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2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

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Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

unh_hockey said:
Ballards is great. It was the place to watch the bruins playoffs. a lot of the guys from the team worked there so it was never hard to put the game on TV. gotta love hockey biased venues.
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Plus, everything on tap is $3 (except Guinness, which is $4) and they have a decent selection. Food's good, too - try the Waffle Fries (cheddar, bacon, mm)
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

unhpuckfan2001 said:
Plus, everything on tap is $3 (except Guinness, which is $4) and they have a decent selection. Food's good, too - try the Waffle Fries (cheddar, bacon, mm)
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redhook for 3 bucks, and 2 on thursday nights? Beat the clock for a buck? **** yeah son
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

unhpuckfan2001 said:
Plus, everything on tap is $3 (except Guinness, which is $4) and they have a decent selection. Food's good, too - try the Waffle Fries (cheddar, bacon, mm)
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The real important part of the equation has not been addressed. Are the waitresses still hot like they were at the Tin Palace?
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Nick Papagiorgio said:
The real important part of the equation has not been addressed. Are the waitresses still hot like they were at the Tin Palace?
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The Knot (a few doors down from Ballard's) has the hottest, but is more of a hole-in-the-wall type place. Ballard's has a few decent options, but their usual bartenders are two dudes and a larger woman (at least I'm pretty sure it's a woman).
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Nick Papagiorgio said:
The real important part of the equation has not been addressed. Are the waitresses still hot like they were at the Tin Palace?
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Libbys typically has decent waitresses as well. But I'd defer judgement to RTW as he has been at the Durham bar scene more often than I have this year
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

I asked in the series thread too, but haven't gotten any answers - do students actually have to show their IDs to get in with a student ticket? I had a friend get me a couple student tickets so I wouldn't have to pay, but clearly I don't have a UNH ID.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

NUHuskies said:
I asked in the series thread too, but haven't gotten any answers - do students actually have to show their IDs to get in with a student ticket? I had a friend get me a couple student tickets so I wouldn't have to pay, but clearly I don't have a UNH ID.
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As far as I remember, students do have to at least flash a student ID (not necessarily their own) with a student ticket to get in.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

My goodness that was ugly. NU deserved a better fate.
Can someone explain why UNH is having such a difficult time gaining control of the puck in their own zone and moving it out? Vermont and NU went through stretches when they kept the puck in the zone for well over a minute. During the winning streak, the UNH D and center were effectively breaking out of the zone. What has changed?
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

What a pleasure meeting and talking with Chad (Malts18) and Toby (limeycat) at the game tonight. In a perfect world, all the loyal UNH fans would live their lives, from London to Detroit to San Diego, during the week and get together in our own section at the Whit on weekends. Informed conversations, interesting stories, shared memories, and camaraderie. The remarkable comeback in the third period is yet another memory to savor.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Clark-Hislop-Cox said:
My goodness that was ugly. NU deserved a better fate.
Can someone explain why UNH is having such a difficult time gaining control of the puck in their own zone and moving it out? Vermont and NU went through stretches when they kept the puck in the zone for well over a minute. During the winning streak, the UNH D and center were effectively breaking out of the zone. What has changed?
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Different forechecking schemes. When UNH played at BU, BU would have one forechecker in front of the goalie and, more often than not, he would chase the defenseman behind the net. I recall that Kipp and Campanale several
times had no problem skating up through center. Both UVM and Northeastern had one guy down low and another in the high slot, which effectively negated the ability of one guy to break the forecheck. Teams continually scout of course and, for now, this is what they will do until UNH has the ability to counter attack. I notice a few times that UNH has had forwards (DeSimone, Thompson, LeBlanc) go back and carry the puck out. By now I think that UNH has decided what they need to do to break the forecheck, it's just a question of execution. If they don't, it's going to present big problems in the playoffs.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Greg Ambrose said:
Different forechecking schemes. When UNH played at BU, BU would have one forechecker in front of the goalie and, more often than not, he would chase the defenseman behind the net. I recall that Kipp and Campanale several
times had no problem skating up through center. Both UVM and Northeastern had one guy down low and another in the high slot, which effectively negated the ability of one guy to break the forecheck. Teams continually scout of course and, for now, this is what they will do until UNH has the ability to counter attack. I notice a few times that UNH has had forwards (DeSimone, Thompson, LeBlanc) go back and carry the puck out. By now I think that UNH has decided what they need to do to break the forecheck, it's just a question of execution. If they don't, it's going to present big problems in the playoffs.
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That makes sense. I guess it didn't help that Kostolansky was out. Like Kapstad, he has the ability to skate and/or pass out of his own end.

The bigger problem last night seemed to be getting the puck away from the NU forwards who were moving around freely in the corners and behind the net. At the risk of overexaggerating, it is like our defensemen and back-checking forward play by the NCAA womens' rules. They try to pry the puck away with their sticks only - any body contact is incidental. In the first two periods, they rarely body-checked the puck carrier into the boards and stole the puck. Finally, in the third period, Hardowa and Kipp started banging the puck carrier and disrupting NU's puck movement.

I don't understand why UNH is so reluctant to check guys in their own end. Is it because they are trying to avoid boarding penalties? Is it because they simply don't know how to body check effectively? This is Kessel's one glaring weakness. In the interview, posted a while back, his brother Phil pointed out that Blake needs to learn how to play the body along the boards. Until he improves that aspect of his game, he is not ready to turn pro.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

We noticed the same things; the extra forechecker waiting at the blue line disrupted UNHs breaking out of the zone. It helped that NU was agressive, attacking every single puck all night long.

Kudos to Brian Foster; that was an example of him stealing a game, carrying the team on his back, however you want to say it; after the early goal, he was rock solid in net (obviously). For 40 minutes, UNH wasn't even on the same ice sheet as NU, except for Foster. He deserves all the credit for that win.

The only thing I took away from last night, and Friday, was that despite the fact the opposing teams game plan was shutting our high-flying offense down, we never 'packed it in'. It's been a quality of this years' team, that is rare for a UNH squad. They never quit on a game -- remember the BC game back in November? This showed again Friday night in Boston, and last night, the execution was not there, but the effort was. This team is just talented enough, gritty enough, and determined enough, to make the postseason worth watching. I saw changes in the UNH game plan last night -- something Coach Umile has been criticized for not doing; it took a while to take effect, but I'm encouraged by the fact that they knew what to do, and managed to eventually make it work, albeit not 100%.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Clark-Hislop-Cox said:
That makes sense. I guess it didn't help that Kostolansky was out. Like Kapstad, he has the ability to skate and/or pass out of his own end.

The bigger problem last night seemed to be getting the puck away from the NU forwards who were moving around freely in the corners and behind the net. At the risk of overexaggerating, it is like our defensemen and back-checking forward play by the NCAA womens' rules. They try to pry the puck away with their sticks only - any body contact is incidental. In the first two periods, they rarely body-checked the puck carrier into the boards and stole the puck. Finally, in the third period, Hardowa and Kipp started banging the puck carrier and disrupting NU's puck movement.

I don't understand why UNH is so reluctant to check guys in their own end. Is it because they are trying to avoid boarding penalties? Is it because they simply don't know how to body check effectively? This is Kessel's one glaring weakness. In the interview, posted a while back, his brother Phil pointed out that Blake needs to learn how to play the body along the boards. Until he improves that aspect of his game, he is not ready to turn pro.
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That's the way UNH plays defense, by design. Umile's and, more importantly, Lassonde's, philosophy is that if you take the body all the time, you can wind up taking yourself out of the play. The way they played last night is the way they have played for the last 10 years or more. Frustrating at times, but UNH only gave up one goal last night. Their bigger problem defensively, at least for me, is when the forwards fail to cover their men at the points, kind of get lost between the circles.

As for their ability to close out games, I think it is a carry over from last year when they beat UND in Manchester. After that I think they got the mindset that anything is possible (to borrow a phrase). My guess is Butler and LeBlanc have instilled this into the rest of the team. It seems to have worked. Of course, the playoffs can be another story. They start next week with BC. Should be telling, one way or another.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Greg Ambrose said:
They start next week with BC. Should be telling, one way or another.
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Right. I'd have to think that the post-season tournaments start now. UNH's performance since Christmas has been eminently forgettable, and winning the regular season championship really means nothing, especially in a league as top-to-bottom mediocre as is Hockey East this year.
I had resigned myself to a rebuilding season, and Umile had them peaking in November. But they don't quit. They still have Butler, LeBlanc, and Foster. What they don't have entering the playoffs? The swagger.
Beat BC twice this weekend, they'll have the swagger.
Tie a game, back into the RS Championship, there's nothing. No swagger, just a trophy.
I want to see the swagger.
 
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Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

billb said:
Right. I'd have to think that the post-season tournaments start now. UNH's performance since Christmas has been eminently forgettable, and winning the regular season championship really means nothing, especially in a league as top-to-bottom mediocre as is Hockey East this year.
I had resigned myself to a rebuilding season, and Umile had them peaking in November. But they don't quit. They still have Butler, LeBlanc, and Foster. What they don't have entering the playoffs? The swagger.
Beat BC twice this weekend, they'll have the swagger.
Tie a game, back into the RS Championship, there's nothing. No swagger, just a trophy.
I want to see the swagger.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how you can say they peaked in November, when they rolled into break on a huge roll, and save for the Cornell game (had to shake the rust off), they had a good January (the BU game might have been their best game of the year). Since then, they have played... inconsistent. The only positive is that despite playing poorly, they're picking up points, and not packing it in.

These are playoff games (well at least Friday), and the regular season championship would definitely mean something, especially to this group, of which not much was expected heading into the season.
 
Re: 2009-2010 UNH Wildcats Season

Greg Ambrose said:
That's the way UNH plays defense, by design. Umile's and, more importantly, Lassonde's, philosophy is that if you take the body all the time, you can wind up taking yourself out of the play. The way they played last night is the way they have played for the last 10 years or more. Frustrating at times, but UNH only gave up one goal last night.
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From the sound of Coach Umile's postgame interview, he is pleased when his team plays more physical:
"We got more physical," Umile said. "We weren't losing the one-on-one battles. We were definitely losing those early in the game. We had a difficult time controlling them. They're very good down low cycling. That's a big part of their game and they do it well. We didn't get many shots, but in the third period we battled back and got shots to the net. We didn't do that earlier in the game."

There's a distinction between taking the body all of the time and selective, strategic body checks. When an opposing forward is freewheeling in the corner and a UNH defenseman checks him into the boards, the forward is taken out of the play and the puck comes loose. If the defenseman is skilled at playing the body, he steals the puck. At a minimum, he makes it available for a teammate to retrieve. I don't consider that taking himself out of the play.
 
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