Norwich 2022-23 Back to Normal (ish)

[Steve Day]

Looking forward with the return to Hockey today with the annual Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament. The Cadets welcome the University of New England, Wesleyan (CT), and Aurora (IL) to Northfield to close out 2023 and drop the puck in the second semester. Will be there.

NU 71

[PuckVoice]

Great win ... a bit of a steal for sure but still a GREAT win!

[KrbFlint]

Great win against a good opponent. On to tomorrow and another formidable foe.

[17'sfanNU]

It was a good win, but not really a well played game. Too many passing errors and give aways on both sides. The score could have been more lopsided if the Cadets would have capitalized on Aurora's mistakes. Should be a better game tonight with less mistakes.

[jerrynu26]

Third period: 2 power plays plus 1:30 of 6 on 4 at end of game, and managed only 5 shots for the period. That’s not all that’s wrong, but it was more than enough tonight.

[KrbFlint]

Really had a chance to pull away in a pretty dominant 2nd period and didn’t capitalize. Ended up costing them big time.

[Norwich59]

Third period: 2 power plays plus 1:30 of 6 on 4 at end of game, and managed only 5 shots for the period. That’s not all that’s wrong, but it was more than enough tonight.

Appeared to be out of gas in the third.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Appeared to be out of gas in the third.

Probably not super abnormal for first weekend back after 3 weeks off and not practicing every day and then playing two back to back games.

Speed and fitness have rarely if ever been problems for Norwich teams under McShane and Ellsworth. Not concerned on that one.

Scoring more goals though…thats the one that continues to be the bugaboo lately.

Take nothing away from UNE, that’s a very good team and program and they were in final four last year and have won the Holiday Tournament before.

Lots of hockey left to be played, but if Norwich can’t score 3 or more goals on most nights, going to be tough to rack up consistent Ws against a very strong league.

[***JCB***]

I've been reading posts on here for more than two decades and I've never felt the need to get an account to respond until now.

Not much feels right with this Cadet program. And it goes beyond the play on the ice. 25th in the Pairwise and that feels correct to me. They are a decent to good team with almost no chance to be great. Kerner might be the only guy on the whole squad who would play significant minutes in an earlier era. Player for player this team is slow. Period. With a few exceptions Ellsworth seems to recruit tall lanky players with poor acceleration. They got beat to 90% of the loose pucks in the 3rd frame by UNE, a team coming off the same holiday break. The style of play is boring to watch to say the least. It's the talk of the crowd in my opinion. Who wants to go watch a team sit back in a 1-2-2 and try to win 1-0 or 2-1? Not me and the people who sit around me I'll tell you that. Not many people in general judging by the recent attendance. There are often pucks just sitting there and the dmen are already backpedaling instead of pinching because they've clearly been told not to which is incredibly frustrating to me and others. Even when they outshoot teams they aren't getting many quality chances.

Something that I hear a bunch of people talking about is how the league has caught up to them and I say BS. More like they've quickly fallen a bit behind. It's not like Hobart appeared out of nowhere in the league. Things go in waves. Babson has been really good for a long time. Heck NEC was a power for a few years and went to the final four. The interlock used to put them up against some very good teams in league games. There were a large number of years when there were two NESCAC teams in the NCAAs whether it be Midd-Bowdoin or Midd-Trinity etc. And listen I said a bit behind and I mean that. I get that 50-60 schools would kill to be Norwich but the standard here is what it is and I want those expectations to stay high. Based on the product I'm seeing on the ice I'm really nervous that this could unravel. It's an ugly product out there when all they do is play not to lose.

For my last point in this rant the atmosphere at the rink is horrible. There are no students at the games. And yes I understand that there won't be during breaks before anyone calls me on that. It's been trending that way for years. There are no promotions other than 50-50 and there's no emotion. The line for the concession is too long. The list goes on and on.

Norwich has won four national championships. I've been going to games since Taylor arena and I had fun in all those other years where they didn't win. I don't think I have unrealistic expectations. Since coming out of the pandemic cancellations and Ellsworth's recruiting classes and Ellsworth's program I haven't been having that much fun and I'm confused that anyone who is really watching feels differently. I want some exciting fast-paced aggressive hockey back in my life and I don't see that happening any time soon with this team and this coach.

[jerrynu26]

I've been reading posts on here for more than two decades and I've never felt the need to get an account to respond until now.

Not much feels right with this Cadet program. And it goes beyond the play on the ice. 25th in the Pairwise and that feels correct to me. They are a decent to good team with almost no chance to be great. Kerner might be the only guy on the whole squad who would play significant minutes in an earlier era. Player for player this team is slow. Period. With a few exceptions Ellsworth seems to recruit tall lanky players with poor acceleration. They got beat to 90% of the loose pucks in the 3rd frame by UNE, a team coming off the same holiday break. The style of play is boring to watch to say the least. It's the talk of the crowd in my opinion. Who wants to go watch a team sit back in a 1-2-2 and try to win 1-0 or 2-1? Not me and the people who sit around me I'll tell you that. Not many people in general judging by the recent attendance. There are often pucks just sitting there and the dmen are already backpedaling instead of pinching because they've clearly been told not to which is incredibly frustrating to me and others. Even when they outshoot teams they aren't getting many quality chances.

Something that I hear a bunch of people talking about is how the league has caught up to them and I say BS. More like they've quickly fallen a bit behind. It's not like Hobart appeared out of nowhere in the league. Things go in waves. Babson has been really good for a long time. Heck NEC was a power for a few years and went to the final four. The interlock used to put them up against some very good teams in league games. There were a large number of years when there were two NESCAC teams in the NCAAs whether it be Midd-Bowdoin or Midd-Trinity etc. And listen I said a bit behind and I mean that. I get that 50-60 schools would kill to be Norwich but the standard here is what it is and I want those expectations to stay high. Based on the product I'm seeing on the ice I'm really nervous that this could unravel. It's an ugly product out there when all they do is play not to lose.

For my last point in this rant the atmosphere at the rink is horrible. There are no students at the games. And yes I understand that there won't be during breaks before anyone calls me on that. It's been trending that way for years. There are no promotions other than 50-50 and there's no emotion. The line for the concession is too long. The list goes on and on.

Norwich has won four national championships. I've been going to games since Taylor arena and I had fun in all those other years where they didn't win. I don't think I have unrealistic expectations. Since coming out of the pandemic cancellations and Ellsworth's recruiting classes and Ellsworth's program I haven't been having that much fun and I'm confused that anyone who is really watching feels differently. I want some exciting fast-paced aggressive hockey back in my life and I don't see that happening any time soon with this team and this coach.

Valid points.

[Norwich59]

I've been reading posts on here for more than two decades and I've never felt the need to get an account to respond until now.

Not much feels right with this Cadet program. And it goes beyond the play on the ice. 25th in the Pairwise and that feels correct to me. They are a decent to good team with almost no chance to be great. Kerner might be the only guy on the whole squad who would play significant minutes in an earlier era. Player for player this team is slow. Period. With a few exceptions Ellsworth seems to recruit tall lanky players with poor acceleration. They got beat to 90% of the loose pucks in the 3rd frame by UNE, a team coming off the same holiday break. The style of play is boring to watch to say the least. It's the talk of the crowd in my opinion. Who wants to go watch a team sit back in a 1-2-2 and try to win 1-0 or 2-1? Not me and the people who sit around me I'll tell you that. Not many people in general judging by the recent attendance. There are often pucks just sitting there and the dmen are already backpedaling instead of pinching because they've clearly been told not to which is incredibly frustrating to me and others. Even when they outshoot teams they aren't getting many quality chances.

Something that I hear a bunch of people talking about is how the league has caught up to them and I say BS. More like they've quickly fallen a bit behind. It's not like Hobart appeared out of nowhere in the league. Things go in waves. Babson has been really good for a long time. Heck NEC was a power for a few years and went to the final four. The interlock used to put them up against some very good teams in league games. There were a large number of years when there were two NESCAC teams in the NCAAs whether it be Midd-Bowdoin or Midd-Trinity etc. And listen I said a bit behind and I mean that. I get that 50-60 schools would kill to be Norwich but the standard here is what it is and I want those expectations to stay high. Based on the product I'm seeing on the ice I'm really nervous that this could unravel. It's an ugly product out there when all they do is play not to lose.

For my last point in this rant the atmosphere at the rink is horrible. There are no students at the games. And yes I understand that there won't be during breaks before anyone calls me on that. It's been trending that way for years. There are no promotions other than 50-50 and there's no emotion. The line for the concession is too long. The list goes on and on.

Norwich has won four national championships. I've been going to games since Taylor arena and I had fun in all those other years where they didn't win. I don't think I have unrealistic expectations. Since coming out of the pandemic cancellations and Ellsworth's recruiting classes and Ellsworth's program I haven't been having that much fun and I'm confused that anyone who is really watching feels differently. I want some exciting fast-paced aggressive hockey back in my life and I don't see that happening any time soon with this team and this coach.

Exactly!

[elbojpb]

For my last point in this rant the atmosphere at the rink is horrible. There are no students at the games. And yes I understand that there won't be during breaks before anyone calls me on that. It's been trending that way for years. There are no promotions other than 50-50 and there's no emotion. The line for the concession is too long. The list goes on and on.

Any correlation with a certain tripartate poster's departure from Norwich?

[jerrynu26]

Any correlation with a certain tripartate poster's departure from Norwich?

Possibly a tiny bit with student participation, but other than that, no correlation.
I also miss the highlights videos that used to be produced.

[Hotfoot]

I've been reading posts on here for more than two decades and I've never felt the need to get an account to respond until now.

Not much feels right with this Cadet program. And it goes beyond the play on the ice. 25th in the Pairwise and that feels correct to me. They are a decent to good team with almost no chance to be great. Kerner might be the only guy on the whole squad who would play significant minutes in an earlier era. Player for player this team is slow. Period. With a few exceptions Ellsworth seems to recruit tall lanky players with poor acceleration. They got beat to 90% of the loose pucks in the 3rd frame by UNE, a team coming off the same holiday break. The style of play is boring to watch to say the least. It's the talk of the crowd in my opinion. Who wants to go watch a team sit back in a 1-2-2 and try to win 1-0 or 2-1? Not me and the people who sit around me I'll tell you that. Not many people in general judging by the recent attendance. There are often pucks just sitting there and the dmen are already backpedaling instead of pinching because they've clearly been told not to which is incredibly frustrating to me and others. Even when they outshoot teams they aren't getting many quality chances.

Something that I hear a bunch of people talking about is how the league has caught up to them and I say BS. More like they've quickly fallen a bit behind. It's not like Hobart appeared out of nowhere in the league. Things go in waves. Babson has been really good for a long time. Heck NEC was a power for a few years and went to the final four. The interlock used to put them up against some very good teams in league games. There were a large number of years when there were two NESCAC teams in the NCAAs whether it be Midd-Bowdoin or Midd-Trinity etc. And listen I said a bit behind and I mean that. I get that 50-60 schools would kill to be Norwich but the standard here is what it is and I want those expectations to stay high. Based on the product I'm seeing on the ice I'm really nervous that this could unravel. It's an ugly product out there when all they do is play not to lose.

For my last point in this rant the atmosphere at the rink is horrible. There are no students at the games. And yes I understand that there won't be during breaks before anyone calls me on that. It's been trending that way for years. There are no promotions other than 50-50 and there's no emotion. The line for the concession is too long. The list goes on and on.

Norwich has won four national championships. I've been going to games since Taylor arena and I had fun in all those other years where they didn't win. I don't think I have unrealistic expectations. Since coming out of the pandemic cancellations and Ellsworth's recruiting classes and Ellsworth's program I haven't been having that much fun and I'm confused that anyone who is really watching feels differently. I want some exciting fast-paced aggressive hockey back in my life and I don't see that happening any time soon with this team and this coach.

It actually sad to watch... As SMU just ties the game.

[***JCB***]

Another weak performance in a quiet half-empty arena. I agree with Hotfoot. Sad to watch.