Re: UNH Wildcats 2014 Post-Season Thread: "Maybe Dick" Hunts the Great White Whale
Re: UNH Wildcats 2014 Post-Season Thread: "Maybe Dick" Hunts the Great White Whale
First of all ... my apologies for missing the get-together last night. I wandered around the lower concourse between periods, but had lost track of what the plans were, as I do not have a SmartPhone (much to the ridicule of my kids BTW). I probably walked by most of you folks at some point, but I think the only folks I recognize from the old days are Greg Ambrose and (maybe?) e.cat, and I saw lots of UNH jerseys, but no one familiar. In retrospect, I probably should've put it out there that the confused looking, middle-aged guy with a faded Northwestern cap (yes, the old Expos' cap has officially been retired) was yours truly, and we all could have had some additional *fun & games* with the "Where's Waldo? Newfields version" that mess would have turned into.
Anyway ... I'm thrilled with how well the team played. As much credit as we all want to give to the players - and deservedly so - this was a team that was 100% prepared for its opposition. I'm not sure you could say the same about PC's preparation. You know what that means? I want some of our regular posters to make sure they are sitting down when they read this next bit ... but yes, last night was a tremendous example of
UNH out-coaching the opposition in a post-season game.

I know some of the PC fans have called into question the effort of their team, and I know PC has certainly played better than they did last night ... but what I saw out there was a PC team that was taken out of its game, ground down by a surprisingly effective UNH forechecking game, and one that saw a thoroughly frustrated PC team by the end of the evening. And while UNH certainly enjoyed some good bounces (Agosta) and barely beat the clock on Goal #3 - which I think I personally "quit" on nearly as much as some of the PC players did - let's not forget the only PC goal of the evening was directly as a result of a takedown of Maller that should have been penalized.
Past UNH teams might have been shaken by that goal ... but not this team, not last night.
It's a pleasure when your team shows up ready to compete, with a game plan, and pulls off a deserved postseason win in a "win or go home" setting. IF they can prepare AND play like that again for tonight's game, good things will happen.
Not going to be there tonight due to coaching duties elsewhere.

Nevertheless ... GO CATS!!!