Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

[bulldog10jw]

Yale freshman J.M. Piotrowski budding into one of Yale’s ‘mane’ players

http://www.nhregister.com/sports/201...s-mane-players

Three of Piotrowski’s aunts fought breast cancer and lost hair during chemotherapy treatment. Their ordeal motivated him to let his grow long enough until it could be donated to Locks for Love, a charity that turns human hair into wigs for children with long-term medical hair loss.

[bulldog10jw]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

Yes - I was there as well. Yale scored 2 off 5 min major & were a little chippy IMHO, a sign they were in some trouble, similar to what I saw from Harvard. I thought they out cycled us early 3rd & got the 2 and we really had one decent chance from there when Wittek's shot rang the post. I agree that this team is playing MUCH better now & the forecheck reappearing is a really good sign.

It's really just the "eye test" at this point that I am pointing to. I've watched them play several times and granted, they have kinda been coasting along lately, not playing great. But they still look like the best team, just a little bit better than Yale. Now, who's actually PLAYING BETTER lately? No question, Yale is. And, as such, they are a legit title threat. In fact, even last year, I thought they were except the committee didn't stick to normal PWR seedings & Providence ended up well - in Providence - where Yale should have been & would have matched up perfectly with the teams in that bracket. Instead we got BU - the one team that I didn't want them to get in the opening round. Oh well.

Again, it's just based on what I see. I just don't see Q as head and shoulders above the rest. Are they a #1 seed? Definitely. But, I've seen St. Cloud. They're really good. Not sold on NoDak. I will say I haven't seen that much of BC. I did see they in the romp vs PC, but I turned it off. Next game - the tie - was more representative. Still, it was like the tie WE had with BC in 2013. That night, I thought we pretty much dominated them & just didn't know how to win that type of game yet. Same with when we got smoked by QU at Ingalls. I turned to the person next to me and said, "The better team lost tonight, 6-2." He thought I was crazy, but I knew what I saw.

Yale's got a ton of heart. I love this team. And like you said, they are improving. They are beginning to forecheck. They are rolling 2 legit lines, soon to be 3. And they are a threat. Allain needs to line up a few more out of conference games vs. West teams in the future. It makes a big difference in PWR & seeding. East teams just get punished if they don't play a couple of early ones vs. West. Witness BC. They played CC & Denver and they are pretty much a lock for a 1 seed. We're struggling to keep a 3. It isn't right.

I mean, as I stated on this board, the trend has been East since 2008 and IMHO, shows little sign of changing now. Again, I think St. Cloud is really good. 1st pretty complete, fast team I've seen from the West in a while. With the exception of 2010-11 when Yale WAS best team & just didn't know how to win & got wiped out by MN-Duluth, that trend has held. I suspect it will again this year. If ECAC got respect it deserves, Clarkson would be higher in PWR & probably fighting with Penn St. on the bubble. And the teams that finish 1-2-3 would get 1-2-3 seeds in the tourney.

Instead, there's Minny from an atrocious Big 10 laying there again. And UM, playing in said terrible conference, will probably pretty much run the table & get a 1, at worst a 2 - with their biggest "quality" wins being a split with BU, Penn St. & Minny. St Cloud was just like we are. Went on the road to Hamden, saw them, & they played poorly. But I saw their firepower, and have since then on TV - which I wasn't expecting. So I like them - a lot.

I think Yale should be a 2. Q 1, Yale 2, Harvard 3 & maybe one other ECAC team as a 4 if they make a run in the tourney (but probably won't happen). They are definitely better than they were last year, when I still thought given the right bracket they could make Frozen Four. This time, I think they can win no matter where they are placed.

Just saying based on my unscientific "eye test", talent wise, they are a shade behind PC, St. Cloud, Q, BC. I think they're better than the other teams in the Top 10 (although granted, I've only watched ND maybe 1 or 2 times this year) & I'm still not 100% sold on Q (don't get me wrong, they're great, but it's the same team as they've been before, nothing new, whereas I think with Snively, P, the emergence of Hayden, etc. Yale is different - and much improved. So I hold judgement here.).

They just need to stay healthy, get guys back, into the flow & they've got a totally legit shot. Esp with Lyon between the pipes :-)

An eye test and sometimes just a feeling you get about a team can be just as good as any other kind of analysis. I remember after the ECAC disaster in 2013 I told an online friend that Yale could still skate with any team in the country and could definitely win their first round game against MN.

[Yale86]

Re: Yale freshman J.M. Piotrowski budding into one of Yale’s ‘mane’ players

http://www.nhregister.com/sports/201...s-mane-players

Three of Piotrowski’s aunts fought breast cancer and lost hair during chemotherapy treatment. Their ordeal motivated him to let his grow long enough until it could be donated to Locks for Love, a charity that turns human hair into wigs for children with long-term medical hair loss.

That is awesome! I'm going to tell my wife. She's a 2x survivor. Last time she lost all her hair. Still incredibly beautiful - even with the wig. And tough as nails.

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale freshman J.M. Piotrowski budding into one of Yale’s ‘mane’ players

Nice article featuring the backbone of the team, Obie and Witek. As of Wednesday the author did not have much info on injuries other than that Repensky will be seen on the PP, and that all other injured players are questionable. O'Gara is back. http://www.nhregister.com/sports/201...more-with-less

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

Well played game by your guys tonight, did a fine job of neutralizing SLU's speed. Hope to see you guys again next month on the big sheet perhaps.

[bulldog10jw]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

Huge win. Anytime you score in the last minute (or close enough) to get the win it's extra special.

[Yale86]

Huge win. Anytime you score in the last minute (or close enough) to get the win it's extra special.

Yes - lucky to avoid the big letdown. Team knows how to win. Unlike bball team who played awful. Oh well. 2 more wins I say they're in - esp if they get the Q game. After that it's for seeding. Seems to me like 2 is our lucky number. Solid 2 in ECAC, 2 more wins, looking like a 2 seed. :-)

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

Great win on a night when Lyon was off of his game, nice to see the team pick him up. A couple of lasers by Obie and O'Gara. Nice to see Izzy come off the injury bench and contribute quickly. I thought that Yale was the better team and also ran into Hayton on a pretty hot night. Getting very excited about this team.

[critsports]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

Great win on a night when Lyon was off of his game, nice to see the team pick him up. A couple of lasers by Obie and O'Gara. Nice to see Izzy come off the injury bench and contribute quickly. I thought that Yale was the better team and also ran into Hayton on a pretty hot night. Getting very excited about this team.

I'll agree with some of your comment, but not all of it. We did lose to a better team tonight. Agree on that. Ylae did a much better job of containing the Saints and getting us out of our game than we did of counteracting your forecheck which was stifling. Where I'll disagree is on Hayton. You saw a normal version of Hayton, but I thought he (Hayton) was off his game a bit as well. He went down very quickly on two of the Ylae goals which allowed shots to go up and over him. I don't think you can fault Lyon on our first or third goals.........the second one was soft. Laidley's goal was every bit the snipe Obuchowski's was and Thompson's to tie it at three was also a beautiful goal.

What I didn't understand tonight was why two good skating teams had to muck it up in that second period. The officials were awful tonight and the penalty calls definitely favored Ylae which helped you dominate in some of the stats and in particular the SOG goal category. When we got the 5 on 3 (finally) it seemed the refs were hell bent on a quick and weak make up call on Bayreuther. The second call (pushing the net off was deserved.) And what was up with Carson Cooper??? Didn't care for his play one bit. Seemed like he was out to try and break the record in one game for cross checking people from behind. Very dirty play by him tonight.

When we got past your forecheck.....I thought we carried the play and had way more quality chances than the SOG would indicate. Thought we played really well in the first and for parts of the third. But.....giving up the 2 on 1 to the cherry picking Snively was inexcusable of a good team at that point in the game.

I have seen both Q Pac and your team on TV and in person. To me, you look better top to bottom than they do and I think you have more team speed overall. Q is barely getting by at this point and pulled another rabbit out of the hat tonight. Good luck and I hope we see you down the line in the playoffs. Not sure we can take you 2 of 3 but I know we can do better.

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

I'll agree with some of your comment, but not all of it. We did lose to a better team tonight. Agree on that. Ylae did a much better job of containing the Saints and getting us out of our game than we did of counteracting your forecheck which was stifling. Where I'll disagree is on Hayton. You saw a normal version of Hayton, but I thought he (Hayton) was off his game a bit as well. He went down very quickly on two of the Ylae goals which allowed shots to go up and over him. I don't think you can fault Lyon on our first or third goals.........the second one was soft. Laidley's goal was every bit the snipe Obuchowski's was and Thompson's to tie it at three was also a beautiful goal.

What I didn't understand tonight was why two good skating teams had to muck it up in that second period. The officials were awful tonight and the penalty calls definitely favored Ylae which helped you dominate in some of the stats and in particular the SOG goal category. When we got the 5 on 3 (finally) it seemed the refs were hell bent on a quick and weak make up call on Bayreuther. The second call (pushing the net off was deserved.) And what was up with Carson Cooper??? Didn't care for his play one bit. Seemed like he was out to try and break the record in one game for cross checking people from behind. Very dirty play by him tonight.

When we got past your forecheck.....I thought we carried the play and had way more quality chances than the SOG would indicate. Thought we played really well in the first and for parts of the third. But.....giving up the 2 on 1 to the cherry picking Snively was inexcusable of a good team at that point in the game.

I have seen both Q Pac and your team on TV and in person. To me, you look better top to bottom than they do and I think you have more team speed overall. Q is barely getting by at this point and pulled another rabbit out of the hat tonight. Good luck and I hope we see you down the line in the playoffs. Not sure we can take you 2 of 3 but I know we can do better.

Cooper and Wilson are the bane of most teams trying to exit their own end these days. As to Cooper, he took two ill advised minors for his aggressiveness tonight, not the usual night for a guy who averages a penalty every two games, the Saints should have taken advantage of his stupidity, but did not. The Bayreuther call was well deserved, he blatantly got his fists up hard into the mask of the Yale player, only a minute after Yale was called for a similar play. SLU gifted Yale this win with some undisciplined play when they could have taken the advantage. SLU is a very good team who in my opinion could beat anyone on any day, I would love to see them make hay in the NCAA's.

[bulldog10jw]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

For anyone who missed the game like I did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmG0xrxuuFA

[Boola]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

From the College Hockey News blog:

Thoughts

The Saints gave up too many odd-man rushes and were burned on the last one. John Hayden made a pass to Joe Snively and Snively passed off to Obuchowski who put it into the wide open net. This is unlike SLU, which prides itself on its defensive systems and responsibility. Yale’s Stu Wilson was especially pesky at the blueline causing multiple turnovers that went for odd-man rushes. He drew a key penalty in the second period on one, that also led to a Yale goal. So for SLU, they were costly.


Wide Open Net? Not from my angle.

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

From the College Hockey News blog:

Thoughts

The Saints gave up too many odd-man rushes and were burned on the last one. John Hayden made a pass to Joe Snively and Snively passed off to Obuchowski who put it into the wide open net. This is unlike SLU, which prides itself on its defensive systems and responsibility. Yale’s Stu Wilson was especially pesky at the blueline causing multiple turnovers that went for odd-man rushes. He drew a key penalty in the second period on one, that also led to a Yale goal. So for SLU, they were costly.


Wide Open Net? Not from my angle.

Obuchowski even stated that the only choice he had was to go high over Haytons shoulder, stating that was his strategy because Hayton is considered a smaller goalie. I would say the window was six inches over the shoulder, it was a great quick and hard shot. On the other hand I thought Lyon had one of his worst games of the season, he let a couple of wide open looks in. The third SLU goal was a fantastic play and was the D-Mans fault. Lyon did come up big when it counted to start the third, making a glove save while lying on his back, THAT was a truly wide open net.

[bulldog10jw]

Re: Yale Bulldogs 2015-2016 season. Lets get offensive!

From the College Hockey News blog:


Wide Open Net? Not from my angle.

Agree. The SLU goalie was just beat up high.

[hockeyplayer1015]

Agree. The SLU goalie was just beat up high.

There was a big black hole of room up top. Hayton kinda cheated low/dropped early and got beat.

Really, the only "poor" goal was Ward's from the sharp angle that beat Lyon.