SLU 2009-2010 Season

[critsports]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Thanks for the update Leckster. Just looking at the SOG stats I was a bit concerned it might have been more one sided and that Alex just stole one for us.
A little frustrating being a fan and trying to follow.........

• 
  One, I fully expected to watch the game on B-2 but it wasn't on.
  Two, I paid for the B-2 Seasons Pass and as of now I would say it's not worth it if some of these road games aren't on.
  Then I tried the Internet Radio feed. The SLU link was garbled and pretty much not working so I ultimately had to listen to the game on the Harvard feed.
  Only on the Harvard feed could this happen.....I'm listening to the post game summary, 3 Stars, etc. and then they switch back without an announcemnt to their regular programming and some geek comes on and says...."We will now hear Piano Concerto by XXXXX Opus 4 in A Minor". Only at Harvard!!!!!

Hope to see some familiar faces at the game tonight.

 

[mwade]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

FYI, I added a gallery from last night's game pretty late last night (more like very early this morning) - http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20092010/m/11/20/slu-hu.php

 

[Desslok]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Had the pleasure of attending last night's game and agree with everything Leckster mentioned.

The first period seemed fairly even, but Harvard was in the box a lot so it was hard to tell. I thought Harvard came out a bit chippy, but after getting nabbed they seemed to settle down and it was fairly even.

For the most part I thought SLU dominated play and my wife and I couldn't figure out why the shots on goal were so lopsided; I don't think they were tracking them accurately. Petezian was spectacular in goal however.

This is the first game I've seen this year and I have to say I really like this team. Not many stars but the depth is amazing. Everybody played well. I particularly enjoyed watching Curran dismantle Harvard's D behind the net. I also thought Armstrong played really strong. He reminds me a lot of Kyle Rank. George Hughes is going to be very very good.

Some nice updates to Bright arena. They seem to have upgraded their speaker system (although I could do without blasting music between periods) and added nice video replay screens above the scoreboard. The best part as usual though is that they are kind enough to let SLU fans take over the stands (at least 50% of the crowd was there for the Scarlet and Brown ).

All in all, a well played game. I'm no longer surprised by our 7-4-1 record. I'm hoping to make it up to Portland for the Maine game, otherwise I'll probably have to wait until they play at Brown in Feb.

Go Saints!

 

[elsid]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Mike...and other B2TV subscribers
I hope the St. Lawrence site or B2 has not in any way indicated that all ECAC hockey games would be carried by B2. The hockey members of the B2 network are SLU, Clarkson, Brown and RPI. All SLU home games, regardless of opponent, will be carried on B2 as will the road games at Clarkson, Brown and RPI. The rest of the Ivies, Colgate, Quinnipiac and Union are running their own deals and have their own subscriptions. B2 will also carry the ECAC tournament, but that will not be part of the SLU season pass.
I also apologize for the radio problems last night...we get a great announcer, a great game, a win and the over the air and internet broadcast manages to go south on us! I appreciate folks emailing and letting me know, unfortunately with firewalls and a whole lot of steel around, internet and email reception at Harvard is essentially impossible and I did not learn about the problems until I had reached the bus where I could update the internet and send my emails via the bus wifi system...even my aircard wouldn't work anywhere near the Bright Hockey Center. We hopefully will have whatever caused last night's problems fixed before tonight's Dartmouth game.

 

[TimU]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Any win for SLU at Harvard is a big win. This one is a little bit bigger.

Great job.

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Harvard did get more shots but not by that wide of a margin and in terms of puck possession SLU had the upper hand. Harvard got few second chances. Nice job clearing the puck (especially Caister). Don't know why the puck was bouncing so much but that created a few scary moments. It was actually one of those games where every forward did something good and none of them did anything bad. Calls on Bollig and Raley were questionable. Calls on D. Keller and Curran were laughably wrong. But, we were ahead and they did call Harvard for a bunch of stuff (all deserved) in the first. Petizian was great though. A lot of tough shots and clean shots and he was simply awesome. I hope that is how he plans to play the rest of the way!

 

[SLUperDave]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Well, let's put it this way. If our own announcers are saying it was not exactly the best Saints effort, it must have been kind of ugly to watch. Sounds like Dartmouth really controlled play.

I like the way the guys battled at the end to make it interesting. Bummed that Hughes left the game early and hope he's alright.

I can't wait to hear from those that attended the game in person.

Also, the radio feed was at a commercial when Dartmouth scored its first goal. Anybody know what happened? It must have happened pretty quickly but the face off was at center ice and boom. It's 1-0.

 

[Skate79]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

The two things I thought you guys did well on Friday was control play along the boards and you seemed to beat us to the puck fairly often. You also played with more discipline and steadiness which probably stems from the fact that the average age of your team is 25 (what Joe Marsh can't win anymore so he recruits kids who have been playing in Canada for several years? Geez, if it means that much to you, transfer to Hockey East. It's SOP in that league to stuff kids away and then play them when they are 20 and 21).

Two questions. First, is Adam Bogosian related to Zach Bogosian of the Atlanta Flames. Rare that you see Armenians playing hockey so I have to ask. Adam can really fly and Zach is looking like he is going to develop into a special player.

Second question - is George Hughes the son of my classmate, George Hughes Jr.? The program says he is from Westwood and I think that is where George Jr. lives but I'm not sure. If so, you've got a winner because George Jr. was a fine player and a class act.

 

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

The two things I thought you guys did well on Friday was control play along the boards and you seemed to beat us to the puck fairly often. You also played with more discipline and steadiness which probably stems from the fact that the average age of your team is 25 (what Joe Marsh can't win anymore so he recruits kids who have been playing in Canada for several years? Geez, if it means that much to you, transfer to Hockey East. It's SOP in that league to stuff kids away and then play them when they are 20 and 21).

Two questions. First, is Adam Bogosian related to Zach Bogosian of the Atlanta Flames. Rare that you see Armenians playing hockey so I have to ask. Adam can really fly and Zach is looking like he is going to develop into a special player.

First, I'd like to know where you get our average age of 25 from, as there are 14 Sr's and Jr's, and 17 So's and Fr's, so naturally the average age should be closer to 21, maybe 22.

Second, yes Aaron Bogosian is the older brother of Atlanta Thrashers Dman Zach Bogosian. Aaron certainly can skate with the best of them, and even Zach has said is "freakishly strong...", Zach is no small child himself either.

Edit:

Just did the math for you: Even when factoring in those players who will celebrate their birthdays during the 2009-2010 season (thereby adding another year), SLU's team average age comes out to 22.167 years of age as per the USCHO roster page. For comparison's sake, I went through and figured Harvard's average age too, since that seems to be a major issue for you: 21.428. There were 2 entries blank for St. Lawrence (1 JR, 1 FR), and 9 entries blank for Harvard (8 FR, 1 SR), so it looks like it would be slightly larger than that. Either way, 22 is a LONG way from the 25 you stated.

Today's lesson: Don't spew bull**** around if you don't use facts.

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

First, Skate79, don't start with that. The average age of players has been going up for all teams and that is because a lot of players do 1-2 years in the USHL after prep school...even recruits you steal from RPI like Huxley do it. You will struggle to win slotting 18 year olds into the fray fresh from prep. Second, yes, George Hughes is the son of and nephew of Harvard players!

The game tonight was pretty bad. Spare about two shifts in the second where we should have scored, SLU really played poorly until about the last five minutes. Just never found our legs and Dartmouth was flying. I can't say if that is the best Dartmouth has played but I wouldn't be surprised if it was and we did not play well at all until about a few minutes left. We picked up a few more injuries to key guys as well...but I won't get into them on USHCO. I think unless some guys heal pretty quick we could be really short-handed against Maine.

Time for my officiating rant....First, with about 2 minutes to go and SLU pressing they dump the puck in and some guy from the Dartmouth bench reaches out and gloves it down creating an offside. Half the players saw it, how did the refs miss it. Then they call Curran for diving when he gets hit from behind...they day Curran takes a dive is the day hockey becomes the national sport of Mexico! He got drilled and the refs don't have the guts to make the right call. Finally, when Vermuelen got called for interference because a guy stepped in front of him as he was zipping, it was the right call but on that same shift Bollig got tackled in the O-zone and nothing. When Dartmouth made it 3-0 on that, I turned to Critsports and said that was such a BS call we will lose 3-2....and unfortunately I was right. I would have been more than happy with a tie and thrilled with a win after not playing so well. The only other shocker for me is that Tisi started after Petizian played out of his mind on Friday. We were awful in the first....the first goal was just dumped in from the circle. Dartmouth had jump, we didn't. That was a big game and we needed to win it but we didn't have it tonight. Bad/Typical officiating, no legs, a few guys with some flu like symptoms (runs), etc. Time to go home and start to heal before the Clarkson series. I don't care who plays against Maine or what the result...we need to get healthy!

 

[critsports]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Mike...and other B2TV subscribers
I hope the St. Lawrence site or B2 has not in any way indicated that all ECAC hockey games would be carried by B2. The hockey members of the B2 network are SLU, Clarkson, Brown and RPI. All SLU home games, regardless of opponent, will be carried on B2 as will the road games at Clarkson, Brown and RPI. The rest of the Ivies, Colgate, Quinnipiac and Union are running their own deals and have their own subscriptions. B2 will also carry the ECAC tournament, but that will not be part of the SLU season pass.
QUOTE]

Wally......thanks for the clarification and update. I don't think I was misled by B2 in any way. In fact a couple of years ago when I subscribed I actually thought it was only for home games and then others told me there were away games included. I think it was more my own supposition that there would be more schools that had B-2 coverage. Perhaps it would be nice or a suggestion for the ECAC teams to all get togther and do a deal with the same outfit but where money is involved I'm sure that will never happen.

Watched the game in person tonight......the hour is very late so I'll post more tomorrow but suffice it to say our losing had more to do with Dartmouth playing better and outworking us. We looked very tired and very dinged up. Don't know what happened to Hughes and on the Travis line Bollig was taking the faceoffs so don't know what was going on there. Speaking of faceoffs I don't know what the stats were but it seemed like we started off after every faceoff with Dartmouth in control of the puck.

Still a weekend split on the road is something I'll take any weekend we can get one.

 

[SLUperDave]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Still a weekend split on the road is something I'll take any weekend we can get one.

I will, too. And the way things worked out this evening, we are not any worse off in the league standings. What is sometimes tough to swallow is that we win the games we would rightfully expect to lose, and lose the games we would expect to win. We beat Princeton, RPI and Harvard. Lose to Union, Dartmouth and Clarkson. Go figure. Hope that doesn't mean Bruno will have our number!

 

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

I will, too. And the way things worked out this evening, we are not any worse off in the league standings. What is sometimes tough to swallow is that we win the games we would rightfully expect to lose, and lose the games we would expect to win. We beat Princeton, RPI and Harvard. Lose to Union, Dartmouth and Clarkson. Go figure. Hope that doesn't mean Bruno will have our number!

I'm kind of scared of the Bruno games now, we struggled to beat them the past few years for various reasons, and it seems that this season the Bears got sick of being poked all winter and aren't planning to hibernate anytime soon.

 

[Muskieman]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Thanks for the updates, guys. Now my .02.

Despite the loss in Hanover, this team really impresses me. We don't quit, have battled through injuries to some key players, and have exceeded expectations thus far IMO.

The officiating is what it is. Even if it was better or even adequate, the calls (or non-calls) would have balanced themselves out over time and we'd still be 7-5-1, perhaps winning a game or two that we lost while losing a game or two that we won had all calls been correct both ways.

Only two things concern me. 1) the injury bug has hit us hard. That said, at least it's happened early rather than late. I, too, just hope that we get healthy for the Clarkson games. 2) the PK concerns me. If it doesn't improve or gets worse, I see us as a .500 team when all's said and done. If it gets better, this team will win 20 or more games.

Harp34 - Thanks for calling last night. I look forward to seeing you, your Dad, the rest of the TL Crew, Leckster, Tim, Tayt, and others at UVM in a few weeks, weather permitting.

GO SAINTS!

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

It is hard to be good on the PK when your best PK guys keep getting phantom calls!!

Won't make it to Burlington. We are coming back from St. John that day!

Can't say enough about how hard the line of Curran, Vermuelen and Bollig worked this week. Not sure Bollig got any points, but had three huge assists on the weekend in screening. Those goals don't go in without him setting up in his office. Curran and Vermuelen worked theirs #$R#! off all weekend. You couldn't ask for two better C's than Keller and Verm.

Last night would have been nice. All things considered though, a split with two first line forwards, the leading scorer and one of our better D-men out injured is a decent result.

 

[Muskieman]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

On his 2009 Recruits List, Chris Heisenberg showed/stills shows Jeremy Wick as a recruit for 2009. Was just curious if anyone knows whether Jeremy still plans to attend SLU in 2010.

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

On his 2009 Recruits List, Chris Heisenberg showed/stills shows Jeremy Wick as a recruit for 2009. Was just curious if anyone knows whether Jeremy still plans to attend SLU in 2010.

He is coming in 2010.

 

[critsports]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Despite the loss in Hanover, this team really impresses me. We don't quit, have battled through injuries to some key players, and have exceeded expectations thus far IMO.

I see us as a .500 team when all's said and done. If it gets better, this team will win 20 or more games.

I agree with a lot of what was written by Leckster and others. I think you have it right Brian in the above quote with being a .500 team, however, realistically I think 20 games is going to be a very tall order.

To date I also agree we have done better than any of us would have thought. Having said that my synopsis of this team is this....the whole absolutely has to, has to, be greater than the sum of it's parts. The only way we will achieve is as a unit. Our individual pieces are not what can or will win. It is only when we achieve as a whole hard working, everyone doing their part unit, that we will win.

I agree with Leckster (at the Dartmouth game) that the Verm, Curran, Bollig line was our strongest unit. We had some sterling chances to score but we didn't get many bounces our way. Bogo flies all over the ice and seems to have gained a lot of confidence. Our defense was a patchwork quilt, particularly when Hughes didn't come back out after the first period.

I hope we can use the next couple of weeks to get healthy for the Clarkson weekend. We sure are dinged up and can use some rest time and healing to get people back in the line up.

 

[TimU]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

I think you have it right Brian in the above quote with being a .500 team, however, realistically I think 20 games is going to be a very tall order.

Me too. I also agree with those who've said that getting two points out of this road trip was a good thing. 3 or 4 would have been nice, but 2 is a good result. If they can keep getting splits on the road, and a couple of home weekends where they do a little better than that, then they'll have met or exceeded what I was hoping for. As Mike said, it's going to have to be a true team effort this year and getting everyone pulling the same direction all the time will be tough (so far so good, if you ask me). The good news is, tournament time is when they should be the most dangerous.

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Re: SLU 2009-2010 Season

Me too. I also agree with those who've said that getting two points out of this road trip was a good thing. 3 or 4 would have been nice, but 2 is a good result. If they can keep getting splits on the road, and a couple of home weekends where they do a little better than that, then they'll have met or exceeded what I was hoping for. As Mike said, it's going to have to be a true team effort this year and getting everyone pulling the same direction all the time will be tough (so far so good, if you ask me). The good news is, tournament time is when they should be the most dangerous.

If this team can find away to score a bit more consistently (having Flanagan back should help), they will be fine. The defense is capable of playing well. The defense was very competent on Friday night against a Harvard team with good offensive abilities. There is still a long road ahead of us.

The good news is that I like what we have coming in. Justin Baker is 5th (I think) in his league in scoring as a D-Man averaging about 2 points a game. He had six assists in a game in the last couple of weeks. There are some good forwards coming in too such as Wick, Logue and Essery. I think if we can find a solid goalie and maybe another scoring forward, this team could be really good in a year or two. I already miss McKenzie, Curran and Vermuelen a lot though. McKenzie has always been a reliable scorer over each season even with some dry spells and you don't get more honest players than #17 and #26, but I like the way J. Keller and Drewiske and Bogo can kill penalties too and I really think there is some untapped offense in Bollig, Carden, Drewiske, Mobley and Klancher. I thought Klancher actually had a very good weekend.

Anyway, .500 is the new expectation for most teams in the league. Don't quite know how Q-Pac is doing it...so far, I give a lot of credit to Clarke! It is clear anyone can beat anyone else. We got a split which is decent and had O'Niell not been spectacular or had we not missed open nets on 2 occasions I remember, we would have walked out of there with at least a tie. O'Niell saved their bacon a bunch!