I have been reading the conversation about Gildon over the last couple of days. The basis of it is the two mistakes, that led to goals against, he made against Colorado College and Army. I think everybody should go back and watch the video of these two plays again. I did earlier this evening. The turnover against Colorado College happened when he was trying to make a pass from his defensive blueline up to his forward at the right hand side of the offensive blueline. He fanned on the pass which led to turning the puck over to a Colorado College player. This was no way a situation of being too risky or being over confident with the puck. This is what happens every once and awhile to a player that plays with his head up. Gildon was able to get back into the play. The real mistake was how Gildon and his defense partner, Marks, played the resulting 3 on 2 against them. The game winning goal, shot, came from about five feet below the top of the circle. It appears to me Marks may have screened Tirone.
The mistake Gildon made in the Army game occurred just a couple of seconds after a UNH turnover at the center red line. He was skating up ice around the top of the circle in the defensive zone when the puck came to him. He seemed to be caught off guard that the puck came to him. He had about a second before the Colorado College player was on him. He tried to do his spin, escape maneuver, but was stripped of the puck before he could complete it. The mistake was trying to do this maneuver when moving forward. It is like trying to turn a boat when not having any movement. The escape maneuver only works well when moving backwards. If I was coaching him, I would have told him that he should have just flipped the puck high up in the air and turn it over to the opposing team around the far blue line.
This whole conversation about Gildon is ridiculous. Watching UNH Men's hockey this season has been fun, in a large part because of Gildon. As UNH hockey supporters we like to reminisce about when James Van Riemsdyk played for us. There has not been too many former UNH players that went on to have a prominent NHL career. Hopefully, some day we will be able to reminisce about when Max Gildon played for UNH!