Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

[minnesotan in vermont]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

It was nice to see Middlebury produce a convincing victory. Convincing on the scoreboard, anyway. They have a long, steep climb ahead of them. Luckily for the Panthers, St Mike's proved as inept at capitalizing on Midd's many mistakes as Midd was in serving them up. I do not see the talented Oswego squad being quite so accommodating. Stephen Klein got another shut out in net, the tenth of his career. One has to wonder just how good his numbers would be had he some of the better Middlebury teams of the past playing in front of him.

 

[OhioMule]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Midd 4 - St. Mike's 0
Midd 4 - Oswego 3

Well, alright! That should go a long way toward instilling some confidence in the young Panthers.

 

[minnesotan in vermont]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Midd 4 - St. Mike's 0
Midd 4 - Oswego 3

Well, alright! That should go a long way toward instilling some confidence in the young Panthers.

It should, and deservedly so. While they by no means dominated Oswego (The Lakers outshot them 37-19), they put in a scrappy performance. Klein again was superb in goal, and every time Oswego managed to get the puck past him, the Panthers quickly responded in kind. What says even more about the week end is that Midd outscored their opponents 6-1 collectively over the 2nd and 3rd periods.

 

[OhioMule]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

It should, and deservedly so. While they by no means dominated Oswego (The Lakers outshot them 37-19), they put in a scrappy performance. Klein again was superb in goal, and every time Oswego managed to get the puck past him, the Panthers quickly responded in kind. What says even more about the week end is that Midd outscored their opponents 6-1 collectively over the 2nd and 3rd periods.

No small accomplishment... That was No. 3 Oswego's first regulation loss.

 

[CornwallAce]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Lost my password for about 2 weeks. Really wanted to post about the Williams performance in Boston.

Actually quite embarrassing. The first game vs UMB started out pretty even. I just thought they missed a few golden chances, and then all hell broke loose, and their goaltenders just never stepped up and made the key saves. But then when they scored their 3rd goal to make it 7-3 I believed, the player celebrated like he did something amazing. Very un-Williams. Made no sense.
The Adrian game was worse. I don't know if Adrian was chirping, but some of the cheap hits a few of the Williams players put on Adrian players is something I've never seen in my 10-15 years of watching Williams hockey. I am stunned the one at the end of the first was not called a 5 minute major for boarding. Then one of the Williams players decided to chirp away behind the play, late in the 3rd, on two separate shifts.

The Salve-Adrian game was fun to watch. Billings was a one man wrecking crew on the scoreboard. The key for Salve was their ability to get a few odd man rushes and score on them.

 

[OhioMule]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

I was expecting a bunch of postponements for tonight, but it looks like the games are going ahead. I know Hamilton at Colby is a go.

 

[minnesotan in vermont]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Back to NESCAC hockey (for some)
FRIDAY

Conn College 5 Elmira 2
Amherst 4 Bowdoin 1
Colby 2 Hamilton 1
Plattsburgh 7 Tufts 2

I will wait for first round tourney results before wading in any deeper

 

[OhioMule]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Back to NESCAC hockey (for some)
FRIDAY

Conn College 5 Elmira 2
Amherst 4 Bowdoin 1
Colby 2 Hamilton 1
Plattsburgh 7 Tufts 2

I will wait for first round tourney results before wading in any deeper

Close on Amherst and Platty. Colby is falling back to earth. Conn continues to disappoint. Overall, NESCAC hasn't been doing too well against non-league competition since the break.

 

[minnesotan in vermont]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

I only managed to see the final 6 minutes of the Colby Hamilton game, so not sure how that all went down. Hamilton has come back to life?

Saturday
Endicott 8 Tufts 1
Hamilton 6 Bowdoin 1
Wesleyan 4 Middlebury 2
Colby 4 Amherst 3
St Thomas 4 Conn College 1
Trinity 6 Williams 3

Sunday
Trinity 8 Middlebury 1
Williams 4 Wesleyan 2

I hope I am wrong about the Panthers, but too many times over the last several years they have shown brightly only to fizzle and pop.

 

[gscott13]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Why doesn't Bates field a NESCAC ice hockey team?

For years, fan forum rumor has had it that the donor who funded their on-campus rink included some kind of restriction that it could not be used for intercollegiate hockey. Judging from the discussion that pops up every now-and-then on D-3 forums, the rest of NESCAC would love it if Bates joined play. And there would be that natural rivalry with the other two Maine teams.

A check of the "Bates College Ice Hockey" website revealed this: "Bates’ men’s club ice hockey team competes in the American Conference of the Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA), which is part of a larger regional league known as the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and has seen tremendous success in the past ten years as a club program." Apparently, they have had an intercollegiate club level team for 22 years.

Maybe someone else on here can offer a clarification about that supposed restriction from the donor. I sure don't get it.

Grew up about 20 minutes from Bates and that was the rumor as i always understood it... It defies logic that Bates, in essentially, the hockey epicenter of Maine, does not have a team....

 

[minnesotan in vermont]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Well, I saw no evidence of coaching on the home side at Chip Kenyon Arena last night. No hustle, no enthusiasm, no hint that the players in white even knew what the other players in white were doing there. Only the goalie showed up to play, and he got a work out. Colby sure put things together after the first period yesterday. NOW they sit atop the NESCAC.

 

[OhioMule]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Well, I saw no evidence of coaching on the home side at Chip Kenyon Arena last night. No hustle, no enthusiasm, no hint that the players in white even knew what the other players in white were doing there. Only the goalie showed up to play, and he got a work out. Colby sure put things together after the first period yesterday. NOW they sit atop the NESCAC.

Colby drops two out of three (one non-league to UNE) this week and ends up in first. Weird...

Meanwhile, I have been interested in UNE since they tromped Colby at their place last year in their first-ever win over the Mules. I believe they had the highest scoring team in D-III at the time. This week the unranked and underated Nor' Easters beat #14 Colby, #6 Geneseo and #11 Norwich. I watched the Norwich game in its entirety, a 1-0 win, and a great game to watch. If UNE does't jump into the top 10 this week, something is very wrong. Thus far, they haven't even received any votes! They are now 10-3-2... With six first-years in the lineup, this team is going to be tough for a long time.

 

[Felonious]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Middlebury Coaching??? Ha Ha! Track record of current coach is deplorable! Headed for 20 loss season to back up his 19 loss season a year ago... Would struggle with local Mite team. I heard Beaney is on suicide watch... The once great program Beaney built is being run into the ground. Sad. Team looks lost. Zero flow, discipline, structure, leadership ... nothing.... Really bad ... Same think at Skidmore before his tragic arrival ..... Beaney while on leave handed him a team in 02-03 that should have won national championship skating backwards and he completely screwed that up.... completely! Somehow that was his claim to fame ....Coach and team are never prepared.... When things go reasonably well it is in spite of coaching .... Really unbelievable that a program like Middlebury is now spinning moral victories and effort as the measure of success..... Fire him or the AD for bringing him in .... or both .... Or melt the ice and make it a sanctuary student center. Unreal!

 

[minnesotan in vermont]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Middlebury Coaching??? Ha Ha! Track record of current coach is deplorable! Headed for 20 loss season to back up his 19 loss season a year ago... Would struggle with local Mite team. I heard Beaney is on suicide watch... The once great program Beaney built is being run into the ground. Sad. Team looks lost. Zero flow, discipline, structure, leadership ... nothing.... Really bad ... Same think at Skidmore before his tragic arrival ..... Beaney while on leave handed him a team in 02-03 that should have won national championship skating backwards and he completely screwed that up.... completely! Somehow that was his claim to fame ....Coach and team are never prepared.... When things go reasonably well it is in spite of coaching .... Really unbelievable that a program like Middlebury is now spinning moral victories and effort as the measure of success..... Fire him or the AD for bringing him in .... or both .... Or melt the ice and make it a sanctuary student center. Unreal!

Ditto. After Saturday's embarrassment, I couldn't bear to return on Sunday to face a more severe thrashing at the hands of Trinity. I confess to watching the entire game on NSN. Klein once again saved Sinclair's Panthers from complete humiliation as he deflected a hail of bullets that would give Wonder Woman nightmares.

 

[puxrex]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

For a big fan or NESCAC sports and a bigger fan of Middlebury hockey this is very painful to watch. In fact, I can't watch. Playing bad hockey in a silent, empty rink is no good for anyone. Staying the course is not an option. I have no illusions that Middlebury can rattle off 8 national championships again, the hockey landscape has changed too much since those days. But it would be nice to see a team contending for a NESCAC title and that is not going to happen the way things are now. Why would a top NESCAC level player opt to come to Middlebury?
Friday night and Saturday afternoon home men's hockey games have been a town/college community event in Middlebury since the 1950's. Now, Kenyon arena is a very lonely place on a Friday night. Men's hockey and Middlebury Winter Carnival (that's college alpine and nordic ski races for hockey only folks) have defined the college's winter athletics for decades. Skiing (men's and women's) is a very strong sport at Middlebury, but for now, men's hockey is in the pits.
PS -- Middlebury's women's hockey team is very competitive in the NESCAC with multiple league titles and outstanding teams in recent years. They are well-coached and fun to watch. More folks should go to the games. Their style of play is high tempo with fast skating and quick puck movement. They work hard every shift.

 

[elbojpb]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Really unbelievable that a program like Middlebury is now spinning moral victories and effort as the measure of success..... Fire him or the AD for bringing him

From a distance ... my impression is this was exactly the goal the NESCAC schools hierarchy was pursuing when they lobbied for a Division 4 in athletics a decade ago; playing solely for the love of the game, allowing for multi-sport students, and d*mn the results. (If I recall correctly)

P.S. Welcome to the ever shrinking USCHO D3 board. There used to be a slew of Midd fans on this board ... more recently, not so much.

 

[joecct]

From a distance ... my impression is this was exactly the goal the NESCAC schools hierarchy was pursuing when they lobbied for a Division 4 in athletics a decade ago; playing solely for the love of the game, allowing for multi-sport students, and d*mn the results. (If I recall correctly)

P.S. Welcome to the ever shrinking USCHO D3 board. There used to be a slew of Midd fans on this board ... more recently, not so much.

Should we say congradulations?

Who ticked off the admissions office?

 

[d3follower]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

From a distance ... my impression is this was exactly the goal the NESCAC schools hierarchy was pursuing when they lobbied for a Division 4 in athletics a decade ago; playing solely for the love of the game, allowing for multi-sport students, and d*mn the results. (If I recall correctly). . . .

Yup -- that seems to be what is going on at Middlebury (an unannounced program downgrade) and maybe at Bowdoin too. In both cases, there was change in coaches and a dramatic drop in program quality . . .What is surprising is that there is not more internal counter pressure to preserve the history and strength of both programs.

 

[NUProf]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

Yup -- that seems to be what is going on at Middlebury (an unannounced program downgrade) and maybe at Bowdoin too. In both cases, there was change in coaches and a dramatic drop in program quality . . .What is surprising is that there is not more internal counter pressure to preserve the history and strength of both programs.

In the past, Middlebury got a lot of community support as well as from the student body. Before Kenyon you had to get to the arena early to get a set where you could see the game. Fans came from all over the area equipped with blankets to reserve the prime seats for their friends. When the new arena opened, the place was full, and the blanket brigade still held down most of the seats. The last couple of trips I made from Northfield over there, the support was starting to wane. Looking at telecasts from there now, it looks as though getting a good seat is no longer a problem

 

[minnesotan in vermont]

Re: Isn't anyone going to start a NESCAC 2017-2018 thread?

In the past, Middlebury got a lot of community support as well as from the student body. Before Kenyon you had to get to the arena early to get a set where you could see the game. Fans came from all over the area equipped with blankets to reserve the prime seats for their friends. When the new arena opened, the place was full, and the blanket brigade still held down most of the seats. The last couple of trips I made from Northfield over there, the support was starting to wane. Looking at telecasts from there now, it looks as though getting a good seat is no longer a problem

This, of course, is the understatement of the year. You can have a section to yourself. When Middlebury took a 1-0 lead against Plattsburgh on Friday night (yes Plattsburgh, yes Friday night), the crowd noise rose to the same level as it did half way through the anthem. And the student section sits unused. You could clean it after the game without soiling your white gloves.