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2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

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Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

HawksSk860 said:
Not to be a negative Nancy... but I'm worried about this team after seeing it in action for the first time last night. We were fortunate to be confronted with a team that was as bad defensively and in the net as we were. Maybe we should just put 6 skaters out there and throw a trashcan in net tonight:o
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It's a very fair comment, but I'm going to give the two netminders a chance yet. They're both still getting used to this level of play. In the perfect world, they would have come in with a chance to learn from a more experienced goalie, and only have to play occassionally. I think if Chris Eiserman is as good as I hope he will be, he's going to have a great chance to learn from Boulanger and Carr when he gets in to the program.

I heard last night that Massie isn't eligible till the second semester, and he was the only one of the three goalies (four if you count Heffron) to play at this level at all.

Also to stick up for Carr and Boulanger a bit ... the defense has to pick up it's level of play. Terrible giveaways (I'm looking at you Maury) don't help.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

We're going to see the "growing pains period" with Carr and Boulanger this season. These kids have too much skill and promise not to be given a serious shot at settling in. If they continue to struggle, we might see Massie (is he eligible?) or Heffron, but I doubt it ... certainly not in league play ... maybe in the Bentley game. Now, this goes hand-in-hand with the "growing pains" that comes along with graduating so many seniors in one year. Lots of youth demands lots of patience.

With that aside, here are some of my other thoughts:
- Fantastic to see a great game result for a great early season crowd. I think Lowell has "missed the boat" many, many times in the past years by not sending home great early season crowds with a win. Many, many of those kids will be back and this is the kind of home opener that could really generate some serious on-campus hype. A win over BU next Friiday would really propel that hype.
- The new scoreboard looks great, rink looks great, loved the chuck-a-puck change, the kiss-off and the Sub "Eat-off" .... but, the house production team needs some serious work. In order of increasing personal frustration -> 1.) You can't be playing Bob Ellis sound bites at the SAME time as your introducing the starting lineups. 2.) What good is a gread video board if you don't start showing replays until 3 minutes left in the game? 3.) Why, why, why in the world would you ever, ever, ever blow the goal horn when the opposition scores??? 4.) The new "Talon Club" should be at the other end of the ice instead of creating such a horrible logistics nightmare where they set it up - who the hell is responsible for the setup they had to get people by it without making them walk all around the building??? ??? ???
- Student section was awesome ... too bad 30-40% left before the team came over to salute them ... they stayed for the whole game and left 2 minutes before the salute? Must not have known it was coming.
- The Lowell PP looked fantastic ... I think they could've easily had 3 more goals had that Thompson buried a few of his golden chances or Edwards buried his. Arnold looks good at the top.


Let's go Lowell! Beat NU!
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

PaulG said:
We're going to see the "growing pains period" with Carr and Boulanger this season. These kids have too much skill and promise not to be given a serious shot at settling in. If they continue to struggle, we might see Massie (is he eligible?) or Heffron, but I doubt it ... certainly not in league play ... maybe in the Bentley game. Now, this goes hand-in-hand with the "growing pains" that comes along with graduating so many seniors in one year. Lots of youth demands lots of patience.

With that aside, here are some of my other thoughts:
- Fantastic to see a great game result for a great early season crowd. I think Lowell has "missed the boat" many, many times in the past years by not sending home great early season crowds with a win. Many, many of those kids will be back and this is the kind of home opener that could really generate some serious on-campus hype. A win over BU next Friiday would really propel that hype.
- The new scoreboard looks great, rink looks great, loved the chuck-a-puck change, the kiss-off and the Sub "Eat-off" .... but, the house production team needs some serious work. In order of increasing personal frustration -> 1.) You can't be playing Bob Ellis sound bites at the SAME time as your introducing the starting lineups. 2.) What good is a gread video board if you don't start showing replays until 3 minutes left in the game? 3.) Why, why, why in the world would you ever, ever, ever blow the goal horn when the opposition scores??? 4.) The new "Talon Club" should be at the other end of the ice instead of creating such a horrible logistics nightmare where they set it up - who the hell is responsible for the setup they had to get people by it without making them walk all around the building??? ??? ???
- Student section was awesome ... too bad 30-40% left before the team came over to salute them ... they stayed for the whole game and left 2 minutes before the salute? Must not have known it was coming.
- The Lowell PP looked fantastic ... I think they could've easily had 3 more goals had that Thompson buried a few of his golden chances or Edwards buried his. Arnold looks good at the top.


Let's go Lowell! Beat NU!
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I understand the frustration, but this was the first game for the rink staff too. I'm sure they're aware of the problems and did fix some of them as they went through the game (no horn on the any of the other PC goals for example). The Talon Club has to be where it is to allow access from the front entrance. The student section will learn...every year is different.

The biggest issue with the student section was, what appears to be, lack of communication regarding the change of location. Section 101 (the old section H) was where most of these students were used to sitting. So, obviously they kept trying to sit there. There should have been a banner or something over the new sections. The Tsongas security staff spent the entire first period kicking them out...it was absolutely ridiculous how much they interrupted the game doing it. That to me was the worst of the planning.

I almost wished I had bought my season tickets in the student section (not that it was an option). Overtime of a very exciting game and the old people behind us are yelling "sit down!". I have zero sympathy. This is a college hockey game, not bingo. Stand up you miserable, old ********. I told the cast of Cocoon that these were my seats for the season so they better get used to it.

On to the game. Carr shortened my life span by three years. He fought the puck all night and is taking horrific angles. I see the talent that the kid has, there's just going to be a much longer learning curve. It's obvious we were spoiled in regards to Hutton coming in ready to go as a frosh. Ruhwedel is going to be a force in this league. Here's hoping Boulanger can keep the rebounds to a minimum tonight and give the team a shot.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

Well, that was certainly an "reopening" night that won't be forgotten for awhile. I'll take a walk around the rink today as I was far too out of it last night (was up since 2:30 AM) to take in the new modifications.

The UML marketing staff could not have asked for a better ending. No matter how you thought of the hockey game, to the casual observer there were plenty of goals, lead changes, a two-goal comeback, overtime, and a GW goal by Wetmore to cap off the evening. A expected crowd of 5500 for the most part when home happy.

As soon as Doug Carr believes in himself that he belongs in the league, he'll be OK. That's his problem, being assertive and confident in his ability. It's the reason he was leaving all of those tasty treats out in front and for PC's second goal his positioning was tragic.

What I like about this team is that the freshmen forwards are a bit unabashed. At times it can be loose but the fourth line was the best of the night. Curry looked OK in his first game. Derek Arnold is the real deal and Riley Wetmore has the talent to become a dominant forward in this league.

While Carr definitely let in a couple of softies, he has been mitgated by a relatively young, inexperienced defense. Ickert struggled mightly last night and I think he'd be the first to tell you that he probably wasn't happy with his performance. With him, I'm chalking that up to a bad night because he's far too talented to continue like that. The defensive breakout is where the most work is needed, they seem to run around a lot where they try to get the puck out of the zone.

NU is a mid-pack team this year, so this will be the first real challenge where the Lowell has the talent to win the game but can their defensive hold. It's a question we'll be asking a lot in the first semester. At least the bulk of these learning curve games will be at home.

Does anyone know the legal sellout attendance for the Tsongas Arena, with the new club seat it has to be a bit lower that 6,496.

PS: I wonder if the goal horn guy got demoted to ticket-taker for tonight's game :p :D
 
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Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

Echoing Paul G., there were a few items to point out that will hopefully get rectified. But again, this was the first night with lots of new things going on so there were bound to be a few kinks. Heck, the rest of the signs and other items were still being installed late in the afternoon yesterday.

1. Goal horn - c'mon, that was dumb but it seems that it was fixed right away when someone must have pointed this basic fact out.

2. Anouncing of goals - announcer needs to do what has always been done. First read full name of goal scorer, number on the year and number in the game, followed by any player names with assists. Then repeat using just last names. The second part of this was missed several times last night.

3. Tied into #2 and probably chalk it up to first night kinks. Have the ultra-video board control room we've heard so much about on the construction blog for the Tsongas updates actually be in sync with the announcing of the goal and the images of the players. I don't think this was ever in sync last night and one one Chad's image was up there for about a minute it seemed and at other times the images were delayed or non existent.

4. Posting of pp% and pk% for the respective teams would be nice to have on the board somewhere at the start of power plays.

5. My big one. There was never any announcement of who got the overtime goal, nor any image of the player on the big screen of who got it. Big dropped ball on that one. They showed the replay but never annouced who actually got the goal and the assist.

6. The edited video clip of Animal House, Rudy, etc. was FANTASTIC before the OT period. Whoever put that together needs a big pat on the back.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

Looking forward to the second game tonight. Not much to be said that wasn't said but hopefully the food kiosks are not gone for good; they were apparently gone last night, only alcohol was out leaving huge lines at main concession stands.

Might spring for a pulled-pork sammich at Rowdy's Roadhouse (old Talon Club) in second intermission.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

Didn't even notice the missing carts last night as I was busy looking at the great UML athletic and hockey exhibits on the far end. The exhibits are fantastic. Did notice the long concession lines though so hopefully the powers at be noticed and will make corrections.

Rowdy's Roadhouse was dead. No lines and the best kept secret last night...while others waited and waited in the concession lines, you could just walk up inside Rowdy's and order pretty much right away. The hot dogs (even though they were $6.50 or so in there) were worth it as they were huge!

One thing I hope that happens tonight is we all keep an eye on where the Northeastern students gravitate to and we don't have a repeat of last year's incident where long time UML season ticket holders and other UML fans had to sacrifice their seats due to squatting NU fans. The ushers did absolutely nothing about it last year so hopefully that won't happen again. If it does, people need to speak up.

Might sit down near Goon, etc. in the student section for a bit tonight.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

I loved the OT thing too. That was great! The students were awesome. NU fans were in a corner by where I was sitting. Very boring this yr. No hats, no horns, just plain fans with big mouths. Some great UML fans were a few rows in front cheering back at them. Fun to watch.

Someone needs to help out the gal who does the pep band. She makes me crazy- missed the players coming on the ice at the beginning of the period playing some awful piece of music last night, drowning out cheers of our fans who really had the noise going, late on the uptake for breaks, not back for when the players came back for the third period. I love the band and I love when the guy directs. She makes me crazy. The band can really ramp up the atmosphere. They are a great asset. They just need to teach the director how to make it one.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

leswp1 said:
I loved the OT thing too. That was great! The students were awesome. NU fans were in a corner by where I was sitting. Very boring this yr. No hats, no horns, just plain fans with big mouths. Some great UML fans were a few rows in front cheering back at them. Fun to watch.

Someone needs to help out the gal who does the pep band. She makes me crazy- missed the players coming on the ice at the beginning of the period playing some awful piece of music last night, drowning out cheers of our fans who really had the noise going, late on the uptake for breaks, not back for when the players came back for the third period. I love the band and I love when the guy directs. She makes me crazy. The band can really ramp up the atmosphere. They are a great asset. They just need to teach the director how to make it one.
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The band hasn't been able to synch anything up for a couple of years now. They always play for a good 15 seconds after the play has started, and they wait until the break is halfway over before they start.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

Maybe it's me, but I thought the band had fewer members tonight.

Overall a win would have been great but I like what I saw from the Hawks tonight. After a sloppy second period by both teams they really came out and dominated. It's too bad they couldn't get that second goal. I thought Boulanger played a solid game and the defense did a nice job tonight. The PP was very good for much of the night. The game could have gone either way. I was hoping for a better turnout, only 3,518 at the game tonight.

I heard Mike Scheu is out with a shoulder injury.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

When the guy is doing it he has a clue. She is just awful. I don't think I would mind so much but I was in a pep band (a looooong time ago) and it just makes me crazy
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

bottomdweller said:
The band hasn't been able to synch anything up for a couple of years now. They always play for a good 15 seconds after the play has started, and they wait until the break is halfway over before they start.
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You'd think they'd have a program guide/game plan or something laying around that states how they execute for the games. That way you don't have to go through this.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

Patman said:
You'd think they'd have a program guide/game plan or something laying around that states how they execute for the games. That way you don't have to go through this.
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They actually do have a program guide, however, you have a brand new group compleing the tasks at hand, it's going to take some time. That wasn't nearly the size of the total pep band this weekend because it's still possible that the Marching Band had functions this weekend. I figured out the reason why people thought that were off during sieve chant; they start the song from the beginning each time instead of the chorus. There's your 15 seconds as previously discussed.

It's going to take the entire first semester before all of the small things are ironed out.

They have this great new video introduction but played it :35 seconds too early instead of timing it so it ends when they come on the ice. The PA annoucer is much better than the other guy, but he'll learn the sport over time. At least they went back to the tradition in Tully Forum that it is a student (or student age) who does the PA announcements.

After a dismal first period where the Hawks were very fortunate to be tied at the end of the period, they dominated the second period and came out flying in the third. Then after the NU time out, they simply ran out of gas (especially under 5:00 to go) as the three consecutive OT games finally took its toll. The two people for NU that you can't have get points got them with McNeely accounting for a point on each of the three goals and River Hawk killer Silva getting the game winning goal.

Boulanger had a spectacular game aganist NU. Had no chance on McNeely's first goal and his defense didn't help him on the GW goal. You can't complain about getting 40 shots on net but it gets back to finishing one or two more of those chances...where have we seen this before...no matter how young or old a team is.

It took me twelve hours to figure this out but what I was most disappointment in last night's game was the dramatic shift in attendance between the two games. Granted, there was a curiosity factor and the home opener will always bring a big crowd. Losing 2,000 people within a night is almost tragic. I have a number of 4500 in my mind as a decent crowd, higher is bonus land. The energy difference in the arena was night and day and very noticible, especially when 25 "Pound Puppies" outcheered a student section for a majority of the game. That's a flat out embarassment.

I'll be expecting a crowd of 5000 for BU next Friday because it's only one game next week and it's BU. After watching the game against UMass, the Hawks can't be ruled out just yet. I'd start Boulanger in net on Friday and see what happens. I've think he's earned the next start.
 
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Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

I am dissapointed in the new rink....ice cream, gone, dippin dots, gone, fried dough, gone, freesh cookies, gone, added, 5 beer stands and two full service bars. Not a family atmoshere anymore. Is that really appropriate for a college arena?

Also, there is a ticket deal for Jean D'Arc customers. the clerk overchared for the tickets we were buying for people we invited to the game. We waited almost 15 minutes at the ticket window for the fix and then gave up...very frustrating. The tickets sellers window should know what it doing. very amature.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

mikeinlowell said:
I am dissapointed in the new rink....ice cream, gone, dippin dots, gone, fried dough, gone, freesh cookies, gone, added, 5 beer stands and two full service bars. Not a family atmoshere anymore. Is that really appropriate for a college arena?

Also, there is a ticket deal for Jean D'Arc customers. the clerk overchared for the tickets we were buying for people we invited to the game. We waited almost 15 minutes at the ticket window for the fix and then gave up...very frustrating. The tickets sellers window should know what it doing. very amature.
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I thought they were keeping Fried dough. They specifically mentioned that. I didn't get up much this WE. Had surgery on Friday and wandering around wasn't really appealing. I did like not having the Talon Club blocked off. That much alcohol without the kid stuff Like ice cream and cookies is disappointing. Lil went to get a pretzel on Friday night. They told him it would be ready in 15 minutes and then closed without serving anymore. If he knew they were closing they would have gotten something else. Definitely some kinks to work out.
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

UML said:
The Nutty Bavarian cart was also nowhere to be found. While I am a fan of beer they do need to bring back the fried dough dippin dots etc.
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your team stinks and all you mambie-pambies can complain about is fried dough?
 
Re: 2010/2011 UML In-Season Thread

Too bad not to pick up at least a point against Northeastern Saturday. Based on the audio broadcast, the play seemed pretty even, though, and it sounded like Boulanger had a good game.

Looking forward to the home and home against BU this weekend. Might be optimistic, but I think UML can come out of the weekend with two points.

Finally, extremely promising defenseman Chad Ruhwedel was named Hockey East rookie of the week. It's on the UML athletic site, but hasn't posted on the Hockey East website as of right now. He has had an excellent start to the season and hopefully it will continue.

http://www.goriverhawks.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/102510aab.html
 
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