#7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

[thecomicbookguy]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

I thought this was a thread about the forthcoming Hockey East Quarterfinal Series. Not sure what BU basketball has to do with it.

Huh? I'm a little baffled by your post. It's not like if you guys win this quarter final series you'll be vindicated. You guys should win this series, just as you should have won last year. I doubt Umile and the team are looking at it as a revenge thing. I suspect they just want to take care of their business.

I wouldn't be surprised if the team is using last year as motivation. The only reason I'd hesitate to do that is to avoid what happened last year - big win in game one, then losing the next two. I would hope that if UNH just focuses on game 1, then, if they win, use last year as a reminder that they have to put the series away.

Aside from that, I can say from personal experience that the fans want REVENGE!

 

[chickod]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

I thought this was a thread about the forthcoming Hockey East Quarterfinal Series. Not sure what BU basketball has to do with it.

Just responding to jcarter...it's a carryover from last week. OK - no more bouncyball discussion...

 

[JB]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Odd thing is in the league you can't skate even 80% against anyone. Not to mention there are certain styles that just don't match up well. UML had dominated UVM doesn't matter which team is at the top or the bottom, UVM never matches up well with them. Same with MC, even when MC is in the basement they always seem to give UVM fits. UML has a better record against UVM then BC does, and I don't think anyone will argue they are a better team.

That said, it's nice to see somewhat of rivarlry start back up between Vermont and New Hampshire. I will say that I actually was hoping to see BC in the QF's, other then the past 5 games or so, UNH has had Vermont's number. Part of the reason for the dwindling rivarly.

It is a style thing. UNH is just bad against tight neutral zone defense (any of the many variaty of traps). UNH doesn't dump & chase well. BC sometimes falls into the same ills. Both UNH & BC want a skating game over a grinding game. Lowell and MC generally try to slow the game down play tight center ice defense and dump and chase very well and like the grind.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

This series is all about UNH really. They are clearly a better team than UVM. More scoring, better defense, even DiGi is better than Madore. Factor in home ice, how UNH lost to UVM last year, plus BC the year before, you would think that would bring enough motivation to carry the day. At the beginning of the season a friend and I were discussing UNH's prospects and he said, "how about we get to the Garden this year." It would be nice.

 

[Snively65]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Enjoyed your posts, UVM Cat in Texas, Zoofer, C-H-C, and Snively!

Growing up in Durham, I watched Rod Blackburn in net and Dude Thorn's and Brad Houston's booming slap shots against teams like Army and UConn in the old outdoor Batchelder Rink before Snively was constructed in 1965 ("Whoop" Snively lived on the corner of Edgewood Road and Davis Avenue and taught us little townie kids how to swim at the outdoor pool). I remember Dude Thorn scoring the first goal in Snively in 1965, and was there for the last goal almost three decades later when UNH won over BC in double OT (Eric Boguniecki assisted on the goal, I think, but I cannot remember who scored it). In April, I would retrieve pucks from the melting snowbanks around the rink and sell them back to the Athletic Department for $1 each. My more forward-looking friend Alan held onto a couple dozen of his pucks and now sells them on EBay for up to $50 or more each.

Some of my Snively memories were Colin Clark's 65 saves in an 8-0 loss to BU in March 1965 (ouch!), Loui Frigon's 10 points (3 G, 7A) in a lopsided win over Colgate in February 1971 (the smoothest Cats skater that I ever watched until JVR spent a couple of years in Durham), and Guy Smith's OT goal to beat #1 ranked Harvard in January 1972 (Guy played with reckless abandon; I think that I remember seeing him score three goals in less than a couple of minutes during his final season; took a sociology course titled "The American Indians" the spring of 1970 in which Guy came to our class as a guest speaker; I believe that he was part Abenaki?). I left Durham for graduate school in fall 1972, so did not see much of the Cats except when I was home for semester breaks until I moved back east in 1981. So, thanks for filling in some of this time frame for me.

I definitely will be at the Whitt in time for warm ups on Friday night for Cats vs Cats round two.

 

[jcarter7669]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

, even DiGi is better than Madore.

That's debatable but yes, the rest of what you say is on the mark

 

[unhpuckfan2001]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Regardless of the rankings, I expect Sneddon to have the Green Cats ready to play.

I'm not thrilled about UNH heading into the playoffs, having lost their last two games. I'm even less thrilled about the way they a) looked on Friday (worst UNH performance ever? A discussion for another day, perhaps) and b) put it in 'coast' mode after getting a 2-0 lead Saturday. They just eased up, and BC is too talented and well coached for that to ever work.

UNH has the talent to win this series in two games; Vermont is no-where near as good as they were last year. That's been well documented, and discussed; last year, the #8 Catamounts were only 3 points out of first place, and an NCAA Tournament team. This year, I think, would be an even bigger surprise if they pull off the upset. The questions are: Will UNH come to play 120/180 minutes of hockey? Will Coach Umile dope it up and call a line change with 15 seconds to go in the period again?

Looking forward to getting some redemption for last year, last week, and hopefully make it to the garden for the first time in four years . . .

 

[JB]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

I'm not thrilled about UNH heading into the playoffs, having lost their last two games. I'm even less thrilled about the way they a) looked on Friday (worst UNH performance ever? A discussion for another day, perhaps) and b) put it in 'coast' mode after getting a 2-0 lead Saturday. They just eased up, and BC is too talented and well coached for that to ever work.

Worst ever? Did you watch any UNH hockey in the mid 80's?

Now there were about 3 years of about the ugliest hockey I have ever seen.

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

put it in 'coast' mode after getting a 2-0 lead Saturday. They just eased up, and BC is too talented and well coached for that to ever work.

Hahahahahahah. Sure sure sure. UNH just thought they had it in the bag when they got up 2-0 against the best team in the East so they stopped trying. They even made a terrible line change on purpose to help BC win!

It sure looked like they were trying in the 3rd period to me. Call me crazy.

 

[JB]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Hahahahahahah. Sure sure sure. UNH just thought they had it in the bag when they got up 2-0 against the best team in the East so they stopped trying. They even made a terrible line change on purpose to help BC win!

It sure looked like they were trying in the 3rd period to me. Call me crazy.

You’re crazy...

But I agree it wasn't UNH going to coast mode. They were playing hard but in a couple cases dumb hockey, BC capitalized on two of the mistakes (line change and getting too high on a PK). That and BC played fantastic focused hockey all weekend, essentially mistake free. If they play like that the rest of the way I am not sure they are beatable.

 

[Jacques "Rabbit" Poriveau]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

b) put it in 'coast' mode after getting a 2-0 lead Saturday. They just eased up, and BC is too talented and well coached for that to ever work.

UNHs goed into coast mode against de teame dat beated dem 4-0 da night before, on Senior night, wif de HE Regulate Saison title on dey line, mais you one a dos who alway get upsetted when someone say fire Dicks Umile...sacre bleu

Et dey do dis all de time, specially evury year in Mars et Aprile.

UNHs ave NEVEUR ad de killeur instinct wif Dicks Umile as coach.

Eet ard to put you foot on de udder teams froat when you own sphincter is squeeze out diamonds, eh mes amies, you getting what I saying?

 

[JB]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Eet ard to put you foot on de udder teams froat when you own sphincter is squeeze out diamonds, eh mes amies, you getting what I saying?

Another funny item from you...

 

[midge843]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

I'll say with the way UVM looked this weekend against Lowell they have no hope against UNH. UVM looked terrible against the worst team in HE.

Well, at least we uvm fans have more hockey to look forward to even if it is only two more games.

 

[snively]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Enjoyed your posts, UVM Cat in Texas, Zoofer, C-H-C, and Snively!

Growing up in Durham, I watched Rod Blackburn in net and Dude Thorn's and Brad Houston's booming slap shots against teams like Army and UConn in the old outdoor Batchelder Rink before Snively was constructed in 1965 ("Whoop" Snively lived on the corner of Edgewood Road and Davis Avenue and taught us little townie kids how to swim at the outdoor pool). I remember Dude Thorn scoring the first goal in Snively in 1965, and was there for the last goal almost three decades later when UNH won over BC in double OT (Eric Boguniecki assisted on the goal, I think, but I cannot remember who scored it). In April, I would retrieve pucks from the melting snowbanks around the rink and sell them back to the Athletic Department for $1 each. My more forward-looking friend Alan held onto a couple dozen of his pucks and now sells them on EBay for up to $50 or more each.

Some of my Snively memories were Colin Clark's 65 saves in an 8-0 loss to BU in March 1965 (ouch!), Loui Frigon's 10 points (3 G, 7A) in a lopsided win over Colgate in February 1971 (the smoothest Cats skater that I ever watched until JVR spent a couple of years in Durham), and Guy Smith's OT goal to beat #1 ranked Harvard in January 1972 (Guy played with reckless abandon; I think that I remember seeing him score three goals in less than a couple of minutes during his final season; took a sociology course titled "The American Indians" the spring of 1970 in which Guy came to our class as a guest speaker; I believe that he was part Abenaki?). I left Durham for graduate school in fall 1972, so did not see much of the Cats except when I was home for semester breaks until I moved back east in 1981. So, thanks for filling in some of this time frame for me.

I definitely will be at the Whitt in time for warm ups on Friday night for Cats vs Cats round two.

Just catching up on these -- thanks for your great post, Snively65!

Pity you left for grad school in '72 and didn't return until '81 -- you missed some of our best teams ever (and returned in time -- mid '80's -- to catch some of our worst).

One of the criticisms that's been leveled at the current team (perhaps unfairly) is that its scoring output is too dependent on the first line.

Compare that with these numbers from 1977. Bear in mind that these numbers are for the regular season only, and for a shorter season (and the source I have, a Boston Globe clipping, doesn't include the final one, so they're only for 25 games):

First Line:

Bob Miller: 25 goals, 44 assists, 69 points
Ralph Cox: 29 goals, 30 assists, 59 points
Dave Lumley: 18 goals, 29 assists, 47 points

Second Line:

Jon Fontas: 22 goals, 31 assists, 53 points
Bobby Gould: 17 goals, 20 assists, 37 points
Barry Edgar: 9 goals, 22 assists, 31 points

On the full season, that UNH team ended up scoring 245 goals.

PS: I graduated from Durham's Oyster River High School the same spring you were hearing Louis Frigon speak about the Abenakis. Interesting time to be in a campus townn no?! (SDS, etc.)

 

[Snively65]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Just catching up on these -- thanks for your great post, Snively65!

Pity you left for grad school in '72 and didn't return until '81 -- you missed some of our best teams ever (and returned in time -- mid '80's -- to catch some of our worst).

One of the criticisms that's been leveled at the current team (perhaps unfairly) is that its scoring output is too dependent on the first line.

Compare that with these numbers from 1977. Bear in mind that these numbers are for the regular season only, and for a shorter season (and the source I have, a Boston Globe clipping, doesn't include the final one, so they're only for 25 games):

First Line:

Bob Miller: 25 goals, 44 assists, 69 points
Ralph Cox: 29 goals, 30 assists, 59 points
Dave Lumley: 18 goals, 29 assists, 47 points

Second Line:

Jon Fontas: 22 goals, 31 assists, 53 points
Bobby Gould: 17 goals, 20 assists, 37 points
Barry Edgar: 9 goals, 22 assists, 31 points

On the full season, that UNH team ended up scoring 245 goals.

That great 1976-77 team was the one that I did not get to see even during semester break, as I was in Antarctica that winter (result of my graduate school connection at U Maine, before Harold Alfond at Dexter Shoe bought them a hockey team). But, I watched the OT loss against the Badgers in the FF semi's on friends' TV across the street from where I was living in Boulder that spring. Good thing that I was drinking a lot of beer to ease the pain. I spent my first six years back east in western Mass beginning in 1981, before UMass built Mullen and revived their hockey program, but caught a few games in Durham in those lean years.

PS: I graduated from Durham's Oyster River High School the same spring you were hearing Louis Frigon speak about the Abenakis. Interesting time to be in a campus townn no?! (SDS, etc.)

Hey, Snively, you graduated with my brother from ORHS; I will send you a PM.

Guy Smith, who I recall was part Abenaki, was from Ontario, I think, and Loui Frigon from Quebec, I believe. Greg Ambrose can probably clarify.

 

[snively]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

That great 1976-77 team was the one that I did not get to see even during semester break, as I was in Antarctica that winter (result of my graduate school connection at U Maine, before Harold Alfond at Dexter Shoe bought them a hockey team). But, I watched the OT loss against the Badgers in the FF semi's on friends' TV across the street from where I was living in Boulder that spring. Good thing that I was drinking a lot of beer to ease the pain. I spent my first six years back east in western Mass beginning in 1981, before UMass built Mullen and revived their hockey program, but caught a few games in Durham in those lean years.

Hey, Snively, you graduated with my brother from ORHS; I will send you a PM.

Guy Smith, who I recall was part Abenaki, was from Ontario, I think, and Loui Frigon from Quebec, I believe. Greg Ambrose can probably clarify.

Thanks, Snively65 -- would love to learn who your brother is, as we'd surely know each other. As you know, ORHS is a small school. Less than 400 total at that point, even though it encompasses Durham, Madbury and Lee.

That loss to Wisconsin at the end of the game in the NCAA semis was brutally pain to watch (by then I was in grad school down in Cambridge, and it was a signicicant enough game to be telecast in Boston).

As I recall it, Wisco's Mark Evans (later on the 1980 Olympic squad) took the draw against Barry Edgar. Instead of drawing it back to the point, he took a massive slap forward just as the official's arm started downward. By a combination of amazing skill and luck, the puck blazed ahead and somehow found its way just inside Magnarelli's near post a microsecond later. What a way to lose a shot at a national title!

Please let me know your brother's name -- I think there's a way to do this on my message page?

 

[Cat lover]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Vermont is no-where near as good as they were last year.

Looking forward to getting some redemption for last year, last week, and hopefully make it to the garden for the first time in four years . . .

Being a big favorite at home and beating a team that is not as good as it was last year is supposed to give redemption? Relief maybe.

 

[Snively65]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Being a big favorite at home and beating a team that is not as good as it was last year is supposed to give redemption? Relief maybe.

I wish that your Vezina trophy winner had been in the net tonight for the Bruins.

 

[GoUNH]

Hahahahahahah. Sure sure sure. UNH just thought they had it in the bag when they got up 2-0 against the best team in the East so they stopped trying. They even made a terrible line change on purpose to help BC win!

It sure looked like they were trying in the 3rd period to me. Call me crazy.

Umm....., ?

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: #7 Vermont at #2 Univ.New Hampshire HE quarter final

Umm....., ?

Two thumbs up for this post. Any time you don't say something dumb is a good post in my book.