2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

[JB]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

I know he put his hand over it. I had a better view of it than the refs. But he never held it there, it was an instant sweep. During the game I was upset over this but after watching it again it was a good no call.

I have always been taught just putting your glove over the puck is enough for the P.S. The rule says gathering in to the body or hands. The rule doesn’t say for how long. Also on the replay it is not one continuous motion. He puts the glow over it, moves it toward center ice then pushes it out the opposite side.

Again my best point of reference is the NHL players you see push it with the side of a gloved hand to specifically not cover the puck.

This technicality should take away from some very enjoyable hockey. I like the up ad own games these two teams play.

 

[DaveDan]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

I know he put his hand over it. I had a better view of it than the refs. But he never held it there, it was an instant sweep. During the game I was upset over this but after watching it again it was a good no call.

The hand on puck in crease was not called so its a moot argument. But if it has been seen it would have been called.

Watched the game again Sunday and replayed it via TIVO. Bonino's hand was completely over puck, and stopped momentarily before he looked up and swept it out of crease to the far left. Both his thumb and pinkie were on the ice - not like his hand was on just the thumb and swept, or on the pinkie and swept.

Hand completely covers puck, without motion - that's how it appears on replay. Like I said it was not called but the ruling makes for interesting discussion.

 

[RockTheWhit]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

The hand on puck in crease was not called so its a moot argument. But if it has been seen it would have been called.

Watched the game again Sunday and replayed it via TIVO. Bonino's hand was completely over puck, and stopped momentarily before he looked up and swept it out of crease to the far left. Both his thumb and pinkie were on the ice - not like his hand was on just the thumb and swept, or on the pinkie and swept.

Hand completely covers puck, without motion - that's how it appears on replay. Like I said it was not called but the ruling makes for interesting discussion.

FWIW, here's Coach Umile's post-game quote about the play:
"I was just asking if he was sure, whether he put his hand over the puck and threw it. And that’s what I was asking, if we could get a review on that. But he was certain, he was right there, that he just batted it out of there. I was asking for a review, but he had a better view than I did."

 

[C-H-C]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Does the latest USCHO poll tell us anything about how UNH stacks up against the top teams in the country? The two wipeouts in Madison have, understandably, kept UNH out of the top 20. But a closer look at the rankings show that UNH can skate with some of the best teams.

(1) Although #1 Miami cleaned UNH's clock in their first matchup, UNH played them even in the second game.

(2) In the only game against #3 UMass Lowell so far, UNH arguably outplayed them in the first two periods then game unraveled in the end.

(3) In the back-to-back games against #10 UMass Amherst, UNH was clearly the better team.

(4) How is it possible that the Wisconsin team, which crushed UNH two nights in a row, is only ranked #15?

(5) The only game against #16 Boston College, a tie, showed how UNH can come back strong in the final period and hang with a talent laden young team.

All and all, I'd say UNH is a very competitive team.

 

[Snively65]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Does the latest USCHO poll tell us anything about how UNH stacks up against the top teams in the country? The two wipeouts in Madison have, understandably, kept UNH out of the top 20. But a closer look at the rankings show that UNH can skate with some of the best teams.

(1) Although #1 Miami cleaned UNH's clock in their first matchup, UNH played them even in the second game.

(2) In the only game against #3 UMass Lowell so far, UNH arguably outplayed them in the first two periods then game unraveled in the end.

(3) In the back-to-back games against #10 UMass Amherst, UNH was clearly the better team.

(4) How is it possible that the Wisconsin team, which crushed UNH two nights in a row, is only ranked #15?

(5) The only game against #16 Boston College, a tie, showed how UNH can come back strong in the final period and hang with a talent laden young team.

All and all, I'd say UNH is a very competitive team.

I know that it is early in the season to be looking at the PWR, but as others have pointed out somewhere (this thread or the HE thread?), I think that UNH will need to win the HE tourney this year for a NCAA bid. I think that even winning a bunch of regular season games against higher ranked HE teams might not cut it, although doing so would mean they are certainly capable of winning the HE tourney. If Butler, Kessel, and Foster stay healthy, and if the entire team buys into playing D, I think that the Cats have a chance to be in the NCAAs.

 

[i'zonprize]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

UNH needs to do well against those teams C-H-C and what that really means is they need to win and those teams (UML, BC, UMASS, Cornell) the TUC teams they have left, need to stay TUC as well. Or beat anyone else that might become a TUC team in conference.

HE tourney.. that is a long long way off, however the last two weekends have been good, but arguable not as good as they could have been with an extra score or a bit more D. The trend is UP, though. D should be settling in as well too to keep those 3's and 4's off of the scoreboard. Kipp, Beck, Kostalansky, Campanale and Hardowa are getting lots of ice time. If they can concentrate on the fundamentals and get a few of the forwards with those ugly +/- numbers to buy in on D.. then, they will do great!

 

[catsfan]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Note tomorrow's game at Merrimack is at 4:00 in the afternoon, not at 7:00 as reported by USCHO. Don't know why they are mixed up.

Could be a tough game; it will be good if a lot of UNH fans can come down.

 

[SteveF]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

FWIW, here's Coach Umile's post-game quote about the play:
"I was just asking if he was sure, whether he put his hand over the puck and threw it. And that’s what I was asking, if we could get a review on that. But he was certain, he was right there, that he just batted it out of there. I was asking for a review, but he had a better view than I did."

it struck me as nearly impossible to see in real time, but the NESN replay showed bonino pick the puck up off the ice and throw it out of the crease after his first attempt to bat it away failed.

 

[C-H-C]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

The bleachers at the quaint little Lawler Arena were full of UNH fans so there must be someone out there to talk about the Wildcats' effort tonight. The tiny rink with the stubby corners was a surprise to me. Imagine what it must have looked like to the freshman - a flashback to their pee wee days. My first impression of the Merrimack campus was that it's a pleasant setting, perched up on the hill and all. Lawler was somewhat reminiscent of Snively, but with the top chopped off.

Foster came up big again tonight, playing poised in the middle of a shooting gallery. Butler is riding high, he can't wait to touch the puck. I guess maybe the decision to put DeSimone between Butler and Thompson has worked out OK . It took the team a period to get used to playing in such a confined space but they figured it out. Another solid win. Bring on UMass Lowell.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

The bleachers at the quaint little Lawler Arena were full of UNH fans so there must be someone out there to talk about the Wildcats' effort tonight. The tiny rink with the stubby corners was a surprise to me. Imagine what it must have looked like to the freshman - a flashback to their pee wee days. My first impression of the Merrimack campus was that it's a pleasant setting, perched up on the hill and all. Lawler was somewhat reminiscent of Snively, but with the top chopped off.

Foster came up big again tonight, playing poised in the middle of a shooting gallery. Butler is riding high, he can't wait to touch the puck. I guess maybe the decision to put DeSimone between Butler and Thompson has worked out OK . It took the team a period to get used to playing in such a confined space but they figured it out. Another solid win. Bring on UMass Lowell.

Merrimack has always been a hard place for UNH to play, given that Lawler is a pond compared to Lake Whittemore. Although didn't go to the game (UNH football and family were priorities) I did listen to most of the game. After a see-saw second, it sounded as though UNH took charge in the third, then withstood Merrimack's last thrust in the late stages, highlighted by a great save by Foster on Heffernan.

And that big decision to put Butler with Thompson and DeSimone was of course Umile's. Over the years there has been a lot of carping (some justified) on this forum about his talents as a coach. But one thing he has been able to do consistently is recognize which players mesh with others. It might take some time to figure out the right combinations, but Umile always seems to come up with something.

I was a big critic of both Thompson and DeSimone their first two years. Both were POY in the EJHL and USHL respectively. I did not think it was unreasonable to expect more than we got from both of them. Well this year they are finally producing. I think the ability was there all along, now we're seeing it.

UNH now has the exact same record they did a year ago. Last year's November was absolutely disastrous (1-7-1) so 3-2-2 this year ain't so bad. If we can duplicate last December's 3-0-0, we'll be sitting pretty come January. Of course, it also helps that there are no BU's or NU's in the league this year.

 

[UNHhockey29]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

I guess maybe the decision to put DeSimone between Butler and Thompson has worked out OK .

They've only scored the teams last 8 or 9 goals as was pointed out to me last night.

 

[RockTheWhit]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

They've only scored the teams last 8 or 9 goals as was pointed out to me last night.

They have scored the last 9 UNH Goals. While it is great to see this line clicking so well, we will definitely need to see production from lines 2-4 if this team is to be a real competitor. Getting Speelman and Burke back from their injuries will obviously help, and the Leblanc line has had plenty of opportunities as of late, so I think it's only a matter of time before they bury a few.
Good win for the Cats yesterday, but next weekend against Lowell and Vermont will be huge, with the potential to give the team serious momentum heading into the break.

 

[Whalers]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

An interesting UNH trivia question - Has the football AND basketball AND hockey teams ever each won a game on the same day in UNH history. On Saturday each team took a victory. Saw the football and hoop scores roll across the bottom of the ESPN scoreboard and then heard the hockey team won as well. Just curious.

 

[SPCSMAN]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

An interesting UNH trivia question - Has the football AND basketball AND hockey teams ever each won a game on the same day in UNH history. On Saturday each team took a victory. Saw the football and hoop scores roll across the bottom of the ESPN scoreboard and then heard the hockey team won as well. Just curious.

UNH has a basketball team??

And the answer is yes...last time was Nov 17th 2007

 

[unhpuckfan2001]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

After taking 5 out of our last 6 possible points, I think the game on Friday against UML could be very telling. Do we continue to play well against the conference? It would be nice to get a win against a highly ranked team. Reports were that we outplayed them for two periods (I don't know, I wasn't there, so please comment) and then fell apart.

Missed the BU game, so looking forward to getting back to the Whit for some hockey (and glad to be out of the hospital -- small TV + NESN + UNH hockey = a lot of squinting)

 

[Gibber]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

After taking 5 out of our last 6 possible points, I think the game on Friday against UML could be very telling. Do we continue to play well against the conference? It would be nice to get a win against a highly ranked team. Reports were that we outplayed them for two periods (I don't know, I wasn't there, so please comment) and then fell apart.

Missed the BU game, so looking forward to getting back to the Whit for some hockey (and glad to be out of the hospital -- small TV + NESN + UNH hockey = a lot of squinting)

Really 7 of the last 8 points, going back to the UMass series, and they are 11 seconds away from 9 of 10 points and having a 6-1-2 record in the league (and 6-5-3 overall). The effort game in and game out has been there, they're working hard and getting results, getting a little better each week. The Lowell game was a disaster, I wouldn't say they outplayed them for 2 periods, maybe the first period, but since then, they are 3-1-1 and, though UMass has a game in hand, sit at the top of the league... Its an interesting year....

 

[Snively65]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

The Lowell game was a disaster, I wouldn't say they outplayed them for 2 periods, maybe the first period, but since then, they are 3-1-1 and, though UMass has a game in hand, sit at the top of the league... Its an interesting year....

I was there and think that the Cats definitely outplayed the Riverhawks throughout the first period and into the second, gradually dropping everything good that they had been doing so that by midway through the second period the Hawks were in command, and remained so for the rest of the game. Good to see that this collapse was apparently a wake-up call of sorts. Collecting four points this coming weekend will be a huge challenge, but necessary as a confidence builder, and more important than games at this juncture last year given the disastrous early season OOC games. But, check out the SOS in all the rankings now, in which the Cats have climbed into the top 10; unfortunately SOS does not help much in the PWR unless we win more, duh.

 

[Gibber]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Bobby Butler was named Hockey East player of the Month for November.

 

[Zudnic]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Boston Globe article on Butler:
http://www.boston.com/sports/colleg...roughs_bobby_butler_on_a_roll_for_unh_hockey/

 

[C-H-C]

Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Just back from the Whitt - Another impressive victory. Although the shots on goal were comparable, UNH appeared to have many more quality scoring opportunities.

(1) The sole UML goal appeared to deflect off Kostolansky's stick (from my vantage point at the other end of the ice). Darci, CBG, et al. - is that what you saw?

(2) The defensive core looked solid again. They're doing a real good job at controlling the area in front of Foster (clearing pucks, gaining better positions on the opposing forwards).

(3) Burke's assist on the winning goal was masterful. He got the puck in the slot, calmly spun counterclockwise, and backhanded a perfect pass to Kessel who shot into a gaping net. Up until he dislocated his shoulder in the first UMass game, Burke looked real good on the line with Leblanc and Sislo. Great to see he hasn't missed a step during his layoff.

(4) As much as I love Moses, it is awfully awkward for the right-hander to play on the left wing. A number of times tonight, he got a pass in the offensive zone and couldn't do much with it because he had to stop it with his backhand and shift it over to his forehand. I'd like to see the lefty Burke back on the left wing with Leblanc and Sislo. That way, Moses could rejoin the rocket-skate line with Borisenok.

(5) Was I seeing things or did Hutton make about a dozen miracle saves, particularly in the third period? Again, Darci and the gang had a front row seat and I'd be interested to hear their perspective.

(6) Although Blake Kessel deservedly earned the first star, I noticed the beginning of a bad habit. On a few occasions, he attempted a soft, too cute pass in his own end, dangerously close to Foster. The UML forward got to the puck before the other UNH defender could gather it in.

(7) When was the last time UNH had three defensemen - Kostolansky, Kessel, and Campanale - who can carry the puck out of their zone and through the neutral zone?

(8) My nominee for Hockey East Coach of the Midseason - Dick Umile. Has any other HE coach gotten their team to progress as much as Umile and his staff have?

If the Wildcats continue their consistent play, it won't be long before they creep into the USCHO rankings.