For me, not seeing or listening to Friday’s win made Saturday’s loss seem worse than it was. Excerpts from Al Pike’s Daily Democrat article summarize it well:
"I think we made a few mistakes that ended up in the back of our net," said senior forward Austin Block. "We could have done that better. We're not perfect. It wasn't lack of effort, that's for sure. I don't think anyone's discouraged. It's frustrating but it's just one of those things you have to put behind you. Next weekend's going to be tough (against Providence). We've got to get focused on that."
“I thought we played pretty good,” said junior forward Dalton Speelman. "Consistency and momentum are key, but we worked hard. We put up 50 shots. That's pretty good shooting in a game. We're playing pretty well, we've just got to figure out a way to get the puck in the back of the net."
"We had a ton of chances," Block said. "A few questionable penalties hurt us. Their goalie played well and we didn't find a way to get it past him."
Speelman had a couple of quality scoring chances in the second period but came up empty. One of his attempts labeled for the top right corner was reviewed, but ruled no goal.
Speelman had another opportunity with 16.3 seconds left in the period with UNH on a power play. He was denied by Marotta from in tight as he was being taken down by a Merrimack defender. No penalty was called on the play. "It's definitely frustrating," Speelman said. "We didn't take away the goalies eyes as well as we should have maybe."
"Marotta played a very good game," Umile said. "Some shots I believe he didn't see, but he was in position to make the save."
"It's just disappointing," Umile said, "because I thought the guys played hard and have nothing to show for it. It's a missed opportunity by us.
A lack of true snipers/goal scorers, poor timing (Henrion’s penalty just after the goal review, last Friday’s first minute/last minute goals against) and an inability to seize “championship” moments are a problem. We could be tied for first place with a game in hand, but are instead facing a weekend against a team we recently lost to that could put us temporarily out of home ice for the playoffs. On the plus side we have league parity going for us.
Sorkin needs to be given a hard look. One must assume his injury won’t heal faster with rest and won’t worsen by playing. A fan next to me commented that he seems to be playing one handed. Is he better at less than 100% than Gaudreault or Macdonald at full strength?
Sitting at the end of the reviewed non-goal, it looked good, my instant reaction was looking at the referee who was not signaling goal. Can anyone explain why we were charged a time out? I assume it was because we asked for the review, but I don’t recall a team being charged a time out before, perhaps because most replays are called for by the referee.
Speelman should have gotten a call. His break away was a stride from warranting a penalty shot.
