'18-'19 NESCAC season

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Hey, The bear's managed their second win, now two in a row!

Big game for the Polar Bears this afternoon against the Cardinals! We could be watching the "play-out" game for the NESCAC quarter-finals. Dream in Black and White! GO U BEARS!!!

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Rematch this afternoon at Kenyon sees Hamilton trying to improve on yesterday's 4-1 loss to Middlebury.


Panthers had the edge in play through most of a defensive, end to end game and were up 2-0 well into the 3rd.

Zumwinkle had threaded a drive through traffic that eluded the screened Hamilton goalie Johnson. Leidt then blasted an

odd woman rush in from the left circle up over Johnson for the 2-0 Panther lead after 2.


Hamilton came alive with about 5 minutes to play and you could see them coming on. Following an icing, Coach Mandigo

used his timeout, but Midd could not get a change and :28 later Hamilton forced a turnover on the left half boards and

Piacenza beat Han up from the left low circle stickside of the crease making it 2-1 with 4:11 to play. Coach McNamara

got the extra attacker on with about 2 minutes remaining, but Jackson and Shuchuk bagged empty-netters for the 4-1

final.

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Rematch was worth the price of admission (or at least compensation for having to park practically in Cromwell because Midd was also hosting a tri-team swim meet and half the runners in New England for an indoor track meet). Hamilton held a 2-1 lead with less than 4 to play, only to see the Panthers storm back and win with 36 seconds to play.

First period opened back and forth with neither squad getting a shot on net for the first 5 minutes. Hamilton goalie Johnson and Panther goalie Goldstein were both pitching shutouts until the Continentals' Loh scored on a nifty breakaway in the closing seconds of the 2nd. Grabbing the puck in center ice, Loh broke in clean, took her time and dangled on her forehand, moving Goldstein gloveside before a deft backhand up into the stickside twine.

Middlebury pulled even early in the 3rd. McDonald won the puck low on the right side and fed back out to Hendrikson just inside the blueline; Hendrikson threaded a shot through traffic beating Johnson low gloveside. Ten minutes on Hamilton scored off an odd woman rush; Williams got the puck to the crease, Goldstein fought for control, but Berretta dug the puck home. Pretty goal for the Panthers to tie; long pass from Ryan sprang Shuchuk into the Hamilton zone; Shuchuk broke into the slot and dropped a nice feed to her left for a Barney forehand from low in the left circle, beating Johnson gloveside. Hamilton had consecutive offensive zone faceoff wins result in bang bang shots on Goldstein by Haviland from top of the left circle at 18:07. Last minute of play saw Zumwinkle feed Portner into the zone wide left; Portner got the puck on net as Jackson arrived at the crease and dug the gamewinner beneath Johnson. Final seconds Hamilton had a 6th attacker on and the puck at the top of the Panther crease, but Goldstein fought them off and Middlebury snatched the 3-2 win.

 

[tjoneslo]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

And after seeing the Middlebury-Hamilton live, I came home and watched the second of Home and Home series between Amherst and Williams.

Williams is in tie for first place in the NESCAC, and watching this game it's possible to see why. Williams had their game together. The Mammoths made a good game of the affair.

I think the first place of the NESCAC will come down the home and home series between Williams and Middlebury on the final weekend of the season.

 

[bearcat]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

And after seeing the Middlebury-Hamilton live, I came home and watched the second of Home and Home series between Amherst and Williams.

Williams is in tie for first place in the NESCAC, and watching this game it's possible to see why. Williams had their game together. The Mammoths made a good game of the affair.

I think the first place of the NESCAC will come down the home and home series between Williams and Middlebury on the final weekend of the season.

There is still a lot of 'Cac hockey to play before then...and Williams has played more games than most of the teams below them in the standings. Several teams could [in theory] still pass the Ephs.

 

[shelfit]

There is still a lot of 'Cac hockey to play

Is that the same as saying a lot of crap hockey to play?! You might not want to use Cac so often. It has sh*tty connotations.

 

[bearcat]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Is that the same as saying a lot of crap hockey to play?! You might not want to use Cac so often. It has sh*tty connotations.

Really? How so?

Last I checked, the 'Cac teams have done quite well vs. the other conferences this year.

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Ouch!!!
https://www.collegehockeystats.net/1819/boxes/wamhply1.j30

 

[tjoneslo]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

https://www.collegehockeystats.net/1819/boxes/wamhply1.j30 (College Hockey Stats needs to fix their SSL certificate). (And the board software needs to stop correcting links to https)

This game was an interesting clash of styles. Amherst is an excellent example of the NESCAC style of play; Lots of passing, play-making and team play. Plymouth is an example of a newer style; more aggressive, with more emphasis on puck handling skills. This latter style I saw from Plattsburgh, Elmira, and Adrian.

So the game play time was dominated by Amherst, who would pass and cycle around the outside. But then a shot from the outside would go in and be blocked or stopped by the goal tender. Any rebound would be quickly handled by the defense. On offense, Plymouth would have less time in offensive zone, but would better take advantage of the mistakes of the Amherst defense.

What's interesting about this is Williams seems to have adopted this new style of play. And Middlebury is in transition from the NESCAC Style to the new one. Their home-and-home series should be very interesting.

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

NESCAC playoff picture is cloudy as the season winds down. Middlebury leads with 18 points (8-1-2, 5 NESCAC games to play), Williams is 2nd with 17 points (8-4-1, 3 to play), Bowdoin is 9th with 4 points (2-9, 5 to play) and trails 8th place Wesleyan with 5 points (2-8-1, 5 to play); the remaining 5 teams (Conn College, Hamilton and Trinity share 5-4-2 marks with 5 games to go, Amherst [5-5-2, 4 games to play] and Colby [6-7, 3 games to go] are all even at 12 points). Who holds which tie-breakers remains to be seen.

The Polar Bears have never missed the NESCAC playoffs! GO U BEARS!!!

 

[bearcat]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

NESCAC playoff picture is cloudy as the season winds down. Middlebury leads with 18 points (8-1-2, 5 NESCAC games to play), Williams is 2nd with 17 points (8-4-1, 3 to play), Bowdoin is 9th with 4 points (2-9, 5 to play) and trails 8th place Wesleyan with 5 points (2-8-1, 5 to play); the remaining 5 teams (Conn College, Hamilton and Trinity share 5-4-2 marks with 5 games to go, Amherst [5-5-2, 4 games to play] and Colby [6-7, 3 games to go] are all even at 12 points). Who holds which tie-breakers remains to be seen.

The Polar Bears have never missed the NESCAC playoffs! GO U BEARS!!!

This will indeed be the year Bowdoin stays home. The are not better than Wesly. Poor coaching/inept and lazy recruiting has finally come home to roost. And with all the advantages [rink, campus, $$, etc.] that they enjoy, that is truly unacceptable.

it's funny how they knocked down Dayton Arena, the classic 1950's Barn, with all the history and years of success [Roger Howell hoisting the ECAC trophy, etc.] and since they sunk that $28 Million into the Sid, both teams have been mediocre to terrible. Go figure.

 

[bearcat]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

https://www.collegehockeystats.net/1819/boxes/wamhply1.j30 (College Hockey Stats needs to fix their SSL certificate). (And the board software needs to stop correcting links to https)

This game was an interesting clash of styles. Amherst is an excellent example of the NESCAC style of play; Lots of passing, play-making and team play. Plymouth is an example of a newer style; more aggressive, with more emphasis on puck handling skills. This latter style I saw from Plattsburgh, Elmira, and Adrian.

So the game play time was dominated by Amherst, who would pass and cycle around the outside. But then a shot from the outside would go in and be blocked or stopped by the goal tender. Any rebound would be quickly handled by the defense. On offense, Plymouth would have less time in offensive zone, but would better take advantage of the mistakes of the Amherst defense.

What's interesting about this is Williams seems to have adopted this new style of play. And Middlebury is in transition from the NESCAC Style to the new one. Their home-and-home series should be very interesting.

Gotta disagree with your whole hypo about some "new style" of hockey being played outside the nescac What you're seeing is simply nescac hockey vs some random team like Plymouth State [fill in the blanks with 20 other teams not named Plat State, Elmira Norwich]. The nescac teams have deeper/better lineups 1-20, but other teams will always have a handful of very good players...who don't always have the teammates to help them, so they play a more individual style. you may have one top line per team that can dominate but they're only out on the ice 15-20 min per game. what you see is flashes where a Plymouth state gets some real good looks vs a team like Amherst [who has shown recently they are just an average nescac team too]...and then gets dominated in TOP and SOG. What saves them from losing 7-1 is that most D3 players can't finish, so you see 40 SOG but only 1 or 2 goals many nights.
You had an earlier comment here about watching the Conn/Manhattanville game which was spot on and in a nutshell is exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Great example of why we love the NESCAC on Saturday at Spurrier Arena. Wesleyan (6-12-1, 3-8-1 NESCAC), backed by goalie Grant's superb afternoon (38/38), defeated Middlebury (12-3-3, 8-2-2 NESCAC) for the first time in program history (since the first meeting in '78-'79, Midd is 59-1-4 against the Cardinals), 1-0.

Early in the 1st Midd looked in control on a powerplay, with lots of possession and pressure on Grant in the Cardinal net. Wesleyan built momentum mid-period after a powerplay, with some good looks thwarted by Goldstein in the Panther net around the 13: mark.

The 2nd saw Midd floating a forward in the neutral zone and 3x1 breaks around 2: and again at 9:20 tested Grant in close. There appears to be an error in collegehockeystats box, as I have the Cardinal goal as a powerplay score. My notes say the play developed with :26 on the penalty clock. Wesleyan was swarming Goldstein in the Panther net, got a shot on goal, which was saved but not controlled. The ref was on the stickside of Goldstein's crease on the goal line; Goldstein sprawled forward in making a save, but the puck was loose and the ref blew what seemed a really quick whistle. He made a motion that I could interpret as a "my bad" as the puck was clearly free and in play; the face off went to the right circle. Wesleyan executed perfectly off the faceoff, with Mangiafridda winning the draw, Kilar on right point feeding across to Goss on left point. Goss launched a low drive that threaded traffic and eluded Goldstein.

The 3rd (Midd outshooting the Cardinals 12-2 for the period) I have only one note, and it says "Grant awesome under attack" which is hardly the whole story. The Cardinals won as a team and their play supporting Grant is the story. Saturday at Spurrier, it did not matter one team was leading the conference and one was battling to make the 8th conference seed. Congratulations to Coach Stone and the Cardinal players!

 

[bearcat]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Great example of why we love the NESCAC on Saturday at Spurrier Arena. Wesleyan (6-12-1, 3-8-1 NESCAC), backed by goalie Grant's superb afternoon (38/38), defeated Middlebury (12-3-3, 8-2-2 NESCAC) for the first time in program history (since the first meeting in '78-'79, Midd is 59-1-4 against the Cardinals), 1-0.

Early in the 1st Midd looked in control on a powerplay, with lots of possession and pressure on Grant in the Cardinal net. Wesleyan built momentum mid-period after a powerplay, with some good looks thwarted by Goldstein in the Panther net around the 13: mark.

The 2nd saw Midd floating a forward in the neutral zone and 3x1 breaks around 2: and again at 9:20 tested Grant in close. There appears to be an error in collegehockeystats box, as I have the Cardinal goal as a powerplay score. My notes say the play developed with :26 on the penalty clock. Wesleyan was swarming Goldstein in the Panther net, got a shot on goal, which was saved but not controlled. The ref was on the stickside of Goldstein's crease on the goal line; Goldstein sprawled forward in making a save, but the puck was loose and the ref blew what seemed a really quick whistle. He made a motion that I could interpret as a "my bad" as the puck was clearly free and in play; the face off went to the right circle. Wesleyan executed perfectly off the faceoff, with Mangiafridda winning the draw, Kilar on right point feeding across to Goss on left point. Goss launched a low drive that threaded traffic and eluded Goldstein.

The 3rd (Midd outshooting the Cardinals 12-2 for the period) I have only one note, and it says "Grant awesome under attack" which is hardly the whole story. The Cardinals won as a team and their play supporting Grant is the story. Saturday at Spurrier, it did not matter one team was leading the conference and one was battling to make the 8th conference seed. Congratulations to Coach Stone and the Cardinal players!

That's what makes nescac the best conf. Any team can win on any given day.

Grant is the best goalie in the 'Cac [and the Conf consistently has the best goalies in D3]. If she played for Midd, her GAA would be 0.5 per game.

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Grant is the best goalie in the 'Cac [and the Conf consistently has the best goalies in D3]. If she played for Midd, her GAA would be 0.5 per game.

Middlebury goaltenders are not too shabby in their own right. Han has 187/197 .949% 1.09 gpg and Goldstein is 170/180 .944 1.12 gpg. Grant is 498/525 .949 1.80 gpg backed by an offense producing 29 goals (7 pp) in 19 games this season. The Panthers offense has produced 45 goals (15 pp) in 18 games.

Grant was awesome this weekend, going 76/79 .962 for the games with Middlebury.

 

[bearcat]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Middlebury goaltenders are not too shabby in their own right. Han has 187/197 .949% 1.09 gpg and Goldstein is 170/180 .944 1.12 gpg. Grant is 498/525 .949 1.80 gpg backed by an offense producing 29 goals (7 pp) in 19 games this season. The Panthers offense has produced 45 goals (15 pp) in 18 games.

Grant was awesome this weekend, going 76/79 .962 for the games with Middlebury.

The difference is the quality of shots [in addition to the raw #] that Grant faces every game vs. what Han/Goldstein face. Nothing against either goalie, I'm sure they are both very good [but the fact neither has emerged as a true #1 tells me a lot]. I think if they faced the kind of shots Grant faces every game, I'm guessing their #'s would not be so rosy. Diddo for goalies that play for teams like Plattsburg, where not only is the league they play in weak with the outcome of the game never in doubt, beyond that, the team and D in front of them are so solid that rarely do they face a high quality scoring chance, and when they do, typically there is no rebound to worry about [where nearly all D3 goals are scored] as the puck gets cleared out of harms way quickly.

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

All that said, here are the standings (apologies for lack of tech abilities); now starts the really fun part!
NESCAC Women - 2018-2019 Standings
Conference Only Overall
Pts GP W L T Win% GF- GA GP W L T Win% GF- GA
1 Middlebury 18 12 8- 2- 2 .750 30- 12 18 12- 3- 3 .750 45- 21
Williams 18 14 8- 4- 2 .643 38- 24 20 13- 4- 3 .725 57- 33
3 Hamilton 14 12 6- 4- 2 .583 29- 24 20 12- 6- 2 .650 53- 34
Colby 14 14 7- 7- 0 .500 24- 26 20 10- 7- 3 .575 38- 32
5 Trinity 13 12 5- 4- 3 .542 19- 23 20 8- 9- 3 .475 38- 46
6 Amherst 12 12 5- 5- 2 .500 24- 26 20 9- 9- 2 .500 44- 44
Conn College 12 12 5- 5- 2 .500 18- 19 19 9- 8- 2 .526 31- 27
8 Wesleyan 7 12 3- 8- 1 .292 17- 28 19 6-12- 1 .342 29- 41
9 Bowdoin 4 12 2-10- 0 .167 15- 32 20 3-16- 1 .175 28- 51

 

[obserbear]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Bouncing back from a disappointing NESCAC loss, Middlebury defeated Norwich 3-0 this evening at Kenyon Arena. Han was outstanding in net for the Panthers, with 34 saves, Shuchuk had 2 goals and Jackson had a goal and an assist.

Middlebury wasted no time getting on the board off an early powerplay. Ryan fed from right point, across to Zumwinkle; she took a slap shot which rebounded off Norwich goalie Lambert's body. Shuchuk found the rebound and scored beneath Lambert. Han made a nice save on Wopperer, parrying a drive from the right circle at 3:20. Following some 4x4 play, Midd had good chances only to see Cadet Lambert stop Barney and a put back series at 8:40 and a nice save on Portner's drive from low left circle at 9:20. Norwich came to life and was testing Han in the Panther net around 14: The 1st ended with Conway breaking wide left, turn the D and swooping in on Han's crease at 19:.

Middlebury extended the lead early in the 2nd. Jackson lugged the puck out of the defensive zone, carried into the Norwich zone, breaking in above the left circle and dropping a perfect pass to Shuchuk, a stride behind; Shuchuk threaded the puck past the screen of Jackson and the D, beating Lambert up gloveside. Norwich had a 2x1 thwarted at 12:20 when Han made a save on Herne, giving no rebound. Lambert was scrabbling under Midd pressure on their powerplay about 15:.

Norwich was buzzing in the 3rd. 3:30 saw Conway with a series of shots; from the left corner to stickside of Han's crease, around for a try a stuff at the gloveside post and a drive from top of the crease on the rebound. At 6: Conway (who really just appears to have an extra gear or two) was back, turning a D, arriving in Han's grill. A Norwich powerplay at 12:31 saw Han glove a drive by Benoit at 12:41 and continue scrambling denying the Cadets powerplay. Norwich continued pressing after the powerplay expired. Han made a nifty right pad stop on McGovern's drive from low in the right circle at 16: Norwich Coach Bolding got Lambert off for the extra attacker about 18:30. Jackson then iced things with an incredibly long empty net goal, nailing a shot from the half boards inside the blueline well shy of the Midd bench, for the 3-0 final.

 

[Scott_TG]

Re: '18-'19 NESCAC season

Middlebury extended the lead early in the 2nd. Jackson lugged the puck out of the defensive zone, carried into the Norwich zone, breaking in above the left circle and dropping a perfect pass to Shuchuk, a stride behind; Shuchuk threaded the puck past the screen of Jackson and the D, beating Lambert up gloveside. .

If anyone missed it and wants to see footage of that beautiful snipe

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In a top-10 women's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/d3hky?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#d3hky</a> showdown, No. 8 <a href="https://twitter.com/MiddAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiddAthletics</a> shut out in-state rival No. 7 <a href="https://twitter.com/NorwichCadets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NorwichCadets</a> last night, 3-0.<br><br>Kat Shuchuk (<a href="https://twitter.com/KitKatShu16?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KitKatShu16</a>): 2 goals, including this ridiculous snipe <br><br>Full highlights/reaction: <a href="https://t.co/GZDp3sCnBG">https://t.co/GZDp3sCnBG</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZchYRlaPLg">pic.twitter.com/ZchYRlaPLg</a></p>— Jack Korte (@JackMyNBC5) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackMyNBC5/status/1093180538926628865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[shelfit]

If anyone missed it and wants to see footage of that beautiful snipe

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In a top-10 women's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/d3hky?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#d3hky</a> showdown, No. 8 <a href="https://twitter.com/MiddAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiddAthletics</a> shut out in-state rival No. 7 <a href="https://twitter.com/NorwichCadets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NorwichCadets</a> last night, 3-0.<br><br>Kat Shuchuk (<a href="https://twitter.com/KitKatShu16?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KitKatShu16</a>): 2 goals, including this ridiculous snipe <br><br>Full highlights/reaction: <a href="https://t.co/GZDp3sCnBG">https://t.co/GZDp3sCnBG</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZchYRlaPLg">pic.twitter.com/ZchYRlaPLg</a></p>— Jack Korte (@JackMyNBC5) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackMyNBC5/status/1093180538926628865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It looks like the puck changes direction off the Norwich defender's stick (#8) as she puts it in the shot lane. Still a very smart time and place to shoot from and that's usually why and when pucks go into the opponent's net!