Re: UML '09/'10 Season Thread
The same old story tonight, no goal scoring and stupid penalties, other than that the team played well. Talk about gift wrapping a game for Amherst with the penalties at the end. I'm not sure how many healthy bodies Blaise has sitting in the stands, but there are a few guys that should be sitting next weekend for taking bad penalties over the past few games.
This pretty much is a summation of where the River Hawks have been for years. Last night, they dominated the play of the Minuteman for most of that game, yet, only got a single goal to show for it. Say what you want about the disallowed goal changing the game, it did. The River Hawks didn't have that same edge afterward. Amherst scores the next goal on an awful defensive play and Lowell couldn't find the net except for a nice play in the second to tie the game. Amherst was 1/7 on the PP but Lowell was 0/5. I'm focusing more on the zero on the PP for Lowell than referee's calls.
The bottom line is this...the River Hawks and Amherst were tied 1-1 after two periods of both games over the weekend. The River Hawks had every chance in each of the third periods to take points from those games but found ways to lose (no matter what the method). Lowell is the team that according to the pundits at the beginning of the year have the talent to take this type of game. They certainly have not shown this since the 3rd period of the UNH game in November. I'm tired of hearing the referees are awful or DII small sister excuse, why bother saving the team in 2007 if resigned to this. If you score goals and know what it takes to win, you don't have a problems with penalties or wins most of the time. This is something the River Hawks haven't done consistently over a season in over 15 years.
I actually agree with the previous poster, I think it is time for a few people to sit and let another person take his place. Let's be honest, unless they run the table for the rest of the season, the regular season title and an NCAA at-large berth is gone from a team that was expected to be there. While now more difficult, the River Hawks still have a good chance of securing home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. In some ways, I hope it gives them more incentive considering that they are just two points away from a tie for sixth place, with a game in hand against BU but more importantly, UVM has a game on us. The Amherst sweep will cost Lowell a full seed at the end of the season. Now instead of Northeastern or Merrimack coming to town, it may be Vermont or BU coming to town.
With two more games against Maine, and three against Boston College, the River Hawks have a difficult but doable road to lock up a #3 or #4 seed in Hockey East. Two games at home vs. Merrimack and Boston College that are must wins. Otherwise, our home ice prospects are going to be endangered.
Watching this team (for the long haul) is like the movie Groundhog Day, seeing the same story play out over and over again. The problem with this is that the coaching staff (and deservingly so) is going to catch a lot of heat from supporters and fans if this upcoming weekend snowballs for the River Hawks.
