I disagree. There have been nights our team defense has been excellent. At Harvard, we were pretty dominant at both ends of the ice. I'd say after the first period at Dartmouth we were acceptable in the 2nd and 3rd. We do have the horses. I think Bayreuther and Sweetman are both future all-americans. Further, a lot of the problems were not defensemen, they were forwards missing their assignments. Obviously, goaltending is important. While I won't pin either loss on Wenny this weekend, I will say he seems to be struggling. I am not sure how far we will go this season, but for the sake of some seniors that have been a joy to watch such as Carey, Baker, Wenny and Wick especially, I hope the turn around happens this season. There is no doubt even with the loss of George Hughes, our defense is better this year than last. Carvy was a great defensive forward, and I hope he can fix the forwards defensively. Hurley was a great 2 way defensemen and I know he can fix our woes back there. Mayo was a goalie and I am hoping he can get Wenny to the top of his game or hurry Parks along who is, at a minimum, huge in net. I know we have a highly regarded goalie coming in next year.
I believe this team is going to be a really good team. What I don't know is when. The recruits we have coming in are moving this program in the right direction. I have seen what this team is capable of and not only did they dominate Harvard at both ends of the ice, they physically took it to them too - especially Sweetman and Wick.
I remember Joe Marsh's first season in 85-86. We were 0-7 at this stage of the season but we had obvious talent. The second half, we tore it up and were above .500. Then, we got first placed Yale in the playoffs and we were leading 5-3 in the third and Freshmen Russ Mann made a clearing pass that when right to a Yale player headed high speed towards our net and they scored and went on to win 6-5. I never saw Russ make that mistake in a game again, and the next three seasons we were in the league championship every year and, won it twice and went to the NCAA's all three years. The good news is it is not a talent problem. It is not a lack of potential problem. It is tweaks, teachable moments and just getting guys more experience and getting them to do their jobs. In 1985, our last loss before Christmas was 10-1 to those buttheads up route 11 playing extremely short handed with injuries a plenty. About January 15th, we were beating that same Clarkson team 5-4 and Mike Hurlbut took a dumb retaliation penalty and instead of playing out most of the remaining time on the PP, or even strength, it was 4-4 or we were on the PK and they scored. Timmy Lappin won it for us in OT, but I don't think Hurley EVER took a dumb penalty like that again in his remaining 3.5 years. You can't get lower than losing to Clarkson 10-1. I think we are in a similar situation. The talent is there. The coaches are there. The glimpses of what we could be are there. I have complete faith that those wretched things we all saw this and in recent weekends that made me want to puke are fixable and will be fixed. I just don't know when.
