Re: SLU Hockey 2011-2012
Timeout. Let's not get carried away. Joe is the greatest college hockey coach in the country, and I've seen SLU blow plenty of late leads with him standing on the bench. Anybody remember the Ylae semifinal in Albany just a couple of years ago? Joe would not have cleared the puck, covered any RIT players, or blocked any shots. I don't believe the players would have executed better just because he was there. I'm quite sure their coaches gave them the correct instructions. Nobody knows defensive hockey better than our associate head coach, nobody in the program has played more hockey than he has, and nobody is more level-headed and poised. The coaching staff know what they're doing and they know how to communicate it.
This start sucks. The Saints are running out of ways to lose games and we're only four games into the season. It appears that the defense and goaltending need to get a LOT better, quickly, or the team could be in a very deep hole before they even get started. But as great as Joe is, a collapse like last night's can't be pinned on his absence if you ask me.
Yeah, I agree with you Tim. I was not trying to blame this on Hurley or Carvey by any stretch. I attribute our early misfortune mostly to our youth. Our oldest defenseman is a Junior. However, I am still alarmed. I would not have expected this team to be 0-4 or 0-5, to lose an exhibition game against inferior talent no matter how many more games they have played and most importantly to be averaging more than 6 GA per game. Yes, we did start 85-86 0-7 in Marsh's first year. That was a different time and place though. The program was in a bit of turmoil. Some solid recruits bailed not liking the regime change and the fact Joe wouldn't let a guy like Larry Mitchell play the game without coming into the defensive zone...the class of 1989 has SICK talent and it would have been that much better had Brian Chapman and Larry Mitchell stuck around, but there were also injuries. We played at Clarkson before Christmas with a four man defensive unit of FY-Hurlbut, FY - Mann, FY - Walkon - Stewart and converted Forward JR - Dave Saunders and got pummeled 10-1. We don't have those problems. We didn't lose anyone when BP left for Princeton and we don't have any key injuries altering our lineup. What we do have is some serious breakdowns and mistakes with almost every single one of those ending up in the back of the net. The games I have watched have all included at least one bad goal against. This is the kind of frustrating early start that will show very early what kind of team we will be. Obviously, the word is out on Carey...he is getting no room. But as the cover him, that still leaves an exceptional player in Flanny to make some plays and he has. Still, very little offensive production from our defense. We have always been a team that got a lot of goals from the D. That can lead to bad defense with excessive pinching, but right now I think that this team just has some things to figure out defensively. Even if Marsh was there, he would be leaning heavily on Hurley just as he has on assistants like Morris, McGuire, PJ, Heinbuck, and others to coach the defense. If there is no hot goalie, there is no hot goalie....that happens...it happened when we had very good goalies such as Ackley and McKenna and it is happening now. Just focus on being in the correct position and not fighting the puck and get them some practice.
I personally believe that while the early home games are nice, I'd rather be on the road. Road trips are a good way for a young team to gel and playing in front of the small crowds we had for Carleton and Ferris is not good for morale.
The only negative thought that has entered my mind about Hurley and Carvey is just that knowing them they are both analytical and more of the professional mentality in that they are very proficient at coaching, knowing the X's and O's, and breaking down tape, but in terms of the fiery locker room speeches, Marsh is in a class by himself. Marsh is a great motivator and great at bringing the energy level up. No knock against MH or GC, Marsh is just a master of that. The other thing Marsh is a master of is reading a player and knowing who is ready, who is not, how to motivate those that need it, how to support guys that need it. In other words, the people part of the game - there is no other Joe Marsh, period.
The RIT loss is painful. We should have had it and developed the killer instinct and just buried them with a lead and 10 minutes to go. It is positive we were 3 for 5 on the PP and also had a shorty...that is great, but losing is worst than that is good. But, if it teaches the guys to play the full 60 minutes instead of 59:51, that can still be a positive. Cripes, I still remember Russ Mann at Yale as a Freshmen passing the puck out of the corner right to the middle of the ice and a streaking Yale player where they scored the 6-5 game winner after we were up 5-3 late. He learned a lesson and probably only did that 3 or 4 more times over his career!
We got to find a way to play better defense, win the close games, not give up easy goals. It is disheartening that it is a pretty big list, but this team has a lot of young talent and the coaches are top notch. My bigger concern with Marsh out is recruiting suffering. As for October so far, I think we all have similar thoughts. Mine are "well that ****ing sucks"! However, I still believe we are in good shape. We know there is a lot of untapped goal production all over this team, that Wenny and Moss haven't played their best yet and that what really matters is that we recruited a team full of winners all with good character and a good work ethic. Let's just hope that puts some games in the W column very soon.
