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Northeastern 2022-23: Unfinished Business - Great Expectations

Well, at least that was different. Early I thought it was going to be another 1 goal effort. Watching the team push when it was 2-0, only to fall behind 3-0, it seemed like the game was over. Then, wow, 3-3. Was this the start of a better second half? No, Harvard outscored the Huskies 5-1 from that point. Just about every player had a role in this loss. Fundamental team and individual defense. Cohesive supported breakouts. Moving the puck cleanly in small areas under pressure. All not good. At least I can say composure was not an issue tonight, penalty wise.
 
I try to make it over to the Bright Center as it's only a short drive to the rink with ample parking by the stadium, it wasn't a bad game perhaps the best effort in months. 6 or 7 of the goals would have been given up by NHL goalies. I just think the team really doesn't have the depth, gas and tallent to hang with a top team because they play in spurts, are not cohesive and look a little lost on the ice. I really do think the shock is more from the high prediction of the pre season coaches poll having us winning HE for the first time in the leagues existence. That set our expectations too high and we are feeling somewhat deflated. We also didn't know how effective BUs coaching change would be effectively putting the program right back to the top and that Merrimack and UCONN would both be really good NCAA tourney caliber teams. The reality is now half way thru the season that we are likely a middle of the pack HE team and likely playing to our ability at this point, perhaps slightly below. If they clean up the their game a bit, keep it simple and stay out of the box and play like they did against Harvard, a .500 season is possible. I mean it's not the end of the world, we could be UNH. They might also benefit from a strong dose of group psycho therapy, an intervention, a seance, waterboarding or a good old fashion exorcism.
 
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Anytime an opponent racks up eight goals at the D1 level you have to wonder what planet the losing goalie(s) might have been on. I watched the live stream then went back and watched it again to get a good look at the Harvard scoring plays. Really, I might be able to fault Levi on maybe two--three at most--of the eight. I haven't seen an NU defense hang a goaltender out to dry like that since the worst of the bad old days.

Jordan Harris and Tommy Miller are sorely missed. Mike McLaughlin may be missed even more.
 
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Split-N, I agree with your take here. I've seen a few others that say Levi was faultless and they don't want to hear that he might not have been perfect. I'm not putting this on Levi - far from it. Even if he was perfect, that leaves a lot of goals to be explained. I had the thought the other day that this team reminds me of Huskie teams from the 70's. They have guys that can score but they take too many penalties and give up too many goals that the other team doesn't have to work all that hard for. Yeah, the good old days.
 
Definitely not on levi, but he was also not perfect. I don’t care what the stats say, he looks uncomfortable in the crease and may need to get some confidence back. I actually am optimistic he stays another year as despite his accomplishments last year I think he still has a lot to prove and isn’t ready for the next level.

I think that last line is fairly true from everyone, but we’ll still see a lot of departures.

it’s hard to reframe. This team was so hyped it that poor results make it hard to see future upside. But it is time to reframe. Time to be excited about a better than .500 result for the rest of the season. Time to start figuring out who should get more ice time in preparation for next year.

bringing levi back after the Hughes goal was a terrible decision. No better way to say you have no confidence in your second strong than that
 
Finally, signs of intelligent life. Probably their most complete effort since the BU shutout. Classic NU-style hockey that kept UConn on the perimeter for the most part. NU looked like the better dog for most of the last 30 mins though it was dicey when the disallowed second goal went in. Wouldn't have looked forward to their defending a one-goal lead late.

BTW, I still don't know what constitutes goalie interference.
 
That was nice a quality 3 zone effort and no stupid penalties. Nice job huskies. Yeah goalie interference is kind of a call that leaves much to the imagination, with some gray area. Onward and upward. Hope they can play and have fun
 
Yes, that was a positive turn. Agree regarding defending the late one goal lead, too. I liked the lines today. The 10-14-19 combo wasn't producing. Demelis is a heady player and might do more with RHughes and Novak. Walsh, for today at least, seemed to work with Choupani and Williams. I thought Williams was very good today. That first PP today, 5 F's, 0 shots, showed how much this team lacks a PP QB. Overall, a very solid showing. Blocked shot by Vinny Borgesi was a game saver.
 
Did someone turn the clock back to 2016? Looked to me like UConn was the better team in the early going but NU carried the play late. Not sure how UConn ended up with a penalty after the late goal but surprised Spott got nothing. Not asking any questions tho.

A sweep of Merrimack next weekend would go a long way toward climbing out of PWR hell, not to mention grabbing first place in the standings.
 
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NU survived a really ugly first half of the game. It looked over at 2-0. Novak on a pretty feed from Walsh when there seemed to be nothing coming and it was 2-1 after 2. McDonough got the next two, a PPG wrister from his usual spot and then a dangle and backhand finish off a gift turnover in the low slot. Hughes got a PPG on a shot from out high that found its way through. The last minute had a hooking penalty on Novak, an ENG PPG by UConn, a 10 minute misconduct to Hryckowian, UConn taking a delay of game penalty for asking the officials to review a possible penalty by Spott after the 3d goal when they'd already used their timeout, and a review request claiming the 3d UConn goal should be disallowed for goalie interference. The last :28 seconds were uneventful. UConn did a nice job with the rink. A blend of Tsongas, Aggannis, Whittemore. I hope it serves them well.
 
PullTheGoalie said:
...UConn did a nice job with the rink. A blend of Tsongas, Agganis, Whittemore. I hope it serves them well.
Click to expand...

Watching on ESPN+ it seemed like there were a surprising number of empty seats. Still shocked that seating capacity is only ~2,500 for a campus of that size. There are bigger neighborhood rinks.
 
If you get 20% no shows you’re looking at true attendance of only 2k/game. Pretty wild. I don’t foresee this build out of additional seats the UConn fans are talking about coming anytime soon.

Psyched about a couple wins here though. Game 1 UConn didnt seem to take us seriously and they straight up threw game 2, but much credit to our huskies for capitalizing on the opportunities presented. Not sure how UConn fans could argue that clipping penalty wasn’t dirty and well deserved. Extremely dangerous play everyone should be thankful didnt end badly.

Ive been on the Merrimack hype train all season and am very much looking forward to a couple good games against them. It’s fun watching a team that grits out all 90 minutes. They have had a rough go of it in the new year, but that doesn’t warrant taking them lightly just as uconn shouldnt have let our bad patch shape their mindset.

merrimack has a great play maker in Jeffries, a D core thats a brick wall yet also seems much more willing to contribute offensively, and the right amount of hustle to make it all work.
 
Split-N said:
Watching on ESPN+ it seemed like there were a surprising number of empty seats. Still shocked that seating capacity is only ~2,500 for a campus of that size. There are bigger neighborhood rinks.
Click to expand...

Well they already had a rink only 20 years old that holds 2k on bench seats. I am told the new rink is expandable to 4k but it seems to me they aren't expecting larger crowds for hockey. I guess it depends on other factors too, like location of your campus and the likelihood of alumni and local non student ticket sales. I think BUs rink sells out for non school athletic events all the time. They have concerts, ice shows etc. My thought is keeping the size down prevents that opportunity and maybe it was designed with that as a goal. Still looks like a nice place but if the team ever becomes a big draw it will be too small real soon. That said, it's a basketball mentality in Storrs so this was likely planned at least that's the subliminal message I get. I drive out to the Mullens Center 7k seats a few times a season and even in the national championship season they were usually not sold out and I believe UCONN has about the same total number of students, so we will see. Still looks like a great facility but nothing more than recent facilities built by SHU or even Bentley. That said the team always has that ability to play at the XL center in Hartford when needed.
 
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Ok that was a flashback to what was predicted and perhaps the best hockey they have played in a year...I have to say a healthy Strable is a big differentiator. I had not seen a game up in Andover in nearly a decade and it was worth it. 3 pts and 1st place
 
So, that makes three-in-a row over ranked teams. Encouraging. Even more encouraging is that, except for the latter part of the first period and early part of the second, NU appeared to be the dominant team. PK was stellar. That being said, Mack looked much faster and overall better than the Mack teams of recent years. Expecting they'll start Zach Borgiel in net tonight.
 
Make that four-in-a row. Mack outshot NU by a wide margin (37-24), but IMO NU had more scoring chances and Devon Levi did Devon Levi things when he had to, especially in the frenetic last two minutes. Props to the PK, which shut down the Mack PP seven times over two games. OTOH, the NU PP looked downright anemic and had a hard time sustaining zone time.

Despite all the early disappointments, NU finds itself sitting in first place, two points ahead of BU. And although it won't affect the HEA standings, the first-round Beanpot matchup with the ratdogs could be epic.
 
Taking a look back at the season to this point and realizing that the Thanksgiving - New Years 1-5 slump was completely against OOC opponents. While it must be a Pairwise crusher, it wasn't a League detriment at all. The road to the NCAAs probably requires a HE Championship. A first round bye, second round home game, get to the Garden and who knows?
 
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