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UNH At The Starting Gate....

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Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

So, UNH rolls over undefeated and #2 BU 5-2 at home (I can't remember a bigger margin of victory over BU at the Whitt in a while) and currently has the longest unbeaten streak in the nation (9). That was one of the best games I've seen them play against a good team in a long time. I wonder if we'll get any more interest from the wildcat 'fans'.
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

Nick Sorkin is on the board - will the floodgates open?
It's comforting watching the seasoned six - Kessel, Kostolansky, Campanale, Hardowa, Kipp & Beck - play. They rarely make mistakes, consistently get the puck out of their end, and keep the front of the net relatively clear.
From the TV, it looked like Kessel was skating at 100% - no lingering leg issue.
Thompson was gunning for the hat trick and almost had it.
These early season, strong games against highly ranked teams will sure help in the eventual Pairwise Rankings. What a difference a year makes.
It was great to see Coach Parker looking so healthy.
On to Agganis.
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

-Glad to see Sorkin get his goal. Much effort over the last few games.
-First line isnt creating magic. Time to move people around?
-Fourth line looks great (for unh fourth). Silengo battles for pucks... Goumas can "pick pocket" and they create scoring chances.
Carry this momentum into agannis. Go CATS!!!!
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

What game did you watch?

That line dominated for long stretches and accounted for 3 of the 5 goals.

This team needs to stay balanced. It is not going to win with a single line (although 60% of the offense is a good number 1). It is a roll 4 kind of team.

This team will hit games were the other team has a good checking line and shuts down a line. Unlike the recent past this group has enough depth that others pick up the scoring.

I don't much care about individual numbers - I like the wins.
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

JB said:
That line dominated for long stretches and accounted for 3 of the 5 goals.
Click to expand...
A huge part of Coach Parker's "Men playing with boys" comment, they will soon be widely recognized as one of the country's best lines.

JB said:
It is a roll 4 kind of team.
Click to expand...
The kind of team that goes deep into the conference and NCAA tournaments.

The pre-holiday part of the season lays a foundation for the rest of the season when the good teams get better. Beating Miami, BC, Cornell, etc. (OK maybe not Cornell this year) in October/November is much different than beating them in February/March and hopefully April.

UNH must continue to improve. Having said that and not wanting to throw the hex on the team, I haven't felt as positive about the 'cats since mid February 2003. Already with set lines pending Burke's return, exuding confidence, possessing a strong work ethic and loaded with talent, this might be a special team. The only reason I say "might" is that it is still November.

Kudos to the fans this year, especially the students. Now if I can just convince my daughter to pick up the cow bell...
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

What? So rather have one of them in the top instead of spreading the scoring out? I would much rather have what they have right now, I am fine no one in the top 5 of scoring if they play like they did last night!! I don't care if they don't have anyone in the top 100, they are playing a solid 4 line team game, and by the way that under producing line only had had 7 points last night
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

A friend of mine told me UNH has 5 players with 5 goals, which at this point of the season makes for a balanced attack. I haven't researched to see if its true, because frankly I'm too lazy to do it right now :)
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

Saetia22 said:
Clearly. They were great against UMASS. Bur still.... one of these great players should be top 5 in the nation in terms of scoring.
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UNH does not have a skater in the top 50 for scoring right now, and that is fine by me.

Looking forward to my visit at Agganis tonight. :)
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

Yes- unlike many yr of the recent past- UNH has LEGIT scoring threats on each of the top 3 lines - Goumas is also looking like a skater that may not be all that far behind than Sorkin. That depth is aparent by how many times we see the 3rd & 4th lines put the puck in deep &creating scoring chances etc. They have simply been better than other teams 3rd & 4th lines- All but 1 Forward has an Even or positive +/-. What is going to happen with McCarey, Goumas & Silengo start to put up points-- and they will.. just a matter of time.

Good win!

I'd also like to thank NESN and BU for allowing UNH to have a NESN broadcast. With all the BU player interviews and BU school adds, I wouldn't have known it was a UNH HOME game.. dinks.
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

I thoroughly enjoyed watching last night's skating of UNH around BU....yes in my years in watching this rivalry, it was the best that UNH has dominated a BU team, but as I was leaving, a former UNH teammate of mine who know's his stuff after working in the Apple for years, said that BU wasn't that deep and had a soft D so he wasn't surprised...he was there following a couple of his recruits on BU, so now I'm just as cautious about tonight's rematch at Agganis.......if UNH can repeat it's game, then I'll begin to enjoy the Holidays, otherwise it's the predictable split of the weekend match-up.....but UNH did look good last night, and seems to have learned from it's starting schedule....Go Cats!
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

Had a bit of a chuckle at the post-game ad that ran on 96.7 (UNH Sports Network flagship) featuring Greg from the Morning Buzz, they were advertising UNH @ Lowell 4 tickets, 4 sodas, 4 hot dogs for $30 - in and of it's self pretty smart marketing from UML, and then they end the ad with "help turn the Tsongas Center in to a UNH home game" :eek: :D Not sure that I'd be too happy if I were a Lowell fan.
 
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Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

I know what it looks like, you guys think I jinxed your Cats on purpose or something (as if I would do that the night you were playing BU). Clearly not the case.

So what, they lost a game in November... happens to BC's national title teams all the time. This is still UNH's year, Umile will guide the Cats to the promised land!!!!! Go Cats!!
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

It's early...personally I'm happy to have a split with BU on the weekend, especially since it's only the 2nd time BU has beaten UNH at the Agganis. :)
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

Carmine Scarpaglia said:
I know what it looks like, you guys think I jinxed your Cats on purpose or something (as if I would do that the night you were playing BU). Clearly not the case.

So what, they lost a game in November... happens to BC's national title teams all the time. This is still UNH's year, Umile will guide the Cats to the promised land!!!!! Go Cats!!
Click to expand...

I'm detecting some scarcasm there...
 
Re: UNH At The Starting Gate....

Agganis Arena was a very pleasant venue to watch a hockey game. It's reminiscent of the Whitt size-wise. The main difference is the concourse around the arena is not open to the ice. Pretty decent food and, of course, beer. My daughter and I, donned in UNH jerseys, were not hassled by anyone. In fact, we sat next to a father and young son, also cheering for UNH, so we clapped and yelled whenever we wanted. Leaving the parking lot and getting back to the Mass Pike made getting from the UNH parking lots to Route 4 look like an express train.

Several factors contributed to the loss:
(1) BU was pretty effective at negating UNH's speed advantage by:
a. Having their handful of players with NHL prototype bodies level UNH's speedsters all over the ice, whether they were involved in the play or not. Nick Sorkin got creamed near the blue line just trying to skate out of the defensive zone and he half-staggered to the bench. No penalty called.
b. They tried to expand the amount of space between their players by making long cross-ice and up-ice passes and by having a couple of forwards hang out on opposite ends of the blue line prior to entering their offensive zone (sort of a Merrimack strategy times 2).
(2) Although their goalie Rollheiser faced a barage of 41 shots and left a lot of rebounds in front of him, the UNH guys just didn't get to enough of them.
(3) Having the second UNH goal disallowed after a lengthy review seemed to be a momentum killer. BU goalies seemed to be adept at lifting the goal off its mooring at just the right moment.
(4) Mike Beck and Damon Kipp fell back into some bad habits (e.g., not clearing their own zone). At one pivotal moment, Beck was called for a penalty in the neutral zone, he threw his arms up with a whining face, and just stood there. Meanwhile, BU continued the play because UNH had not touched the puck and flew into the UNH end for a couple of good shots.
(5) UNH seemed to run out of gas as the third period went on. Hard skating and over 80 shots on goal over two consecutive nights will do that.

If someone had approached me on Thursday and offered a split with a highly ranked team while outshooting them by a large margin, I would have taken it.

UNH needs to take Brown seriously on Tuesday. They beat Cornell in Ithaca tonight.
 
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