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New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

I love how we have an enormous series in just a few days and the entire discussion is about the hypothetical matchup in the HEA Semi's/ Finals, and who would be facing more "pressure." :rolleyes:
There is so much to be decided in the coming weekend, including the regular season title and matchups in the quarters based upon placement. Coach York has made no secret of wanting a share (or more) of that regular season title, and I'm sure the coaches and players are focused on that.
So I'd love to hear from UNH fans and viewers (not having had a chance to see them much myself); how do you like your team THIS weekend? Strengths/ Weaknesses?
And BC folks (in which I count myself); Who starts in net? How does our D look (that question below got interrupted by the "pressure" tangent)? What are the pairings? Offense is our stronger suit, but what did UMass do to stem that, and can UNH replicate it?
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

Bryan MacAvoy said:
I love how we have an enormous series in just a few days and the entire discussion is about the hypothetical matchup in the HEA Semi's/ Finals, and who would be facing more "pressure." :rolleyes:
There is so much to be decided in the coming weekend, including the regular season title and matchups in the quarters based upon placement. Coach York has made no secret of wanting a share (or more) of that regular season title, and I'm sure the coaches and players are focused on that.
So I'd love to hear from UNH fans and viewers (not having had a chance to see them much myself); how do you like your team THIS weekend? Strengths/ Weaknesses?
And BC folks (in which I count myself); Who starts in net? How does our D look (that question below got interrupted by the "pressure" tangent)? What are the pairings? Offense is our stronger suit, but what did UMass do to stem that, and can UNH replicate it?
Click to expand...


For UNH:

Last couple weeks they have played incomplete games. Example 1) allow 22 NU shots through 2 periods and 3 in the 3rd, Example 2) dominating UVM in the Sat night game in the 1st and then looking like garbage in the 2nd before comming back to just squeek out a tie in the 3rd.

Foster has been standing on his head when the D has been lack luster. Keeping UNH in games until they have there 1 good period.

Lazy play with the puck and poor turn overs against 1-2-2 trapping teams, this has the offense off track.

But hey they took 6 of the last 8 points up for grabs (2-0-2) against a hot NU and a UVM team that looks like they might miss the H.E. playoffs but be a bubble NCAA team?!?.

Lastly two year long constants. 1) This UNH team does not quit. 2) No lead is safe (for either team).
 
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Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

JB said:
Lastly two year long constants. 1) This UNH team does quit. 2) No lead is safe (for either team).
Click to expand...

Did you mean this UNH team does not quit? I hope so . . .

I'll only add that UNH has not yet lost in league play at the Whitt, a trend I feel moderately confident will continue Friday night. BC's good, but I think UNH's offense will work better against them than it has in recent weeks. I haven't seen them this year, but the Eagles are typically a team that can really skate with UNH, one of few who consistently can on the big ice; in turn I believe that'll lead to UNH's quick transition game actually working, as opposed to being stymied.

I'd rather not face BC again in the tournament, if we make it beyond QF's.
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

unh_hockey said:
The more time goes on though without taking hockey east or going deep into the tourny come april, the more I think 1999-2003 was "unusual".
Click to expand...

Do not forget 1998 at the Garden FF, which I believe was our best shot at a title.
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

unhpuckfan2001 said:
Did you mean this UNH team does not quit? I hope so . . .
Click to expand...

Yup sorry about that - fixed it.

That is a big difference over some past UNH teams that would just toss in the towel. I think it was coming back again UND last year in the NCAAs that did it. I hope that becomes some level for program knowledge because it is nice to see.

unhpuckfan2001 said:
I'll only add that UNH has not yet lost in league play at the Whitt, a trend I feel moderately confident will continue Friday night. BC's good, but I think UNH's offense will work better against them than it has in recent weeks. I haven't seen them this year, but the Eagles are typically a team that can really skate with UNH, one of few who consistently can on the big ice; in turn I believe that'll lead to UNH's quick transition game actually working, as opposed to being stymied.

I'd rather not face BC again in the tournament, if we make it beyond QF's.
Click to expand...

I really like the games against BC. I had to be away for the November game so I missed it. Bummer! BC in general does not trap. So the game is up a down and fun to watch.

The lone exception I can think of was a H.E. game in Boston UNH up 4-0 (maybe 4-1) B.C. clearly couldn't skate with UNH. BC switched to the trap against a UNH team that was clueless about beating a trap. BC wins, it worked so well BC doesn't come out of the trap the rest of the year and wins it all, 2 years ago.

This years UNH team can beat a basic trap. There are somethings UVM did 2 weeks ago that caused UNH fits, NU picked up on it and did the same (helped that one of UNH better puck moving D was out). My hunch is UNH has been working on fixing this hole and seemed to get it worked out in the 3rd Saturday night.

Does B.C. trap this year?
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

Onion Man said:
UNH has been on top of Hockey East all season long and I dont think theyve beaten BC in the postseason since 1997.
Click to expand...
Apparently October and November are not part of the season. I'm not sure when UNH took over the #1 spot, but they haven't exactly been "running away" with the league (obviously, as BC still has a chance to take the RS title). It's more like UNH has been doing their thing, with virtually no challengers for the title. Maine's run came too late, BC might miss by a point. It's not like UNH has been crushing teams all season.

Nick Papagiorgio said:
Would there be pressure for the #1 seed in the league (assuming UNH gets it) to bring back some hardware that they rarely win? Probably. More than BC would be facing.
Click to expand...
I would hope that UNH plays with the attitude that they've overachieved to even be in that position and forgets about all that "UNH never wins" malarkey (much like they did in Manchester last year). Back in November, I think it would be tough to find any but the most optimistic UNH fan that would have expected the team to even have home ice in the quarters, let alone one of the top two seeds.

Of course, this whole discussion is pointless. UNH needs to win three games in order to meet BC at the Garden. If that happens, then I'll worry about who is feeling more "pressure". I don't think it's a lock that UNH will even make the Garden, let alone the Finals.

The RS title could very well be the only hardware UNH wins this year. It's no Beanpot, but I'd take it.
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

Snively65 said:
Do not forget 1998 at the Garden FF, which I believe was our best shot at a title.
Click to expand...

and what about BC's shot that year, hitting the post twice in OT against Michigan..........still having nightmares about that one
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

SPCSMAN said:
I thought only Darren Haydar could do that :D
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I remember that game! Well, I don't remember which game it was, but I remember the play. Haydar was in front of the bench with the puck, passed it off, and went for a change. The play resulted in a goal, and he was awarded the 2nd assist.
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

thecomicbookguy said:
I remember that game! Well, I don't remember which game it was, but I remember the play. Haydar was in front of the bench with the puck, passed it off, and went for a change. The play resulted in a goal, and he was awarded the 2nd assist.
Click to expand...

The game was Nov. 30, 2001. Happy 17th birthday to me. :)
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

One thing I have not seen mentioned yet is how the circumstances this year are eerily similar to those of 2003. It was the last weekend of the regular season, with second place UNH needed at least three points to win the season series against BC and get the number one seed in the tournament. In the Friday game at BC, UNH was down 3-2 in the last minute. UNH had pulled their goalie (Michael Ayers) and scored with 42 seconds left when Colin Hemingway beat the immortal Matti Kaltianen (Just curious, was he the third goalie for the Finns in the Olympics?) as one of the greatest draft picks in Bruins history backed into his own net. The tie gave UNH the opportunity they needed, and the next night they seized it, beating BC 4-1. UNH went on to win seven more games in a row, including the Hockey East final, before succumbing to Thomas Vanek and Minnesota in the NCAA final.

This year the situation is reversed of course. BC on the road on Friday, needing not a tie, but a win, to have a chance to capture the number one seed. The Eagles can, of course, win since they're probably the best team UNH has faced since Cornell in early January. However, I can't see Foster turtling into his own net like Matti did, so BC will have to find some other way to replicate UNH's performance of 7 years ago.
 
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Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

Greg Ambrose said:
However, I can't see Foster turtling into his own net like Matti did, so BC will have to find some other way to replicate UNH's performance of 7 years ago.
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I can't see BC melting down like UNH did in Buffalo either, so it's all good. "succumbing" was a nice word, though. Nuclear Meltdown, Succumbing... same thing.
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

Carmine Scarpaglia said:
I can't see BC melting down like UNH did in Buffalo either, so it's all good. "succumbing" was a nice word, though. Nuclear Meltdown, Succumbing... same thing.
Click to expand...

Did you watch that game? Despite being amongst the best UNH teams of the last 20 years (4th IMO), they were not comparable to Minny. It was amazing that game was tied as late as it was. I think "succumbed" covers it very aptly.
 
Re: New Hampshire vs. Boston College - March 5/6

Bryan MacAvoy said:
And BC folks (in which I count myself); Who starts in net? How does our D look (that question below got interrupted by the "pressure" tangent)? What are the pairings? Offense is our stronger suit, but what did UMass do to stem that, and can UNH replicate it?
Click to expand...

Well, I'm gonna say Milner, but really have no idea. This potential goaltending "controversy" is the #1 story Hockey East fans don't know about.

All things considered, the defense has held up nicely. If this team falters, however, it will most likely because they don't have quite enough back there.

Recent pairings were:

Samuelsson-Wey
Cross-Sneep
Dumoulin-Shea

UMass did a lot of things well. First of all, they didn't take a single penalty. They played hard and smart. Did a lot of simple things out there. I would have to say UNH could replicate that, but don't know if they'd be playing the same style as UMass. It's usually a high flying affair with these two teams.

JB said:
The lone exception I can think of was a H.E. game in Boston UNH up 4-0 (maybe 4-1) B.C. clearly couldn't skate with UNH. BC switched to the trap against a UNH team that was clueless about beating a trap. BC wins, it worked so well BC doesn't come out of the trap the rest of the year and wins it all, 2 years ago.

Does B.C. trap this year?
Click to expand...

Not sure if you're remembering all that correctly. If you're talking about the 2008 HE semifinal, BC ended up outshooting UNH by a good margin. And BC still had a lot of talented forwards on that team. Not sure they would have started trapping when trailing 4-1. You might have a case for BC trying to trap BU in last year's semifinal when up 1-0, but I don't buy it in a game they were down 4-1. To ask if they trap "this year" is misguided. I'm sure all teams trap at some point. BC is an attacking team that's coming at you with four lines.
 
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