Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

[chrisP]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Little dicey at the end, but a nice win tonight, and a BIG weekend for the Friars. Still a long way to go, but a 4 point weekend is always a good thing.

More weekends like this and maybe we can actually start talking about hockey on this thread...

 

[satyking]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Good weekend for PC but this is not a typical HE year as 2000 said.....lets enjoy the 4 points and see what the status is next week at this point after a few HE games

Last time we beat Maine at home Tyler was in the nets and it was all his fault

 

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Good weekend for PC but this is not a typical HE year as 2000 said.....lets enjoy the 4 points and see what the status is next week at this point after a few HE games

Exactly. They're still 4-8 in the conference. It's a nice weekend, sure, but to be honest, and objectively speaking, this game looked like two "bottom tier" teams playing one another. If they're able to climb back to .500 that would be a nice run, let's see if they can do it.

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

They beat BU 3-1 the night before in a pretty one sided game. BU was on a roll...
Tonight it was 3-0 until the last minute, PC carried the game. that to me looks more like typical HE team beating a bottom team, which Maine showed they might be if not carefull.
It was not a flip of a coin game, it was 3-0 with 1 minute to go.

Nice 4 points for PC. Long way to go

If anyone had taken a poll on Friday at noon and the question was, "who are the two hottest teams in Hockey east right now"?, BU and maine would have been 1 and 2.

Nice 4 points from 2 games you would not expect it from

 

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

If anyone had taken a poll on Friday at noon and the question was, "who are the two hottest teams in Hockey east right now"?, BU and maine would have been 1 and 2.

Really? Who did you poll -- people who don't watch hockey?

BU had 3 wins in their last 9 games prior to Friday. If you want to go back even further they had 4 wins in their prior 14 games coming into Friday. Their overall record is 7-10-3. That's not exactly a "roll" where I come from.

Maine has, by any stretch, overachieved. They're still an unspectacular 11-9-3. They did have a nice run of wins but mostly against teams with losing records (PC, Merrimack, Northeastern, Princeton) coming into this weekend, but getting blown out at BC Friday exposed them for who they really are (to paraphrase Denny Green).

I don't want to throw cold water on these wins -- because the way PC had been playing, they're solid -- but it goes right to what I was saying about this conference. Outside of BC and UNH frankly it's the weakest Hockey East collectively ever. The records and national standings confirm that.

So it is what it is -- but saying BU and Maine were "the hottest teams in the conference"...come on, take a dose of reality here. The only team that looks like a really legitimate contender right now is BC with UNH a decent bit behind.

 

[Scarlet]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

They beat BU 3-1 the night before in a pretty one sided game. BU was on a roll...

If anyone had taken a poll on Friday at noon and the question was, "who are the two hottest teams in Hockey east right now"?, BU and maine would have been 1 and 2.

You are delusional.

Really? Who did you poll -- people who don't watch hockey?

BU had 3 wins in their last 9 games prior to Friday. If you want to go back even further they had 4 wins in their prior 14 games prior to Friday. Their overall record is 7-10-3. That's not exactly a "roll" where I come from.

Thank you. Jeez. On a roll. As if. Heh.

Oh, and BREAK UP THE FRIARS!!! Nice win tonight. It was nice to follow that score during out game.

 

[satyking]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Hockeydad only posts after a win or when we out-shoot the other guys......then it makes little sense

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Maybe you could throw in UNH, but BU was playing well(only lost 2 in previous 8), had beaten BC pretty easily at Fenway and beat up lowell as well and was 3-0 in 2010(sounded to me like they were getting ready for Beanpot). Maine had gone something like 9 in a row without losing. You couldnt count BC as being "hot:" because they had a recent rough stretch and skid.

End of the day, PC put the breaks on two traditional powerhouses who had both been playing as well as anyone at the time in Hockey East.
Both games were convincing.

I choose to look at it as an accomplishment and expect more of the same.

Glass is back to 58.7%. PC's work ethic is fun to watch(outside the BC game)

 

[The Freds]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Congrats on a good solid weekend for PC. By the math I learned the glass is only at 47.5%.

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Congrats on a good solid weekend for PC. By the math I learned the glass is only at 47.5%.

I think you forgot to factor in the RPI/ADI index but 47.5% is close enough....

 

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Maybe you could throw in UNH, but BU was playing well(only lost 2 in previous 8), had beaten BC pretty easily at Fenway and beat up lowell as well and was 3-0 in 2010(sounded to me like they were getting ready for Beanpot).

Wow, 3 whole wins? With 4 wins in their last 14 games?

BTW, beating BC "pretty easily" on the FENWAY ice surface in what amounted to a glorified exhibition game isn't an accurate indication of anything. Sure it counted in the standings but anyone with half a brain isn't going to take that game as an indicator of how good or bad BC is.

As far as BC's big "rough stretch" and "skid" goes -- again, you're talking 3 games. One of which was at Fenway Park. Before that they dropped two games over Christmas, including a 1-goal loss to the #1 team in the country, on the road, during that time. And they were also missing personnel to the World Juniors tournament, even in that game. To most hockey observers that loss was far more significant that Maine's "big streak" you pointed to, beating up on PC, Northeastern, Princeton, etc. -- as evidenced by BC probably going to be the only HE team in the Top 10 next week.

Apparently you can't distinguish between those things -- and apparently you must think everyone in the country must be crazy to have BC be a Top 10 team given their recent "skid" -- but I guess I'm not surprised.

You see EVERYTHING in the short term. You fail to see anything in the big picture. It's unbelievable really.

.

End of the day, PC put the breaks on two traditional powerhouses who had both been playing as well as anyone at the time in Hockey East.

"Traditional" is the word. Neither one is a "powerhouse" this year...7-10-3....9-11-2...record says it all. And as far as "playing as well as anyone" -- most people don't consider a sample size stretching back 3 GAMES as being evidence of a "hot" team.

BTW I am curious if you are going to deem this year a "success" if PC finishes in 8th place. Something tells me if that happens you will be telling everyone how PC will be the "it" team next season and that Tim Army deserves congratulations for just getting this team into the HOCKEY EAST post-season.

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Thats why it's called America pal, freedom of speach. If you can burn the flag you sure as heck can be positive about a hockey team

If you want to wallow in misery, good luck to you.

Most BC fans(and coaches) would look at 3 straight losses to St Lawrence, BU and denver as a slide. When they do poorly you somehow find a silver lining and make it a positive. PC wins 2 big conference games and you still want to set there and act like Eyoree from Winnie the Pooh

 

[The Freds]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

I think you forgot to factor in the RPI/ADI index but 47.5% is close enough....

So it seems by deduction that you are figuring your glass on PC's position in the RPI ranking, or is it just coincdence that 34th puts them in the range of your 58.7% number.

If you are hanging your hat on the fact that PC is currently in 34th position in the RPI ranking, then that simple ranking doesn't do it for me. Sorry. Sitting in 9th place in the league, and barely, is the louder statistc. Therefore one could say the glass is 10% full.

Oh, hey and by your method, guess whose glass is less full:
BU
Brown
Holy Cross
Bowling Green

and even Army (the academy)

 

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Thats why it's called America pal, freedom of speach. If you can burn the flag you sure as heck can be positive about a hockey team

Speaches are tasty -- oh wait that's a peach. I think you meant to say speech. Vocab is fun!

Nobody said you weren't entitled to your opinion. It's your total lack of perspective about every aspect of the game of hockey -- not just PC -- that's laughable. You're one of a kind of this board, that's for sure.

If you want to wallow in misery, good luck to you.

Who's wallowing in misery? They won 2 games. Great. Let's see them win 4,5,6 in a row and actually do something substantial in the Army era. Let's see them finish 5th or 6th and exceed expectations in a conference that's pretty thin this season. Seeing as that hasn't happened in......

Most BC fans(and coaches) would look at 3 straight losses to St Lawrence, BU and denver as a slide. When they do poorly you somehow find a silver lining and make it a positive.

That's hilarious, and ironic, coming from you. BC sucks alright. So if that 3-game losing streak was a slide -- what was PC doing for the last 2 months before Friday...hmmmm?? Just funny you never bother posting when the team goes through that, but you come on here and blast people for not wanting to throw the ticker-tape parade when they win their first games IN 2 FREAKING MONTHS.

Like I told you back in the fall, Hockey is a LONG SEASON -- as evidenced by you throwing a party when PC won games in October. Every team goes through a streak of a few losses or wins...most teams, however, don't drop 6 straight like PC has on an annual basis since Army took over. As far as BC goes, they're still a Top 10 team. The slide you're talking about isn't a slide really. 3 straight losses? With a short handed team? Playing one game in a baseball stadium? One game against the #1 team in their building? Seriously they suck, obviously their coaches and fans must be rethinking their entire approach.

Oh wait, they beat PC and Maine this week and outscored them 10-2. Looks like your definition of the "hottest team in the conference" needs to be revised.

PC wins 2 big conference games and you still want to set there and act like Eyoree from Winnie the Pooh

Actually I'm sitting, not setting. Winning these 2 games is a nice start. I wrote that. However I don't consider beating BU or Maine this season to be "big." Beating BC would have been big -- but they were completely dominated in that game. But of course, you just scratch that performance up as a "joke" and pretend that it didn't happen.

The larger perspective is that they have a long way to go. They're still 4-8. They're still in 9th and still currently eliminated from participating in the Hockey East quarterfinals. Neither team they beat is all that good, sorry. This isn't the BU team that won a national title last year, and Maine's pretty weak for a #3 Hockey East team. Of course, if they weren't, they wouldn't have gotten hammered at BC on Friday since BC is in such a slide.

It is what it is. Your lack of perspective continues to be shocking. By your definition of success Paul Pooley would have been given a lifetime contract for his performance here. For me I expect more from this program than to get excited on January 17th that my team is in 9th place. Obviously I must be a real negative person not to be delighted about the team's performance -- as a whole -- so far.

 

[Jon]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Hey, cav. How was your Sunday afternoon?

Got desevrings?

 

[cavbim]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Hey, cav. How was your Sunday afternoon?

Got desevrings?

I've been working on a weekend thoughts I say something about them.

The bigger thing from this weekend is that they won their second game of the season in Durham. In the previous 35 or so they won there 8 times.

The goalie is a monster.

Hopefully this will play into them avoiding UNH unless we have to play them in the finals. NU may lead them but I fear UNH far more.

 

[cavbim]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Two parter will do part 2 first so if you read down they fit

9. A few individual thoughts on some players. First Tyler Landman impressed me this weekend. Obviously we need some offensive contributions from him before we can say truly he deserves a permanent spot in the lineup up. He had only played one of his 5 first semester games at home so it was the first real good look at him. As I noted above while not overly tall he’s got bulk and still has good speed. He’s a true freshman. If his work as paid off from practicing instead of playing in the first half and is now ready to take the next step forward (and I’m not talking about making Bergland type freshman production) it will give us a few more options and a bit more depth.

10. Aaron Jamnick while not quite on the Bergland level (which is not to be mistaken for the true blue chip level). Obviously he had a key goal but I also thought his play allowed us to coble a line out of him, Collins and Golden and to use it regularly and offset the depth advantage BU and Maine had over us.

11. Greg Collins. He does bring some offense to the table. Still I think he lacks the speed. He’s played 3 games had 2 goals but took 2 penalties late in his first game, another one just under 5 minutes again BU that I thought really could have been a problem and he took another early in the third vs. Maine. Unfortunately with him despite his goals he reinforced the feeling I have he just is not a smart player.

12. Paul Golden. Now this kid doesn’t even have the skill level of Collins. He’s got great speed, but it seemed his greatest asset was his energy. He seemed to get into the play and try to force things. For that he was rewarded with an assist on the Jamnick goal. Now like last year where after time and PC lost the bounce from having Beaudry arrive I suspect Golden’s ice time has an expiration date on it too.

13. I wonder if the C on John Cavanagh’s jersey saved him from sitting in the stands with Chris Eppich. Hopefully being demoted to 4th line sends some type of message because minimally we need the 15 to 20 points he has put up a year. He when not hurt in the first half seemed to be sleep walking, certainly the BC performance of 2 3rd period penalties was not the right direction. I thought there was some sign of life but how much of that was driven by 2 freshman who wanted playing time? If the season does go south I would hope in the name of gaining experience we do look at other options who can benefit from the playing time and help the Friars in the future.

14. Ben Farrer. All I got to say is ouch. He got himself 3 excellent scoring chances last night and never once came close to scoring. I like his work ethic which is why of course he has remained in the lineup without scoring but he is a junior now, is healthy this year and now has the experience.

15. Also troubling is the fact to get a scoring line to match up we have now placed all our eggs in one basket. There are going to be days when teams shut Germain, Bergland and MacKinnon down and then the question becomes who is going to score. I guess its pick your poison. Fail to score because you don’t have the bodies in place to score or fail to score if a team can clamp down on our best options.

16. I want to reiterate my remark on their being an expiration mark. We may have numbers on our roster, we have and I do agree with Hokey here a nice group, but you are playing with fire when you have split more then most teams do your scholarships and you have given 3 walk ons significant roles. There is more to this but I don’t want to get into it right now.

17. Want to know the hottest team in Hockey East right now. it’s the PC women. They are running on an eight game unbeaten streak. They were actually ranked in one poll and greatly advanced that cause this weekend. Right now its Deraney doing it with mirrors and a goalie who is the definition of a player who can carry a team. Real reason I bring this up. They dedicated the FOF room before the women’s game. The costs were broken up 3 ways, the school raised a third, the men’s program raised a third and the women raised a third. The Leary’s are Deraney’s benefactor. They also donated the money that allowed him to build himself a real locker room. Generally speaking I believe the men’s problems go much deeper then Army so that whether he is coach or not won’t solve anything. I do believe that despite his faults Deraney does have a better grip on the PC culture then Army does which in a way is sad and maybe a bit telling.

 

[cavbim]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

1. While HokeyFinokeeSwampmouth might not articulate his thoughts particularly well nor say much in a substantive way trying to slip it by saying it in an all knowing don’t dare question me style I actually tend to agree more with some of his premises.

2. BU game. I thought we toughed it out nicely, we did upset Bu’s timing a bit, we played with energy we were opportunistic and our special teams played good. I thought also that BU missed chances or were stuffed by Beaudry they have not let pass in the recent past. It was also a game that was a nail bitter to the end. Our defense ended up on their heels late and BU was pressing. We never had a good shot at the open net . I actually wonder with our defense wilting why Parker actually didn’t pull Milan during the Collins penalty. We had little gas left, really had never been aggressive on the PK to attempt a SH bid and the 2 man advantage certainly would have added weight to their attack. A second goal there and then even if you had to pull Milan again 2 or even 3 minutes later again would have made it sticker. The biggest weakness I see in BU is that they have a limited amount of senior leadership compared to what they have had the past couple of years.

However as Saty said:

BU has started to climb into a home playoff spot, just 1 win away from 4th so the red we see ahead of us is gone and the Mac is back

I suspect the next meeting won’t go so well and that they truly will be climbing toward home ice. The win is something to hold onto as you build


3. I think if you read the Maine thread you get the feeling that not having Darling in net screwed with their minds. Obviously I can’t speak for them as I have not seen them play before, but as much as you try to downplay Tyler Sims’ weaknesses, one of them was he did not leave the rest of the team with the confidence to play their game. This I think was Maine’s problem last night. Looking at a stat sheet this Maine appears quite capable of scoring goals. Yet I did not particularly feel impending doom and less so when we scored in the second. They just were not putting an all out persistent attack. I did think Maine let carry play again. We had a great second period, but it took us a period to figure out how to get an offensive spark and then we had the combo of problems in the end. One was how to handle controlling a game down the stretch and to fail to show an ability to maintain their composure in the final stretch. Like with Parker the night before I think Whitehead should have pulled Wilson not after the first goal, but with some time after the 17 minute mark. Again the read I felt was the PC defense was faltering and I would have wanted to have pressured them and needing 3 goals I need that first one quickly. Less then a minute and it saved us.

4. I certainly hope Alex Beaudry makes defensive player of the week. He got 2nd star both nights but I thought he was the difference maker and chief reason PC picked up 4 league points. First he flat out made some good saves.. More importantly in neither game was PC able to score in the first period. Beaudry held the fort till they did find some offense. An early goal by Maine or BU and this game would have certainly played out differently. Again I do not think Beaudry is the second coming of Nolan Schaefer but unless say Sims was in his zone. We lose. I think Beaudry’s arrival is playing a large role in PC moving more to a defensive tone. Ultimately I suspect we will likely go back to a style closer to Pooley’s then the vision Army came in with. I don’t think Beaudry has the flash of a Schaefer or Goepfert and maybe not even Sims when he was in the zone. However he seems to hold concentration very well which seems to lead to more consistency.

5. One sign we are moving to a more defensive stance is the penalty minutes are up again. Maybe not to Pooley era levels. However I now feel its getting to be a problem. While I didn’t see the BC game I would surmise that the 3 first period penalties were an early nail in the coffin and I was told by several people Chris Rooney HAW really bad (which of course explains why he sits this weekend). Worse seems to be the habit we are getting into taking them in the final period. 2 vs. BC, 3 vs. BU, and 1 more official penalty in the 3rd and it was my impression whichever was the goal line ref was calling a delayed penalty just before Maine scored the extra attacker goal.

6. Even with a 3 for 5 performance on the PP I still would be reluctant to say we’ve figured that phase of the game out. However those goals were key elements in the 2 victories. On the flip side if we are going to take penalties its good that we look like we have drastically improved our ability to kill them. We’ve killed 16 in the 3 games since break. I do notice though that they are quite content to just jump it out of the zone and play it safe and not try to be as aggressive as they have in the past. Several times even Bergland made to attempt to run with it and kill some time but immediately dumped it.

7. Biggest problem I see right now is that the defense is not deep. Of the weekend games I did not think they had anything left by the buzzer. They rely on the Big 3 (Fayne, New and Velischek primarily). By the 3rd period of the BU game you could see the fatigue in Velischek and he made several dangerous plays. Harvey who plays it as simple as possible actually seems to be the #4 and Baier getting regular time. Cavanagh seemed to be spotted to try to preserve some legs. It will be interesting to see how they continue to hold up with 3 more games in 5 days. I would suspect even before Smith left (and he was only a partial), that PC would be hunting up another Dman for next year’s recruiting class and I would suspect it would be to fill Eppich’s full boat and in turn use Smith’s partial to grab the forward.

8. The point has been brought up a bit over the past few years that we are small. However there is nothing small about our defense right now. They may not be flashy but we do have size there as only New comes in under 200 lbs and all ar 6 foot or better with Velischek likely to add bulk as he develops. Also with Cavanagh demoted to the 4th line and Eppich benched we aren’t exactly small. Schaller of course brings size but the juniors have bulked up in the past couple of years and basically touch 6 foot and range between 185 and 200 lbs. The trigger for that thought beside Harvey playing was that Landman like Jamnick already come in with some bulk, they just need to learn to use it.

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

It is what it is. Your lack of perspective continues to be shocking. By your definition of success Paul Pooley would have been given a lifetime contract for his performance here. For me I expect more from this program than to get excited on January 17th that my team is in 9th place. Obviously I must be a real negative person not to be delighted about the team's performance -- as a whole -- so far.[/QUOTE]

dont get excited, relax, take a step back and enjoy the weekend...

 

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?

Somehow I just knew when the last 4 seasons were referenced that it was all going to end up being Tyler's fault again.