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UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

ScottK said:
Up until last week, they had the best 3rd period goal differential in the country. Even after tonight's collapse, they are still tied for #4 in the country at +15 in the 3rd period.
Click to expand...

When they collapse they do so in spectacular fashion? I feel bad for some of the Srs. This has to be tough.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

ScottK said:
Up until last week, they had the best 3rd period goal differential in the country. Even after tonight's collapse, they are still tied for #4 in the country at +15 in the 3rd period.
Click to expand...

You know things aren't going well when we're interested in these types of stats.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

UMLDOUG said:
There is something about the third period with this lowell team. I got it they just plain suck right now in the third period. Wake up Lowell.
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A first round UNH/UML match up would be fascinating. Who wants it less?
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

chiefs11 said:
The issue is the seniors
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Tape don't lie

https://youtu.be/NWblBgHYey4?t=95

Tyler Muller lets a puck carrier skate by him with a little Regina love tap somehow he ends up at the blue line. 2 seconds later Dimo is 1 on 1 with a guy at a bad angle. WHERE IS THE PUCK SUPPORT THERE IS A HUGE HOLE IN THE CENTER OF THE ICE.

Tyler Muller has to put a body on that guy plain and simple. He shyed away from making contact.

Bad leadership and the sad thing is Lowell looked like a GREAT hockey team from the 2nd period and until the Young goal
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

The Pinho goal needs to be stopped from that far out!
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

You are correct in saying that tapes don't lie but obviously you need to understand the game of hockey and understand roles and responsibility on 4 vs 4. You are supposed to play man on man and maintain inside body position. 7 comes up the wall with the Providence puck carrier who dishes the puck to the player that goes down the wall and then cuts to the middle and ultimately scores. It is 7 job to stay with the man he originally commits to and prevent him from going to the net and that why he ends up high. I am assuming waves a stick at the puck carrier trying to force him wide to allow the Lowell forward to pick up the man. The problem on that goal is 15 is standing still checking nobody and is slow to recognize the switch and pick up his man. It is his check that scored the goal. Everyone else is paired up with a guy and that is why the middle of the ice is so open. Once you commit to a guy you are supposed to stay with that guy unless you call a switch. Even though Friar player went in uncontested, went to his backhand and was a very weak shot that went 5 hole and should have never gone in.

Also look at the tape on the first goal, defence have good coverage and have their man. The Lowell net front winger (16) gets puck focussed on shot from point and misses picking up the Providence forward who does a good job of losing a check and skates in from the blue line unchecked for the rebound. Again, bad rebound that goes right to the front of the net instead of to the corner. The third goal, forward (10) gets stripped in neutral zone for another bad turnover. Slapshot from far out that should have been stopped. Fourth goal is a bit of a broken play but Lowell slot coverage winger (28) watches the Friar player skate right by him. Fifth goal killing a penalty and we have 3+1 coverage scrumming on the wall. The Lowell net front coverage guy should stay at net but cheats to the strong side of the ice and leaving the Friar player wide open back door. Another questionable 5 hole goal where goalie committed early and opened himself up.

Not sure I agree that Lowell looked great. Did a good job defensively in shutting down Friars in the first 2 periods of the game but once again no real sustained pressure in the offensive zone and no real good grade A chances and/or second or third chances. With the exception of a couple shifts where they generated a little net front pressure, Lowell had very little zone time and Providence goalie and defence were not under much duress. Again scoring only 2 goals per game is not going to win many games. Power play was absolutely terrible last night again but I will comment on that at another time. When you are on the defensive side of the puck for 75% of the game like Lowell is most nights and you turn the puck over as much as they do, you cannot afford very many defensive breakdowns and you saw last night what happens when you do.
I have said it before that everyone seems to quickly blame the defence but the structure that Lowell plays places a great deal of responsibility on all 5 players and if you truly understand the game you will see that there are many blown assignments all over the ice that are leading to this team's woes. Mr Sanderson you seem to always mention the leadership as being a problem but I will say that it is just not the leadership group on the ice that is letting the team down. You have many upperclassmen that are not carrying the load and contributing on a consistent basis. I have also said in some of my previous posts that the coaching staff need to shoulder some of the responsibility as well as the game plan is not good enough and certainly some very questionable coaching decisions are being made.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

So then why didn't Tyler call the switch? He had the angle on Foley to drive him into the boards and Dimo was coming back up high to defend a drop pass and shot from the outside.

He read the play and the situation incorrectly (as did Dimo). You can't sit here and tell me he is without fault on that play as was every other guy on the ice. Where does that come from? Part of it is as you said coaching, but some of it lies on the player. These boys can't win on talent alone and having a teamwide breakdown on plays like that does not help the cause.

I don't like here and re-watching tape to point out mistakes. I take no joy in it to be honest and I know come off as a loudmouth boorish cynical *******. This has been a frustrating season between the lack of consistency, mismashed lines, which as resulted in very little buzz in the offense zone. I hate seeing zero un-tempo Bazin Ball hockey. I've come to realize at this point my problem with this team are my expecations were way to high going into the season.

See you all tonight
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

Another lackluster performance ending in another loss.

A team that was (wrongly) picked for 2nd preseason is now pretty much guaranteed to play in the first round. Amazingly disappointing.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

The UConn/UMass game is on ESPN3 tonight. A UConn win ends any chance Lowell has at a 1st round bye. (I'm not sure they want that bye, but that's another question for another day.)
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

ScottK said:
The UConn/UMass game is on ESPN3 tonight. A UConn win ends any chance Lowell has at a 1st round bye. (I'm not sure they want that bye, but that's another question for another day.)
Click to expand...

UMass wins it 3-2.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

The scenarios for finishing 5th and getting a bye are fairly simply.

Lowell sweeps Merrimack, and Maine takes no more than 1 point from BC
Lowell takes 3 points from Merrimack and Maine gets swept by BC.

Anything else and Lowell hosts a 1st round series.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

ScottK said:
The UConn/UMass game is on ESPN3 tonight. A UConn win ends any chance Lowell has at a 1st round bye. (I'm not sure they want that bye, but that's another question for another day.)
Click to expand...

I may be in the minority, but I am hoping for a Lowell sweep this weekend and for Maine to finish 5th. They still have an outside chance at 20 wins which would be a nice accomplishment given their disappointing season. I think they might get there if they host a 1st round series.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

ScottK said:
The scenarios for finishing 5th and getting a bye are fairly simply.

Lowell sweeps Merrimack, and Maine takes no more than 1 point from BC
Lowell takes 3 points from Merrimack and Maine gets swept by BC.

Anything else and Lowell hosts a 1st round series.
Click to expand...

Actually I'd love to have you guys get 5th. Selfishly I'd love Maine to get more games at home. We have a weird team, they win on road better than home. Like them to get more games at home.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

Middle Street said:
I may be in the minority, but I am hoping for a Lowell sweep this weekend and for Maine to finish 5th. They still have an outside chance at 20 wins which would be a nice accomplishment given their disappointing season. I think they might get there if they host a 1st round series.
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At this point I just want to see a win tonight. It seems like even when the team plays well lately they're finding a way to lose with a late mistake or turnover.
 
Re: UMass Lowell 17/18 Season Thread: 21 Year Old Freshman Eating BU's Lunch

Will be no surprise this weekend that Merrimack will clog and stack the neutral zone and collapse all 5 guys to the house in front of the net relying on their goalie to make the first save. The Hawks have really struggled with teams that play like this. We hear about keys to the game so some thoughts heading into the weekend that the Hawks will need to do. With Merrimack having all 5 guys stacked in front of the net, there should be opportunities to move the puck from low to high to get the defence involved and also east to west from strong to weak side below the goal line. In the game against Providence the Hawks did this the first 3-4 shifts and then it stopped. After that it was one and done with again very little zone time. The ability to retrieve pucks and move it quickly out of the scrum will be key. The longer the Hawks stay in the scrum the worse they are as they do not have forwards that can win 50-50 battles. Thus getting the puck from low to high and engaging the defence will be a key. In the last 5 games I would suggest we have only see the defence get a hand full of these type of situations per game 5 on 5. Defence will need to ensure that they get shots through and not blocked even if it means shooting off the net or finding a forward away from the net. The other key will to have layers in the offensive zone so the forwards can retrieve loos pucks, avoid getting tied up and get get them selves un-checked to open spots where they can shoot off the pass. Too often we see all forwards getting boxed out and checked where they remain stationary and cant get to the loose pucks. Because there will be limited space, the forwards are going to have to be able to make some plays in tight spaces and have some composure rather than just blasting the puck without having head up or just burying their heads on the cycle without looking for open players and opportunity to quickly move the puck to support. Finally, we need to create some quality zone time to take the pressure off the defensive zone and need to make some key save. I haven't done the math but would suggest that the save percentage in the last 5 losses has not been above .900. Just my thoughts and will see if these observations come true.
 
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