UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

Ok Darius am now officially in the Eiserman for top line... UNH makes it interesting in the third...We hold into 8th thanks to Maine's heroics in OT...And now into UConnnnn...where we have to have to win 1 I think for home ice in Chucks "everybody gets to play" tournament!!
(the exact phrase escapes me feel free to fix my post) Sighhh

 

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

Nazarian putting together a nice freshman year despite limited ice time. Should Pots leave early I can see him filling that spot on top line.

 

[Snively65]

Ok Darius am now officially in the Eiserman for top line... UNH makes it interesting in the third...We hold into 8th thanks to Maine's heroics in OT...And now into UConnnnn...where we have to have to win 1 I think for home ice in Chucks "everybody gets to play" tournament!!
(the exact phrase escapes me feel free to fix my post) Sighhh

Need to sweep UConn so that we have a chance to play at PC again in second round, assuming that we can win first round. Baby steps on way back to 'da Gahden. Like the more balanced scoring this weekend, and against a good team, if not a great team.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

The only way UNH is getting back to the Garden this March is with paid admissions. Fact.

Now let's turn to the tempered excitement surrounding the MBPBEGAM (for HR, that's the "Make Believe, Phony Baloney, Everyone-Gets-A-Medal") round of the HE postseason. Your UNH Wildcats are clinging valiantly to the 8th spot in the HE standings. Once upon a time, not so long ago ... being in 8th place in the HE regular season meant you were the last team eligible for the postseason. Nowadays, it's your AD's ticket for two bonus home games to pad the department's and the league's coffers. So in the spirit of MBPBEGAM, let's make believe this next weekend - the final weekend of the HE regular season - is *really* important. Looking at things from UNH's persoective, here's what we know for sure:

* The "ceiling" is a 7th place finish, with home ice against the 10th seed. Northeastern (as predicted) has pulled away and is locked into the 6th seed. And the basement is 11th place. Short of a miracle of epic proportions, the UMass Minutemen have once again done what they've always done best - finish last. Having said that, those plucky Minutemen did not lose to your Wildcats this season (two ties);

* Northeastern's only role in sorting out the lower half of the standings will be when they sweep UMaine in a 2 game series in Boston, so UNH's realistic "basement" is probably only 10th place;

* Your Wildcats are currently #8, and will play a home-and-away series against UConn, which is sitting in the #10 position 2 points behind UNH, and tied on points with #11 UMaine (see above). The #7 seed UVM is a single point ahead of UNH, and they'll be traveling to North Andover to face #9 Merrimack, which is a single point behind UNH;

* With a sweep over UConn (no giggling there in the back row, Mr. Canaan ), UNH clinches MBPBEGAM home ice, and probably moves ahead of UVM, unless UVM gets 3 out of 4 points against hosts Merrimack;

* With a UConn sweep over UNH ... *ack* ... UNH probably falls at least to 10th, and if UConn takes 3 points, UConn ties UNH but likely takes the head-to-head tiebreaker. In neither scenario does UNH overtake UVM, and there is a decent chance they also fall behind the Warriors. That's 10th place. Now IF UMaine has a surprisingly successful series on St. Botolph St. - which I've already predicted above will not happen - then your Wildcats probably finish in 11th place;

* A split of the series with UConn keeps UNH ahead of them, prevents even a UMaine miracle from overtaking us (tiebreaker), and would force Merrimack to sweep UVM to overtake us. And in doing so, a sweep of UVM pushes them down a point below UNH.

Moral of the story ... 2 points next weekend probably makes BS35+3 a happy guy, and if those two points arrive with a win and a loss, then that's 1 more win on the "March to 600" for the head coach. Two ties, it still looks like 8th place, but the "march" stays stuck in neutral.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've got goosebumps just thinking about all this excitement ...

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

With all due respect, our destiny is to dispatch someone on home ice in two or three games, then travel to NICC, where should be much easier to take two of three this year than in Prov'ist last year, and then onto 'da Gahden. Simple as pie. We must get to 'da Gahden, as otherwise I would not be able to attend any more games this season.

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

"UNH Comeback vs BU Falls Short"

Includes video highlights.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

Ok Darius am now officially in the Eiserman for top line... UNH makes it interesting in the third...We hold into 8th thanks to Maine's heroics in OT...And now into UConnnnn...where we have to have to win 1 I think for home ice in Chucks "everybody gets to play" tournament!!
(the exact phrase escapes me feel free to fix my post) Sighhh

I didn't see the game. More of the same?

 

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

I didn't see the game. More of the same?

He didn't get kicked out, so I guess not

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

He didn't get kicked out, so I guess not

Hah! I meant Pots and TK getting knocked around and Eiserman doing some knocking, of course. I still think that Eiserman's physical presence would outweigh any offensive loss from moving Correale down and that putting Correale with Vela would make that line more productive. However, it is a bit late in the season for line changes.

 

[HockeyRef]

Well, OK, I get your point. But the reality is BU could have had 10 goals last night. Out of position or not, he made the saves. My point is that he should not have had to stand on his head if he had a defense in front of him. Yes, I'm sure he has some bad games that I would realize if I saw more games, but it's pretty tough to be great every night when you are getting constantly bombarded. These guys aren't machines. It's demoralizing to go out there every night and know that you are going to face 40 shots, 20 of them great scoring chances. I guess what I'm saying is that he's not the #1 reason for where UNH sits in the standings.

I'm not sure most of us ? here have been that hard on DT..we are fully aware that our D has been the major crux of the problem...a good D gives your goalie a chance every night...but you know that Some nights are better than others for him to be sure. All in all considering everything he's done a good job once he got back on track. While I can give BU a ton of credit for their play over the weekend last night at least one goal was a usual D not covering their assignment for an easy score. I won't mention WHO that was but I can tell you DU wasn't hapoy and that player didn't come back into the game until the middle of the third...

 

[HockeyRef]

I didn't see the game. More of the same?

You mean as far as rough play or stellar play? I like his skating and like you said.. He's big and physical. But like you said it's doubtful there will be any line changes at this stage of the game..

I'd also like to say that I agree with 'Watcher; Nazarian is most def a top line player if Pots leaves. Another great goal last night!

 

[Snively65]

I'm not sure most of us ? here have been that hard on DT..we are fully aware that our D has been the major crux of the problem...a good D gives your goalie a chance every night...but you know that Some nights are better than others for him to be sure. All in all considering everything he's done a good job once he got back on track. While I can give BU a ton of credit for their play over the weekend last night at least one goal was a usual D not covering their assignment for an easy score. I won't mention WHO that was but I can tell you DU wasn't hapoy and that player didn't come back into the game until the middle of the third...

Come on, who was it?

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

Come on, who was it?

Agree with Snively65 ... no reason not to mention the offending party.

C'mon HR, out with it.

 

[Snively65]

Well, OK, I get your point. But the reality is BU could have had 10 goals last night. Out of position or not, he made the saves. My point is that he should not have had to stand on his head if he had a defense in front of him. Yes, I'm sure he has some bad games that I would realize if I saw more games, but it's pretty tough to be great every night when you are getting constantly bombarded. These guys aren't machines. It's demoralizing to go out there every night and know that you are going to face 40 shots, 20 of them great scoring chances. I guess what I'm saying is that he's not the #1 reason for where UNH sits in the standings.

Correcto, chickod; #1 reason we are where we are is the coaching staff, IMHO. See how much more agreeable we with you on our thread than your mates are with you on your thread.

 

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

I'm assuming Furgele

 

[HockeyRef]

I'm assuming Furgele

Ok ok ok yes it was him!! I thought he was injured initially as we noticed we were down a Dman it seemed and after inquiring with other fans that's the impression they got as they saw him skate off the ice with DU not looking very pleased. He did return to the ice but it wasn't immediate and of course...we assumed that was the reason. And you know what they say about assuming something.... Moving on there's some nice weather to be had down here in Flawda

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

Correcto, chickod; #1 reason we are where we are is the coaching staff, IMHO. See how much more agreeable we with you on our thread than your mates are with you on your thread.

Are you saying that a better coach would get more out of this roster? Hope not. As far as Tirone, it is correct to say that he is not the major reason for UNH's position this year. However he has many, many holes in his game which he sometimes masks with his athleticism. But UNH lost a game yet again because of their defensive lapses. Friday night it was Quast's feed into the slot that set up BU's third goal. Saturday night it was the UNH dman (Furgele) who decided to move the puck to the left of the goal populated by two BU forwards rather than the right where there were two UNH players. These are not physical mistakes, these are mental mistakes which, at this point of the season just shouldn't be made. Given all this, the team played hard at times and made BU work for the three points that they got.

 

[Snively65]

Are you saying that a better coach would get more out of this roster? Hope not. As far as Tirone, it is correct to say that he is not the major reason for UNH's position this year. However he has many, many holes in his game which he sometimes masks with his athleticism. But UNH lost a game yet again because of their defensive lapses. Friday night it was Quast's feed into the slot that set up BU's third goal. Saturday night it was the UNH dman (Furgele) who decided to move the puck to the left of the goal populated by two BU forwards rather than the right where there were two UNH players. These are not physical mistakes, these are mental mistakes which, at this point of the season just shouldn't be made. Given all this, the team played hard at times and made BU work for the three points that they got.

Exactly. Other than Pesce, essentially replaced by Dawson, this is the same blue line as last season, yet they are playing much, much worse. With another year of experience, they should be better, not worse. I place that decline on the coaching staff; not much can be coached about physical play, but everything about mental play, in my view. Ditto on allowing players to take stupid penalties the past three weeks, which has really hurt the team. Also, I think that a lot of those one-goal losses and ties early in the season were the result of the "senior checking line" getting way, way too large a share of the most important ice time. Finally, a trend that has gone on way too long has been our freshmen sitting in the stands year after year. And, do not even get me started on the horrendous recruiting the past few years. Yup, I will stick with the coaching staff.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

No excuse against lesser opponents, but chit happens when faced with big, strong and (((fast))). Sigh.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part Three) - Living in Interesting Times

Exactly. Other than Pesce, essentially replaced by Dawson, this is the same blue line as last season, yet they are playing much, much worse. With another year of experience, they should be better, not worse. I place that decline on the coaching staff; not much can be coached about physical play, but everything about mental play, in my view. Ditto on allowing players to take stupid penalties the past three weeks, which has really hurt the team. Also, I think that a lot of those one-goal losses and ties early in the season were the result of the "senior checking line" getting way, way too large a share of the most important ice time. Finally, a trend that has gone on way too long has been our freshmen sitting in the stands year after year. And, do not even get me started on the horrendous recruiting the past few years. Yup, I will stick with the coaching staff.

Snively, at some point the players themselves have to be held accountable. Problem is that if every player who has had a brain cramp this year was benched, their might be half dozen players left. I think the vast majority of us can agree that the coaching staff is to blame for the cast of characters who are wearing the blue and white. Recruiting has been a disaster for several years now and the reasons why have been talked to death. However I want to dispel the notion that freshmen are sitting while untalented upperclassmen play. There are six freshmen on the roster. Four - Vela, Nazarian, Miller, Dawson - have played almost every game, Cefalu has played a few, and Kalinowski has not played at all.