UConn v. Vermont @ XL Center (Friday 3/4/22 @7:05p & Saturday 3/5/22 @3:05p). Streamed on CollegeSportsLive. Saturday’s game televised on CW20.

[The Viking]

i wouldn't call last weekend an epic failure that's oversimplifying two losses that we had without looking at some of the factors at hand, but regardless.

And I've loved Hanson all year but for all the praise he's gotten for being a solid goalie - that's about it. that's his ceiling.

I just checked Hockey East stats and he's 7th in the conference in GAA and Save Pct.

And it still kills me that Evans has gone from last year's 14 goals in 23 games to this year's 5 goals in 29 games. And he's a freakin minus 13 to boot. (Last year plus 8 - not that plus minuses are end all be all but a 21 point difference???)

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Sea Goat]

I don't blame the players. I blame the guy they just re-upped at $360k ++ per. The sad thing is that we only stayed in the game because they had a dearth of talent and speed.

We simply weren't ready to play and that is on Cavanaugh. The hardest thing for a coach to do is get a team ready to play a clearly inferior team. It's easy to get fired up for UMass, BU etc. The trick is getting your team to play the "tomato cans" just as hard.

We should beat that team 4-1 or 5-2 every time, especially when it means the difference between a "one and done"play in game and home ice in the quarter finals.

 

[huskymedic]

Standings as of right now:

UMass Amherst - 46 pts/14 wins - next opp BC
NE - 44 points/14 wins - next opp Merrimack
Umass Lowell - 43 pts/13 wins - next opp UNH
BU - 41 pts/13 wins - next opp Maine
Merrimack - 41 pts/13 wins - next opp NE
UConn - 38 pts/13 wins - next opp VT

then a falloff

So tiebreaker goes head to head and then wins. We went 1-2 against BU so I think we're hopeless against them and its basically 5th or 6th place.
How do we get 5th place? If the favorites between seeds 2-6 all win.
NE beats Merrimack
UML beats UNH
BU beats Maine
UConn beats VT.

If this happens, we tie Merrimack for 5th but win tiebreak as we are 2-0 against Merrimack.
So that means we get a 1st round bye but play the 2nd round on the road as the 5 playing at 4. The 4 being being at BU in this scenario (If the favorites win tomorrow)...or perhaps at UML if UML stumbles tomorrow.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong and add their two cents.

Honestly, this is probably our best route to TD garden. We only play one game and it is as us being the underdog on the road. That's where we've always played our best in the HE. 60 strong minutes to get to TDG.
Of course, we have to actually BEAT vermont tomorrow.

If we dont get 3 points tomorrow we're locked into 6 and play Maine on Wed at home, and then play on the road for Round 2.

 

[TMB4405]

Really tough night. I was so angry last night I could not come on here because I would have posted something totally irrational. This team does seem to lose in almost every big spot under Cav. He has assembled a talented group so there’s that. But losing big games, a consistently inept power play, blowing late leads. Those are on the coach. I doubt UConn moves from him but this is first time I would be fine with it. We can and should be a major power in college hockey.

Someone mentioned Evans and being frustrated. I agree on the scoring but lately and definitely last night he played very well particularly in the third.

And unfortunately I now am going to hoops today. Thinking about first period live hockey then going to hoops. But would have stayed at hockey if we won last night.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dvegas]

Cut and pasting my post in the 2021-2022 season thread last week. Rings true this morning:

"Fact of the matter is that while Cav has some big wins at UConn, he has NEVER won a big game at UConn when it mattered. Hockey East playoff record backs that up. Will probably have to win out and get to HE final to get to #15 in Pairwise (#16 doesn't matter because Atlantic Hockey steals a bid), and hope there are no other upsets in conference tournements. The Ice Bus wont ever be validated as a real hockey school without an NCAA appearance."

 

[zls44]

Yeah.

Every time they get a little momentum, some positive juice, they get the crowd in the building...they lay a massive egg. Its a testament to the potential of the program that they still get the crowds and attention they do when they just step on a rake at the WORST possible time. Never win big OOC games, in-season tournaments, post-season tournaments, playoff games, games on bigger TV platforms with attention. Losing key games to bad teams when trying to build some buzz. If you put together a list of the worst games you could lose, they've lost them all.

They're gonna finish just outside getting an at-large bid and if they WIN today will have gone 7-7 at home. If they went 9-5, they probably would've gotten an at-large bid. It's an impressive level of fail.

They're a disaster exiting their own zone, their PP is awful and their blue line is a mess. All of those things have been problems for Cav's entire tenure. It never improves. It never changes. Cav will get next year because they finally get their on-campus shed, but we know what the ceiling is and it isnt good enough. Tremendous guy, isn't a dope, but this isn't BC. I'm sorry our facilities stink, but figure it out. You can see these things as obstacles or as challenges, and Cav clearly sees them as obstacles. Oh well, gee whiz, we tried. Nope. Doesn't fly with me.

Plus, almost everyone else in the league is improving.

• Maine and Vermont have new coaches that have teams with zero talent playing hard.
• BC isn't gonna be this bad again.
• BU has figured out that the assistant is a good coach.
• The league isn't gonna lose all its good players to the Olympics.
• Merrimack is a horrendous team but ahead of us in the standings.

This is the experienced UConn team doing this stuff. Next year they've gotta re-start with a large turnover and an inexperienced (but highly-rated) goalie. But at least they'll have an undersized rink to play Army and Lowell on Wednesday nights!

 

[The Viking]

I cant believe we still have a chance for the 4 seed.
Maybe because Merrimack and BU losing and us winning would make it a three way tie and it’s a different type of tiebreak rather than just standard head to head.
I expect UConn to beat VT and NE to beat Merrimack (far from guarantees I know) but Maine beating BU in regulation is a tall order. Yeah I know it’s at Maine and they can be tough at home sometimes but BU knows what’s at stake. So I guess a 10% chance at a miracle.
BU has played Maine twice and outscored them 9-1. So yeah, tall order

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

UConn with a 5 on 3 power play early in the game.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[coachcap]

Great start 2 zip good guys. Sitting behind the VT bench

 

[coachcap]

3 zip

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[ct06111]

Why couldn’t we have carrier in their last night.

He’s gonna get pulled soon

 

[ct06111]

That went in!!!!

Why didn’t they review that???

 

[huskymedic]

 

[coachcap]

4-zip

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]