UMass Lowell 2021-2022: Which way are we going?

[Patman]

Alright. Everybody's noted the low activity. Lets face it, the forum software kinda stinks and if it were up to me I'd move the UML hockey stuff to a discord server.

Nonetheless, hockey to play. Last season ended on fire but the tournament selectors denied taking into account two COVID enforced breaks and instead selected an elite school in our place. In the meantime we our two best players to this wacky object of a transfer portal including a player to Boston University, which frankly, IMO, is unforgivable. However, I've been against the open transfer portal because it makes everything unstable and I'm told I'm bad for not letting people make whatever choice they want. Meh. Either way, we are here and we play hockey.

I'll let others tell me whether or not we're supposed to be good because I just don't know anymore. As it is every year, every game counts towards March and that includes tonight against Arizona State. One thing is for sure, we haven't made the NCAA tournament in quite awhile and I don't like backwards progress when its coming after noted success and multiple league titles. We may never have the advantage of BU legacy or UMass resources but the program needs to find a way forward especially as the times become more and more changing and challenging. I'd say the hockey program is at the most questionable position since moving to Division 1 in the current zeitgeist of college sports. This year is important. Are we moving forward?

Nevertheless despite the players we lose we had some interesting pieces and last year's team was very different than what I feel like we're used to seeing and not in a negative way. Could this be building to something fun or is it going to stay a little bit funky?

This is my view from your nation's capital.

 

[ScottK]

In the meantime we our two best players to this wacky object of a transfer portal

McDonald was a better defenseman than Blackmun, but Blackmun provided more offense. Barton also was invisible for a while last season. Brown scored in bunches, but was also quiet for stretches too. He had a 9 game stretch out of 20 last season where he had 1 assist total (and 1 healthy scratch). Lee led the team in scoring, and he is back. In fact, Brown finished 3rd on the team last year, behind Stefanson too. I'm not trying to minimize the effect of these losses, but I don't think they're quite as big as some other people do.

Also, I think having a full offseason and no COVID stuff will allow Owen Savory to return closer to the form he showed at RPI. So the transfer portal isn't all bad.

One thing is for sure, we haven't made the NCAA tournament in quite awhile

Lowell was in the tournament in 2017, and before 2020 was abruptly ended at the start of the playoffs was 11th in the Pairwise, so they had a very good chance of making it that season too.

I'll let others tell me whether or not we're supposed to be good because I just don't know anymore.

I don't know what to expect. But, the 3 biggest questions to me are:

1. Can the goaltending get better? If the team save % is hovering around .900 again it will be a LONG season. If it's back up over .910-.915, we've got a chance to make some noise.
2. How much offense will the blueline provide? On defense, I think we're OK, but we need some of these guys to chip in offensively. Meehan and Korencik are the guys I think can do that.
3. Who will step up on offense? Lee, Stefanson, Condotta, Sodergren will all get their points. I need to see guys like Kaiser, Chambers, Knobluach and Latta step up. I have no idea what to expect from any of the freshmen.

 

[boblav1]

The lineup for tonight's game.

 

[Patman]

i know sometimes last season I felt like everything was slow... I attributed that to lack of fans and just visual weirdness. tonight's visual weirdness makes me feel like this game is being played in hyperspace mode

 

[Patman]

well i missed the first goal because i convinced myself that the game started at 1030 as UConn battles Vandy in football in my other tab. The stevenson goal... I don't think i've seen a breakaway that clean in so very long but the screen fuzzed out when we scored. Just the same... we look good so far but you know puck and do things and 40 minutes to go.

 

[Patman]

Something to bring up... ASU announcers, Bob, and half of humanity thought lowell scored number 4 during the 2nd but bob said the B10 refs brushed off Norm... don't know what to make of that

 

[boblav1]

That was ugly.

 

[Irishdave]

It was a good contest until the game misconduct. ASU took advantage of the man down for 5 minutes. Until the misconduct I thought UML was the hot team.
I am happy since I am a Sun Devil fan

 

[ScottK]

Something to bring up... ASU announcers, Bob, and half of humanity thought lowell scored number 4 during the 2nd but bob said the B10 refs brushed off Norm... don't know what to make of that

Coaches can only ask for 1 replay. Norm used his because they missed the 3rd goal too.

That missed goal completely changed the game. Had they scored it, Lowell would have been up 4-2. Instead, play continued, and Lowell eventually took a Too Many Men penalty. ASU scored on that power play to tie the game at 3. Lowell had been really controlling the game up to that point, and once it was tied, the play was fairly even for much of the remainder of the game.

There were some good things tonight (Crasa crashing the net for his 1st career goal, Stefanson's beauty of a breakaway), and some bad (4 PP Goals allowed, Welsch didn't look that great in net at times).

I'm not going to judge too much on Opening Night. I'm more interested in how they come out tomorrow at this point.

 

[boblav1]

Coaches can only ask for 1 replay. Norm used his because they missed the 3rd goal too.

That missed goal completely changed the game. Had they scored it, Lowell would have been up 4-2. Instead, play continued, and Lowell eventually took a Too Many Men penalty. ASU scored on that power play to tie the game at 3. Lowell had been really controlling the game up to that point, and once it was tied, the play was fairly even for much of the remainder of the game.

There were some good things tonight (Crasa crashing the net for his 1st career goal, Stefanson's beauty of a breakaway), and some bad (4 PP Goals allowed, Welsch didn't look that great in net at times).

I'm not going to judge too much on Opening Night. I'm more interested in how they come out tomorrow at this point.

Thanks Scott. i watched the video so it was hard to tell if that one went in or not. A frustrating game as the Hawks controlled the play for much of the night and lost a very winnable game. Hopefully they can stay out of the box and get the split tonight. I assume we'll see Savory. It was also nice to see Ryan Brushett score his first River Hawks goal.

 

[Sol Diablo]

Looked to me like UML mostly controlled the non-PP portion of the game while ASU mostly controlled the PP's, from watching the game, seeing the dynamics, besides the scoring showing such. We'll see if it's the same today....

 

[boblav1]

Here's the Hawks 3rd goal that was awarded after a review. I would love to see a replay of the other possible goal that was not reviewed.

 

[boblav1]

The lineup for game 2.

 

[boblav1]

The Hawks get the split with a 4-2 win. I thought Savory looked solid. Crasa with 2 goals and an assist. That's 3 goals for him on the weekend.

 

[Patman]

Looked to me like UML mostly controlled the non-PP portion of the game while ASU mostly controlled the PP's, from watching the game, seeing the dynamics, besides the scoring showing such. We'll see if it's the same today....

I thought you guys were opening a new facility? No? Was it just a ground breaking?

 

[Sol Diablo]

The Hawks get the split with a 4-2 win. I thought Savory looked solid. Crasa with 2 goals and an assist. That's 3 goals for him on the weekend.

I think overall the Hawks looked like the better team, especially taking into account playing away and at a super-small arena. Hopefully its just new season jitters for the Devils.......

 

[Sol Diablo]

I thought you guys were opening a new facility? No? Was it just a ground breaking?

New arena opening is set for December next year -2022. They just had the steel topping ceremony last week. Groundbreaking was very early this year.

 

[boblav1]

I think overall the Hawks looked like the better team, especially taking into account playing away and at a super-small arena. Hopefully its just new season jitters for the Devils.......

The best of luck the rest of the way. I assume ASU will be visiting Lowell next season?

 

[Patman]

New arena opening is set for December next year -2022. They just had the steel topping ceremony last week. Groundbreaking was very early this year.

watching the livesteam was a heck and a half the whole weekend with the camera perspectives... what was more annoying was the ASU stream would refresh after each period and I was trying to sync up with the UML audio which was behind like 10 seconds so i had to recalibrate every period.

 

[Middle Street]

It sounds like the team played pretty well for their first weekend series of the year. Decent shot totals and several new faces have already earned a point. Matt Crasa is off to a great start as a Freshman. He was named the HE player of the week! This team could really use a Freshman that produces at the level CJ Smith or Scott Wilson did in their first year on the team. Here's hoping.

I'm also glad Owen Savory played well in his first start. As Scott pointed out, the team save % needs to be better overall this season.

I'm excited to see this team in person in two weeks. Hopefully the team can get the 5 minute majors out of their system by then.