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Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

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Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

RossiRules - you probably won't read this, but maybe people who do will agree with me. Your posts generally have solid opinions but SERIOUSLY - you can stop with the 'from the varsity club and expensive seats' or 'ask me I played in it/40 years of experience' kind of comments. Nobody cares to hear about how much you're the best ever and your opinion is better than everyone else's because you sit in the expensive seats and used to play.

Beyond that, I completely agree with NUMcNeely's comment about Rawlings getting lucky. During the game last night, my friend and I noticed that. A lot. If he was Mountain's size, he really wouldn't be that good. Of course, he's made his fair share of good saves but I think a lot of his stops have come from being 6'5" and just putting his body in front of the net. There was one especially last night where bu wrapped the puck around the back of the net to Rawlings' left, he went down and ended up sitting on it. I saw the puck sitting loose on the ice, and fortunately his legs came down right on top of it and the refs had a pretty quick whistle. And that's seeing from the other end of the ice.

I think next year's team will be good. Going back to the comment about this year's sophomore class regressing, I do think this year was the fluke. Last year those freshmen looked good and normally you would expect them to improve. If those guys get back to form and improve off of their freshman year and this year's freshman class improves (especially the Daniels brothers, Vermeersch, Vrolyk and Newton), the next two years at least are going to be very good. If the same thing happens and those guys regress, then I'd say we need to question Cronin and his staff. I definitely give them credit for a couple solid recruiting classes though.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thie

you guys really got the short end of the stick..you deserve a shot in the he playoffs. i dont mean that as sour apples i was shocked to hear from my friend who works for nu athletics during the game that a tie wud not be enough for u either and ud need to pull the goalie. to the comments about bu being your measuring stick, thats absurd. you could say his record vs the top of he - bu, bc, nh and also his postseason and beanpot record, but just solely bu is incomplete.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

I felt bad for MacLaughlin, he had a lot of chances and kept hitting the post, or getting denied by the goalie. I thought the freshmen class from this year was really good. Northeastern was one of the two HE schools that had 2 freshmen hit 20 points (BC was the other). I'm hoping the sophmores from this year step up, and Quailer has another good year. It also looks like the freshmen we're bringing in look pretty good, they seem to be putting up good numbers this year.

As for goaltending, is it official that Clay Witt is coming in next year, or is Rawlings being given another year before Witt comes in?
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

I will try to refrain from using my exp. and tenure on the team as access point for blogging..to be more fair an balanced next year. However, while I do agree the team should be good..I anticipate that so too (pending any early departures for the big time) will most of our competition. I was looking at some recruiting signs and again we (NU/Cronin) is really not able to snatch much of the very top talent. But who knows? It is just a bitter taste now and that's all there is too say. It will smart a whole lot less in a few months, after all of my BU and BC alumni co-workers fade this season into oblivion. I suppose that our historical amplitude of wins to losses season to season at least to some extent seems to have been been tempered a bit if you consider that this was a rebuilding year under Cronin.

I will also add that we may all be fans, but it is those guys behind the glass in the alumni club, who, like it or not, really have their hand on the tiller of success of the program, or it's existence at all. I hear a lot of the football budget will be redirected our way and that I assume is a good thing, but who knows they may add some new sports too. I guess it will take some time to come out of 85 years of flying under the radar..so to speak.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thie

NUHuskies said:
Beyond that, I completely agree with NUMcNeely's comment about Rawlings getting lucky. During the game last night, my friend and I noticed that. A lot. If he was Mountain's size, he really wouldn't be that good. Of course, he's made his fair share of good saves but I think a lot of his stops have come from being 6'5" and just putting his body in front of the net. There was one especially last night where bu wrapped the puck around the back of the net to Rawlings' left, he went down and ended up sitting on it. I saw the puck sitting loose on the ice, and fortunately his legs came down right on top of it and the refs had a pretty quick whistle. And that's seeing from the other end of the ice.
Click to expand...
Eh, I don't think you can use that against him. If Shaq wasn't 7'2 330 he wouldn't have been what he was in the NBA. If Randy Moss wasn't 6'4'' he wouldn't be the player he is. If Ron Jeremy didn't have a 9 inch...You get the idea.

Rawlings probably wouldn't be good if he was 5'6''...But he's 6'5'', luckily for us :D

I don't care why he plays well, or how well he'd play if he wasn't as tall as he is...so long as he does play well. He had a decent freshmen year and I'm pretty optimistic about next year.

Slurpees said:
you guys really got the short end of the stick..you deserve a shot in the he playoffs. i dont mean that as sour apples i was shocked to hear from my friend who works for nu athletics during the game that a tie wud not be enough for u either and ud need to pull the goalie. to the comments about bu being your measuring stick, thats absurd. you could say his record vs the top of he - bu, bc, nh and also his postseason and beanpot record, but just solely bu is incomplete.
Click to expand...
Most obliged.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thie

NJ2NU said:
Eh, I don't think you can use that against him. If Shaq wasn't 7'2 330 he wouldn't have been what he was in the NBA. If Randy Moss wasn't 6'4'' he wouldn't be the player he is. If Ron Jeremy didn't have a 9 inch...You get the idea.

Rawlings probably wouldn't be good if he was 5'6''...But he's 6'5'', luckily for us :D

I don't care why he plays well, or how well he'd play if he wasn't as tall as he is...so long as he does play well. He had a decent freshmen year and I'm pretty optimistic about next year.
Click to expand...

I think by the time he's a junior or senior he's going to be very good. Now he's seen a full season of Hockey East, and he's got a full offseason to work on things. Especially his lateral movement. If Witt does come in next year and gives him competition, I'd say that's a definite positive. He had his ups and downs this year and has plenty of room for improvement.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thie

NUHuskies said:
I think by the time he's a junior or senior he's going to be very good. Now he's seen a full season of Hockey East, and he's got a full offseason to work on things. Especially his lateral movement. If Witt does come in next year and gives him competition, I'd say that's a definite positive. He had his ups and downs this year and has plenty of room for improvement.
Click to expand...
From An Unofficial USHL Prospect Blog:" Clay Witt is a goalie that's growing on me more every weekend. Witt took over for Eric Hartzell during last year's USHL playoffs. There was a lot of conteversy in Sioux Falls last year as many fans thought they should start Witt instead of Hartzell, who happened to be coach Kevin Hartzell's son. After two very solid games against Lincoln in that playoff series, (1-1, 2.49 GAA, .935 SV%), coach Hartzell decided to go back to his son Eric, a decision that ultimately cost them the series to Lincoln. I was in Lincoln watching Witt for 1 1/2 games and he was great, as much as it displeased me as a Lincoln supporter.

Witt stands at 6'1", 200 pounds, which is about average for goalies. I know I sound like a broken record here, but I'm going to say it again, he stays square to the shooter which makes him so good. Unlike the other goalies I've written about, Witt's stronger side is his blocker side. Where the blocker side in most junior goalies is their weakness and where they give up the most goals. He can shoot that blocker up and kick rebounds out to the corners. This season he has a respectable 2.65 GAA and .905 SV%.

While Witt's blocker is his strength, he does have a weakness. Clay leaves a lot of juicy rebounds out there and it leads to most of the 85 goals he's allowed this year. His glove hand is average, which makes him fade into the middle of the goalie prospect pack. Overall, his skillset is decent, not great, but above average for sure.

Witt is commited to play Northeastern University after his USHL career. Witt is currently 19, so it would be my best guess that he goes on and plays there next season. After Witt's play of late, I would not be suprised if an NHL team with an aging goalie or an uncertain goaltending future takes Witt with a late, late round pick and maybe turns him into a project that can eventually get to the pros. "
Clay Witt leads the USHL goalies this year with 6 shut outs.
Edit: From several different sources Chris Rawlings is turning Pro;
Why would any team want him?
 
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Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

What? Rawlings going pro? Please cite your sources.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thie

Are any of these sources media outlets?
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

NUMcNeely said:
What? Rawlings going pro? Please cite your sources.
Click to expand...
Craig Janney, while doing the last BC game for NESN, was the first to raise the possibility. After hearing this I spoke to several people in the business and the consensus is that Chris and his agent are very interested in the $$. If he goes, I hope Steve Silva goes with him. Steve has become a liabilty with his stupid penalities.
 
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Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Sincerely hope this is untrue. Hope the coaching staff can convince him otherwise.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

roma said:
Craig Janney, while doing the last UNH game for NESN, was the first to raise the possibility. After hearing this I spoke to several people in the business and the consensus is that Chris and his agent are very interested in the $$. If he goes, I hope Steve Silva goes with him. Steve has become a liabilty with his stupid penalities.
Click to expand...

I agree completely about Silva and his undisciplined play. I was happy to see the coaching staff bench him last Saturday at UNH after he took a stupid penalty the night before. Last night I thought he should have been benched again after taking another dumb one with the game tied.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

A few things.

One - yes NU need to use bu as a measuring stick, along with BC and UNH. Why? Because you need to measure yourself up against the best otherwise you will always come up short. You want to be the best, you need to measure up to the best. We dont want to be the hockey version of BC football. Beating the bad teams, and always coming up short against the good ones and considering it a win.

Two - Rawlings. I dont know his personal financial situation, or if he even likes being a student. IF he has issues there, he should go. If not, he should stick for at least one more year. There have been alot better goalies in this league over the last 15 years who stuck it out, most graduated, some left after their junior years. Only one left after his freshmen year, and he happened to be the #1 draft pick. Thats not Rawlings. I would think he could come back better next year, but we missed the playoffs this year with him...

Three - Recruiting. Cronin might not be getting stars who are complete packages right away, but he is getting guys who can play at a high level at this level, and with the proper coaching can be top players. He is also recruiting for need. Look at the three dmen who are coming in next year. All monsters. Someone said earlier that we couldnt keep guys out of the front of the net. Look for that to change going foward. He is also bringing in some guys who can play center next year, which is also big because until Justin Daniels caught on, we did not have one playmaking center on this team. We had Silva and Costa who are meant for fourth line checking, not setting up MacLeod and McNeely, and McLaughlin who probably who have been in the stands if we had other guys who could play down the middle.

Four - with or without Rawlings, this team is stacked next season and should be a top 4 seed. Witt can play if Rawlings goes, we lose one guy up front whose production can probably be replaced by a returning Quailer, this freshmen class really came on at the end of the season, and the defense which was a rotating door due to injury outside of Newton will be better next year with the three kids coming in and the fact that they shouldnt have the same issues with injuries two years in a row. And if some of these freshmen fowards are as good as advertised, the scoring should pick up too.

I also think that there might be a guy or two who does not come back next year due to the amount of bodies coming in. I wont name names because its not fair, but you dont bring in this many kids and then have them sit.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Well written post Huskies01. I too think Rawlings should stay another season. He might (mostly will), get better. If he dukes it out with any other goalie, it shows his confidence. It doesn't get easier in the pros & least in college, you're getting something out of the whole experience, not to mention education.

Bottom line (save finances), Rawlings should stay put. The defense coming in will help him tremendously as well.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Disappointing finish. After the big win over bc, this team controlled its own destiny and managed to go 0-4-1, with chances to take 1 or 2 points from 4 of the 5 games just by playing solid 3rd periods. This team had a ton of chances to make the playoff or even get home ice and they didn't get it done, plain and simple. We can argue about officiating, bad breaks (hit posts), injuries and scheduling but the fact of the matter is that this team had its chances in spite of all that.

But it's not all negative. We all knew that the team would take a step back without Thiessen, Vitale, Liotti, Ginand and company. And especially once Quailer went down it had the makings of a long season. We got unlucky...normally 24 points is plenty to be in the playoffs, hell 23 points was the 7 seed in Cronin's second year. The team finished .500 overall...the last time NU had back-to-back .500 seasons was 93-94 and 94-95. And yes, this team is very well positioned for 2010-11...this year's freshman class is very talented, Newton is the best offensive d-man we've had in years...Vermeersch (despite tailing off at the end) had a good season...the Daniels' came on at the end. If Quailer comes back at 80% or more this team's in great shape. All the freshmen defensive got valuable learning experience. So there are positives, and plenty of them...just depends on how you want to look at it.

That said, next March we cannot be having this discussion. It's home ice (and NCAAs) or bust.
 
Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

Re: Official 2009-2010 Northeastern University Huskies Season Thread - Life Post Thiessen

NUMcNeely said:
What? Rawlings going pro? Please cite your sources.
Click to expand...

I thought he was going to wait one more season and then go pro with Alex Greer.
 
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