Re: UCONN 2011-12 Men's Hockey Thread
WHUS did a nice broadcast of the game last nice and the announcers were thrilled beyond description with the OT win. I'm gonna be a little less charitable here.
Canisius completely outplayed UConn last night and if it wasn't for Garrett Bartus, it would have been ugly. It is easy to see how UConn collapsed at the end of the regular season. They simply are not tough enough and their work rate in their own end was atrocious. Lackadaisical and excruciatingly slow to turn the puck up ice would be a good way to describe it. On Canisius' second goal the UConn D tracked down the puck on the back dasher before the first Canisius forechecker had even crossed the blue line on a dump-in. What followed was a desultory back and forth between the D and before you knew it the Canisius forecheck was having its way with the Huskies. The puck ended up in back of the net.
What is more troubling is the Huskies inability to deliver meaningful hits. They appear to be a bunch of poke-check maestros who let they eyes wander to the ice instead of staying up on their man and forgetting to keep their feet moving as they drive through the hit. The result was a lot of near misses and some needless penalties. Coupled with the tendency to be a step slow in their own end, Canisius pretty much showed the Huskies who their Daddy was. By halfway through the game we were headed back home to get some sleep (having spent a long day at Berkshire East).
To be sure, not all was bad. Had to like the UConn powerplay. I think this is the most skilled Huskies team I have seen in putting one-timer bullets on the net. I was even reminded of Ryan Equale back in the day who used to break in over the blue line, wind up and crank one from the top of the circle beating an unscreened goaltender one-on-one with heaviness of shot and accuracy. And I liked the way they moved the puck through neutral ice and cycled it down low in the O-zone.
Hoping for a better game tonight although everyone has to be tired. Time to bear down and close it out.
WHUS did a nice broadcast of the game last nice and the announcers were thrilled beyond description with the OT win. I'm gonna be a little less charitable here.
Canisius completely outplayed UConn last night and if it wasn't for Garrett Bartus, it would have been ugly. It is easy to see how UConn collapsed at the end of the regular season. They simply are not tough enough and their work rate in their own end was atrocious. Lackadaisical and excruciatingly slow to turn the puck up ice would be a good way to describe it. On Canisius' second goal the UConn D tracked down the puck on the back dasher before the first Canisius forechecker had even crossed the blue line on a dump-in. What followed was a desultory back and forth between the D and before you knew it the Canisius forecheck was having its way with the Huskies. The puck ended up in back of the net.
What is more troubling is the Huskies inability to deliver meaningful hits. They appear to be a bunch of poke-check maestros who let they eyes wander to the ice instead of staying up on their man and forgetting to keep their feet moving as they drive through the hit. The result was a lot of near misses and some needless penalties. Coupled with the tendency to be a step slow in their own end, Canisius pretty much showed the Huskies who their Daddy was. By halfway through the game we were headed back home to get some sleep (having spent a long day at Berkshire East).
To be sure, not all was bad. Had to like the UConn powerplay. I think this is the most skilled Huskies team I have seen in putting one-timer bullets on the net. I was even reminded of Ryan Equale back in the day who used to break in over the blue line, wind up and crank one from the top of the circle beating an unscreened goaltender one-on-one with heaviness of shot and accuracy. And I liked the way they moved the puck through neutral ice and cycled it down low in the O-zone.
Hoping for a better game tonight although everyone has to be tired. Time to bear down and close it out.
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