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UMass Lowell 2026-2027: Is this the new Norm?

Middle Street said:
I wasn’t wild about them trying to get an ENG from within their own zone and icing the puck. I think they did it last night too and Colgate made them pay tonight.

We’ve been spoiled with great goaltending during Norm’s tenure, but a sub .900 SV% for the team just isn’t going to cut it in Hockey East.

10 wins might be a stretch at this point.
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Well, looks like my honesty's finally starting to catch up with other people. Norm, his time is up. Sad to say, again.
 
Lowell2001 said:
At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if half or more entered the portal. The program continues circling the drain with no end in sight and complete inaction from the administration.
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Scott were are u I know you're reading this. Give us some information about Coach's extension again.
 
UMLFan said:
As I look forward to finding anything else to do other than go on Friday night ... on a different note, while the hockey team circles the drain ... the field hockey team goes into the AE playoffs as the 1 seed and will host #5 Vermont Tuesday in the semifinals. Vermont already beat Lowell 1-0 earlier this year, up in Burlington. Maine hosts Albany in the other semifinal (and Lowell beat both of those teams already this year).

Men's Basketball starts up tonight, with their annual drubbing of Rivier. Probably the most talented D1 team we've ever had, so at least there's that to look forward to.
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www.lowellsun.com

UMass Lowell field hockey team falls in America East semifinal

UMass Lowell fell 3-2 to Vermont in an America East field hockey semifinal in Lowell.
www.lowellsun.com www.lowellsun.com
 
Just frustrating. I am really disappointed in Norms inability to change his style of play. For years now, he continues to jumble the forwards and no continuity. I remember when he would rarely do that in the 20teens where it was the same line pairings, for the most part. Norm has become Dick Umile before our very own eyes.
 
I've been at every game so far, so I feel qualified to make some observations, and this team is beyond frustrating. On one hand, they are so close to being a decent team, but they can't complete tape-to-tape passes, pass one too many times instead of shooting, take penalties at the worst time, etc. As someone said to me a few times recently - "they're a lot faster than last year, but their decision-making hasn't caught up to that speed". The biggest thing though has been goaltending. It's killing them this season.

I decided to take a closer look at the advanced stats on CHN after that debacle tonight:

Expected Goals Above Average: -2.9
Expected Goals Against Above Average: -9.5

Using the xG and xGA for each game, Lowell should be 5-3-2 now, not 2-8-0. The numbers tell the story - goaltending is killing this team. It's giving up 1 goal per game more than it should. Lowell already has 4 1-goal losses, 2 of them in overtime. If they had average goaltending, they'd be in a much better position. It doesn't need to be great, it's just needs to be average. The offense is basically doing it's job, underperforming a little.

A couple of other ugly numbers:

Lowell has allowed 31 even strength goals this season, 4th most in the nation.
Lowell is -14 at even strength, 5th worst in the nation.

If they can tighten things up at even strength and get better goaltending, things can turn around. I don't expect that to happen against Union on Friday. Union is a very good team and will capitalize on every mistake Lowell makes.
 
ScottK said:
I've been at every game so far, so I feel qualified to make some observations, and this team is beyond frustrating. On one hand, they are so close to being a decent team, but they can't complete tape-to-tape passes, pass one too many times instead of shooting, take penalties at the worst time, etc. As someone said to me a few times recently - "they're a lot faster than last year, but their decision-making hasn't caught up to that speed". The biggest thing though has been goaltending. It's killing them this season.

I decided to take a closer look at the advanced stats on CHN after that debacle tonight:

Expected Goals Above Average: -2.9
Expected Goals Against Above Average: -9.5

Using the xG and xGA for each game, Lowell should be 5-3-2 now, not 2-8-0. The numbers tell the story - goaltending is killing this team. It's giving up 1 goal per game more than it should. Lowell already has 4 1-goal losses, 2 of them in overtime. If they had average goaltending, they'd be in a much better position. It doesn't need to be great, it's just needs to be average. The offense is basically doing it's job, underperforming a little.

A couple of other ugly numbers:

Lowell has allowed 31 even strength goals this season, 4th most in the nation.
Lowell is -14 at even strength, 5th worst in the nation.

If they can tighten things up at even strength and get better goaltending, things can turn around. I don't expect that to happen against Union on Friday. Union is a very good team and will capitalize on every mistake Lowell makes.
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This is a great post, and appreciate it very much. So I want to take out pieces of what was mentioned. Now, goaltending aside for a moment, because that is what it is and xGA handles that situation. I will say, the PK has been rather electric this year, and part of that is goaltending; however goaltending has not been good and after the first two games I thought Elliot was playing better than last year, but was wrong. But back to the speed with decision making and one too many passes. In my humble opinion, that comes from the coaching. There are certain expectations that the players must hold to the system. Don’t do it, ride pine. And while I am for that, the system has to work… and for years now, it has not. Coupled with the fact that most of these lines get jumbled every game; how can a player learn from another players tendencies during in game instances? For a system to be so heavily structured and play meet the level of that structure is a bar that is awfully is misinterpreted by Norm; and the lack of continuity on the ice is part of the problem. If you read my posts, I don’t think this is a talent issue. We have the talent, and, in the past, we had the talent as well. It’s a systematic mission that is causing the kids to play in a way that makes them think way too much, and play from the back more causing the bad play. And the telling sign for me is the players that leave have found success. And after talking to current and former parents of players, this is a problem and has been a problem for years now. While the number are the numbers, I am trying to get at the why…
 
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