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UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

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Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

RENCEB said:
HE ROTY is already clinched. Not sure what the competition is nationally, but he has to be on a very short list. Would be great to see the national ROTY's coming out of HE AND the Merrimack Valley in recent years (Da Costa 3 years ago).
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CHN's Joe Meloni thinks Wilson should be the HE ROTY.
 
Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

UMLFan said:
So just looking at this hellacious stretch that we've been wondering about (and I'm going to include PITA PC) ... are Lowell fans happy so far with a (record-wise) mediocre 2-2 (including 1-2 at home)?

As this season has played out, we all knew this stretch (starting with Maine, through the end of the regular season) was going to be the toughest part of the schedule. I'm not all that thrilled with the 1-2 at home, but there's no denying that this team, even with the two losses, is playing pretty good hockey. I thought they took it to both Maine and BU in their losses, but just couldn't finish the chances they had. In that respect, I think Lowell got a bit lucky that BU didn't finish their chances on Saturday night either. Carr had one bad game, but I loved his rebound performance on Saturday night. I honestly thought on Friday night that the freshmen seemed to struggle, like the pressure finally got to them, but then Wilson stepped right back up on Saturday night, while Wallin had a couple of great plays (as did Suter on the defensive side).

I can see these final four games going in every possible directions, from 4-0 to 1-3 (I can't see Lowell losing all the games). I believe one win gives Lowell fans their first home playoff series in a decade, but at this point, it's beyond just that from a fan's perspective. I'm looking at the NCAAs as well, not that I ever thought I'd be typing/talking about that this year.

At this point, it would appear a pretty safe bet that a) Lowell will host a series and b) their competition will be one of UNH, UMass, NU or PC. UNH has played one more game than all of those teams, and PC is currently 6th, but having two games against red-hot BC and then playing Lowell makes for a very very tough end of season stretch for the Friars.
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I look at it this way, Lowell has split its games against BU and Maine/Merrimack. Neither I nor anyone else would have a problem with that against the upper tier of the league. These were all highly ranked teams (Top 15) when we played them and going 2-2 doesn't really bother me. I do think that Saturday's game is a must-win, as losing that game would yield three home losses in a row. For a very likely home-ice seed, losing three or four in a row at home isn't the way you want to go into the playoffs. This is the time what I would like to see Lowell start to turn in up a notch for whatever the post-season will bring. They have two quality opponents and four games to work on that. I'd be OK with 2-2 to round out the season, but gladly will take more. If you split this weekend, you have at least fourth place.

While I will agree that home-ice may not mathematically or statistically mean anything over a large sample set, ask the 2010 River Hawks what home-ice meant to Maine during the HE quarterfinals. I think you would get a strong and sound argument that home-ice in the quarterfinals is a much bigger deal that what some may think and it's purely not based on anything mathematical or statistical. Play those three games in the Tsongas Arena in 2010 with Maine having to travel, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened.
 
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Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

Patman said:
My point is that people are reading too much into it.
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Eh ... just something to talk about. Honestly, I'm just so excited about this season that I want to talk more about it.

BTW, for all the talk of home ice not being that important:
10-11 season: 3 of the higher seeds won.
09-10 season: 3 of the higher seeds won.
08-09 season: 2 of the higher seeds won.
07-08 season: all the higher seeds won.
06-07 season: all the higher seeds won.
05-06 season: all the higher seeds won.
04-05 season: all the higher seeds won.
03-04 season: 3 of the higher seeds won.
02-03 season: 2 of the higher seeds won.
01-02 season: all the higher seeds won.

In the last 10 years of play, only 7 times has the lower seed won in the playoffs out of 40 series.
 
Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

UMLFan said:
In the last 10 years of play, only 7 times has the lower seed won in the playoffs out of 40 series.
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That might have something to do with the fact that the lower-seeded teams are always objectively worse than the higher-seeded teams. But as for me, regardless of whether home ice will give the 'Hawks a boost, I just want to see playoff hockey at the Tsongas.
 
Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

There WILL be a student bus heading to Lawler on Friday night. Love how this rivalry is growing again.
 
Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

jrobes01 said:
There WILL be a student bus heading to Lawler on Friday night. Love how this rivalry is growing again.
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That's great to hear actually. Since Lowell didn't have tickets available, I'm surprised they found a way to make this happen.
 
Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

If you go to the Riverhawks website, the front page currently mentions a "White-Out" weekend, which does include the bus trip.

Also another pretty nice idea for a promotion for Saturday night.

BTW, Lowell's attendance best for a year took place during the 09/10 season, with an average of 4,664 per game. At this point, Lowell is at 5,036 for the season (4th best in Hockey East). In other words, Lowell should have a good chance to break their attendance record this season.
 
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Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

UMLFan said:
That's great to hear actually. Since Lowell didn't have tickets available, I'm surprised they found a way to make this happen.
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I'm not sure what the story is with the tickets over at Merrimack. They had an advertisement in the Eagle Tribune today, Buy two adult tickets and get two youth tickets free, call the box office for details. So there appears to be tickets still available. It's "Family Hockey Night" at Merrimack Friday night.
 
Re: UML 2011-2012 Thread: Part II

boblav1 said:
I'm not sure what the story is with the tickets over at Merrimack. They had an advertisement in the Eagle Tribune today, Buy two adult tickets and get two youth tickets free, call the box office for details. So there appears to be tickets still available. It's "Family Hockey Night" at Merrimack Friday night.
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That is odd....and it wasn't just that the Lowell allocation was supposed to be tight, it was all tickets.
 
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