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I have one more grievance to file, before I shut up about last night's game for good: it concerns usage of certain players.
The bottom six was a disaster last night, but it doesn't have to be that way. Prescott and Pryzbek are not third-liners. Meanwhile, Tim Lappin and Brink are too talented to be seeing just a handful of minutes on the fourth line. Whittet has two options: roll with the lines he did last night (Pryzbek-Corcoran-Prescott; Brink-Middleton-Lappin) and only have his top two lines be effective, or play his three skilled bottom six players together and have three lines that can generate some offense and keep possession, with the fourth line as the only glaring hole in the lineup. That means Brink-Corcoran-Lappin; Pryzbek-Middleton-Prescott. Sure, that fourth line is going to be doing more hitting and blocking shots than creating chances, but it's better to have just one line that does not consistently produce offense, rather than two.
On the defensive side of things, I struggled to understand why Tegtmeyer, in his first game of the season, was on our top pairing last night. Even if he had been in mid-season form, I don't think you can justify giving him top pairing status based on his mediocre play last season. Gottlieb is our best defenseman, period, and he should be playing with Pfeil every night. When Scherer is healthy, he should play with Wood on the second pairing, and then Schoo should be matched with a rotation of the three sophomores (McArdle, Cooper, Tegtmeyer), none of whom have proven to be great assets thus far in their careers. The three freshmen defensemen (not including Wynne, who only played a few minutes in a single game, so the sample size is far too small to judge) have each looked excellent this year, considering the dearth of experience they have at this level. They are all proficient puck-movers and have good instincts in their own zone. If Whittet chooses to play defensemen based on size and physicality alone (which I suspect he did last night), he will pay for it in the loss column.
Kdiff- Commenting first on your Dmen thoughts. I agree with you that Gottlieb/Pfeil and Scherer/Wood are solid, with Gottlieb arguably the best of that group. While I did not see the PC game, based on 3 others I thought Schoo and McCardle have also played well. McCardle has really raised the level of his play from last year. With those 3 lines and Tegtmeyer and Cooper able to fill in, I believe we are ok for second half with our defense. Also for 2016-2017,
Goalie, Ernst should play every game. When he is one, he is capable. Not at the level of Borelli's play, but constant playing may give him more confidence. His two last games against Union in Schenectady shows he can be a solid D 1 goalie. Having said that I see we have one goalie commit for next year Elijah Harris from Kimball UNion where he played for Mike Levine. Will he be the starter next year?
Offense, your ideas about the lines seem to be a good option. But I think everything will woe=rk out for the best if the NHL line starts scoring. They really are due.
I have one more grievance to file, before I shut up about last night's game for good: it concerns usage of certain players.
The bottom six was a disaster last night, but it doesn't have to be that way. Prescott and Pryzbek are not third-liners. Meanwhile, Tim Lappin and Brink are too talented to be seeing just a handful of minutes on the fourth line. Whittet has two options: roll with the lines he did last night (Pryzbek-Corcoran-Prescott; Brink-Middleton-Lappin) and only have his top two lines be effective, or play his three skilled bottom six players together and have three lines that can generate some offense and keep possession, with the fourth line as the only glaring hole in the lineup. That means Brink-Corcoran-Lappin; Pryzbek-Middleton-Prescott. Sure, that fourth line is going to be doing more hitting and blocking shots than creating chances, but it's better to have just one line that does not consistently produce offense, rather than two.
On the defensive side of things, I struggled to understand why Tegtmeyer, in his first game of the season, was on our top pairing last night. Even if he had been in mid-season form, I don't think you can justify giving him top pairing status based on his mediocre play last season. Gottlieb is our best defenseman, period, and he should be playing with Pfeil every night. When Scherer is healthy, he should play with Wood on the second pairing, and then Schoo should be matched with a rotation of the three sophomores (McArdle, Cooper, Tegtmeyer), none of whom have proven to be great assets thus far in their careers. The three freshmen defensemen (not including Wynne, who only played a few minutes in a single game, so the sample size is far too small to judge) have each looked excellent this year, considering the dearth of experience they have at this level. They are all proficient puck-movers and have good instincts in their own zone. If Whittet chooses to play defensemen based on size and physicality alone (which I suspect he did last night), he will pay for it in the loss column.
Kdiff- Commenting first on your Dmen thoughts. I agree with you that Gottlieb/Pfeil and Scherer/Wood are solid, with Gottlieb arguably the best of that group. While I did not see the PC game, based on 3 others I thought Schoo and McCardle have also played well. McCardle has really raised the level of his play from last year. With those 3 lines and Tegtmeyer and Cooper able to fill in, I believe we are ok for second half with our defense. Also for 2016-2017,
Goalie, Ernst should play every game. When he is one, he is capable. Not at the level of Borelli's play, but constant playing may give him more confidence. His two last games against Union in Schenectady shows he can be a solid D 1 goalie. Having said that I see we have one goalie commit for next year Elijah Harris from Kimball UNion where he played for Mike Levine. Will he be the starter next year?
Offense, your ideas about the lines seem to be a good option. But I think everything will woe=rk out for the best if the NHL line starts scoring. They really are due.
Some random musings, as I have been to almost every home game, the game at Harvard, and the game at PC:
Defensively, we saw the dropoff with Pfeil, McArdle, and Tegtmayer all out, with no disrespect to Rossi and Wynne, whose sample size is far too small. I've thought, and agree, that McArdle has seen his level of play improve. I also thought Tegtmayer looked like he had not missed a beat against PC - I would not have thought that was his first game, based on his performance, which was pretty decent, I thought. The steadiest man on the blue line, so far, has been Gottlieb, who has played very well and deserved better than his -2 over the past couple of games. When Cooper comes back, I believe the staff has a complex, but good, challenge on its hand, if for no reason other than Scherer and Schoo have also played fairly well. Scherer had a tough sequence that led to the GWG against Princeton, but, other than, there have not been terrible weaknesses among them.
Offensively, we need more than one line to get going, that much is certain. I am hesitant to bring up the "NHL" line in using that moniker. I speaking with a local scout, the jump from draft pick to NHL player is great - mostly drafted on potential - and I think they are pressing, without question. Bottom line - somebody else has to score.
I actually didn't think Steel played too badly - but for every jaw-dropping stop he made, there was a softy. When the margin of error for the Bears is so paper thin, they really can't afford one, never mind two softies. There are times when I wonder about Ernst - his positioning, somewhat frenetic style, and command of the crease seem a little antsy. But I think the PC game was an opportunity to see if Steel were capable of seizing the job, which I can't say with a degree of certainty that he did.
Happy holidays, everyone.