Re: UNH Hockey: Treading Water or Trending Upward
Made it to the arena last night, ran into HR between periods briefly, and had a near-miss with deltabravo. Also stumbled myself unwittingly into "Dollar Hot Dog Night", which could have been lethal had it not been so close after New Year's and its resolutions (limited myself to a modest 2 dog haul). And capped things off with an improbable encounter with one of my fellow coaches on a rare mutual weekend night away from the pitch. He showed some impressive prognostication skills by predicting the first 3 UNH goal scorers, in order, before missing on the fourth (ENG) goal, opting for Kelleher instead of Grasso. Luke has provided me with tonight's lottery numbers, so this will hopefully be my last post as an active member of the working class, and starting next week I'll be even more available than usual to pontificate ad nauseum on here. Oh, and maybe even go surfing with Tulsi Gabbard.
Anyway, putting aside the usual silliness … it was nice to see MS7 giving Taylor his latest shot in goal, and I think it's fair to say that this time, young TT rose to the occasion, facing more shots in quantity, and probably by an even wider gap in quality, than his opposite number at the other end of the ice. I don't think it's an overstatement to say that UNH's defense stayed in the locker room for at least the first 5 minutes of last night's game, as there were about 3-4 clear chances with attacking Yale forwards left one-on-one with the UNH soph, but none of those Yale guys were able to capitalize - and it seemed like Taylor's confidence grew from there. He was deprived of a shutout in the second period during a PK when one of his teammates lost his stick, turning a 5 v. 4 effectively into a 5 v. 3. Lots of stick-sharing ensued, but they never quite caught up before the red light beat them to it.
This was the first time I've seen Taylor play in person, and the only thing that jumped out at me early - other than him making all the stops on the early clear-cut chances - was his apparent hesitance to handle the puck. He gradually started to handle things a little bit behind his net later in the game, and on one or two occasions he almost got himself into hot water. But otherwise, his approach to handling even routine stuff was akin to the puck being a hot potato. Definitely something I'm sure the staff is aware of, and perhaps a reason why we've seen so little of him up to this point. But he handled himself well with basic positioning, took care of the rest, and didn't seem as prone to leaving fat rebounds out there as his opposite number was. I'd be disappointed if MS7 didn't seize upon the opportunity to give him a second straight start tonight against Brown. He earned it last night.
The game played out as another example of the "first goal principal" I've always advocated, and you couldn't have hoped to get off to a better start than with the opening goal, which looked like it came off a diagrammed play - clean face-off win, dot-to-dot back on defense, pop the puck up to the center, still in the circle, and a quick one-touch pass to the right wing coming through the neutral zone with speed, skating past the opposing D, and finishing nicely at the crease. 9 seconds flat. If that wasn't a set play, I'm Santa Claus. The coaches could take some pride, I'm sure set plays are in place for lots of situational hockey, but I can't ever remember one working so cleanly from the opening faceoff. Then there was a Yale penalty within 2 seconds of the next face-off. Had UNH not reciprocated a minute later, and the defense not taken a 5 minute siesta around that time, it would've been perfect.
Yale was not a very talented offensive team, but they were not afraid to play a physical game, and I thought it put UNH back on its heels well into the game, even as Yale was chasing the game for (quite literally) 60 minutes. I guess it always amazes me when one of these Ivy ECAC teams comes in and batters a UNH team physically. UNH seemed more willing to push back later in the game, and there were some final buzzer skirmishes that almost broke out. As always, I'd like to see UNH play a tougher game.
Impressions of the UNH defense … Gildon has played better, and at times he looked bored, while at other times he took chances with the puck in his own end that almost blew up in his face. He and Wyse do seem to regularly tilt the ice in UNH's favor when they're out there, and you can't say the same about the second two pairings (MacKinnon/Verrier or Maass/Eriksson). I'd like to think there's still a chance Gildon returns next season, but my gut feeling after watching him extensively last night (which at least this time lines up with the conventional wisdom) is that he's gone after March. He has huge talent, and if harnessed properly in the future at the next level, he could be a legit first pairing guy in The Show. If someone doesn't get into his head, though, he might never see a day above the AHL. It's almost as if he's a left-hand shot version of UNH's Blake Kessel from a decade ago.
Up at the other end … Blackburn stands out as another talented kid who (for whatever reason) really is only scratching at the surface of his talent and potential. There were a few times last night when he made some tricky plays look incredibly easy … but then it would be another 10 minutes before you noticed him again. Unless he goes on a late run down the stretch, I think he's just the latest kid who is going to leave after four years, with all of us wondering how such a talented player never really broke out and showed us what he had. He'll sign an ECHL contract in March, and it's up to him if he takes it from there to the AHL or to Europe. Should be the former - with a potential 3rd line NHL upside if he defends better and more physically - but with him, it's hard to tell.
Score four goals, and you should win. UNH has now done that twice since the break, and split those games. I thought overall UNH was outplayed for the first two periods, but looked better in finishing the game in the 3rd period. They need to take that into the Brown game tonight, post another W, and then get ready for the onslaught of the remainder of the HE regular season. It would be an added bonus if Taylor got another start (and another W) after last night, and begin to answer some of the questions I've raised about UNH's outlook for the goalie position over the next couple of seasons.
A .500 or better record, and a mid-March tourney trip to Boston, that's all I ask.
Go 'Cats! Beat the team that lost to Bentley please....
