Nescac 10 - 11

[obserbear]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

I agree with you bear that the 2 game set this weekend tween RIT and Amherst will be a dandy. I would not underestimate RIT however. They have some goaltending this year, have retained most of their point production and appear to have had a good recruiting year. Amherst on the other hand IMHO is due to take a hard fall.

Wonder if the games are webcast...

I agree Chamberlain is an upgrade for RIT. Amherst did not play well in Ritter 2 seasons ago, but they do not make a lot of mistakes, and I look for close contests.

 

[5 4 Fighting]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

I agree Chamberlain is an upgrade for RIT. Amherst did not play well in Ritter 2 seasons ago, but they do not make a lot of mistakes, and I look for close contests.

So live stats is all we have...

 

[obserbear]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

I agree with you bear that the 2 game set this weekend tween RIT and Amherst will be a dandy. I would not underestimate RIT however. They have some goaltending this year, have retained most of their point production and appear to have had a good recruiting year. Amherst on the other hand IMHO is due to take a hard fall.

Wonder if the games are webcast...

I don't know if 2-0 is a hard fall, but 5 4 , you were right!

 

[5 4 Fighting]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

I don't know if 2-0 is a hard fall, but 5 4 , you were right!

Let's see what Sunday brings... the goaltending might have made the difference today. RIT were outshot heavily in the first and a 40 save shutout in any league, is impressive.

Amherst will need to play a good road game tomorrow...

 

[obserbear]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

While my plans to get out to watch Amherst and RIT fell through (long, sad story), I did manage to make it up I-91 a few miles to watch the Kim Weiss show (a NESCAC contest with Hamilton visiting Trinity). The Bantams feature a 2-3 or 2-1-2 or whatever their modification of an aggressive defensive system would be called. They were happily carrying play through the 1st period, generally keeping the puck in their offensive zone when Hamilton got the puck in deep behind the Trinity goal and some hard work by Smith and Haskins found Cairns alone at the goalside edge of the right face off circle; her wrist shot beat the Bantam goalie, Maxwell, 5 hole and the Continentals had a 1-0 lead. Then the show began. Weiss tied things up late in the 1st when she and Colman-McGaw broke across the blueline and down the left wing; Sword came up into the play and was wide open for a shot from the right circle which rebounded to Weiss, who chipped it into the twine. Early in the 2nd on the penalty kill Weiss created more havoc when she got a pass to Cellino who was in close only to be stuffed on a nice save by Hazlett at the top of the crease. The puck then came out from behind the net to Komarek whose drive from the left dot caught the stickside post. The next Hamilton powerplay saw Weiss break in 1x3, take the puck in behind the net and draw a tripping penalty. Late in that powerplay Weiss scored her 2nd goal of the night beating Hazlett up high when she took a pass in the slot; Guglielmi and Kleidon worked hard behind the goal line to earn the assists. Weiss then assisted on a shorthanded goal, setting up Kleidon with a beautiful feed into the slot, from where the 1st year beat Hazlett high gloveside for the 3-1 Bantam lead, which proved to be the final score. Weiss now has 3 goals and 2 assists (out of a team total of 6 goals) and is making a strong case to be NESCAC Player of the Week. Her work on the penalty kill is particularly impressive, stripping unsuspecting D of the puck and using her speed and puck handling to create shorthanded opportunities (she reminds me of former Trinity assistant Annmarie Cellino in that regard).

 

[obserbear]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Midd 5 Bowdoin 2
per Middlebury.edu

 

[puxrex]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Caught part of the Midd. - Bowdoin game. Panthers were quite solid (other than giving up a goal on a very bad line change) on both ends of the ice. Panthers took advantage of a raft of Bowdoin penalties to pick up power play goals. Bears seemed out of sync and a step behind all night. Panthers are small and quick and work very hard. I think that Midd will still have a tough time competing with larger, more physical teams.

 

[nyi19]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Panthers are small and quick and work very hard. I think that Midd will still have a tough time competing with larger, more physical teams.

See: Every Middblebury team ever.

 

[obserbear]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

I think there can be a difference between size and toughness. Quizon was not big, but she was hard as nails and did pretty well with speed and tenacity against all bodies. Does this Midd team have that toughness and the Kogut "refuse to lose" spirit?

 

[spike]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

I think there can be a difference between size and toughness. Quizon was not big, but she was hard as nails and did pretty well with speed and tenacity against all bodies. Does this Midd team have that toughness and the Kogut "refuse to lose" spirit?

I think enough years have passed where we have to put Quizon into a bygone era where the bigger, more physical players couldn't keep up with the small speedsters. Today, I think RIT, Platty, Amherst, Norwich, etc. have 5'8" and 5'9 girls who can keep up with the whirling dirvishes. Most of Midd's success in recent years has been relying on power play goals and outstanding goaltending. But then that seems to be everyone's recipe for success as the overall quality of players at DIII continues to improve.

 

[NHDad]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Congrats to Anna McNally, the two time All-American, for reaching the 100 point milestone.

 

[Sk8dog]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Was at Midd-Bow game. General observations:

+ Midd excellent speed
+ Midd, excellent tape > tape passing. Very little mishandling of the puck. Very precise. PP dominated (use a single point person #3 Marrison much of the time - umbrella style.) which was effective.
+ Take good advantage of the rink size. Speed kills in this rink
- Ticky, tacky reffing -- way too many cheap calls & two one sided in IMHO. Roughing on the forward (Tess-Wanat) on a breakaway when the goalie (Bloom) clearly comes out aggressively to challenge and the Bowdoin F topples on top of her? Give me a break. Interference on a D (Young) when the Midd forward tries to jump between her and the boards and falls down?
- Ugly reffing but in the end Mid had stronger team, but spending the equivalent of one period in the sin bin tilts the game. Too much time in the Polar Bears end.
- Bowdoin conditioning -- as game went on, Midd kept up speed and Bears were getting slower
+ Good goaltending by Santangelo - 50 shots, 11 penalties and several 5 on 3s. Pretty good only giving up 4 goals (last one was ENG)

 

[spike]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Was at Midd-Bow game. General observations:

+ Midd excellent speed
+ Midd, excellent tape > tape passing. Very little mishandling of the puck. Very precise. PP dominated (use a single point person #3 Marrison much of the time - umbrella style.) which was effective.
+ Take good advantage of the rink size. Speed kills in this rink
- Ticky, tacky reffing -- way too many cheap calls & two one sided in IMHO. Roughing on the forward (Tess-Wanat) on a breakaway when the goalie (Bloom) clearly comes out aggressively to challenge and the Bowdoin F topples on top of her? Give me a break. Interference on a D (Young) when the Midd forward tries to jump between her and the boards and falls down?
- Ugly reffing but in the end Mid had stronger team, but spending the equivalent of one period in the sin bin tilts the game. Too much time in the Polar Bears end.
- Bowdoin conditioning -- as game went on, Midd kept up speed and Bears were getting slower
+ Good goaltending by Santangelo - 50 shots, 11 penalties and several 5 on 3s. Pretty good only giving up 4 goals (last one was ENG)

Clearly this game was not as close as the two contests these teams played last year. I thought most of the Bowdoin penalties were the result of their players not having the speed to keep up and there was a lot of reaching with sticks, hands, and bodies. Also, anytime a goalie comes out between the crease and the hash marks and the attacker makes contact without the benefit of a defender pushing her in, its a penalty. Finally, the Midd PP resulted in 20+ shots from the point but they had nobody screening Santangelo, she had a good look at all but one of those shots and you aren't going to beat a good goalie who can see the puck. The one she didn't see was actually screened by the defender trying to block the shot from Woodworth. Bowdoin rarely created scoring chances 5 on 5, with one PP goal (Bowdoin did have traffic and deflected the puck in) and one gift on a bad line change by Midd. So even if they get a better break from the refs next time I don't see the result changing. I originally thought Bowdoin would be fighting with Trinity for the #3 seed in the conference. Perhaps Trinity is a step better at this point? If the Bantam's frosh goalies continue to produce we could have a good three-way race with Amherst and Midd, just like last year. IMHO.

 

[whalers97]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Bowdoin rarely created scoring chances 5 on 5, with one PP goal (Bowdoin did have traffic and deflected the puck in) and one gift on a bad line change by Midd.

The powerplay goal was not tipped. Merrill's was a clean shot from about the top of the circles while Sweet's was untouched on the ice to the inside of the left post. If you're going to be criticizing goaltending, how can you possibly ignore Bloom's two goals against on a significantly fewer number of shots than Santangelo? That ratio hardly merits player of the week status in comparison to Wesleyan's Corvi making 70 saves in a game, "IMHO."

Some of the stick-work penalties were deserved, yes. And that's not to take anything away from Midd- they're a great team with speed that executes their systems well. But the previous poster was absolutely correct when they cited the jumping fall called as a body check against Young and the goalie interference against Tess-Wanat. The referees didn't necessarily decide the game, but if you even up the number of penalties you would have seen a much different game.

It is still early in the season. Let us see what this weekend brings.

 

[spike]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

If you're going to be criticizing goaltending, how can you possibly ignore Bloom's two goals against on a significantly fewer number of shots than Santangelo? That ratio hardly merits player of the week status in comparison to Wesleyan's Corvi making 70 saves in a game, "IMHO."

I never criticized Sage, I actually referred to her as a good goalie. You could hit her with 100 blue line slap shots and without traffic she will stop 99 of them. I was actually criticizing Midd for failing to create traffic in front. as for the POTW, I have no answer for you, perhaps you could ask the nine coaches who vote on that award each week. I'm pretty sure they are smarter than any of us posters. IMHO.

 

[Sk8dog]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Bowdoin rarely created scoring chances 5 on 5, with one PP goal (Bowdoin did have traffic and deflected the puck in) and one gift on a bad line change by Midd. So even if they get a better break from the refs next time I don't see the result changing. IMHO.

Bowdoin goal was not a PP and was not deflected. It was 4 v 4 at the time. Came off the post and off the skate of the goalie from what I could tell. But I stand to be corrected upon review of the tape. Yes, there was a bad Midd change on the first goal, but there was still a defender between Merrill and the goalie and the puck was shot from outside the top of the circle. Good shot. She scored the same way last year. Deja Vu.

I also disagree with you on the breakaway call. It should have been a no call without a doubt in any other game.

Didn't say Bowdoin should have won the game, I said that Midd was the stronger team and would have won. However, the reffing was terrible and impacted the game significantly making it appear more lopsided.

 

[NHDad]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

What are your thoughts of this season so far? I know it's early, but here are some of my observations:

• Amherst is going to be just fine. I'd like to see them play RIT after they have more games under their belt.
• Bowdoin is improved, but may not be able to keep up with some of the fleet-footed teams.
• Colby is still seemingly undermanned (underwomanned?), but they certainly play hard from whistle to horn.
• Conn Coll is improved, but may still be a couple players short from competing week in and week out with the big boys (er, girls)
• Hamilton is improved. They have some great FY players. That coupled with great goaltending would seem to make them a contender. However, I'm not sure they'll get to where they need to be in time.
• Middlebury is improved overall. Sure, they lost one of the top goaltenders and some scoring punch, but the freshman are already performing at a high level. It will be important for one of the backup goalies to elevate their game to be ready if the starter goes down.
• Trintiy doesn't seem to have lost much after losing their All Everything goalie. I think the win over M'ville was huge and will certainly make them believe they can play with anyone.
• Wesleyan is right where I thought they'd be. They are having trouble scoring, but great goaltending is keeping them in some games. Unfortunate draw for them this year going up against Amherst on the first weekend.
• Williams has surprised me a bit. I thought they would have struggled in most of their games, but they've been right there. I think they'll continue to improve and may have an upset or two in them. They'll make the playoffs.

 

[Phil D. Stands]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

not in alphabetical order, but ranked to how they might finish:
Amherst -- as good (RIT is just better this year)(early)
Middlebury -- better
Trinity -- as good
Williams -- better
Conn College --better
Bowdoin -- as good (once their coach gets settled)
Colby -- much better (hungry fresh/sophs)
Hamilton -- as good (isn't Miguel still out?)
Wesleyan -- as good

 

[JONESTEST]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Predictions for this wknd?

 

[5 4 Fighting]

Re: Nescac 10 - 11

Predictions for this wknd?

Mules win both tilts on the weekend!

Hee Haw!