Norwich 2022-23 Back to Normal (ish)

[KrbFlint]

Latest info I have is no new SID yet!?

https://norwich.interviewexchange.co...p?JOBID=152544

No director yet (Prez's former role). Two "assistant directors" have been hired and working since August. The product has left much to be desired. You folks may be most concerned with hockey, but the coverage for all the fall sports has been supremely lackluster. On a given weekend, a check of the website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook will often have no results listed anywhere for soccer, football, volleyball, cross country or golf. With the start of the hockey season right around the corner, I am not optimistic about rapid improvement.

[17'sfanNU]

OK, doesn't look good does it? I do have confidence that the admin. will be fervently interviewing on this position as we speak. Although I am not as much of a fan for the fall sports, I do like to see how the Cadets have been doing on the website and believe all sports should get the same treatment. Hope the fans attending the games will supplement the info we get on line until the SID can put out a nice package. Those who follow this site and go to games, get some friends to sign up to USCHO to comment on the games and "blow up" this page!

The games are still going to be streamed, right? With George Coumo?

I have a positive feeling about the team and Coach this year. We had a lot of ties and OT's last year that could have gone either way. A large group of new players and some strong veterans returning to the team that I wasn't aware of (as well as the returning players we knew about), is making this year look great...at least on paper.

[17'sfanNU]

Just checked the schedule on the Norwich Men's Hockey site and it indicates tonight's exhibition game with St. A's is going to be broadcast! Good News!!
Thanks SI department.

[NU56]

Any comments on our new team and the game last night? We had unexpected visitors and I missed it. Please don't tell me this forum is going the way of our sports director!!
NU56
Old Member
Maybe the Oldest Active

[17'sfanNU]

Hey NU 56, I watched on line and though there was no announcer other than the PA system which was hard to hear, I was glad to see that Norwich looked pretty good, dominating most of the game. Shots on goal appeared to be a final count of 30 something to 11, if that was accurate. Final score was 5-1 NU.

First period ended in a 1-1 tie with Atherton in goal and letting a screened shot in when there was a scrum in front of the goal. Nothing he could do about it. Second period ended with what I believe to be a 3-1 advantage to the Cadets. Hines was in goal but didn't seem too challenged as the defense and forechecking kept the puck out of his way. Third period was much like the second except Albino was in goal and had the greatest challenge at one moment, with multiple shots coming at him that he artfully put aside. He looked the most ready, alert, and nimble of all three goalies, in my opinion.

Scoring- 17 Patrick O'Neal had 2 goals, 39 Gaudette 1 goal, newcomers 19 Paul Schmid had a goal and assist, (assist were virtually impossible to hear over the PA, that one was the only one I caught), and Freshman 16 Ryan Leonard had a sweet take away shorthanded and scored! He had great puck handling and speed as did Paul Schmid.

Offense- overall I was pleased with passing, shots, forecheck and speed of all the players. New forwards looked good, the names and numbers were hard to read (I agree with Puck Voice about the Camo uniforms!), but the names I did catch were 24 Johnny Johnson, 19 Paul Schmid, 26 Charles Obobbaifo (how do you pronounce that?), and 16 Ryan Leonard. There were others out on the ice I am sure, as lines and line mates were constantly changing and as I said, uni's were awful to read, can't distinguish a 16 from an 18 etc. Of all of our veterans on the ice that played well, 3 stood out to me. #1 hustle man and speedster, 10 Mike McKenzie- if you want a man to get a puck out of a scrum in the corner, it's Mike. He is always in a play and fast. He gets the puck in front of the net, unfortunately there isn't always a player ready for the pass to shoot on goal, and it's not Mike's fault. He may be small but he has great hockey skills and insight, he reminds me of Colin Mulvey. #2 scrum man and speedster has to be 9 Patrick Delvecchio, fast and physical, he too is not afraid to get in the scrum, use his body, protect and produce the puck. #3 most improved forward 18 Ian Tookenay, he stood out last night with more physicality, nice passing and speed down the ice.

Defense- was quite solid with only 1 or 2 incidences of not getting the puck out of the zone. The passing was pretty good, better than I have seen this early in the season. Banovetz, Nagle, Jones and Mantaro all looked comfortable with new comers 73 Ryan Poorman, 44 Adam Shuchart, 4 Devon Thibadeau and 3 Matt Helpard. Passing was a bit of a question during the power plays but not bad at all.

Penalty Kill was good with few shots given away, and as I said, we scored our first short handed goal in a long time.

Power play, not bad but a little unorganized. Would like more to see more one timers and movement of the puck in general. This will all be fixed in time.

All this is from an arm chair coach, my own opinion and from a great distance from Kreitzberg! Please take it with a grain of salt (grin). Love to hear from others, especially those at the game. Come on, get this site going.

[NU56]

Thank you so much for your comments!! Good stuff for me and probably others. Hope other members can chip in and get this thread going.
Did #20 Kerner play? He was outstanding last year.
NU 56
Old Member
Maybe the Oldest Active

[17'sfanNU]

Kerner did play but I think he didn't get many shots off. I was surprised but maybe he was setting up plays more than his typical shooting role. He looked good regardless. At one point he was on the 4th line with McKensie and Leonard, but may have also been matched up with others.

[Bog Hockey]

Anxious for Flint’s thoughts and observations from Saturday night. With DD gone and zero information coming out of the comms department, this out-of-towner will respectfully rely on Flint and others for insight and opinion. Thanks.

[KrbFlint]

Anxious for Flint’s thoughts and observations from Saturday night. With DD gone and zero information coming out of the comms department, this out-of-towner will respectfully rely on Flint and others for insight and opinion. Thanks.

Unfortunately, due to some family commitments, I saw very little. Have had many conversations with folks who got to see the whole game though. Most feedback was, overall, positive. Newcomers looked sharp and ready to contribute, defense and goaltending were solid (no surprise under Coach Ellsworth). General feelings, again, were positive. That said, one observer (who happens to wear a national championship ring) didn't feel like there was much "firepower" on display - despite the score - and was concerned about this showing up against more rugged opposition. Time will tell on that.

I plan on being there this weekend vs. Nichols, so I should be able to provide a more personal report.

[17'sfanNU]

Flint, I would love to see the full stats from this game to see who took the "30" shots. I have to agree that the "big scores", Kerner, O'Mara, Aubin, Nagle, Elgstam and Williams, didn't really seem to be taking the quality shots they are known for. However, maybe Coach was looking to them to set up the newcomers to see what could be done. We definitely need more fire power than we did last year to avoid the ties and OTs.

[jerrynu26]

One of the referees was a 2010 National Championship team member!

The first 10 minutes was not fun to watch, kind of disjointed. After that, the ice definitely started tilting NU’s way. St A’s looked out of gas most of the night as well. Some great setups, but then an open net miss kept the score closer than it should have been. New players looked good, returnees looked like the picked up from last years experience, but again after the middle of the first.
a bigger team overall than last year I think.
Programs almost unreadable due to small size by the way.

[Bog Hockey]

Unfortunately, due to some family commitments, I saw very little. Have had many conversations with folks who got to see the whole game though. Most feedback was, overall, positive. Newcomers looked sharp and ready to contribute, defense and goaltending were solid (no surprise under Coach Ellsworth). General feelings, again, were positive. That said, one observer (who happens to wear a national championship ring) didn't feel like there was much "firepower" on display - despite the score - and was concerned about this showing up against more rugged opposition. Time will tell on that.

I plan on being there this weekend vs. Nichols, so I should be able to provide a more personal report.

Appreciate the insight, as always - thanks.

[PuckVoice]

Hello everyone.
Regret that I missed the St A's game ... Was doing HS Football
Planning to be there on Saturday.
It is indeed a year of change ...
New AD ... Hockenbury will do a great job.
SID staff ... We will all miss Derek ... It is tough to replace the best! Tanner Acebo too.
But give the newcomers time and things will straighten out.
Changes coming in the broadcast booth too ... Can't go into the details quite yet but rest assured Craig Durham and I can't wait to get started!

[17'sfanNU]

Great to hear from you Puck Voice!

[NU Pastime]

I’m pleased to see that the football game has play-by-play today, which comes after weeks of not having play-by-play for football games. So things appear to be trending back in the right direction in the SID arena.