Re: 2011-2012 UNH Wildcats
Given that UNH faces a mighty tough task to reach the top four, and the bizarre schedule its reasonable to think that most of us will be done visiting the Whittemore Center by mid-February.
That's pretty much it, isn't it? Lights out at the Whit the third week in February? Pretty unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. But this is the reality unless they can get some sort of turnaround in the second half. The schedule was kind of bizarre when I first saw it, given the fact that senior night would come two weeks before the end of the regular season. And given that there are just too many teams that have a jump on them and have as much upside as they do, home ice seems like a pipe dream at this point.
So where do we go from here? First, Umile has to make a decision on the goaltending. Does he decide to stick with DiGi full time, or does he start to give DeSmith and Wyer (when he gets healthy) a share of games? To me the answer is obvious, your #1 has regressed this year, has shown no signs of snapping out of it, so you back off him, still give him some games but provide him with some competition for the next month and see where it goes. This will be a tough thing for Umile to do because his watchword has always been loyalty to the senior class. But team confidence starts with the goaltending. Solid, if not spectacular. goaltending lifts teams. Mediocre or awful goaltending deflates them.
Defensively, we just have to hope that the three youngins, especially TVR, continue to improve. All three have decent size, seem to have decent offensive skills, but defense for all three appears to be sometime thing. Of the three upperclassmen, I have to think that Hardowa has had a pretty solid year, Kipp and Kostolansky not so much. if the latter two can pick it up and play at the level they played last year, then you could have the makings of a solid defensive team.
As for the forwards, the main difference between this team and those of the last few years is the ability of the senior class to make it happen. Does anyone see a Butler or Thompson type performance emerging from this group? Thought so. So that leaves it to guys like Burke (thought he had a good game vs. BU), Henrion, Sorkin, Silengo and a what seems to be a good group of freshmen to take the lead. UNH had success a month ago because they got some contributions from all four lines. Have not seen that lately. Time for these guys to regroup and make us all believers again.
You know that all season the Maine fans who post on this forum have been on the fire Whitehead bandwagon because of the Black Bears indifferent play. I think it is a testament to UNH fans that we have not sunk to that level regarding Umile. The fact that he has coached teams to 15 straight home ice berths, and 14 NCAA bids in that time, does count for something. I'm not sure it translates to "faith" in the coach, but more about "he's got a proven track record, let's give him the benefit of the doubt, given what he's got to work with."
That's not much to hang your hat, is it? But it's what we got at this point. I have seen worse (although it is a long, long time ago), I just hope I get to seem play in March.
