Re: D3 Scores and Highlights - 2010/11
As a completely unbiased observer with no vested interest who saw both games, I will offer my opinion.
Saturdays game was incredibly ugly all around. The puck movement was awful, the players looked sluggish. It was just an off day all around, and really a wasted oppotunity for both teams to try and make a statement and carry real momentum over into todays game. I'm sure Elmira was happy to get the two points, but when they took a realistic look at their own play, I'm sure they were not overly pleased. Plattsburgh had to feel like they gave two points away.
As a side note, the officials Saturday were god awful. Fat, lazy, and clueless. That those 3 guys individually can officiate games at this level is bad enough...that they were doing it as a group of 3 is even worse. They destroyed icing calls all night...calling the old icing when a wave-off was warranted under the new rules, missing blatantly deflected pucks, etc. They also missed a blatant too many men call against Plattsburgh right before Elmira took a penalty that put them shorthanded and led to a Plattsburgh goal. Some of the calls they did make were suspect given some of what was let go...but really my biggest issue was with the icings and the complete lack of interest and effort they appeared to show. I was embarassed for them.
I thought todays game would be much cleaner and more well played....and from Plattsburgh end it was better, but still not what I have come to expect from a team of their ability. Elmiras performance was very similar to yesterday. Just completely out of synch, and fortunately Sullivan played well to keep it close.
From my perspective, Plattsburgh is definitely the better team...this year. After Elmira's line of Charron, Campbell and Tirri, Plattsburgh had a huge edge in speed and were able to cause a lot of trouble for Elmira in transition when they were able to make good passes. Elmira has the better goaltender, but they are just not as deep or fast as they have been in past years...which is to be expected given how young they are this year. They have some good pieces to build with in their FR and SO classes..their goalie is still young, and the freshmen Charron and Stewart are going to be elite players at their positions for the next several years. Kids like Lamoureux and Johnston are also still very young and are going to be huge contributors in years to come.
Plattsburgh is the more veteran and experienced team and as mentioned above they were much faster and more dangerous in rush situations, but they too are not as deep in top end talent as they have been in years past. Along with RIT, these two teams are still the clear class of the ECAC West...but if RIT ever had a year to be the dominant team, I think this is it.
As a completely unbiased observer with no vested interest who saw both games, I will offer my opinion.
Saturdays game was incredibly ugly all around. The puck movement was awful, the players looked sluggish. It was just an off day all around, and really a wasted oppotunity for both teams to try and make a statement and carry real momentum over into todays game. I'm sure Elmira was happy to get the two points, but when they took a realistic look at their own play, I'm sure they were not overly pleased. Plattsburgh had to feel like they gave two points away.
As a side note, the officials Saturday were god awful. Fat, lazy, and clueless. That those 3 guys individually can officiate games at this level is bad enough...that they were doing it as a group of 3 is even worse. They destroyed icing calls all night...calling the old icing when a wave-off was warranted under the new rules, missing blatantly deflected pucks, etc. They also missed a blatant too many men call against Plattsburgh right before Elmira took a penalty that put them shorthanded and led to a Plattsburgh goal. Some of the calls they did make were suspect given some of what was let go...but really my biggest issue was with the icings and the complete lack of interest and effort they appeared to show. I was embarassed for them.
I thought todays game would be much cleaner and more well played....and from Plattsburgh end it was better, but still not what I have come to expect from a team of their ability. Elmiras performance was very similar to yesterday. Just completely out of synch, and fortunately Sullivan played well to keep it close.
From my perspective, Plattsburgh is definitely the better team...this year. After Elmira's line of Charron, Campbell and Tirri, Plattsburgh had a huge edge in speed and were able to cause a lot of trouble for Elmira in transition when they were able to make good passes. Elmira has the better goaltender, but they are just not as deep or fast as they have been in past years...which is to be expected given how young they are this year. They have some good pieces to build with in their FR and SO classes..their goalie is still young, and the freshmen Charron and Stewart are going to be elite players at their positions for the next several years. Kids like Lamoureux and Johnston are also still very young and are going to be huge contributors in years to come.
Plattsburgh is the more veteran and experienced team and as mentioned above they were much faster and more dangerous in rush situations, but they too are not as deep in top end talent as they have been in years past. Along with RIT, these two teams are still the clear class of the ECAC West...but if RIT ever had a year to be the dominant team, I think this is it.
