Re: UMass Lowell 2015-2016 Season Thread II
Not much on this site lately in regards to the play of Lowell and I guess that what happens in a bye week. Going back to the BC series , Saturday night's game was an excellent effort with the team playing with a sense of urgency and a compete level for 60 minutes. The difference in the 2 games, for me, was quite frankly the Lowell forecheck, winning the 50-50 puck battles and putting pucks to the net.
Friday night, for the majority of the game Lowell played a 1-2-2 forecheck that was very passive in the offensive zone. They did create some frustration for BC through the neutral zone as we saw BC get frustrated and take some penalties as a result of good pressure and taking time and space away. However, the passive forecheck resulted in very few good offensive chances created for Lowell. In reality, there were only 4-5 good scoring chances for them Friday night and a couple of these came on the PP. The other thing that stood out on Friday night was that the BC defence completely outworked the Lowell forwards and won the majority of the battles down low. The lack of a 2 man forecheck and pressure often left a Lowell forward alone in the offensive zone with no puck support. BC easily outnumbered and won these battles. The few times that Lowell did send 2 guys there was no sequencing and rotation and BC did a great job of moving the puck to the weak side of the ice and quickly moved the puck out of their zone without allowing Lowell any time to get to the puck or set up.
Saturday night was the complete opposite. Lowell came with a strong 2-1-2 forecheck and eliminated time and space and won the majority of the puck battles. In the 3rd period , their forecheck and ability to stay above the puck and rotation to eliminate the weak side of the ice for BC was the best I have seen all year. As a result of this, they created a great deal of pressure and were able to create way more scoring opportunities. This coupled with the fact that the forwards actually put pucks to the net, the defence got shots through from the point and they were Lowell able to get some net traffic was the difference.
Overall, the defensive zone coverage was very good throughout the weekend. They adjusted very well to BC setting up a forward in the soft area in the high slot and took this option away after the first few shifts of Friday's game. To basically give up 3 goals in a weekend against one of the best offensive teams in the country speaks to the quality of team defence Lowell plays.
I am hoping that the this bye week will give the coaching staff an opportunity to get the power play in order. Quite simply the game plan for the power play is not working and the coaching staff will have to take some responsibility for this. The designed entries, player personnel and options being used are contributing to the lack of execution. Friday night, the power play was able to gain entry into the zone however, once inside the zone, every time Lowell attempted to set up low, they were quickly out-numbered with 3+1 pressure. With no support or passing options, they lost puck battles and BC was able to clear very easily. The few times that Lowell was able to rotate the puck to the point, the defence were hesitant to shoot. Saturday night, they made some changes in personnel in defence and forwards on both units. In doing so, Lowell turned over the puck several times and gave up 2 quality short handed chances. On the other occasions, they struggled to even gain entry into the zone. The problem seems to be on the timing of the pp moving up ice together as a unit and the puck movement on the breakout to the player who is asked to make the entry.When the puck is moved to the forward on the blue line, he is usually in isolation and has no support coming though with speed for a short little pass when pressured. Carrying the puck into the zone he is easily outnumbered and pressured for a turnover. When the do their drop pass, the player with the puck has speed crossing the blue line but the timing is off as all the other 4 forwards are frozen at the blue line and once again the forward has no support. We saw this Friday night on number of occasions where the entry was made and the player attempted to stickhandle through the box and several defenders only to turn it over. Looking back to when the pp was successful, the entries were made when the forwards has support and could either make a short 3 foot pass or a chip behind the defence where they had speed and numbers coming through for puck recovery. In my humble opinion, the power play was more successful when both Zink and Kapla were paired together on the first unit and and basically the pp was run from the top. Since they have split this pair up, use a forward on the back end and attempt to run things from down low, the pp has struggled. The numbers speak for themselves
I believe the Sat games against BU and BC speak for themselves. In order for this Lowell team to have success, they need to be aggressive on the forecheck. There is little doubt that this team can defend regardless of the system they play. However, we have seen that when they are passive they do not create turnovers which in turn limits their ability to penetrate to net front and get pucks to the net and as a result they do not create enough scoring chances to win. As we have seen from the first games of the series this weekend, things get much tighter in the playoffs. The intensity increases, time and space and scoring opportunities diminish. Defence, goaltending and special teams become even more critical. If Lowell can play an aggressive game where they can create some scoring chances in the offensive zone, I like our chances in the other facets of the game.
