East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

[Puck Swami]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

let's just say I sure hope the DU players feel exactly the same way you do.

Trust me, DU won't be looking past RIT. DU was shamed by last weekend's humbling debacle in St. Paul, where they did not exert enough effort and got beat twice. I expect them to be very focused and intense this weekend. I think the coaching staff, seniors and captains will be spending the next few days doing whatever they can to get the DU into a laser-like focus on the task at hand.

 

[JB]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

More Numbers on Foster for UNH:

Oct/Nov GAA=4.15 SV%=87.1 saves/gm=26.9 (2-6-2)
Nov/Dec GAA=2.40 SV%=92.5 saves/gm=30.1 (6-0-1)
Jan GAA=2.33 SV%=92.8 saves/gm=30.6 (5-2-1)
Feb GAA=2.94 SV%=91.3 saves/gm=31.4 (3-2-2)
Mar GAA=2.26 SV%=93.5 saves/gm=34.8 (1-3-1)

You can see that October and early November was a disaster. I saw a number of those games and very few of those goals did foster have any chance at. Also it is interesting to me he saw the fewest shots/gm in that month its just they all seemed to be in close high quality. It also didn't help that 5 of those 10 games were again Miami x2, @ Wisconsin x2 and BC (for those in a cave 3 of the 4 1 seeds). For a young D corp (1 senior, 2 Juniors that didn't play much as freshman) that is a rough start.

Problem for UNH is the average number of shots he has seen per game just keeps going up. So far in March it is 34.8 shots against per game.

The other thing to note is UNH's best stretch this season was from mid Nov until the end of January. In those 15 games the GAA=2.37 and SV%=92.7%. Thankfully March is looking more like that stretch than Feb. Where there was just bad team play in games at Maine, against Vermont at home and at Northeastern. In those 5 games three times the save percentage is back below 90% but I don't think Foster was the problem.

If the D is at least reasonalbe at keeping the puck from being passed in close then Foster works out to be a 92-93% and 2.3 to 2.4 GAA. Not as good as the others in Albany but not as bad as the season long numbers. Foster is a big butterfly guy he saves via positioning not acrobatics.

 

[Slasher7]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Trust me, DU won't be looking past RIT. DU was shamed by last weekend's humbling debacle in St. Paul, where they did not exert enough effort and got beat twice. I expect them to be very focused and intense this weekend. I think the coaching staff, seniors and captains will be spending the next few days doing whatever they can to get the DU into a laser-like focus on the task at hand.

You're being too humble. DU is going to 'rick roll' RIT, especially coming off that lousy performance at the X. Cornell vs. UNH is a very intriguing matchup and is probably a toss-up. Cornell probably wins, though, in a close one setting up a goaltending battle between Cornell and DU. I think DU finds a way to win that one, too.

 

[French Rage]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Having been a Cornell student from 2000 to 2004, it's hard not to get excited about the UNH matchup and the possibility of retribution. It'll be interesting to see how the earlier victory this year affects this game. On one hand, Cornell knows how to beat UNH, but on the other hand, UNH knows how they were beaten and what to watch for. Plus it looks like the UNH team we're playing now is much better than the one we saw in January.

 

[dggoddard]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

A slighty above average team with a great goalie, but still ranked no. 1? Wow!

A few tips for those travelling to Albany. If possible I would really recommend staying downtown and avoiding the Wolf Road hotels. It's a lot more convenient and if you are at one of the downtown hotels, you don't have to worry about parking as all of the hotels which follow are an easy walk to the TUC. I haven't checked on availability but the biggest and the standby is the Crowne Plaza which frankly is getting a bit long in the tooth and can use a makeover. The place was swarming with Cornell fans this weekend so you can judge if that is a plus or minus. There is also a new Hampton Inn with a great restaurant, though I haven't been to either. There is also a Holiday Inn Express which is conveniently located. My favorite place is 74 State, a boutique hotel around the corner from the TUC with a nice restaurant (Marche) great bar and wonderfully appointed rooms. You can find it on the web at http://74state.com/

As far as restaurants, a great casual place with a wonderful feel and home brews is the Albany Pump Station. Upper scale is 677 Prime, Dale Miller's and The Brown Derby. Again, all are very walkable to and from the TUC, but I would suggest making reservations.

Albany is shall I say, a bit on the quiet side, but there are things to do and places to go if you search them out. Good luck and good hockey to all.

Thanks for the info.

I plagiarized it... http://letsgodu.blogspot.com/2010/03/recommended-hotels-restaurants-in.html

 

[NYTrojan]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Trust me, DU won't be looking past RIT. DU was shamed by last weekend's humbling debacle in St. Paul, where they did not exert enough effort and got beat twice. I expect them to be very focused and intense this weekend. I think the coaching staff, seniors and captains will be spending the next few days doing whatever they can to get the DU into a laser-like focus on the task at hand.

Yeah that's what I expect. Just not what I'm hoping for To be honest I was probably just feeding a troll. I doubt you'll find a single RIT fan on the planet who thinks that they have a team anywhere as talented as Denver... that's just silly.... but so is attacking RIT fans who think they have a shot (no matter how long) in a 'one and done' situation. Especially in a sport like hockey that tends to reward effort every bit as much as talent.

I know most DU fans aren't thinking like the fellow I first responded to, and I am pretty sure their team isn't either, but a guy can hope eh?

 

[RockTheWhit]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

UNH is led in net by senior Brian Foster, a Pembroke, New Hampshire native. This is Foster's second year as starter, and he started all but one game for UNH this season, as he was banged up for the last game of the first half at Providence. Much has already been written about Foster in this thread, so I'll just reiterate the fact that the final two Hockey East quarterfinal games were probably the best he's looked in a UNH uniform. Foster is backed-up by sophomore Matt Digirolamo, who played well in his only start of the year but struggled mightily in the action he saw his freshman year.
The Wildcats are led offensively by senior captain Hobey Baker finalist and Hockey East player of the year Bobby Butler. He is a true sniper, and has really taken his game to a new level in his senior season. His play has rubbed off on his linemates, juniors Paul Thompson and Phil Desimone. Former EJHL and USHL mvp's respectively, those two had big expectations coming into UNH, and have finally started to produce. This line has been together since the beginning of November, and they put up some impressive stats together, although their production has dropped off a bit in recent weeks.
Coach Umile has been tinkering with lines 2-4 in the past week. For quarterfinal game 3, he pulled Stevie Moses off the second line for freshman power forward Greg Burke. Senior co-captain Peter Leblanc and junior sniper Mike Sislo make up the rest of this line. For Friday, Umile must decide how to distribute the physical players. If Burke remains on line 2, the third line will probably be made up of speedsters Moses, Mike Borisenok and Dalton Speelman. Their speed could give Cornell fits, but they could easily be out-muscled as evidenced by the fact that they were the three forwards on the ice for UNH during "The Shift" for Cornell in January. Greg Manz will probably center the fourth line with wings Kevin McCarey and John Henrion, both of whom played with the US NTDP. However, the fourth line only saw one shift in the previous game, so this could be a moot point.
On the blueline, they are led by sophomore Hockey East first teamer Blake Kessel, the younger brother of Phil Kessel. Blake is third on the team with 35 points, and he is an excellent quarterback of the power play. Like many of the UNH d-men, his weakest area is defensive zone coverage. His d-partner is junior Matt Campanale, a junior who excels at carrying the puck. The second pairing is senior big hitter Nick Krates and sophomore Damon Kipp, whose play has improved markedly throughout the season. Freshman Brett Kostolansky was paired with Kessel and playing very well, but a broken knee cap will keep him out postseason play. Connor Hardowa stepped in and plays on the third pairing with junior Mike Beck. Both are defense-first players who play a decent physical game.
Hope that helps anybody looking for a scouting report on UNH.

 

[Puck Swami]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

You're being too humble. DU is going to 'rick roll' RIT, especially coming off that lousy performance at the X. Cornell vs. UNH is a very intriguing matchup and is probably a toss-up. Cornell probably wins, though, in a close one setting up a goaltending battle between Cornell and DU. I think DU finds a way to win that one, too.

We'll see. After that awful weekend in St. Paul, there are a lot more question marks for this Denver team then there were a few weeks ago. I hope you're right, but after 30 years of watching college players, I've learned not to count on anything.

 

[dutchbrowncoat]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

as an rit fan, i can say that i do not rationally expect us to win. naturally i am hoping we pull out a win, but we are the clear underdogs in this game and in the whole tournament.

at the same time, of course, people should not just write us off. we outscored our opponents 18-5 in 4 playoff games and are on a long unbeaten run. we are playing confidently and should have decent crowd support to boot.

either way, rit fans should be thrilled to have made it this far. we are still very new to D1 hockey and have not had much playoff luck before this year.

 

[smitre]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

I think teaching this team to stay out of the box is part of the reason Coach Umile won Co-Coach honors. Now, UNH must find a balance between clean, and physical, hockey. No more Lake Whittemore advantage.

I think dumping Dries and his idiotic penalties is part of the reason Coach Umile won Co-Coach honors.

 

[Kepler]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Cornell will again be split hoops or hockey will Denver fans travel? Will unh and rit drive 3 hours?

It's not a split: Syracuse Thursday, Albany (145 miles away) Friday. They're even in the correct order from Ithaca. Saturday is a potential huge problem that we will hopefully have.

UNH has traveled very well in the past, I expect the building will be 40%/40% Cornell-UNH with another 10% or so uncommitted and the rest mostly RIT.

 

[French Rage]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

It's not a split: Syracuse Thursday, Albany Friday. Saturday is a potential huge problem that we will hopefully have.

We will dominate the Thruway this weekend!!!!!1!!!

 

[JB]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

It's not a split: Syracuse Thursday, Albany (145 miles away) Friday. They're even in the correct order from Ithaca. Saturday is a potential huge problem that we will hopefully have.

UNH has traveled very well in the past, I expect the building will be 40%/40% Cornell-UNH with another 10% or so uncommitted and the rest mostly RIT.

To help you out it is OK if the hockey team has a loss to UNH on Friday, that will help Saturday out right?...

 

[aweise]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Where are other UNH fans sitting? Looking at buying tickets, want to make as much noise as possible.

Just picked up my tickets at the box office today. According to their seating chart at the ticket window, UNH will occupy the vicinity of sections 102-103 (same corner Union had last weekend).

Also, for anyone confused about the game times, the ticket agent was adamant that the Friday games are 3:00 and 6:00, despite what was printed on my ticket...even though I told him I was more concerned about the start time of the first game.

 

[InsideHockey]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Rosie's Rebounds: NCAA Tournament Edition:

http://www.insidehockey.com/columns/6267

 

[komey1]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Rosie's Rebounds: NCAA Tournament Edition:

http://www.insidehockey.com/columns/6267

Nice to mention Alaska, but I think RIT making the tournament after only 5 years in DI should have gotten a mention.

 

[komey1]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

We'll see. After that awful weekend in St. Paul, there are a lot more question marks for this Denver team then there were a few weeks ago. I hope you're right, but after 30 years of watching college players, I've learned not to count on anything.

After watching the crazyness that is the NCAA basketball tournament - I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Tom Naeger]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Trust me, DU won't be looking past RIT. DU was shamed by last weekend's humbling debacle in St. Paul, where they did not exert enough effort and got beat twice. I expect them to be very focused and intense this weekend. I think the coaching staff, seniors and captains will be spending the next few days doing whatever they can to get the DU into a laser-like focus on the task at hand.

For their sake they better not or could get a real big surprise. Someone already pointed out RIT out of conference record, but what most people do not know is most of those out of conference were at the start of the season when RIT was really just coming together as a team. They where hit pretty hard with goal scoring losses from last year and it showed early as the Tigers had trouble putting the puck in the net early. They outplayed a lot of those ECAC teams, especially Saint Lawerence but goal scoring let them down. As the season progressed they found their goal scoring touch and you really see in the last 8 games or so it really turn them into a dominate team.

RIT can match up goaltending and defensively in the region. They have very fast forward that can really shut down a power play and block a lot of shots. If RIT gets the kind of Goaltending DiMike has done all most every game this year and can use their speed they have a chance to pull the upset. RIT MUST CASH IN THEIR SCORING CHANCES

If your looking for goal scoring this could be the wrong region to watch....

 

[dggoddard]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

Just picked up my tickets at the box office today. According to their seating chart at the ticket window, UNH will occupy the vicinity of sections 102-103 (same corner Union had last weekend).

Also, for anyone confused about the game times, the ticket agent was adamant that the Friday games are 3:00 and 6:00, despite what was printed on my ticket...even though I told him I was more concerned about the start time of the first game.

The Times Union Arena website says 3:00 & 6:30. Every other regional has a 3 1/2 hour gap between the games.

 

[WildShawn]

Re: East Regional: #1 Denver v. #4 RIT; #2 Cornell v. #3 New Hampshire

It's not a split: Syracuse Thursday, Albany (145 miles away) Friday. They're even in the correct order from Ithaca. Saturday is a potential huge problem that we will hopefully have.

UNH has traveled very well in the past, I expect the building will be 40%/40% Cornell-UNH with another 10% or so uncommitted and the rest mostly RIT.

To be honest, kep, I'd be surprised, or shocked if UNH has 1/3 the amount of fans Cornell has on Friday...