BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

[J.D.]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

But of course everybody on here knows that calling Rollheiser a "three year backup," is hardly telling the whole story.

How is it not telling the whole story? He hasn't even come close to pushing Millan for the #1 job. Now, maybe that's not his fault...

 

[FreddyFoyle]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Toronto, the overall result is meaningless but most these games are won by the US college teams.

Toronto_1 has some good points. CIS schools do start practices earlier in season - in the AUS conference that StFX plays in teams are allowed their first official practices on the first day of classes, which was around Sept. 8. When UNB has been a "juggernaut" on American roadtrips it often has to do with them having several exhibition games already under their belt.

Not all CIS teams are alike. The two most competitive conferences are the AUS and Canada West. The OUA, which is the biggest conference and includes all the schools in Ontario and Quebec is the weakest. The AUS is similar to Hockey East in Canadian terms. The last 8 CIS championships have been won by AUS or CanWest teams, with UNB winning this past March for the third time in five years. AUS competitors Saint Mary's and StFX have also won once, and Alberta from CanWest three times in the last 8 years.

This past season UNB did win the University Cup, but StFX pushed them to five games in the AUS championship. StFX advanced to the University Cup tourney (it's a Final Six format) and got off to a slow start to McGill but beat Alberta handily in their second game. UNB beat McGill 4-0 for gold medal.

UNB is not the same team as last season. 8 forwards are gone, including their best player Hunter Tremblay who won the Canadian equivalent of the Hobey Baker two seasons ago, and was a candidate this past season. UNB's vaunted defence is banged up. They had 5 D dressed for UNH game, and one got tossed in 1st period. They had 6 D dressed for Maine, but one was tossed in 1st period and another tossed in 3rd. Right now their special teams look lost with all of the player changes.

Short answer - StFX was almost as good as UNB last season, and look better in the earlier going this season. Not all CIS schools are the same.

 

[J.D.]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

I'm not trying to take anything away from St. Francis Xavier, in fact all I said was the US teams usually win. I guess my question would be when's the last time BU lost an exhibition to one of these schools? Sean???

I know BC played two games up at UNB a few years back and ended up splitting--I think. That was around the holiday season.

 

[ericredaxe]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

I'm not trying to take anything away from St. Francis Xavier, in fact all I said was the US teams usually win. I guess my question would be when's the last time BU lost an exhibition to one of these schools? Sean???

I know BC played two games up at UNB a few years back and ended up splitting--I think. That was around the holiday season.

Without looking it up, StFX won at BU 2 or 3 years ago as well.

 

[Friend_of_BU_Hockey]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Without looking it up, StFX won at BU 2 or 3 years ago as well.

StFX & BU tied 2-2 in an October 2009 preseason game. BU was up 2-0 after 2 periods. Kraus played the 3rd for BU.

StFX had the same goalie (Perricone), who stopped 51 shots that night - most of them aimed right at the large 'X' on his sweater.

 

[ericredaxe]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

StFX & BU tied 2-2 in an October 2009 preseason game. BU was up 2-0 after 2 periods. Kraus played the 3rd for BU.

StFX had the same goalie (Perricone), who stopped 51 shots that night - most of them aimed right at the large 'X' on his sweater.

Thanks for the correction... maybe it just felt like a loss leaving the arena that night!

 

[Rover]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Not going to get too worked up over an exhibition game, but there are some worrying trends. I'm glad I had something else going on that allowed me to ditch the game halfway through the 2nd, because at that point I'd seen all I needed to.

I did enjoy all the alcohol induced jokes we could make using the X-men name. X marks the spot on the goalie's chest for the BU shooters was one, as well as this game should have been rated X given the way BU played, BU couldn't have outskated the bald X-men guy in the wheelchair, something about Wolverine, etc etc.

Regarding Milan/Rollie, I would give Rollie a start to light a fire under Milan's butt. Pushing the right buttons with his players isn't Parker's strong suit, but this would send a signal that you take the game seriously whenever you put on the uniform, be it practice, exhibition games, charity bake sales, Dugout visits, whatever. Not sure why lack of effort is a continual problem for this team.

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

I guess my question would be when's the last time BU lost an exhibition to one of these schools? Sean???

Fire up that "database!"

 

[Federal League]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

I heard that Santana will not be back for a while, not sure exactly how long a while is but I was scoffed at when asking if the time frame was similar to Ruikka's, which is about a month.

Edit: reBlur check your rep once you see this, I left a message for you.

Parker said after Saturday's game that Santana was out until at least December after having offseason shoulder surgery.

 

[Ryecheers]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

NU was done in by one goalie change too many. Witt went in cold to start the 3rd vs a 5-3 disadvantage. Then he had to deal with a barrage of penalties as well. He played the worst period of his life. At least three of the goals reminded me of something I can buy at my local Carvel. Quailer and Ferriero sat out. There are some very good forwards on St. X. Bryce Swan could play for any team in our league as could 4-5 others.

 

[Redd10]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

i understand that millan giving up 5 goals on 17 shots is obviously disconcerting, but did anybody else feel that at least a good portion of the blame should be placed upon the D? This is not to say that Millan didn't look shaky, just that the guys in front of him definitely left him hung out to dry a few times.

 

[Agganis]

Parker said after Saturday's game that Santana was out until at least December after having offseason shoulder surgery.

Haha, I guess the only thing I beat to that story was a week old newspaper.

 

[Rogie21]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Bryce Swan could play for any team in our league as could 4-5 others.

Not unless you can make his four years in the Q disappear.

Granted SFX was playing two teams that had just begun official practice and that each got a terrible performance from one goalie, but give the X-men credit. They played and won three games in four days, having beaten St. Thomas on Thursday.

 

[slurpees]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

NU was done in by one goalie change too many. Witt went in cold to start the 3rd vs a 5-3 disadvantage. Then he had to deal with a barrage of penalties as well. He played the worst period of his life. At least three of the goals reminded me of something I can buy at my local Carvel. Quailer and Ferriero sat out. There are some very good forwards on St. X. Bryce Swan could play for any team in our league as could 4-5 others.

I'm not against a goalie rotation, it's a strategy that has been proven effective numerous times for various teams. Of course, planned rotation within a game is ridiculous, and not a strategy any coach would use. Rollheiser had his share of unfortunate injuries during his freshman season that hindered his ability to crack the lineup. And of course, despite it at least somewhat being the product of a stellar defense in front of him, when you have a goalie with a 29-2 record, that guy deserves the starts.

That said, it confused me more than a few times why over the past couple of seasons Rollheiser didn't get more time, especially when Kieran was having a few too many *** moments. If Rollheiser's practicing hard and showing he can compete in practice, he deserves at least a shot at proving he deserves more time. Whether that's this weekend, who knows. I'm not ready to throw Kieran out the window based on that game, especially considering that may have been the first time he's seen shots in any form of competitive environment since last season. But if he is the one starting Saturday, I'd want to see him on a very short leash, because a few of those goals against SFX were unbelievably soft, even with a poor defensive showing.

And, for the record, Qualier and Ferriero were suspended.

 

[defkit]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

From the recap:

“The reason the game was a mess for us was because our defense as a whole did not defend, did not move the puck out of the zone very well. <b>They looked like they were trying to get noticed, and they were getting noticed in the wrong way — trying to make too many big plays.</b>” - Guess who

The season is 3 hours old and we are already trotting out the "playing for themselves/the scouts and not the team." Great.

I was going to post the same thing. This approach has gotten so tiresome. I guess as a recruit, if you are paying attention, you know this is how Parker handles the post game interviews. But really, the team has had one real practice, would it be so hard to say "We really struggled in the defensive end tonight, something I didn't expect but that we will be working on in practice this week". Then, if you are really upset with the play of some players, speak to them about it in the locker room.

To me, this speaks to the motivation issue that has been hashed out so many times on here. Is this the best way to motivate you team to start off a new season? I'll admit that I haven't seen the whole press conference/transcript, I just don't think this approach works, or hasn't for the last several years.

But what do I know, I'm out of my mind for thinking that it is worth considering if the goalie who let in no goals should get the start over the goalie who let in 5 goals and looked terrible for the first game of the season.

 

[fromafar]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

I'm not against a goalie rotation, it's a strategy that has been proven effective numerous times for various teams. Of course, planned rotation within a game is ridiculous, and not a strategy any coach would use. Rollheiser had his share of unfortunate injuries during his freshman season that hindered his ability to crack the lineup. And of course, despite it at least somewhat being the product of a stellar defense in front of him, when you have a goalie with a 29-2 record, that guy deserves the starts.

That said, it confused me more than a few times why over the past couple of seasons Rollheiser didn't get more time, especially when Kieran was having a few too many *** moments. If Rollheiser's practicing hard and showing he can compete in practice, he deserves at least a shot at proving he deserves more time. Whether that's this weekend, who knows. I'm not ready to throw Kieran out the window based on that game, especially considering that may have been the first time he's seen shots in any form of competitive environment since last season. But if he is the one starting Saturday, I'd want to see him on a very short leash, because a few of those goals against SFX were unbelievably soft, even with a poor defensive showing.

And, for the record, Qualier and Ferriero were suspended.

No reason to be confused Parker is like alot of coaches once they decide a paticular goalie is their guy they stick with him no matter what. But it does seem confusing that you bring in a highly ranked recruit and not give him what would be considered a fair chance to prove himself, and no matter what anyone says he has not been given that chance.

 

[J.D.]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Regarding Milan/Rollie, I would give Rollie a start to light a fire under Milan's butt. Pushing the right buttons with his players isn't Parker's strong suit, but this would send a signal that you take the game seriously whenever you put on the uniform, be it practice, exhibition games, charity bake sales, Dugout visits, whatever. Not sure why lack of effort is a continual problem for this team.

In your opinion, who should start against UNH?

And, for the record, Qualier and Ferriero were suspended.

What for?

No reason to be confused Parker is like alot of coaches once they decide a paticular goalie is their guy they stick with him no matter what. But it does seem confusing that you bring in a highly ranked recruit and not give him what would be considered a fair chance to prove himself, and no matter what anyone says he has not been given that chance.

This is what I meant when I said it might not even be his fault he hasn't gotten more time.

Anyway, defkit, I just find it odd because it's gonna be the season opener. If Millan struggles in that one, he'd be fair game to be replaced by Rollheiser IMO.

 

[slurpees]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

If anyone here is not following the FakeJackParker twitter account, do it now.

 

[slurpees]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

What for?

I read it was a carryover from something that happened last year and has nothing to do with anything they did during the offseason or this season thus far, so nothing serious. IIRC they'll sit their first regular season game too. That's all I have, I forget if I read it in a thread here, or some article.

 

[slurpees]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

No reason to be confused Parker is like alot of coaches once they decide a paticular goalie is their guy they stick with him no matter what. But it does seem confusing that you bring in a highly ranked recruit and not give him what would be considered a fair chance to prove himself, and no matter what anyone says he has not been given that chance.

Hooray triple post.

I agree Rollheiser has not been given a full and complete chance to prove himself on the ice. However, I would only apply that to the last two seasons. It would have been foolish to replace Millan after Rollheiser recovered from his multiple early season injuries during the 2009 run. Late in the season last year, Millan looked solid most of the time, and I recall thinking on numerous occasions while Rollie deserves a shot, the team was so terrible at scoring and we were on such thin ice PWR-wise that we almost couldn't afford to give him a shot only to find out he couldn't perform, and we can't make up the difference in scoring. Nonetheless, there were also times earlier in the season and in 09-10 where I thought that Rollie would surely get a start because Millan had played a lot recently or hadn't played well, and Parker inexplicably stuck with Millan.