Re: The 3rd official 09-10 Maine season thread: Bubble-icious
I disagree with this. I think they've finally been playing up to their talent level, besides the first line which kind of has been most of the season. I think they were playing below their talent level the last 3 weeks of the regular season.
The two PPGs were point shots, screened/tipped not much he can do.
Lombardi's first goal was slid into the net by Nemec, not Wilson's fault.
The one Willy knocked into the net with his blocker was rough, shot might've gone wide. The winner he should've stopped and he could've gotten his leg to the post on goal #6 but it was a pretty bad defensive play and a funny bounce that led to it.
All in all he didn't get beat by clean shots much. Willy exceeded everyone's expectations except maybe his own.
This I pretty much agree with. Willie had a couple goals that he'd be glad to have back, but he also had a couple where he had no shot on because he was screened and never saw them. Muse had a couple of those too. The game winner, while he should have stopped it, would have never gotten to him if the D had played the body instead of watching the puck, trying to stick check. Maybe even the sixth goal too, I can't quite recall. Not gonna fault him too much, cause he played his heart out, and you could see his simmering anger when they showed him closeup while they were fixing the glass. While he would have liked a couple back, he also had some prety stellar saves to keep Maine in it.
As was said, if Darling had played, I don't think we get past Lowell, so kudos to him for getting them that far. A goalie hunt should be a priority in the offseason though, and perhaps also a new goalie coach
hunt.
All in all the D played well, but they were a bit overmatched at times with BC's forwards, which can be understandable. But there were times when they got caught out of position or puckwatching, and BC took advantage. Definitely could use a big rugged d-man who will take the body, and clear the netfront.
Anyone notice that roughly the last ten minutes TIMMAY went to four d-men, with Mangene being one of them? I think Nemec might have gotten injured when he got body-slammed into the glass, cause we never saw him after, which was too bad because I thought he was playing a pretty solid, physical, take the body game up to that point, and both Cornell and Hegerty were left on the bench, whether injury or what I don't know. Rotated O'Neill and Dimmen, Mangene and Van Dyk for the rest of the game. Either we need to improvethe guys we have so they don't have to sit at crucial times, or go out and get a big stud to anchor the corps. Thought Hegerty was supposed to be that guy? Loks like Nemec could possibly be.
Gotta love the way the team kept battling back though, and yeah, they were a bit overmatched by BC's skill. But as was said, I'm in the camp that they were finally playing up to their abilities after underachieving down the stretch, and if the players can look at that effort, take it to heart and determine to bring that kind of intensity and determination every night, next season can only be better.
All in all a great result for a team that was going nowhere after the first few weeks of the season until Corkum took them out skating. Much better than I ever could have predicted. When they look back on it, they'll see that, and also hopefully look at the things they have to do to take the next step.
