Moose is back on the lineup sheet but not playing. I think it might be tough for him to see action the rest of the year. Maybe against BC is they are expecting a sweep. Fitzy back in with Reid. Can't wait to see how many PIM he gets tonight and if he can improve on his -8.
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UNH Hockey 2023-2024 Season Thread - End Of The Cellar-Dweller Era??
- Thread starter Scott
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To put Fitzgerald’s contributions on the blue line in perspective:
player, total points, +/-, penalty minutes
Huard, 20, +1, 12
Reid, 13, +2, 14
Lindner, 10, +3, 0
Gagne, 10, +5, 18
Jenson, 7, +8, 0
Babbage, 5, +5, 0
Fitzgerald, 3, -8, 42
With both games this weekend on the line, a very bold move by MS7 returning Fitzgerald to the lineup.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
To quote the movie Dodgeball 'It's a bold strategy Cotton let's see if it pays off for them"...
Ferrrao1994
Member
https://www.recorder.com/UMass-hock...emen-turn-page-to-series-against-UNH-54149363
Here's an excellent article that has great analysis for this weekend series.
Here's an excellent article that has great analysis for this weekend series.
Ferrrao1994
Member
2 early penalties from UNH already... they have to play with more discipline.
And I believe no shots. I’d take 2 guys in a wheelchair now before letting Huard and Fitzy play. Tough stumble by Alex on the 2nd goal
Ferrrao1994
Member
One step forward two steps back. Gotta win tomorrow.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
This is why we can't have nice things..its not that we played badly but had very few decent scoring opps. Would have been 5-2 ? If those goals had stood.
Pretty much expected this...they havent learned or decided to just take care of business when they have to.
Really is too bad but maybe they turn it around tomorrow.
I think they played terrible hockey. Huard had a puck at the point and tried to pass across to the other D and it was picked off, lucky it wasn't a breakaway. On the 2nd goal Alex fell which was tough, but Jensen completely misplayed the 2 on 1. The more and more I watch, defense is just terrible. They don't need to play great but the basics are missing.
And the power play. Can we decline from now on? In a must win game tomorrow, I say MS7 changes things up and puts Moose in net for his first game since 1/27 against VT.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Well I did say our PP is beyond atrocious...and I don't see how playing Muszelik makes for better hockey tonight..Hellsten isn't the reason they lost.
Wasn't pretty but it wasn't Army...close tho!! What frustrates me so much is the inconsistency. You have to give UMass some credit tho I dont think they were that great either; seems we paid for our mistakes more.
Offensively we werent that much better ; haven't looked at the final stats...
Again...came down to the basics and we just don't have it on a nightly basics when we need it the most.
.
UMass is pretty good on the road...I predict a sweep.
Prove me wrong 'Cats!
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Hope you’re right 65. It all starts tonight.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Meanwhile kudos to the UNH womens team for their win over BC last night and finishing up 3rd in HE...will host a playoff game next Saturday. I don't follow them but am thinking this is their best season in awhile...
Think I'll check out that game next week...good luck Wildcats!
Think I'll check out that game next week...good luck Wildcats!
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
OK, now after reading several times about how Fitzy "misplayed" a 3-on-1 a couple of weeks ago, and now Jensen "completely misplayed" a 2-on-1 last night ... norbie, are we asking enough questions about why these odd-man rushes are originating in the first place?? You seem to be giving the absent D-partners and/or covering forwards a pass for not being around to create these odd-man chances. Gagne fell "which was tough" ... well, him falling set up the 2-on-1 didn't it? Doesn't that put him higher in the blame pie chart than Jensen, who was unfortunately left (with the goalie) to clean up the mess that was dumped on them? I haven't seen the video yet (I will try later), but just on the surface of things, you seem to be inferring there is some fail-safe way of consistently breaking up 2-on-1's. Truth be told, short of improper spacing between the attacking skaters, it's usually a matter of "pick your poison" as the lone D, and hope for the best, isn't it?
The Fitzy stuff seems to have gotten to the next level of silly. So you say a young frosh playing his first season of D-1 hockey is the worst D on the team in terms of plus/minus?? Shocker. Maybe, just possibly, the coaching staff sees him as a future solution, and knowing some of their veterans won't be back next season, they want to have a succession plan that doesn't involve sitting him out, and ensuring he's going to be on the transfer list shortly?? Let's look at Babbage's plus/minus as a frosh ... -4, in less than half the games. Prorated, guess what?? -8. Wow.
I've seen the Fitzy "misplay" of the 3-on-1 that has led to lots of ridicule. Was he indecisive? Heck, yeah. Was it his fault that neither he nor Hellsten had support from the missing D AND a backchecking forward or two?? Uh, no. And 3-on-1 breaks should not be commonplace where any defender should be expected to routinely break it up (see earlier comments on 2-on-1's). Spacing of the attacking players again is always going to be the determining factor. Blaming the guy left behind to clean up the mess, as opposed to the guys who created it ... sorry, I'm not there with you. The fact that we normalize and tolerate the conditions that lead to these breaks, and not look to eliminate or minimize those shortcomings, well we're losing the plot right there.
I'm not ready to say that Fitzy is the next Gildon-in-training; Max took a lot of frosh heat too, while learning on the job. That he didn't handle what was probably his first-ever 3-on-1 counter in a live game at this level against guys with D-1 talent, shouldn't be his cross to bear. I hope he can handle the "tough love" approach, but if we want a program filled with more talented Fitzy's than with Joe Schmoe 3rd-pairing-for-life types like we've been watching for the better part of the last decade, this is the price you have to be prepared to pay. JMHO.
Darius
Go 'cats!
'cats lost to a basically equal team on the road. Disappointing, but no shame in that. Need to hold serve at home tonight. UNH is who they are, improved in that they are fighting for a first round bye with a now diminished outside chance at a home game in the HEA quarters. I'll take the improvement from recent seasons, competing for a home game in the HEA play in round.
Agree with Chuck on Fitzgerald. 6' 0' 165 lbs. Needs to bulk up, but I'm all for giving the North Reading kid some time.
In the back of my head is the concern that this is a Hellsten mirage. Listed as a Junior, he's eligible next season, correct?
Agree with Chuck on Fitzgerald. 6' 0' 165 lbs. Needs to bulk up, but I'm all for giving the North Reading kid some time.
In the back of my head is the concern that this is a Hellsten mirage. Listed as a Junior, he's eligible next season, correct?
Agree on this analysis. D mistakes are glaringly visible and therefore often maligned. Fitzy is a frosh with a lot of upside.
To follow up on Chuck’s post, I, too, remember Max Gildon having the puck stripped a few times on the PP at the blue line leading to 1 on 0 and 2 on 0 break always. And Gildon was 4 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Fitzgerald, and was a #66 overall NHL pick in 2017. Gildon’s numbers at UNH were -5, -7, -2; 23, 21, 29 points; 47, 45, 40 penalty minutes during the 2017/18, 2018/19, and 2019/20 seasons when the team was setting new lows each season. Gildon appears to be now playing in Europe after three seasons in the AHL. TvR and Brett Pesce from our earlier declining years, who also both left after their junior years, have been our most successful NHL D-men since Rod Langway.
During our last Frozen Four season in 2002/2003, Garrett Stanford, who returned for spring semester after credits for a summer course in California did not transfer making him ineligible to play fall semester, stabilized the blue line by scoring a goal and 15 assists, more than any of the other D-men (Horst, Lubesnick (Jumbotron!), Teplitsky, Truelson, Mounsey, Barker, Yandle) who played many more games that season. Of course, we had Mike Ayers who played all but 66 minutes in net and a couple high-scoring forward lines.
During our last Frozen Four season in 2002/2003, Garrett Stanford, who returned for spring semester after credits for a summer course in California did not transfer making him ineligible to play fall semester, stabilized the blue line by scoring a goal and 15 assists, more than any of the other D-men (Horst, Lubesnick (Jumbotron!), Teplitsky, Truelson, Mounsey, Barker, Yandle) who played many more games that season. Of course, we had Mike Ayers who played all but 66 minutes in net and a couple high-scoring forward lines.
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