Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas
With all due respect, Greg … that's nuts. You're up 3-0 against UMass very late in the second period, and you don't expect UNH to win?
Just curious - what score … what size lead would you want UNH to amass at that point in a game to have the right to expect your team to, y'know, win the frickin' game? Was UMass a better team? No one has said they weren't, but mediocre teams frequently beat really good, talented teams. In all aspects? Based on lots of opinions on here, UNH might be better off in goal than UMass, and it wasn't the UNH kid who got pulled in Game One.
I mean, listen, I've been following this program nearly as long as you have, and I'm all too familiar with the historical potholes, if not personally involved as far back as C-H-C and the RPI game (ironically, one of UNH's most celebrated games to this day was a loss in the end). It gets to you, no doubt, and it can color your whole experience. But I'm sorry, Greg … you have a 3-0 lead that late in any game, at any arena, especially in modern day hockey, and you have to expect that team to win the game. You never hear anyone saying "Oh, watch out - the three goal lead is the most dangerous in hockey!"
Remember when the B's came back from 3 goals down in the playoffs (I think it was a Game 7 even) against Toronto? THAT was a BIG deal. And why was it a big deal? 'Cuz they overcame a 3 goal lead!!! For every memorable game where a team climbs out of a 3 goal hole late in a game to win it, there are probably over a dozen non-memorable games where the leading team routinely runs out the rest of the game and holds on to win. It's not a huge ask. UNH should have been able to do that.
25 shots/saves over two periods? I mean, sure, that's great, and the last thing I want to do is to detract from what I'm conceding was a strong performance by Robinson. But 25 shots over most of two periods isn't exactly an avalanche - it's just slightly above average.
The idea that you "knew it was only a matter of time" after UMass scored late in the 2nd period probably says more about you being conditioned to expect bad things to happen to UNH in the postseason, than it does about the reality that a #8 seed still had a two goal lead with 20 minutes left to play. If someone tells you before a game starts that your team is going to be two goals up at the start of the 3rd period, 99.9% of the time, a regular fan of Team X is gonna think "hey, that's pretty good, and we'll take our chances with it". Regardless of whether the game is in Durham, in Amherst or on the moon.
See …. here's the thing, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but here goes. I wanted to see a UNH team that didn't fall into the same postseason issues that dotted Coach Umile's UNH career all too often. The guy had a great run, sure, but by the end, we were all done and tired of it all, and we wanted something different. What did we get last weekend? Two periods of a glimmer of hope that things were changing, and for the better. But then, Lucy pulls the football out at the last second on Charlie Brown, and here we go again. Same old, same old … and a double dose at that. It's almost as if Coach Umile never retired. And it's the last thing any of us should have wanted to emerge from Coach Souza's postseason debut last weekend. JMHO.
With all due respect, Greg … that's nuts. You're up 3-0 against UMass very late in the second period, and you don't expect UNH to win?
Just curious - what score … what size lead would you want UNH to amass at that point in a game to have the right to expect your team to, y'know, win the frickin' game? Was UMass a better team? No one has said they weren't, but mediocre teams frequently beat really good, talented teams. In all aspects? Based on lots of opinions on here, UNH might be better off in goal than UMass, and it wasn't the UNH kid who got pulled in Game One. I mean, listen, I've been following this program nearly as long as you have, and I'm all too familiar with the historical potholes, if not personally involved as far back as C-H-C and the RPI game (ironically, one of UNH's most celebrated games to this day was a loss in the end). It gets to you, no doubt, and it can color your whole experience. But I'm sorry, Greg … you have a 3-0 lead that late in any game, at any arena, especially in modern day hockey, and you have to expect that team to win the game. You never hear anyone saying "Oh, watch out - the three goal lead is the most dangerous in hockey!"
Remember when the B's came back from 3 goals down in the playoffs (I think it was a Game 7 even) against Toronto? THAT was a BIG deal. And why was it a big deal? 'Cuz they overcame a 3 goal lead!!! For every memorable game where a team climbs out of a 3 goal hole late in a game to win it, there are probably over a dozen non-memorable games where the leading team routinely runs out the rest of the game and holds on to win. It's not a huge ask. UNH should have been able to do that.
25 shots/saves over two periods?
I mean, sure, that's great, and the last thing I want to do is to detract from what I'm conceding was a strong performance by Robinson. But 25 shots over most of two periods isn't exactly an avalanche - it's just slightly above average.The idea that you "knew it was only a matter of time" after UMass scored late in the 2nd period probably says more about you being conditioned to expect bad things to happen to UNH in the postseason, than it does about the reality that a #8 seed still had a two goal lead with 20 minutes left to play. If someone tells you before a game starts that your team is going to be two goals up at the start of the 3rd period, 99.9% of the time, a regular fan of Team X is gonna think "hey, that's pretty good, and we'll take our chances with it". Regardless of whether the game is in Durham, in Amherst or on the moon.
See …. here's the thing, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but here goes. I wanted to see a UNH team that didn't fall into the same postseason issues that dotted Coach Umile's UNH career all too often. The guy had a great run, sure, but by the end, we were all done and tired of it all, and we wanted something different. What did we get last weekend? Two periods of a glimmer of hope that things were changing, and for the better. But then, Lucy pulls the football out at the last second on Charlie Brown, and here we go again. Same old, same old … and a double dose at that. It's almost as if Coach Umile never retired. And it's the last thing any of us should have wanted to emerge from Coach Souza's postseason debut last weekend. JMHO.
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