Re: Northeastern Huskies 2010-2011 Season Thread
The D played poorly for 4.5 periods over two games, so let’s face it we were lucky to get 1 point this weekend and while the offence had some good play again I must say inconsistent goaltending is the issue. You guys think about this a bit. NU is never, and I do mean never, going to have 3 lines that can compete with top teams in the nation with or without recruiting violations.
Sadly, like it or not, that's s just the way it is! This will continue to be the issue until the program is brought out of the doldrums of mediocrity and top recruits actually want to pick NU over all of the top HE, CCHA and WCHA programs.
Thus, in order to compensate for this fact you must have an absolutely top notch goalie. However, a net minder, who is on night in and night out, is quite hard to come by.
Again, as some of you clearly see the world through rose colored glasses, it’s time for your weekly reality check. Rawlings sucked again on Saturday. Good goalies can play just like Chris can and no doubt he is a good goalie. However, let me be clear great goalies can put up strings of top performances together in a row and carry a team. He is not that guy, at least not yet. I will add that not all teams need that guy, but we do, because we lack depth and talent in other facets of the game.
Although to his credit, if he were with a better team you would most be likely be looking at him as one of the top goalies in the nation, or at least perhaps the league, I mean I think his GAA ranks him 28th and but his save percentage ranks him 6th. So you do the math, he will be fine for his own personal growth and a likely Pro contact will not allude him, but in my view Northeastern Hockey and HE compitition will have likely given to him more than he has given to it. Do you understand this high level thinking here or do I need to dummy it down for you. So good for him, but I don't give a fat rat’s *** about him personally! It’s what does he bring to the team individually that can make the team win games they should otherwise loose. We need that guy. He may still be that guy still but he only has 1 or 2 season left to prove it. So again, down the stretch, he will need to be evaluated.
Again, I stress to you the goal of a top notch “National University” is not to be competing with a small liberal arts college like Merrimack or state degree mills with virtually no budget for hockey like UMASS Lowell, the goal is greater than that now. So you all need to change your thinking. However, the, “I am just glad to be here speech”, does little for the greater good at this juncture.
Also, as the final regular season games appear to mean little for our positioning now, let’s just wish them well and hope they can play gritty NU hockey and work harder than their competition and come away with a good showing and a 1st round win. It will be difficult, but a terrific milestone and a tremendous achievement all things considered, as they started slow, disappointed with 3 consecutive Atlantic Hockey looses, had some injuries and yet battled down the stretch to achieve what looks to be a .500 season, which at Thanksgiving looked to be quite a lofty goal indeed.
Oh, and my thoughts on Cronin are just this, All hearsay, because until we know exactly what was said in those e-mails and texts, we can’t weigh in as a jury or judge in favor of either Greg or the Administration. That’s the bottom line there..who knows what was contained in the body of the messages, that may be the real issue, and that information we may never know. For those complaining about the fan base, you build a winner and they will come, the rafters in the old barn will runnith over... enough said.
