Nescac 2009/2010

[Mule4ever]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Was at the Colby-Norwich game and witnessed what appeared to be a very significant injury to Colby player, Nelson...he was taken off the ice on a back board/neck collar...any word on how he is?

 

[WillieC]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Should the Jumbos somehow continue their winning ways, small bump last night, could you ever imagine the NESCAC Championships being held in the Malden Formum......good grief

If it can happen at Kingswood-Oxford it can happen anywhere!

 

[neverplayed]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Happy to oblige.

I'm staying at the same Freeport hotel where the Norwich team stayed last night (they've just left for Waterville), so at breakfast this morning I engaged a couple of the players and coaches in conversation about how impressed I was with te Cadets' play. Norwich is a skilled and physical team. They don't do a lot of fancy skating but play it tough at both ends of the ice. Last night they won most of the corner battles. Their penalty killing is superb. Their goaltending appeared average for division III, but they can probably win it all even without outstanding goaltending. Their play reminds me a lot of Cornell's, a team that I greatly admire, though I believe Norwich fans are, on the whole, much nicer and less arrogant.

For the most part Bowdoin's play was solid. Goaltender Richard Nerland had a good game, making numerous difficult saves. He positions himself and cuts angles very well. Unfortunately, as I have written before, for the past three/four years Bowdoin goaltenders have had a knack for giving up bad goals at crucial times. Last night, with the game tied at two and about one minute left in the second period, Nerland allowed a fairly weak shot by a Norwich player to trickle between his pads and into the net. Had he made the save, the teams would have most certainly gone into the locker room tied, which would have changed the complexion of the third period. Let me add, however, that Nerland played well in the third period and kept the Polar Bears in the game. Norwich's fourth goal came when Bowdoin was pressing with less than five minutes left in the third period. All in all, I'd say Nerland has really improved since last year. He's only a sophomore.

Bowdoin moved the puck well despite being under constant pressure by the stronger Norwich forecheckers. The penalty killing was good, but the power play needs improvement. I've always found the Polar Bears a bit impatient on offense. That was certainly the case last night. For instance, they could and should have adjusted their power play, possibly going more into an umbrella. The players who impressed me most were freshman Dan Weineger (he's the real thing and plays like a veteran, even though he didn't score last night), juniors Brendan Reich and Graham Sisson, and senior Leland Fidler. I exclude junior Owen Smith from this list only because he took a bad penalty when Bowdoin was pressing at the end of the game. Smith is a superb and evidently very dedicated athlete. Besides, it's great to see a kid make a rather seamless jump from a public high school (Brunswick) to a top NESCAC team. I was somewhat disappointed in the play of seniors Colin MacCormack, Ryan Blossom and Mike Corbelle, three players whom I've always liked a lot, particularly the first two. Maybe that "C" is weighing too heavily on MacCormack. Hopefully, he'll break out of his funk soon. The skills are obviously there. Corbelle made several defensive mistakes, including a glaring one that led to Norwich's first goal. He's a better player than that.

Bowdoin has a solid freshman class. In addition to Weineger, Rob Toczykowski, Tim McGarry and Rob MacGregor have the potential to become big players for the Polar Bears.

I agree in part with "neverplayed" that Bowdoin has a a couple of players who aren't fleet of foot, but I believe overall the team team has good speed. The main problem for the Polar Bears isn't speed, but defensive errors at the wrong time.

All in all the Polar Bears accounted themselves well against a team that in all likelihood will play for the national championship. Even though the better team won, it was a game that with a few breaks (and a bit more disicpline on Bowdoin's part) might have gone a different way. As a lover of college hockey, I was glad I had the opportunity to watch last night's contest.

Thanks for the summary, I saw Weininger last year, great hands, great shot, good hockey sense, his feet kept him from D1. He is a player. Bowdoin is clearly more competitive this year and I wish them well. Smith is a very good grinder, but there were too many like him last year and that's why a faster team like Middlebury overwhelmed them. I saw Middlebury play this weekend, Hamilton is better than their record but Middlebury is not a shoo in at this point to win the conference. They are very good and overall skate much better than the Bowdoin team I saw last year, but something is missing. I think the next few weekends are important for them. Great effort for Colby against Norwich! Trinity is also underperforming. This conference is wide open at this point.

 

[polarbearfan]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Anybody have any word on what is going on with the goalie situation at Midd? It looks like Max Kennedy has taken over the starting job from Yancheck and rightfully so. In Midd's last three games he gave up 1 goal on 48 shots and helped salvage a tie with Amherst after Yanchek gave up 3 goals on 6 shots in the first period and change. Look out NESCAC if Kennedy (3-0-1) stays hot and in the net for the panthers.

 

[Brian C]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

For Middlebury to get out of NESCAC playoffs they need consistant goaltending,which has been lacking.Questions to be answered,who starts at Trinity and is Maxipad the man until he has a bad game ?

 

[neumyer]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

For Middlebury to get out of NESCAC playoffs they need consistant goaltending,which has been lacking.Questions to be answered,who starts at Trinity and is Maxipad the man until he has a bad game ?

After last weekend, Kennedy has to be the starter for the game against Trinity. Yanchek was a disaster and Kennedy kept Midd in the game against Amherst when called on in relief. Max will be the starter for the forseeable future and I wouldn't be surprised if he was given a mulligan if he has a bad game.

 

[Brian C]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Midd plays a different style with Maxi in net ,much tighter ,he doesnt get left by himself much at all .

 

[CARDS_rule_the_Burgh]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

What's up with the NESCAC this year? Looking at tonight's results:

The two teams at the top, Bowdoin and (only recently beaten) Williams lose games that they probably SHOULD have won. Williams is really going to want that 6-2 loss to Wesleyan back.

Amherst and Middlebury both tie their opponents. Midd, while still undefeated in-interlock, has tied more than half of their games against Interlock opponents

All of this, plus Colby's (expected) win over UNE, results in a 5-way tie for first place. 7 teams in this 10-team conference are within 1 game of 1st place

What up, NESCAC?

 

[doncheery]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

At the beginning of the season I think that the general consensus was that almost almost anyone could win on a given night. A lot of good goaltenders. As close to parity as you can get in a 10 team conference.
Playoffs will be a crapshoot.

 

[TheSnob]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

The Camels of Connecticut College gave Amherst all they could handle last night in a 2-2 tie. Tuned into the Amherst webcast to hear and watch the game. The foreign guy who calls the game appeared to be railing on the referees in favor of both squads. Very inconsistent calls throughout and a questionable call against CC that lead to the tie goal on the PP for the Jeffs. Great game for CC to get the tie nonetheless as they have played hard all season keeping games close without an ounce of luck. Jeffs looked shell shocked in the first period and finally got it going half way through the second. Parker was a stud in net for the Camels and Anderson did enough to keep the game close for Amherst. Third period was a slugfest after the tie goal was posted with teams hacking at each other with no control from the refs. Have to hand it to Amherst. They do a nice job with their webcast free of charge and the foreign dude calls a good game without being an obvious homer.

 

[NUProf]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

At the beginning of the season I think that the general consensus was that almost almost anyone could win on a given night. A lot of good goaltenders. As close to parity as you can get in a 10 team conference.

If you consider it to be a 20 team league, you would have Norwich 5 points ahead, and 10 teams within 2 points for 2nd place. After NU, there's a lot of parity in the interlock. The only team that isn't within 6 points of the cluster of teams at 10 is UNE.

 

[TheSnob]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Don't look now, but the Amherst Lord Jeffs are hitting their stride. Amherst knocked off Tufts today 2-0 to conclude a 5-game unbeaten NESCAC streak. The Jumbos held Amherst scoreless thru 50 minutes plus of game time without scoring themselves before finally giving it up late in the 3rd.

Amherst's foreign announcer guy was poking fun at Tuft's Jumbo nickname and school colors of brown and blue. I agree the colors are hideous and there are worse nicknames than the Jumbos, but it was hardly amusing if you are Tufts supporter...

 

[Dyce]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Eh, the conference in general seems to revel in the eccentricity of its mascots; I don't think it's a horrible thing to give them a ribbing from time to time. Of course, if there's a collection of schools that genuinely deserves mockery on that front, it's the MIAC. It's been posted elsewhere, but members include:

The Augsburg Auggies
The Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties
The St. John's Johnnies
The St. Olaf Oles, and
The St. Thomas Tommies

...Yeah.

 

[TheSnob]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Eh, the conference in general seems to revel in the eccentricity of its mascots; I don't think it's a horrible thing to give them a ribbing from time to time. Of course, if there's a collection of schools that genuinely deserves mockery on that front, it's the MIAC. It's been posted elsewhere, but members include:

The Augsburg Auggies
The Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties.
The St. John's Johnnies
The St. Olaf Oles, and
The St. Thomas Tommies

...Yeah.

Indeed. The Lord Jeffs, Camels, Ephs and White Mules monikers strike fear into the heart of many an opponant. No danger of the political correctness crowd filing a grievance on behalf of an offended species or group.

 

[d3follower]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Indeed. The Lord Jeffs, Camels, Ephs and White Mules monikers strike fear into the heart of many an opponant. No danger of the political correctness crowd filing a grievance on behalf of an offended species or group.

Say what??? "Lord Jeff" is one of the most un-PC monikers going. He was a British general whose chief claim to fame (besides Amherst College being named after him) is the following (as per wikipedia) :

In response to the 1763 uprising known as Pontiac's Rebellion, Colonel Henry Bouquet wrote to Amherst, his commanding officer, with the suggestion that the British distribute smallpox-infected blankets to Indians. Amherst approved the plan and expressed his willingness to adopt any "other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race."[4] In fact, the commander at Fort Pitt had already attempted this very tactic in June 1763. It is the only recorded case of British soldiers giving smallpox-contaminated blankets to Native Americans.[5]

 

[neverplayed]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Well only a handful of weeks left, I have seen most of the NESCAC teams except for Bowdoin and Colby, but I have spoken to people who have kids on both teams, and I will see them in person shortly.

This conference is wide open, there is no clear favorite. Amherst, Trinity and Middlebury and Colby all have capable goaltending. Middlebury would be tough to beat on their rink in the playoffs, but they are beatable. I think the best team may actually be Trinity, but again they have had some bad games. Hamilton and Conn College are very dangerous high seeds, they could on a given night beat anyone. Bowdoin has a big roster and they seem to have inconsistent goaltending, maybe their best chance is to pull all the stops out and try to win high scoring games knowing they will give up a few goals themselves, they certainly get a lot of shots on net. Playoffs are ripe for a cinderella team to win the conference, I believe Trinity and Middlebury are the only two teams to have won the NESCAC, maybe a third will win this year, but whomever wins will surely have to beat one if not both of those teams.

 

[d3follower]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

. . I believe Trinity and Middlebury are the only two teams to have won the NESCAC, maybe a third will win this year, but whomever wins will surely have to beat one if not both of those teams.

Did you take last year off???

 

[neverplayed]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Amherst, how could I forget,

 

[d3follower]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Middlebury and Amherst have to be the favorites - both have 9-game unbeaten streaks going. I would give Amherst the slight edge due to the goal tending advantage. Goal tending is iffy for Middlebury - the switch to Max Kennedy is working for now but it might be premature to assume that he is the answer.

 

[doncheery]

Re: Nescac 2009/2010

Amherst's foreign announcer guy

You make it sound as if Borat was calling the game. Although unusual to hear an Aussie accent calling a hockey game it is not as if he is from Kazakhstan. A volunteer, he is actually one of the better announcers in Dlll and has a passion for the game.