UMass Lowell 2024-2025 Season: Expectations are.....Expectations

[Patman]

Obviously not a decision solely up to him but I can imagine he pushed for it heavily. He seemed very frustrated with the quick turnaround in the postgame presser last night. He said something along the lines of “Now we play again in 20 hours which the league approved of but didn’t tell us until a few weeks ago. It’s nice to have a 3:30 game and they’ve been out since 4 o’clock, that’s a whole separate issue”. From a competitive standpoint and even a player safety standpoint, would you be shocked if he went to league office and complained? The league then meets him in the middle-ish and moves it up an hour.

Probably right

 

[boblav1]

Today's lineup:
Out: Crasa, MacDonald and Brandon
In: Silkalns, Owens and Becker

 

[UMLSec123]

Half-assed effort by Buttazoni in that OT at both ends of the ice

Great they rallied but all weekend defensive breakdowns hurt them

 

[boblav1]

What a wasted weekend. Unbelievable, another too many men on the ice penalty, this time in overtime. Too much indecision on that breakaway in overtime. Shoot the puck!!

 

[FiveLetterBird]

10 goals given up on the weekend… holy shit.

 

[ScottK]

8 penalties this season for Too Many Men - most in Hockey East.
16 penalties over the past 2 seasons for Too Many Men - most in Hockey East.

Today it came back to bite them hard. This absolutely needs to be corrected and quickly.

 

[Beauty]

You can't have a too many men penalty in 3 v 3 overtime. Good hockey game though. Thought UML had the better team most of the game.

 

[UMLFan]

I could be wrong, but feels like it's been a while since we had a hat trick, so it was nice to see Bentley get one. And we scored more than 3 goals, so there's that. Other that that, horrible weekend. 2 wins in their last 8 games. Somehow staying in a relatively safe space on the PWR (#11 currently), but they have to get out of this funk.

 

[Patman]

I could be wrong, but feels like it's been a while since we had a hat trick, so it was nice to see Bentley get one. And we scored more than 3 goals, so there's that. Other that that, horrible weekend. 2 wins in their last 8 games. Somehow staying in a relatively safe space on the PWR (#11 currently), but they have to get out of this funk.

I said we were 3 losses safe from the next team down... but all that safety is gone now.

now that could have been 2 losses and somebody else having a weekend sweep. When I said that it had nothing to do with the other guys.

Either way, we're playing for our season hard now whereas if he had swept this weekend we probably could have coasted to the end.

 

[boblav1]

I could be wrong, but feels like it's been a while since we had a hat trick, so it was nice to see Bentley get one. And we scored more than 3 goals, so there's that. Other that that, horrible weekend. 2 wins in their last 8 games. Somehow staying in a relatively safe space on the PWR (#11 currently), but they have to get out of this funk.

Beautiful moves by Bentley on his third goal. They had the lead with 5 minutes to go but couldn't close it out. They need to tighten up the defensive zone. Three goals against yesterday by player's uncovered or partially covered around the net. I also think Beni could use a night off. Hopefully Henry will be available against Northeastern

Hard to believe they are still at #11 in the PWR. They control their own destiny; it's time to step it up. It would be a shame to let this opportunity slip away.

Any word if Libor Nemec will be back this season?

 

[UMLFan]

Wanted to add ... I think pre-injury Buttazzoni finishes on that breakaway to win the game.

 

[UMLSec123]

Wanted to add ... I think pre-injury Buttazzoni finishes on that breakaway to win the game.

Same, for whatever reason since he's been back I feel he has been holding on to the puck way too long and puck hogging even with a man open

 

[ScottK]

I could be wrong, but feels like it's been a while since we had a hat trick, so it was nice to see Bentley get one. And we scored more than 3 goals, so there's that. Other that that, horrible weekend. 2 wins in their last 8 games. Somehow staying in a relatively safe space on the PWR (#11 currently), but they have to get out of this funk.

Crasa had the 4-goal game at Colgate last season.

 

[umlhockey22490]

buttazoni pre injury was beginning to show he was trying to hold the puck too long. reminds me of certain someone....... which is not a good thing (damn Brushett) . But at least Buttazoni tries on defense unlike him lol. There is always a time and a place for holding the puck... to get your guys better lanes etc... but our team doesnt seem to like moving much on the offensive end.

 

[UMLFan]

Beautiful moves by Bentley on his third goal. They had the lead with 5 minutes to go but couldn't close it out. They need to tighten up the defensive zone. Three goals against yesterday by player's uncovered or partially covered around the net. I also think Beni could use a night off. Hopefully Henry will be available against Northeastern

Hard to believe they are still at #11 in the PWR. They control their own destiny; it's time to step it up. It would be a shame to let this opportunity slip away.

Any word if Libor Nemec will be back this season?

Just saw in today's Lowell Sun that Nemec is back skating at least.

 

[umlhockey22490]

Just saw in today's Lowell Sun that Nemec is back skating at least.

we need his net front prescence.....badly

 

[boblav1]

Season isn't over for Lowell basketball, but for all the talk about this extremely experienced roster (15 players on the roster, 5 redshirt/actual freshmen and the rest all seniors or grads) ... and coming off the hope of 2 straight years of making the AE Final ... this team is in trouble. Now 4-5 in league play after today's loss, this team is lacking something. And with so much talent leaving after this season, Lowell's future isn't bright unless they absolutely nail the transfer portal. I desperately hope they can figure things out the remainder of this season.

The BB team lost another one last night in overtime. They were up by 6 with under a minute to go and couldn't close it out. They (15-10, 4-6 AE) lost its second straight and have now dropped five of its last seven games. What's going on?

 

[UMLFan]

The BB team lost another one last night in overtime. They were up by 6 with under a minute to go and couldn't close it out. They (15-10, 4-6 AE) lost its second straight and have now dropped five of its last seven games. What's going on?

They're now 5th in AE, this season is tanking fast for them.
Back to hockey for a minute ... March 1st is the deadline for schools to opt-in on the House v NCAA Settlement. Looking at the current commits on the roster, it doesn't appear Lowell will opt-in. From Mike McMahon:

Teams opting in are permitted to provide direct NIL payments to student-athletes. The schools can determine the level of benefits they will provide up to the limit (expected to be $22 million). Schools that opt in will be bound by the NCAA’s new roster limits (26 players for men’s hockey), and scholarship limits will be eliminated for those schools.

Schools that don’t opt-in cannot provide direct NIL payments but can provide Alston payments of up to $5,980 per athlete. Those schools are still bound by the current scholarship limit (18 in men’s hockey).

 

[Will]

They're now 5th in AE, this season is tanking fast for them.
Back to hockey for a minute ... March 1st is the deadline for schools to opt-in on the House v NCAA Settlement. Looking at the current commits on the roster, it doesn't appear Lowell will opt-in. From Mike McMahon:

I'm definitely not surprised they are opting out. The settlement roster limits for cross country are 17 per school; Lowell currently has over 50 men on their XC roster. UML men's XC has won the last 5 America East champs; I'm sure the school is keeping that in mind.

 

[Patman]

They're now 5th in AE, this season is tanking fast for them.
Back to hockey for a minute ... March 1st is the deadline for schools to opt-in on the House v NCAA Settlement. Looking at the current commits on the roster, it doesn't appear Lowell will opt-in. From Mike McMahon:

the at-large view is that only the power schools are going to opt in. Of course this whole house settlement reeks of the judiciary usurping the role of congress but that gets into a whole big political argument.

there's a lot of nonsense going around that I haven't discussed here. a lot of these rulings at various points are even to the point where you could argue the chess team should be paid if they go off campus for events.

I participated in 3 regional quiz bowl tournaments at UML, where's my settlement.