Cavicchi/Heinke in the mid'90's, moving along to the Matile/Conklin situation in '99, the Carney/Ayers scenario a couple of years later, and probably most recently the Pietrasiak/Regan jobshare a few years ago), and arguably in all but the Matile/Conklin scenario, where the redshirt soph played an established, older #1 Matile (who had just taken the previous year's team to the first Frozen Four in a generation) out of a starting job, and took that team to Anaheim, and the closest they've ever been to winning it all. And the fact that even happened at all was as much a situation where Matile was clearly not as sharp as he'd been in the past, and left the door open for Conklin.

Had DeSmith not played well again last night, that door may have opened a small crack. But it didn't, so I expect Coach Umile will likely maintain the status quo.

Having said that ... I'll be just as interested as everyone else to see if the tiger changes its stripes tonight, the old dog learns a new trick, etc.

As an old-timer myself, great history in this post. But, I still like the idea of Wyer getting a start in the second game at the Ledyard tournament at the end of December.

UNH now tied for third in offense (avg GPG) and alone in third in defense (avg GPG).

My guess is that BC will remain #1 in the polls on Monday, even with the extra loss, as they have one more PWR point.

[GoUNH]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Couldnt really care less about polls or standings right now. Keep doing what you're doing, Wildcats.

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Nice weekend guys. Not too shabby of a season so far!

[WildShawn]

Nice weekend guys. Not too shabby of a season so far!

Back atcha! Expectations are tempered, but this has been fun so far... Can't wait for Jan 11, though there are tough games with BU (chance to sweep a good team), Dartmouth (are they for real?), BSU/UMass ( hopefully its BSU in that I hate seeing non conference games against conference opponents, and another WCHA opponent could prove valuable in the PWR though in reality hopefully it's whoever wins that game), and RPI who always gives us a fit...

[Chris_NH]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

My guess is that BC will remain #1 in the polls on Monday, even with the extra loss, as they have one more PWR point.

I agree. But the First-Place votes will be split more evenly than last week.

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Dartmouth (are they for real?),

Honestly I was very very impressed with them. BC was fortunate to win that one and I've got my eye on them. They gave BC fits all game long.

How about some Granite State pride... UNH and Dartmouth in #2 and #3 in the PWR (I hate even looking at this but needs to reference this to make my point). Interesting that the top 5 in the RPI/PWR have SOSs of 1,2,3,4,6 (not respectively).