UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Season?

[Liveatjrl]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

No TV on the Cape for me to watch B's this weekend. :-(

Hey, it's now June 2nd and still no schedule. Are we going to wait as long this year for the schedule as we did last year for the AC hire?

UNH didn't officially release their schedule until 6/28 last year and 7/7 2 years ago. I'd guess sometime around there but HE, ECAC, AHA randomly drop their schedules over the summer.

 

[HockeyRef]

No TV on the Cape for me to watch B's this weekend. :-(

Hey, it's now June 2nd and still no schedule. Are we going to wait as long this year for the schedule as we did last year for the AC hire?

Has the HE schedule been released? We know some of the OOC games already...opening with two at Miami, going to Army, but otherwise haven’t heard a thing about it...

 

[Liveatjrl]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Has the HE schedule been released? We know some of the OOC games already...opening with two at Miami, going to Army, but otherwise haven’t heard a thing about it...

Here's what we know so far:

@Miami 10/11 and 10/12
@Bentley 10/18
@BU 10/26
Dartmouth 11/2
Friendship Four 11/29 and 11/30 (NU first game)
Brown 1/4
Yale 1/7
@BU 2/15
@UML 2/28
UML 2/29

@Army TBD
Michigan 2xs TBD

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Pretty much a must win for the home team tonight out in St. Loo. This was the point of their last series where they were jobbed with the OT hand-pass GWG for San Jose. They turned that series on its ear in the aftermath. Frankly, I don't see the B's being pushed aside like the Sharks were. I predicted a split in STL and I will stick with that. The Blues will need to rediscover their physicality, which seemed to desert them pretty early in Game 3. Coach Berube was ******ing about the officiating, which sounds to me like he's trying to plant a seed that will allow his guys a little leeway for Game 4. I'm surprised the Blues didn't goon it up when Game 3 got away from them … felt a little CBJ going on there, and that's not good. Or they're keeping their powder dry? Binnington laid an egg in Game 3, and there's no more wiggle room for another one of those.

Still the Bruins' Cup to lose, and them winning tonight would pretty much seal the deal.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Here's what we know so far:

@Miami 10/11 and 10/12
@Bentley 10/18
@BU 10/26
Dartmouth 11/2
Friendship Four 11/29 and 11/30 (NU first game)
Brown 1/4
Yale 1/7
@BU 2/15
@UML 2/28
UML 2/29

@Army TBD
Michigan 2xs TBD

Thanks...looking forward to visiting the new arena @ Bentley. Seems like we aren't going to be home much early on. Wonder if they'll bring back the exhibition game? Doubt it...

Anyway.... GO BRUINSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Pretty much a must win for the home team tonight out in St. Loo. This was the point of their last series where they were jobbed with the OT hand-pass GWG for San Jose. They turned that series on its ear in the aftermath. Frankly, I don't see the B's being pushed aside like the Sharks were. I predicted a split in STL and I will stick with that. The Blues will need to rediscover their physicality, which seemed to desert them pretty early in Game 3. Coach Berube was ******ing about the officiating, which sounds to me like he's trying to plant a seed that will allow his guys a little leeway for Game 4. I'm surprised the Blues didn't goon it up when Game 3 got away from them … felt a little CBJ going on there, and that's not good. Or they're keeping their powder dry? Binnington laid an egg in Game 3, and there's no more wiggle room for another one of those.

Still the Bruins' Cup to lose, and them winning tonight would pretty much seal the deal.

Berube can whine all he wants. When his players stop taking runs at the Bruins (and they aren't perfect either, mind you) maybe they'll have less penalties....I don't expect the same out come as the other night; and hope the B's can just wrap this up in the next two.

 

[chickod]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

The Blues will need to rediscover their physicality, which seemed to desert them pretty early in Game 3.

Not sure that's going to work as long as the Bruins stay disciplined. They took the bait in Game 2 and got caught up in the "eye for an eye" mentality. In Game 3 they simply skated past them and allowed their superior speed and skill to prevail. Besides, the Blues can't afford to spend all game in the box because, as you said, this is a must game for them. If the Bruins can survive the typical first ten minute "surge" by the home team, look for the cup to be raised Thursday night (and this season to mercifully come to an end before the heat and humidity melts the ice).

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Top six total no shows for last night's game. I'm surprised the score was 3-2. Sigh...

 

[Snively65]

Top six total no shows for last night's game. I'm surprised the score was 3-2. Sigh...

Played with only five blue liners again, this time for the entire third period.

How important has been Charlie Coyle in this postseason?

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Played with only five blue liners again, this time for the entire third period.

How important has been Charlie Coyle in this postseason?

Darn important...funny how people were 'meh' about him when he was being acquired. Thank G for Charlie Coyle...I dunno about these Bruins...so hot and cold...hmmm

 

[chickod]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Darn important...funny how people were 'meh' about him when he was being acquired. Thank G for Charlie Coyle...I dunno about these Bruins...so hot and cold...hmmm

They can't quite seem to find their identity. They're skating a thin line (see what I did there? ) between getting caught up in the rough stuff and shying away to avoid injury. The bottom line is that now they are really beat up and might not have enough of a team to finish this off. I don't think it's "theirs to lose" anymore. Looks like they're down to four d-men, two of whom will be woefully inexperienced in the playoffs. It seems to be the nature of this team that they back off when they get a little comfortable. They need to play with more urgency. The mistake they are making is thinking that they can "turn it on" in a Game 7, which they probably <i>could</i>, assuming they have a roster left. I'm a little surprised that they didn't take note of the fact that the Blues won their previous series(s) by attrition, wearing down their opponents. The B's goal (pun intended) should have been to FINISH this thing as quickly as possible. The way you do that is to not take your foot off the gas and demoralize this team. They didn't, and now I'm not sure that they can.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

They can't quite seem to find their identity. They're skating a thin line (see what I did there? ) between getting caught up in the rough stuff and shying away to avoid injury. The bottom line is that now they are really beat up and might not have enough of a team to finish this off. I don't think it's "theirs to lose" anymore. Looks like they're down to four d-men, two of whom will be woefully inexperienced in the playoffs. It seems to be the nature of this team that they back off when they get a little comfortable. They need to play with more urgency. The mistake they are making is thinking that they can "turn it on" in a Game 7, which they probably <i>could</i>, assuming they have a roster left. I'm a little surprised that they didn't take note of the fact that the Blues won their previous series(s) by attrition, wearing down their opponents. The B's goal (pun intended) should have been to FINISH this thing as quickly as possible. The way you do that is to not take your foot off the gas and demoralize this team. They didn't, and now I'm not sure that they can.

Could there be blood in the water? Maybe, most likely. How they rebound (in Boston) is huge. Blues win the next, I'd say it's over. Maybe being too much of an alarmist, but, for the Boston sports reporters to say it was over the other day in the 7-2 victory me thinks was pre-mature. Guess we'll find out!!! Needless to say I'm glad I balked at buying a 600.00 ticket to sit in the nose bleeds to watch them win the Cup...

 

[chickod]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Could there be blood in the water?

Absolutely there is. The Bruins will have to dig deep and find the will to take hits and make plays.

I'm glad I balked at buying a 600.00 ticket to sit in the nose bleeds to watch them win the Cup

As for the tickets, it would have been nice for them to win this at home, since they haven't since 1970 ('72 and '11 were won on the road). The only way that can happen now is if it goes to Game 7.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

While I don't disagree with anything you have said, IMO if St. Louis wins this series it will set hockey back thirty years.

…

All I know it this. I watch ALL of those World Junior, World Championship, U-18 and Olympic games played on the larger surface (see, that's what makes this post relevant to UNH ) and it's a MUCH better game. A game that features speed and skill. I thought that's what the league wanted, because they wanted to grow the game. It's the future. But apparently not. And, the ironic thing is, the Bruins spent decades branding themselves as the rough, tough, big, bad team and THEY are the ones that finally came into the modern era by obtaining speed and skill, only to lose to a team like they used to be? And don't tell me about Krug's hit, because he didn't elbow the guy in the head. It was DELIBERATE. Unless Sundqvist thought by raising his elbow he was going to hit him in the knees...

Remember who first warned you guys about the under-the-radar Blues a few weeks ago.

Anyway … listen, with all due respect, some of this commentary was getting out a little too far over its skis already, before last night's game. The idea that the B's have transformed into this fast, skillsy team is honestly a little wishful thinking. That's only true if you're measuring them against B's teams of the past. This year, right now, the B's are only the 3rd most talented team in their own division (behind TB and Toronto). I think you admitted somewhere amidst the last two pages of softball-related posts that the B's got here because they wore down their playoff opponents too. And FWIW, this year's B's team can't hold a candle to the 2011 Stanley Cup champs talent-wise.

As far as the idea of the Blues "setting hockey back 30 years" or whatever … please. It hasn't been all that long ago that the LA Kings won two Cups in three years playing a similar brand of hockey, and the aforementioned '11 B's will never be remembered for their high skill level either. Truth be told, the second we got to the semifinals (and arguably to the quarterfinals), we already knew the Finals would involve two of the least skills-dominant teams in at least 5 years, maybe more. Hockey has survived the Kings, it's survived the Devils, it's survived the frickin' Broad Street Bullies ... and it will survive the winner of this series, too.

I think the B's do have the more skilled team of the two. But as those folks who felt compelled to point out to me earlier, the DRW dynasty only began once they got practical and realized they needed to toughen up. Their two teams before the '97 Cup were arguably the most talented teams of that era … but they got exposed in the playoffs when the Devils and the Avs brought the heavy lumber in May and June. Babcock is learning that right now in Toronto (although he should already have known that from his days in Anaheim) … and ironically, his GM (Shanahan) is one of the guys who DRW brought in to toughen up to start winning Cups at the turn of the century. TB (and its ex-GM Yzerman) also surprisingly didn't fully digest that lesson yet either.

The B's are still a physical-enough team - ask Toronto, CBJ and Carolina. The big problem is, as you've outlined (and as I've stated before) … the longer the series goes on, the more it's tilting towards the Blues. I've seen this movie before. If I were a B's fan … I would be hoping and praying that Jacobs right now is emptying his wallet and resources to find some way to keep Zdeno Chara in action for the duration. How the B's play with - and then by contrast without - him to back up their physical play was there for all to see over the final 30 or so minutes Monday night. If his jaw is broken, they'd better wire that sucker up and put him on major league painkillers, and pray he'll put himself at risk. It may make all the difference.

I predicted either the B's in 6 or the Blues in 7. I'm sticking with that, but leaning slightly towards the latter.

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

So, just like that we have gone from "The Bruins series to lose" to "Blues in 7."

"Over? Who said over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Nooooo!"

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

So, just like that we have gone from "The Bruins series to lose" to "Blues in 7."

"Over? Who said over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Nooooo!"

It has been the B's Cup to lose, ever since they got past Toronto, and all the other top contenders were out in the same round. The B's executed the next two rounds flawlessly. Nothing changed. All that was left in the West was San Jose - which is basically an older, slower version of the Leafs - Winnipeg, Dallas and St. Louis. There was no reason to believe any of those four teams would be able to match up with the B's. But St. Louis managed to find its way past Ben Bishop (a/k/a Duncan the walrus goalie from the GEICO ads) in the conference semis, and they ground down the talented-yet-flawed Sharks in the conference finals.

A lot of folks around these here parts - and several on this thread - were dismissive of the Blues. Heck, even I didn't think they had enough to win this series. Was I rooting for them? Yes. Did I think they would make this a competitive series. Yes. Did I think they would win? No. Classic head vs. heart situation, no doubt. The caveat was always - and to his credit, I think our BU friend chickod has mentioned this recently - that it was increasingly obvious that the Blues were not going to back down from the B's (unlike their last two just-glad-to-be-here opponents), and the sooner the B's could see off the Blues, the less likely it would become a war of attrition.

The B's could afford to lose Matt Grzelyck (sp?). What they couldn't afford to lose was Zdeno Chara.

And now, due to a stroke of luck - on top of the wear 'em down physical play of SLB - Chara may be out.

IF Chara is able to play effectively, I still think the B's more probably than not find a way to win this.

IF Chara is able to play, but not up to his usual (42 y.o.) standard, it becomes a 50-50 coin flip. The Blues have to at least respect the possibility that Chara will come to the aid of teammates when the Blues ramp up the physicality. I think we saw what happens when he's not around, late in Game 4.

IF Chara is unable to finish this series, I truly believe the B's are in a world of hurt. He may not be the same player he was even 2-3 years ago, but he allows his teammates to play bigger and braver. Not to mention, he's still a legitimate top pairing guy and those do not grow on trees. Guys like Moore or Kampfer, or worse yet unproven youngsters like Vaakanainen or Lauzon are not what you want to see in these kinds of games.

It looks like Chara's broken jaw has pretty much been confirmed. As I said the other day, if they can wire that thing up and load him up with painkillers, he'll probably give it a go. It would be heroic, and the guy would cement his legacy if somehow he can pull it off and ride off into the sunset with the Cup.

There may be other shoes yet to drop, but it's been a compelling series, and it could become even more compelling tomorrow night. I wouldn't be surprised to see the B's downplay Chara's chances of playing … and then see him skating out there for the opening faceoff, Willis Reed style circa 1970.

Game 5 could be the irresistible force vs. the unmovable object. Neither team will go easy. Can't wait.

 

[Dan]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

Breaking down the series within the series, I'd expect the Bruins to win at least two of the next three games (hypothetically, splitting in STL and winning Game 5) leaving them with two chances to close out the Cup (and they've been great in close out games this post-season - Tuuka in particular). So finishing it off in six still makes sense to me...

Nothing has changed...

 

[wildcatdc]

So, just like that we have gone from "The Bruins series to lose" to "Blues in 7."

"Over? Who said over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Nooooo!"

There is naught more vile than a fickle tongue...

.... old Norse saying

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

First off...I was/am not dismissive of the Blues. It's obvious they are a decent team I mean heck. That said, I'm not overly impressed with them either but they do find ways to win games and obviously can get the job done. I still believe the Bruins can win the Cup but the D issue is looming large and the top six has to play a more consistent game. Prediction: whomever wins tonight wins it! Game on!

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

First off...I was/am not dismissive of the Blues. It's obvious they are a decent team I mean heck. That said, I'm not overly impressed with them either but they do find ways to win games and obviously can get the job done. I still believe the Bruins can win the Cup but the D issue is looming large and the top six has to play a more consistent game. Prediction: whomever wins tonight wins it! Game on!

You do realize that several NHL teams could use the bolded description above to describe the B's, right?

Two are in the B's division, two more in the conference. And they're all eliminated from the playoffs right now. There's something to be said about teams that "can get the job done". That's what impresses me.

It's a lesson UNH Hockey hopefully learns ... someday.

No worries, HR … just having a little offseason hockey fun. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. You predicted the last series right on the nose, so now you are the gold standard the rest of us are trying to measure up to.