Re: The Truth About The Cats and Dogs - BU/UNH 11/20 and 11/21
Yep... how can you doubt it? They won the HE reg season, the holida tourney they were in, the HE tourney, and the NCAAs. How good is that???? Mercy. Teams like that don't come along often. Fully earned.
Yes, BU's championship was fully earned, but I will remind you that the best team does not always win or, if they do, it is by the skin of their teeth. Witness BU which edged past Northeastern for the regular season championship on the last weekend, barely squeaked by Lowell in the HE final (the old the referee was intending to blow his whistle rule. Where did that come from?!?), got by UNH with a truly bizarre play, then took out Miami with the most improbably comeback in FF history. BU was the best team last year, their record proves it, but, let's face it, they were dammed lucky to win.
As for last night, I have to somewhat disagree with Malts implication that the team is erratic. I prefer to look at them as a work in progress. When I spoke to Umile on Monday, his comment was that, against UMass, they were better and more consistent than they had been the week before against BC and Lowell. And while there is another game tonight, you would have to say the the Wildcats played a more complete game vs. BU than either of the games last week.
UNH is going to go as far as the improvement of their defense (and goal) will take them. I have to agree that Kipp is starting to get it. He, and really the rest of the defense did a good job last night in not taking themselves out of the play in their own end. There was that one-half of a BU PP in the second where UNH had some difficulty, but other than that I thought they did a good job of not running around in their own end.
Up front to me the team is first and foremost about Bobby Butler. It's still early but he seems to be taking his role as a captain pretty seriously, taking responsibility at both ends of the ice. His play so far reminds me a lot of Preston Callendar's a few years ago. Callendar was an okay player his first three years, but he really came on as senior. Not sure Butler will top 50 points (hard to do these days) but he seems to be another in a long line of players when it comes to their fourth year who say "Oh my god, I'm a senior. This is my last go 'round, I've got to make the commitment to excellence." The light doesn't go on for every senior (witness Pollastrone last year) but fortunately it has for Butler (and to a lesser extent LeBlanc).
Right now there is no great team in the league. I think as the season wears on, some will show more talent than others. Right now I think UNH can be one of them, but only if this steady improvement continues.
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Obviously, these are views of unabashed homers. Last year's BU team was clearly the best in the nation.