OT: General College Hockey Talk

[Chainshot]

I suppose there will be some old man yell at clouds moments after some see Knies post-goal celebration in Happy Valley tonight.



And yes, that's our lad Johnson on the ice in OT with the top scoring duo for the Gophers.

 

[Ehran]

I suppose there will be some old man yell at clouds moments after some see Knies post-goal celebration in Happy Valley tonight.



And yes, that's our lad Johnson on the ice in OT with the top scoring duo for the Gophers.

The move, the pass, and the shot, sure those were kind of okay.

But did you see the way Johnson controlled that blue line !!

Woooooooo!

 

[Chainshot]

Vermont has 37 shots so far... It's 2-0 Northeastern.

 

[Jim Bob]

Former Clarkson, Bowling Green, Boston College coach York named 2023 Hobey Baker 'Legend of College Hockey' recipient - College Hockey | USCHO.com

The Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation has announced its 2023 "Legend of College Hockey' recipient as Jerry York. York began his coaching career at

www.uscho.com

 

[Chainshot]

I have a suspicion that we won't know Johnson's fate until very, very late. This Minnesota team is worthy of their #1 ranking.

 

[Chainshot]

Getting a technical difficulties screen on the Northeastern game broadca--never mind, there it is.

 

[Chainshot]

Huskies score shorthanded to go up 1-0 on UMass. I do wonder if they have enough to get an at large bid. They've been surging just enough to make it close.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Huskies score shorthanded to go up 1-0 on UMass. I do wonder if they have enough to get an at large bid. They've been surging just enough to make it close.

They're right now 20th in the Pairwise. They'd have to get to 15th, and have no bid thieves (except for Atlantic Hockey of course). Those losses to Union and Bentley are really killing them right now.

I don't think they can lose before the Hockey East Championship game right now. Too many teams they'd have to jump past, and they're running out of runway. The loss last night really hurt them.

 

[Chainshot]

They're right now 20th in the Pairwise. They'd have to get to 15th, and have no bid thieves (except for Atlantic Hockey of course). Those losses to Union and Bentley are really killing them right now.

I don't think they can lose before the Hockey East Championship game right now. Too many teams they'd have to jump past, and they're running out of runway. The loss last night really hurt them.

I forgot they lost last night.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

I forgot they lost last night.

More than that, it's really those awful losses to Union and Bentley that's killing them. Losing those 2 comparisons (and the RPI damage from the losses) is the difference between their current spot and being in 16th, maybe 15th spot.

EDIT: Just checked the what-if machine. Those two games had they won, they'd be 12th!

 

[billsandsabres]

was at the rpi-quinnipiac game tonight and got a good look at perets. his positioning and reflexes were fantastic. stopped this SH breakaway up 2-1 with like 8 to go. blatant hold not called right before muzzatti (jason's kid) broke free for the break. of course quinnipiac turned it back up ice and scored to make it 3-1. anyhow, perets is legit.

 

[Chainshot]

was at the rpi-quinnipiac game tonight and got a good look at perets. his positioning and reflexes were fantastic. stopped this SH breakaway up 2-1 with like 8 to go. blatant hold not called right before muzzatti (jason's kid) broke free for the break. of course quinnipiac turned it back up ice and scored to make it 3-1. anyhow, perets is legit.

Did you spend time on Metsa? I had the Amerks game on one screen and Northeastern/NHL on the other. Last I saw RPI was up 1-0 too...

 

[billsandsabres]

Did you spend time on Metsa? I had the Amerks game on one screen and Northeastern/NHL on the other. Last I saw RPI was up 1-0 too...

he was ok, got stripped in the neutral zone a few times. pretty good skater. he was noticeable because he seemed to get a lot of icetime and he carried the puck more than his partner. but i wouldn't say he looked "great".

quinnipiac showed great team speed and the passing was sharp. however i saw very few skill plays and they didn't seem to have many odd-man rushes despite their considerable edge in skating over rpi. shots were lopsided but a lot of quinnipiac's were from the outside and low-danger areas. collin graf seemed to barely have the puck all night (eng and an assist). it was senior night at rpi so they gave max effort and the gameflow was way closer than the stats indicated. lipkin looked good. remember that name. he had his nose in it a lot.

lone rpi goal was a nice hands redirect from muzzatti. guy is mammoth and moves well.

 

[RabidBadger]

The venerable RabidBadger rankings headed for the playoffs...

Tier 1: The cream of the crap, the true contenders.
-Minnesota: This team checks all the boxes; star power, balanced scoring, veteran mobile defense, realgud goalie. I picked them to win it all two months ago.

-Quinnipiac: This team is unflappable. They play their system and roll their lines and it works. They have a lot of guys that returned from their disappointing exit from last year with something to prove. They remind me of last years Minnesota State team.

-Denver: The reigning champs are hitting their stride at the right time. They've been curb-stomping stiff competition the past few weeks.

Tier 2: May have a shot at the FF, but with question marks.

-Michigan: They have the talent and star power. BUT! Their system of play is high risk/reward. They can rack up goals in a hurry, but they leave themselves open to counter punches from good teams. And, sorry Sabres friends, I don't trust Portillo to steal a game.

-Boston U: Pandolfo steered them to a good season. They faltered down the stretch and haven't really shown a dominant face this year.

-St. Cloud: The potential is always there but this team just can't seem to take the next step. They've had great seasons only to melt down in the playoffs the past 15 or so years.

-Western Michigan: Great top end scoring and a very strong finish to the season. Their final series against Denver is probably more indicative of where they stand as contender.

Tier 3: Probably won't win a title, but may pull off an upset or two.

-Ohio State: They do have the goalie that can steal a game. When they're on, they are a very good puck moving team.

-Harvard: They've quietly put together a real nice season. Their relative consistency makes me think they could make some noise.

-Cornell: It depends which team shows up. At their best, they can strangle the opposition. I put them in the same category as St. Cloud in terms of not trusting them in the playoffs though.

I realize I didn't deviate much from the final pairwise, but the top 3 ARE the top 3 if you've been following

 

[Burgmania]

Meanwhile, closer to home, the Atlantic Hockey playoffs are set. Only the top 8 made it this year, so the playoffs are a Falcon-free zone as Air Force & Bentley didn't make it.

Quarterfinals are this weekend - they, along with the semifinals, are best-of-3. The higher seed hosts all games, including the championship game.

Mercyhurst (8) travels to RIT (1)
Holy Cross (7) goes to AIC (2)
Niagara (6) visits Sacred Heart (3)
Army (5) comes to Canisius (4)

The Griffs used a weekend sweep of Holy Cross (3-0, 6-3) to take advantage of Bentley's OT win over Army Saturday afternoon to claim the final home-ice advantage. Should be a fantastic slate of games.

 

[Dingo44]

The venerable RabidBadger rankings headed for the playoffs...

-Michigan: They have the talent and star power. BUT! Their system of play is high risk/reward. They can rack up goals in a hurry, but they leave themselves open to counter punches from good teams. And, sorry Sabres friends, I don't trust Portillo to steal a game.

Sounds like Portillo would be used to the Sabres system. What a shame.

 

[Chainshot]

Sounds like Portillo would be used to the Sabres system. What a shame.

Michigan has very much been a collection of star talent the last few years. They are not a team. Minnesota? Quinnipiac? They play a team game. Michigan are like the Oilers - they will outskill a bunch of folks but they don't have the structure and process orientation of some of the other school's programs. That's why Portillo was their MVP last year - he keeps them in it while they somewhat ignore their own zone.

 

[RabidBadger]

Michigan has very much been a collection of star talent the last few years. They are not a team. Minnesota? Quinnipiac? They play a team game. Michigan are like the Oilers - they will outskill a bunch of folks but they don't have the structure and process orientation of some of the other school's programs. That's why Portillo was their MVP last year - he keeps them in it while they somewhat ignore their own zone.

Pretty much that. And Michigan does not have the defensive accumen they had last year to supoort Portillo. I think you'll know more about him as potential goalie when he hits the AHL as opposed to what he's done at UM.

 

[Chainshot]

 

[Chainshot]

 

[Chainshot]

Watching Notre Dame vs. MSU, winner gets Minnesota in the B10 semi-finals next week.

 

[misterchainsaw]

Both the 2 and 3 seeds fell in Atlantic Hockey this weekend, so both semi-final series will be played in upstate NY, with Niagara "traveling" to Canisius:

(7) Holy Cross @ (1) RIT
(6) Niagara @ (4)Canisius

Holy Cross has been really good territorially towards the end of the season (including a series hosting RIT where they outshot them a combined 61-33 over two games - though RIT took 4 out of 6 points). This probably won't be like the Mercyhurst series, where RIT poured in nearly 100 shots over two games.

 

[Chainshot]

Really shouldn't be any surprise, but Don's brother Tony has been fired as coach of the Wisconsin Badgers:

 

[Ehran]

OMG! Bring Tony in to run the special teams!

Couldn't be much worse of late, right?

 

[Chainshot]

OMG! Bring Tony in to run the special teams!

Couldn't be much worse of late, right?

Not a fan.