Re: Boston Universtiy 2011-2012 Part IV: Dont stop fighting til the fight is done!
Definitely one of the toughest losses in recent history. Probably the toughest one for me to take since the 2006 Regional final in Worcester.
Despite a strong effort, esp. from Millan, the lack of depth in the lineup is starting to have an effect. This team hasn't been the same since Privitera went down; I never thought at this juncture of his BU career he'd be *that* important to the lineup, but from December 'til his injury, Privitera's game improved leaps and bounds. His skill set is sorely needed on the blue line, where his puck-moving ability on the transition and on the 2nd PP unit made a difference.
Privitera's injury, plus Nicastro playing thru his shoulder injury, is starting to put a strain on the D. Nicastro's shoulder is nowhere near healthy; if this was early in the season and if there wasn't another, more serious injury, to the defensive corps, I'd bet Nicastro probably would've missed several weeks.
In essence, the team is playing w/ only 5 healthy d-men. And I'm sure some of them are playing thru some bumps & bruises. There's only so much Clendening and Noonan can do; despite the best efforts of the rest of the d-men to elevate their games, it's hard for them to replace the skills that Privitera brings to the ice b/c they lack the puck-moving skills & offensive instincts.
Up front, while it's nice to see Connolly, Chiasson, Nieto, Megan and Gill carry the offensive load post-Trivino and post-Coyle, we haven't seen Courtnall, Hohmann and Rodrigues emerge offensively. The Freshmen have shown some flashes of great skill, but haven't been able to finish. I didn't think that after 28 games, Hohmann and Rodrigues would only have 2 goals - combined. This team NEEDS the latter group of forwards to emerge and start contributing more offensively. The 4th line does its job well as an energy line, but the lack of a solid 3rd line could potentially hurt BU against teams w/ more offensive depth.