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UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

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Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Excellent hockey game tonight! Fast paced action, great tempo, up and down for both teams!! Really fun to watch!! If the refs would've stayed out of the way, it would've been better, when isn't that the case though. Thoroughly entertaining hockey!!
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Really impressed with the team for the most part tonight. A couple of players, specifically Downing seemed to be fighting the puck, but for the most part I thought as the game went on UNH thoroughly outplayed Michigan. It's hard to imagine if they have the same effort tomorrow it ends up as a tie. Wyer looked solid, and TVR made multiple players look silly. It was good to see the Michigan shot totals down compared to what they game up last week.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Also did anyone see the Speelman hit? It happened right in front of my section, but my initial impression of it was shoulder to shoulder. I do know the MI player ended up spinning into the boards but I didn't see the contact to the head. Anyone record the game and get a good shot of it?
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Dropkicknh said:
Also did anyone see the Speelman hit? It happened right in front of my section, but my initial impression of it was shoulder to shoulder. I do know the MI player ended up spinning into the boards but I didn't see the contact to the head. Anyone record the game and get a good shot of it?
Click to expand...

I haven't had a chance to watch the DVR, but from the top of the 101. It looked almost like a glancing blow that started shoulder to shoulder, but Speelman kind of came upward during the hit thus making contact with the head. Didn't seem like he was targeting, just possibly bad technique or I don't know if he thought he was really gonna make contact as much as he did. Still a penalty though. I would deem this probably fell under the reckless player mandate from the points of emphasis in the rule book this year. Page 8 if you have the PDF file;p
Code: 
Contact to the Head
    This is an important safety issue and the committee is concerned about some
violent contact that has occurred in the game and caused injury. To make this
rule clearer, any time a player targets the head or neck area of an opponent, it
must be a major penalty and a game misconduct penalty at a minimum. This
rule is not intended to cover incidental contact or contact with the head that
occurs that should be a minor penalty (e.g., unintentional high stick, body check
where the contact is initiated at the shoulder or torso, but the follow through
makes some contact with the head). Clear direction is being provided here to
assist officials, coaches and players with this rule.
   The committee reminds coaches and players that the responsibility remains
with the player making the hit to avoid contact with the head and neck area of
an opposing player. Any contact which directly targets the player’s head and
neck area must be penalized with a major penalty and a game misconduct or
disqualification. A player delivering a check to an unsuspecting and vulnerable
player puts themselves in jeopardy of being penalized under this rule.
Officials are to pay particular attention to these examples when applying
this rule. These are intended as guidance and include, but are not limited to,
the following:
• Direct contact with the head or neck in any manner from any direction;
• A player that is reckless;
• A player that has just released a shot or pass;
• A player that is about to receive a pass;
• A player that delivers a late hit;
• A player that extends and directs the arm, elbow, forearm or shoulder to
contact the head and neck area of the opponent;
• A player that extends the body and targets the opponent’s head or neck
area;
• A player that leaves their skates or launches in order to deliver a blow
to the head or neck area of the opposing player; and
Points of Emphasis 9
• A player that uses the stick in any way to target the head or neck area
(e.g., cross checking, butt-ending, etc.).
   As additional guidance, when the initial force of the contact is a shoulder
to the body of the opponent and slides up to the head or neck area, this is not
classified as contact to the head. This type of action may still be penalized,
at the referee’s discretion, as another penalty (e.g., charging, roughing,
elbowing, etc.).
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

zoofer said:
Excellent hockey game tonight! Fast paced action, great tempo, up and down for both teams!! Really fun to watch!! If the refs would've stayed out of the way, it would've been better, when isn't that the case though. Thoroughly entertaining hockey!!
Click to expand...

Agreed that was an awesome game to watch! Even included a penalty shot! Although a win would have been better :) UNH definitely got better as the game went along (evident in the 3rd period). Happy to see both Goumas and Downing on the ice, as they are game changers for the team. Kelleher is going to be a fun player to watch, but he still shows signs that he's a freshman. Looking forward to tomorrow night's game.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

WIrinkrat said:
Hooking under the hands is supposed to be a penalty 100% of the time. When it takes away a scoring chance its a no brainer.
Click to expand...

I thought the call was terrible. I had a very good view of the play and the Michigan player did not deserve a penalty on that. He got all stick on the play and did not make any pulling motion that would give any reason to call a hooking.

I thought UNH played great in both games and deserved way more than 0-1-1 for the weekend. I saw a lot of grit and speed from the team and now they know that they can beat anyone. I like these games versus the big 10 because it actually forces our guys to hit someone which is refreshing. I have to say that 1st line really impressed me. They all seem to have eyes in the back of their heads and they can score from anywhere. They will give other teams fits. I really liked what Sorkin did especially in the first game. I am a big Sorkin critic for a lot of reasons but he played with a lot of hustle and made some very smart plays. I also liked Quast for the very short amount of time he was in. He played at most two shifts Friday but got 4-5 in Saturday and made some nice hits. He played physical and within his means which is exactly what he needed to do. I don't like the idea of only running 5 defensemen so whatever he can do to chip in minutes will go a long way.

There wasn't much I didn't like from the two games. But one was the pk. It seemed like they left the middle wide open inside the box in the offensive zone and was not very aggressive holding the zone when Michigan entered. I hold they will fix that up but I hope the refs in the coming games will let them play. I thought there were way to many nitpicky slashes and holds that are part of hockey and should not have been called. It takes away from the flow of the game.

One another note the goaltending battle seems to be in full swing. Wyer is 1-1-0 with a 1.00 GAA and Desmith is 0-2-0 with a GAA of around 3. I know that comparing Clarkson to Minnesota is foolish so we cant look at the win/loss too closely. Wyer did not seem to be tested much at all in the Friday game but looked confident and made the saves he needed to. On Saturday Desmith made some amazing saves and I thought did a lot of good things. He was tested a lot and the second goal appeared to be an own goal. We have 2 starting goalies on this roster and it will be interesting to see what happens going forward.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Wow, I wish I had your glasses, Crazed. ;).
I saw a frazzled team Saturday that couldn't deal with Michigan's fore check. A team that missed a lot of passes. A team that whiffed on the puck or just nicked it a dozen times or more. I think seeing Quast play as much as he did, almost entirely in the third, confirms that the other five (four, really) were too worn not to spell. Probably the worst puck handling I've seen from Knodel. I also think DeSmith played well, just got less help than Wyer.
But, hey, it's early. Lots of time to get better.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

WIrinkrat said:
Hooking under the hands is supposed to be a penalty 100% of the time. When it takes away a scoring chance its a no brainer.
Click to expand...
Even the UNH announcers (Dan & Pete) doing the game said it wasn't a penalty never mind a penalty shot. The Michigan player got back, lifted the stick and took the puck away. The UNH player fell down on his own. I didn't see any hooking on the replay.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Aerman said:
Wow, I wish I had your glasses, Crazed. ;).
I saw a frazzled team Saturday that couldn't deal with Michigan's fore check. A team that missed a lot of passes. A team that whiffed on the puck or just nicked it a dozen times or more. I think seeing Quast play as much as he did, almost entirely in the third, confirms that the other five (four, really) were too worn not to spell. Probably the worst puck handling I've seen from Knodel. I also think DeSmith played well, just got less help than Wyer.
But, hey, it's early. Lots of time to get better.
Click to expand...

I was in the 4th row of the student section right in the middle so I had a very nice view of the breakaway and own goal. I can tell what you were saying on Saturday but I thought they started connecting on their passes more and more as the game progressed. I thought the second game especially in the first two periods was just an ugly game on both sides. Neither team seemed to have any rhythm and the refs didn't help calling a penalty every 3 minutes.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Aerman said:
I saw a frazzled team Saturday that couldn't deal with Michigan's forecheck. A team that missed a lot of passes. A team that whiffed on the puck or just nicked it a dozen times or more. But, hey, it's early ... Lots of time to get better.
Click to expand...

This ... Michigan spent much of Friday night vainly attempting to keep up with a fast, determined Wildcat squad that transitioned very well out of their own end, moved quickly through center ice with short, quick passes, and was able to set up for long stretches in the offensive zone for multiple good looks on net; if any of their multiple dings off the post and/or crossbar had gone in they'd have won that game going away. They seemed to generate an odd-man rush every other shift or so, and whenever Pesche, TvR, etc. pinched in from the point, a heads-up forward quickly rotated back to fill the vacant spot. Having given up 34 and 35 shots on net in splitting on the road with Clarkson and Minnesota, they obviously needed to tighten up their team defense, and accomplished that mostly by relentless attacking pressure, out-shooting the Wolverines 27-9 over the final 45 minutes and holding Michigan to just 18 SOG overall. But Saturday was a totally different story ...

Red Berenson hasn't won 770+ games by sitting idly by and watching his team get outplayed; he and his team get major props from me for digesting all they endured on Friday and coming out on Saturday night determined to not let *that* happen again. As Aerman mentioned, the biggest change was implementing a much more aggressive forecheck; any Cat who found himself with the puck in the defensive zone was immediately confronted by one, often two, Michigan forecheckers who completely disrupted the easy transition play out of the zone they'd enjoyed the night before. The remaining Wolverines clogged the neutral zone in a close-checking clinic; the 'Cats were expending so much energy attempting to break through this moving trap that they had nothing left to give if / when they finally broke through to the Michigan zone. What's frustrating as a fan was watching how ill prepared and/or equipped the 'Cats were to adjust in turn to what Michigan was doing to them. In a nutshell, that was the story of Saturday's game: Michigan pivoted overnight to a new, offense-off-the-defense attacking style and UNH was never able to make the necessary counter-measures to open the game up more to their liking. Perhaps they tried, but Michigan's relentless pressure was so effective it was hard to discern exactly what the 'Cats were trying to do in response. This team has speed to spare, but if future opponents follow Michigan's lead - and they will - and UNH can't switch to Plan B as required, there'll unfortunately be more games like this come. Saturday's a new day in Troy - time will tell if a week of practice can give the 'Cats another arrow in their quiver to deploy when needed ...
 
Aerman said:
I also think DeSmith played well, just got less help than Wyer.
But, hey, it's early. Lots of time to get better.
Click to expand...

While he may have gotten less help in this game I don't think that excuses the performance. Two of the three goals he gave up were shaky goals which is a trend that started last year. He can make some tough saves look easy but he also gives up a lot of soft goals. I also don't think he helps himself much by freezing the puck as much as he does. I watched both goalies very closely this weekend and I loved how with a little time wyer would move the puck to a defensemen while in similar situation desmith took the face off. That could contribute to higher shot totals against him.

While Minnesota and Clarkson are much different both goalies played the same amount of time against Acadia and Michigan. Desmith allowed 6 and wyer 1 vs those teams. I'm not in anyways saying wyer should start the rest of the way but based on what I've seen this year and the end of last year I'd give him an edge at the moment.
 
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