'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

[unhpuckfan2001]

'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

My less than stellar math tells me that both teams will make the playoffs, with Northeastern 9 points ahead of the teams below them with 8 points left available -- but I could be wrong. I don't know where UNH stands as far as securing home ice, but I'm sure they're close.

It could be argued that the Huskies have "more to play for", if they still have an outside shot at home ice (somebody much smarter than me has already run the numbers, I'm sure) . . . but UNH, although in first place in HE, is probably not the best team in the league. From a UNH fan's perspective, the Wildcats need to show us something; a three-point weekend up in Burlington wasn't what we were hoping for. It's not about the stupid RS Trophy, it's about playing well going into the playoffs.

Northeastern appears to be playing their best hockey of the year, scoring 15 goals against BC in their last 3 games against the Eagles. Should be a very interesting series. I'm looking for high - scoring affairs, but think UNH will have just enough offensive firepower to get 4 much needed points.

Friday: UNH 5, NU 4 (OT)
Sat: UNH 6, NU 4

And yes I know, logic would say that since I think BC is better than UNH, NU would fare better against UNH than BC . . . but I think UNH will watch the game film from the BC-NU series and play just well enough.

 

[CatMan UNH]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

With the way the Huskies are playing recently and the way UNH has been playing of late, I'm thinking 4 points by UNH will be VERY difficult......I smell a split.

 

[WildShawn]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

puckfan, check out:
http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...out-who-s-home-by-the-numbers-2010-11-edition
for all of the numbers regarding playoff possibilities

I would be SHOCKED if UNH swept this weekend. I can't predict any better than each home team winning... If Saturday's game is any indication, they may not get any points this weekend.

 

[Chickens@NU]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...hone-Talkers-NU-vs-UNH-2-25-2-26&goto=newpost

Did you miss this thread that was already started? Looks like the cats are so lazy that they can't look on the message board and find an already started thread....

 

[WildShawn]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...hone-Talkers-NU-vs-UNH-2-25-2-26&goto=newpost

Did you miss this thread that was already started? Looks like the cats are so lazy that they can't look on the message board and find an already started thread....

Maybe the title of the thread didn't make any sense and was easy to skim over? (I still don't get the title)

 

[Chickens@NU]

Maybe the title of the thread didn't make any sense and was easy to skim over? (I still don't get the title)

He was a little confused by what infractions UNH got in trouble for (it was emails not phone calls) but its about NU suspending Cro and a few years ago UNH getting slapped with 2 years probation for over 900 emails....

 

[WildShawn]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

He was a little confused by what infractions UNH got in trouble for (it was emails not phone calls) but its about NU suspending Cro and a few years ago UNH getting slapped with 2 years probation for over 900 emails....

no, I know, i figured it out, but I didn't notice the thread because of the title, is all

 

[SkinsFan09]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

I think it'll be a split. NU is not afraid of UNH who is not better than BC but I don't think it'll be a sweep either way.

 

[WildShawn]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

I think it'll be a split. NU is not afraid of UNH who is not better than BC but I don't think it'll be a sweep either way.

Are there teams out there that are 'afraid' of other teams?
NU is playing a lot better than UNH is playing right now, what that means for this weekend, I'm not sure, and I still would predict a split with each home team winning, but I wouldn't be shocked with any result this weekend.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

I was at the Beanpot last Monday night and Northeastern gave everything BC could handle, then proved it again this past weekend. An OT loss, a tie, and a win against the supposedly best team in the country definitely gives the Huskies the momentum going into the two games this weekend. UNH has to be prepared for a transition game against the Huskies. They are going to pedal to the metal I am sure. There will be no trapping this time by Northeastern. In the last two weekends UNH has appeared, at times, to be surprised when their opponent presses the action. It happened in the first period of the first Merrimack game and it definitely happened in the third period of Saturday's games vs. Vermont. UNH can win both games this weekend, I believe they can, if all their lines give maximum effort and the defense reacts quickly. But I can see them getting swept as well, if they come out flat footed, with no life and fall behind. Rest of the regular season the games will be played like it is the playoffs. Let's hope the Wildcats respond in the appropriate manner.

Only caveat is how Northeastern reacts without Cronin. I have always questioned his game to game coaching ability, but he certainly appears to be a master motivator. I am assuming that he is completely removed from the team. If so Husky fans, how does his absence affect the team?

 

[SkinsFan09]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

I was at the Beanpot last Monday night and Northeastern gave everything BC could handle, then proved it again this past weekend. An OT loss, a tie, and a win against the supposedly best team in the country definitely gives the Huskies the momentum going into the two games this weekend. UNH has to be prepared for a transition game against the Huskies. They are going to pedal to the metal I am sure. There will be no trapping this time by Northeastern. In the last two weekends UNH has appeared, at times, to be surprised when their opponent presses the action. It happened in the first period of the first Merrimack game and it definitely happened in the third period of Saturday's games vs. Vermont. UNH can win both games this weekend, I believe they can, if all their lines give maximum effort and the defense reacts quickly. But I can see them getting swept as well, if they come out flat footed, with no life and fall behind. Rest of the regular season the games will be played like it is the playoffs. Let's hope the Wildcats respond in the appropriate manner.

Only caveat is how Northeastern reacts without Cronin. I have always questioned his game to game coaching ability, but he certainly appears to be a master motivator. I am assuming that he is completely removed from the team. If so Husky fans, how does his absence affect the team?

Don't know but he wan't behind the bench this weekend and it didn't seem to matter much.

 

[DieHardDog]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

IMO, Cronin probably scares the s*%t out of the team, so not having him around for a change is helping them relax a little bit. Hopefully I'll be up at unh on Friday, first time at the Whitt. They'll probably split the weekend.

 

[unhpuckfan2001]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

puckfan, check out:
http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...out-who-s-home-by-the-numbers-2010-11-edition
for all of the numbers regarding playoff possibilities

I would be SHOCKED if UNH swept this weekend. I can't predict any better than each home team winning... If Saturday's game is any indication, they may not get any points this weekend.

I knew about Todd's thread, I just hadn't got around to reading it yet. But, my math was good, it seems.

As for the other game thread - I didn't notice it because of the name . . . but I vote for keeping that thread. Title is way clever-er than mine!

As for predicting a sweep; I'm too superstitious to pick against 'em -- I pick with my heart.

 

[MCHOCKEY]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

GO NU!!! (Sorry, MC needs a little help for the HE Title)

 

[dmjossel]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

It could be argued that the Huskies have "more to play for", if they still have an outside shot at home ice (somebody much smarter than me has already run the numbers, I'm sure)

Sorry to pollute the thread... but this is a very, very outside chance.

NU needs to run the table (4 points) and for BU to earn no more than one point against UVM, and for Maine to gain no more than five points. NU needs to finish above Maine, but in order for this scenario to work at all they need to sweep the home-and-home with BU, which would give them the series win and the tiebreaker, so finishing tied with BU for 32 points is OK.

NU cannot finish higher than 4th because they max at 32 points and Merrimack already has 33. (MC itself can fall as low as 5th but no lower, and taking a single point from Maine clinches home ice for them. In fact, MC can still finish as high as 3rd even if they don't win another game, if NU runs the table against BU and Amherst takes at least one point from Maine.)

 

[Thiessen'sBetter]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Sorry to pollute the thread... but this is a very, very outside chance.

NU needs to run the table (4 points) and for BU to earn no more than one point against UVM, and for Maine to gain no more than five points. NU needs to finish above Maine, but in order for this scenario to work at all they need to sweep the home-and-home with BU, which would give them the series win and the tiebreaker, so finishing tied with BU for 32 points is OK.

NU cannot finish higher than 4th because they max at 32 points and Merrimack already has 33. (MC itself can fall as low as 5th but no lower, and taking a single point from Maine clinches home ice for them. In fact, MC can still finish as high as 3rd even if they don't win another game, if NU runs the table against BU and Amherst takes at least one point from Maine.)

Yeah, this is a very unusual position we are in heading into the last weeks of the regular season. We are either going to finish 5th or 6th and who we play in the quarterfinals is out of our hands. We're playing two good (to at times very good) teams but after the early season AHA losses we are still way back in terms of the PWR rankings.

So basically, we are only playing to keep the momentum going that we have built up over the last month or so as we move toward the playoffs, but we can't move much in the standings and the only way we're making the NCAA's is if we win the HE tournament.

With that being said, from a fan's perspective it always means a little extra when NU beats any of the big 4 in HE.

 

[NUMcNeely]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...hone-Talkers-NU-vs-UNH-2-25-2-26&goto=newpost

Did you miss this thread that was already started? Looks like the cats are so lazy that they can't look on the message board and find an already started thread....

Ya I guess I misremembered the specifics of the sactions unh had.... oops . Like everyone else, I say split, I see both games being close with Friday's more of a up and down the ice game with lotsw of scoring on the big ice sheet and saturday's more of a disciplined defensive game. Hope we just keep playing well as 6th is likely where we'll land barring a black bear collapse so we can make the first round interesting for whoever we play in the quarters.

 

[IrishWildcat]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

It could be argued that the Huskies have "more to play for", if they still have an outside shot at home ice (somebody much smarter than me has already run the numbers, I'm sure) . . . but UNH, although in first place in HE, is probably not the best team in the league.

...It's not about the stupid RS Trophy, it's about playing well going into the playoffs.

I'd say the second half of that statement negates the first half of it.

Yes, the Huskies have more to play for in a points-gathering sense, but from a psychological standpoint, the Cats need a big weekend now. Even though we got 3 of 4 points last weekend in Vermont, we certainly left Burlington with a sour taste in the mouth. New weekend, time to turn things around with some solid performances and pick up some more points before a big weekend next week.

Hell, I'll be happy with a split so long as UNH plays a full 120 minutes of hockey this weekend. It's not so much the losing points that bothers me, it's the pattern "coasting down the stretch" where I get concerned. It's a 60 minute game, not 40. The season ends in April, not February. Hopefully the Cats will not forget that.

 

[unh1982]

I'd say the second half of that statement negates the first half of it.

Yes, the Huskies have more to play for in a points-gathering sense, but from a psychological standpoint, the Cats need a big weekend now. Even though we got 3 of 4 points last weekend in Vermont, we certainly left Burlington with a sour taste in the mouth. New weekend, time to turn things around with some solid performances and pick up some more points before a big weekend next week.

Hell, I'll be happy with a split so long as UNH plays a full 120 minutes of hockey this weekend. It's not so much the losing points that bothers me, it's the pattern "coasting down the stretch" where I get concerned. It's a 60 minute game, not 40. The season ends in April, not February. Hopefully the Cats will not forget that.

You couldn't have said it better, nu is a good skating hockey club peaking at the right time, i see a split but as long as unh plays hard nosed 60 min game will be satisfied . Would like to see nu move up in the standings as far as a tuc but just not at the expense of unh.

 

[WildShawn]

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

Re: 'Cats Rule & Dogs Drool (I Hope): UNH, home & home with Northeastern, 2/25 - 26

I'd say the second half of that statement negates the first half of it.

Yes, the Huskies have more to play for in a points-gathering sense, but from a psychological standpoint, the Cats need a big weekend now. Even though we got 3 of 4 points last weekend in Vermont, we certainly left Burlington with a sour taste in the mouth. New weekend, time to turn things around with some solid performances and pick up some more points before a big weekend next week.

Hell, I'll be happy with a split so long as UNH plays a full 120 minutes of hockey this weekend. It's not so much the losing points that bothers me, it's the pattern "coasting down the stretch" where I get concerned. It's a 60 minute game, not 40. The season ends in April, not February. Hopefully the Cats will not forget that.

They better get it figured out soon, and I really hope that they do. Friday's result was the expected result against a bad opponent, but Saturday's game was an example of a far less talented team taking it to them for the last period plus, and that can't happen from here on out. I'm not sure how sturdy their NCAA footing is but, I wouldn't bank on making the NCAA's after a quarterfinal loss as they have the previous two seasons... They responded well Friday after a sour taste left from the previous week, lets see if UNH comes out flying on Friday night and can take the home matchup first, then play relaxed on Saturday and win in a place that they have notoriously had a tough time picking up points...