Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

[17'sfanNU]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

Well played game tonight, especially with all the changes in the line up. Stayed out of the penalty box too, only 3 penalties, and one of them was questionable. NEC use to be one of the teams that took a lot of penalties, some of which were down right dirty. Good to see that they have cleaned up their game some, although there were some moments that the ref didn't "see" a stick hold or not letting an opponent up from the ice after being checked to the ground. I'm sure there were infractions on both teams that were missed/ignored.

Keep up the good play tomorrow night vs St. A. I'll be watching. and cheering you on!

[17'sfanNU]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

Wow... another OT game against St. A's, this one ending in a tie (2-2). I don't remember a season with so many OTs! So far this season, 7 OT games= 2 wins, 4 loses and 1 tie, not a record we would wish for. However, all these tied games (4 of them) in NEHC conference games, speaks a lot about the close competition in this league. I don't think it is all because Norwich is having a down season, as much as the improvement in teams that use to have less than a .500 record. I say this based on the fact of how well Norwich has played against NC teams such as Trinity and Plattsburgh. In NC games, (total of 7, including the exhibition game vs Nichols), we have 5 wins and 2 loses with the 2 loses happening in OT. Sure we had a lot of players out of the rosters due to sickness/injury, sure our defense is not as tight and the offense not as productive as past years, but I think for a rebuilding year, we are doing better than the record shows. The only two games that I thought we played very poorly were the Skidmore and the Babson games. I am interested in hearing what other fans think since lord knows, I may be a little too optimistic since I wear Maroon and Gold glasses.

At any rate, on to Castleton and Skidmore for the second week of tough road games. Hopefully everyone will be healthy. One thought about hopefully having Will Pelletier back in the line up, the Cadets can not look to him as the lone scorer. Doing so puts too much pressure on Will and hinders others by them hanging back a bit. It takes the whole team to play defense and offense, and we can't hesitate waiting for someone else to step up. Work together to get the job done guys. Looking forward to watching the games this weekend.

[NU Pastime]

Re: Impact of Increased Scrutiny?

I think the league is definitely showing more depth this year than in past years. Of course there's the the triumphant of Norwich, Babson, and UMB at the top, but UNE has shown great strides in improving their program as they prepare to ship off. Skidmore has shown a tendency to compete, beating NU and playing UMB tight last night. Last year I remember watching the games against Skidmore and George commenting that they were better than their record indicated, so they're apparently making small steps as well. NEC has always been a tough opponent and St. A's is getting more direction in their program with the focus on shifting to DIII. Castleton has regressed mightily from just a few years ago when they were nationally ranked and there was talk about them competing with NU on the national level. And St. Mike's is St. Mike's.

At least, that's my view from 20,000 feet.

[dinocoach]

Re: Impact of Increased Scrutiny?

I think the league is definitely showing more depth this year than in past years. Of course there's the the triumphant of Norwich, Babson, and UMB at the top, but UNE has shown great strides in improving their program as they prepare to ship off. Skidmore has shown a tendency to compete, beating NU and playing UMB tight last night. Last year I remember watching the games against Skidmore and George commenting that they were better than their record indicated, so they're apparently making small steps as well. NEC has always been a tough opponent and St. A's is getting more direction in their program with the focus on shifting to DIII. Castleton has regressed mightily from just a few years ago when they were nationally ranked and there was talk about them competing with NU on the national level. And St. Mike's is St. Mike's.

At least, that's my view from 20,000 feet.

It has been an interesting year, for sure. I agree that UNE has made some great advances in the right direction, but Castletown is a real enigma. I have only seen them play live at UNE, but the had some real quickness to their game and their goaltender played lights out on that night. I have watched parts of their games online, and they still had that quickness they had when I saw them live.

I always find it interesting to see what happens on the ice, as regards to final results, and the wonder what their locker room looks and sounds like? A collection of kids with some real talent, who don't perform well on the scoreboard, makes one wonder!

As for UNE, I am sorry to see them leaving the NEHC now that they are approaching a competitive level.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

Castleton may be having a "down" year results wise but I would wage they are easily the best four win team in the country.

Coach Moffatt has a group that works hard, just don't quite have the scoring touch of their "power" years with the Josh Harris, Stefan, Alonzo and Lazorkos...

[KRBFLINT03]

Castleton may be having a "down" year results wise but I would wage they are easily the best four win team in the country.

Coach Moffatt has a group that works hard, just don't quite have the scoring touch of their "power" years with the Josh Harris, Stefan, Alonzo and Lazorkos...

"You are what your record says you are" - Bill Parcells

[hawk]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

Castleton may be having a "down" year results wise but I would wage they are easily the best four win team in the country.

Coach Moffatt has a group that works hard, just don't quite have the scoring touch of their "power" years with the Josh Harris, Stefan, Alonzo and Lazorkos...

I have seen Castleton play this year and was very disappointed by there play. With the old coach Rutland was a very exciting place to watch a game and they were very competitive, sometimes being in the top 10. Some of the old Norwich/Castleton games at Rutland were some of the best games I have seen. My opinion is Castleton doesn't have the difference makers that used to come to Castleton. I didn't realize how good the old coach was until he was gone.

[Roy]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

I agree with not counting on Will to much. I am starting to notice when he is on the ice, they are constantly looking for how to get him the puck, and with him not playing most of the season this year , it is not helpful for everybody to be trying to get use to him on the ice again. When he played against Plattsburgh was the exception. If we have so many reasons why Norwich is not having such a good year, I would remind everybody to look at the rankings , and there are some of the same old teams sitting on the top, with very few losses, like they always do. Either the coaching matters or it doesn't and Corry G. not being there is starting to show up for Norwich.

[joecct]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

Prez

How is Charlie doing in his retirement?

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Prez

How is Charlie doing in his retirement?

Doing well. Still made a couple of appearances at Kreitzberg this year.

[KRBFLINT03]

I agree with not counting on Will to much. I am starting to notice when he is on the ice, they are constantly looking for how to get him the puck, and with him not playing most of the season this year , it is not helpful for everybody to be trying to get use to him on the ice again. When he played against Plattsburgh was the exception. If we have so many reasons why Norwich is not having such a good year, I would remind everybody to look at the rankings , and there are some of the same old teams sitting on the top, with very few losses, like they always do. Either the coaching matters or it doesn't and Corry G. not being there is starting to show up for Norwich.

So, Roy, do you think Cory Gustafson (1 "r") made a difference or not? Wasn't sure...

Cory's absence didn't seem to have such an impact last year. Plus, he's there every night, sitting right next to George

Could it have something to do with graduating our top 3 dmen*?

*on paper. I don't miss Hale. More turnovers than Aunt Bea.

[Roy]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

I am just saying something is the matter and I know that Cory was not there last year, but something is off with the team and thought maybe he was part of it. I mean , heck , if you look at the standings NU has more losses than any top 12 team. They probably shouldn't even be in the rankings right now. They have graduated dmen before. I don't think sitting next to George is helping enough.

So, Roy, do you think Cory Gustafson (1 "r") made a difference or not? Wasn't sure...

Cory's absence didn't seem to have such an impact last year. Plus, he's there every night, sitting right next to George

Could it have something to do with graduating our top 3 dmen*?

*on paper. I don't miss Hale. More turnovers than Aunt Bea.

[Bog Hockey]

I am just saying something is the matter and I know that Cory was not there last year, but something is off with the team and thought maybe he was part of it. I mean , heck , if you look at the standings NU has more losses than any top 12 team. They probably shouldn't even be in the rankings right now. They have graduated dmen before. I don't think sitting next to George is helping enough.

I would think Gustafson's observations would prove helpful to the coaching staff so let us hope he's encouraged to share them after each and every game.

[KRBFLINT03]

I am just saying something is the matter and I know that Cory was not there last year, but something is off with the team and thought maybe he was part of it. I mean , heck , if you look at the standings NU has more losses than any top 12 team. They probably shouldn't even be in the rankings right now. They have graduated dmen before. I don't think sitting next to George is helping enough.

I gotcha. I was just having a little fun.

You're right, Norwich has graduated dmen in the past. However, I don't know if we've ever lost our top 3* all at one time before.

That said, I think this year has been a perfect storm of graduation losses, unbelievable amounts of injuries, and plain old bad puck luck (see the 3 posts in OT Prez mentioned). Frankly, I think the bad bounces are part of the reason Norwich is still ranked as high. We could very easily be sitting at 16-3-1 and everyone would be raving at what a great job Coach McShane has done with an inexperienced, and oft-injured, team

[802Hockey]

Re: Norwich 2015-16 - 17 straight ECAC East titles and counting....

I gotcha. I was just having a little fun.

You're right, Norwich has graduated dmen in the past. However, I don't know if we've ever lost our top 3* all at one time before.

That said, I think this year has been a perfect storm of graduation losses, unbelievable amounts of injuries, and plain old bad puck luck (see the 3 posts in OT Prez mentioned). Frankly, I think the bad bounces are part of the reason Norwich is still ranked as high. We could very easily be sitting at 16-3-1 and everyone would be raving at what a great job Coach McShane has done with an inexperienced, and oft-injured, team

+1

Let's not forget how we handed it to Plattsburgh in the second game...especially the third period..and have lost on some fluky goals as well. Has this team been great? No, in fact I will say at times this season they have looked sloppier than I have seen a Norwich team play (I've been spoiled as a fan as I started attending around the Keith Aucoin era). But they have also shown resiliency and fight, as well as playing with some very tough competition.

To be honest, this right here (http://norwichathletics.com/sports/mice/2012-13/roster) is something that interests me. Notice all the players that came in with Dean. Now Dean sits alone...In past Championship teams it always seems like we have a very solid group of seniors. We don't always have a group of powerhouse goal scoring seniors but even if they lack in skill, they usually make up for it with leadership and pushing the team to fight through. I believe this is part of the struggles this year as well. Yes, we have a great group of Juniors, but I think we could use some more Seniors fighting for that last run.