official thread of the UNH wildcats

[interestedobserver]

Besides what was happening in the stands, can anybody give some detail about the game? I hear Laura Lankton got regular shifts and played well - anybody else?

[ClOuD 9]

This would be a bad time for me to mention the cow that was roaming around the Whitt tonight huh? (not a real one mind you)

Player tracking has become harder for me with my short attention span and the lack of names on the back of jerseys, but I could read off the box score & recap and pretend that I knew if you'd like.

Huggon made a couple big saves but for the most part wasn't tested and I believe it was Jones who shot it from a tough angle behind the net and nearly banked it off Gunn's skate and in, but it got trapped between Gunn's skate and the post on the line, I don't think Gunn realized at first where it was, she looked around for a second or two and then realized it and pushed it with her skate blade to a defensemen (defensewoman?). Deb Bernhard continues to impress, rumor has it that its her new skates.

[erin]

Here is Phil Kincade's article in today's Foster's:

UNH Women Sweep Northeastern (http://www4.fosters.com/News2003/January2003/Jan_12/Sports/sp0112h.asp)

[lyla33]

yea this weekend was a great weekend for the cats. 2 SO for huggon and broke the record. yea she'll be missed next year im not sure bout the ensor situation. anyways the need to get a goalie. gunn is a great goaltender like what was said b4 i think the whole teams minds xpecially her mind was somewhere else. yea conway played in the 2nd n 3rd periods of the QU game in conn last year anyways did anyone else notice that the women have a better record(17-3-1) than the men(14-4-2) and shaw got a few shifts yesterday n lankton also played regular shifts but the second goal was deff scored by vanmassenhove but iit was set up by bernhard. well im out cnat wait to see the UM game next weekend n hope they do well in BC on tues they dont really do as well when the travel on the same day good luck to them!

[Grandaddy]

yea ;)

[Frozenaffairs]

Originally posted by ClOuD 9
.

After reading the reviews of last nights game as well as seeing tonights I fail to see why Gunn is revered by all to be one of the top goalies in the nation, big fat juicy rebounds, fails to make easy saves, bad positioning, need I go on? Maybe she just had two bad games, but I dunno know.


I would give Gunn the benefit of a doubt, considering the turmoil of recent events. She and the rest of the team had to be distracted at best. In fact several of the articles I read made comments to that effect. The situation has got to be significantly disruptive.

No credit taken away from UNH, but Northeastern had to be down.

[Cookin4Fun]

Impressive weekend for the Lady Cats. Congrats ladies.

[ClOuD 9]

Originally posted by Frozenaffairs
She and the rest of the team had to be distracted at best. In fact several of the articles I read made comments to that effect. The situation has got to be significantly disruptive.
I would believe that if they didn't have a 5-11-2 record and only 3 points in Hockey East, whats their excuse for that?

[Da Big Bad Cow]

id say it has more to do with their lack of offense than with gunn

[HEfanatic]

UNH is sitting pretty well right now after a solid couple of weeks back from break.
They are 5th in the nation in offense and 3rd in defense. They also hold the #4 spot in the PWR. They lead Hockey East in practically every category and Providence has struggled as of late.
They Wildcats have to be excited to be able to play Minnesota at home this weekend. Such a huge game for UNH if they could pull it out. They are undefeated at the Whitt and anything can happen.
What do people predict with the minnesota game?

[ClOuD 9]

I'm feeling oddly optimistic about UNH's chances against Minn., usually against the stronger teams I get nervous, but some reason I'm just not getting that feeling. Maybe we'll win, maybe we'll get blown out, I'm not gonna go on the record either way as not to get mud thrown back at me when it's all said and done, just going to say I have a good feeling about it. Wondering what the more informed UNH fans (Erin, Grandddady, Cow, etc) predict as well as Minn. fans.

[Grandaddy]

UNH has a tough stretch before heading into February's league only schedule. They have to take care of business Tuesday at Boston College. They can't have a letdown in a game like that, and I don't think that they will.
Saturday.. Minnesota.. I can't imagine they'll get smacked around like they did at Harvard. They are undefeated at home (11-0), and this will by far be their biggest test on Whittemore Center Ice this season. I'm hoping they can keep it respectable. Minnesota has some kids who can fly. I don't know what happened in the Harvard game, if they just tried to do too much defensively instead of sticking to their own game plan, but I suspect we'll see something different Saturday. Huggon will have to have a super game, and everyone else will have to have one of their better games, and who knows... It'll be another gauge of how they stack up against the nation's elite. UMD is the only top 10 team (unless Mercyhurst is still in the top 10?) that UNH doesn't play in the regular season, so they do have a good schedule this year, and are right where they need to be (#4 PWR) to get into the FF.

A win in this game would be enormous. It would take some pressure off for the Wisconsin weekend.

After another game at Connecticut (this Sunday) which should be a battle.... They head to Wisconsin for two. WIsco seems to be playing better hockey lately and have jumped into the top 10.
Winning two of the three non-conference games remaining would be a big step towards solidifying their PWR.

After the Wisco games, they have 3 games with Providence and a few left with Maine, BC and Quinnipiac... so they do have another non-conference... but it's just QU

[Frozenaffairs]

Originally posted by Grandaddy
After another game at Connecticut (this Sunday) which should be a battle.... They head to Wisconsin for two. WIsco seems to be playing better hockey lately and have jumped into the top 10.


Actually, Wisconsin started the preseason as #5, moved as high as #4 after tieing UMD and has floated between #7 and #9. They never left the top 10.

[Grandaddy]

Originally posted by Frozenaffairs
Actually, Wisconsin started the preseason as #5, moved as high as #4 after tieing UMD and has floated between #7 and #9. They never left the top 10.

My bad, I thought they had slipped out earlier this season.. I know they started really high...

[ARM]

Originally posted by ClOuD 9
I'm feeling oddly optimistic about UNH's chances against Minn., ... Wondering what the more informed UNH fans (Erin, Grandddady, Cow, etc) predict as well as Minn. fans.

After Friday night's game against SCSU, I'd have said that Minnesota would be doing well to split against Dartmouth/UNH. By Saturday, they had shaken off a lot of rust and played much better. However, they will still have their hands full on the road against a hungry Dartmouth, and then playing early Saturday against a rested Wildcat team. At first glance, it would seem that the New Hampshire teams need these games worse than the Gophers do. But Minnesota still has four road games left in Duluth and Wisconsin, so if they get swept this weekend, their chances of making the NCAAs drop considerably.

UofM has a surplus of D, but have been struggling to get scoring from their second line. They have tried moving Winny Brodt and Ronda Curtin, to forward, but IMO both help the team more on D where they can use their puck-rushing skills. La Toya Clarke seems healthy again, but they still need another wing to skate with her and Kristy Oonincx. The latest experiment had Melissa Coulombe moving up to wing with Allie Sanchez moving back to D. It seemed to work okay, but the true test will come against higher ranked teams.

In the end, I think this one will be decided where many games are: in net. Jody Horak leads the country in winning and save percentage, but I think there are a few goals she'd like to have back. Minnesota has been sloppy in their own end, giving up 6 and 4 goals in games against UMD, and yielding 3 to a Brown team that wasn't clicking that well on offense. The Gophers can't afford to get outplayed in goal in either contest this weekend.

[HEfanatic]

the game against minnesota this weekend is really the last opportunity the wildcats have to upset a higher ranked team this season.

mccloskey and the team were all in agreement that the harvard/dartmouth weekend was not the best showing for UNH and that they should have and could have done better, especially at dartmouth.
UNH had a crack earlier this season at a higher ranked stlawrence squad and they got a T and a L on the weekend.

the fact that this game is at home is huge. all the wildcats games v. higher ranked opponents have been away(harvard, dartmouth, SLU) so far this season. the only top 10 opponent that has come to the whitt, princeton, left with two losses and one of their worse beatings of the season. UNH looks way more in control at the whitt and they do well on their large ice surface.
beating minnesota would really bring the wildcats close to a FF appearance.

yet, even though the minn. game is important and would be a tremndous win for the cats, i think the more crucial series to look at is the wisonsin series. UNH is higher ranked and needs to beat wisco if they hope to have a shot at the FF. Wisconsisn has been slightly inconsistant this season, but they have the ability to upset the best teams and when they are on, they will be extremely tough to beat, especially at home. UNH has not faired all to well when having to visit ranked opponents.

[Grandaddy]

Huggon Joined men's team goalie Mike Ayers as Hockey East defensive player of the week for their performance this past weekend.

[ClOuD 9]

Why in the hell did they schedule the Minn game for 2 when there isn't a mens game that night? A 7 pm game would draw more people.

[Da Big Bad Cow]

on a saturday i dont think thats necessarily the case

[HEfanatic]

UNH should be well rested to take on the gophers. minnesota has to travel and play dartmouth the night before they come to the whitt so UNH has to take advantage of that. best case scenerio: minnesota beats dartmouth but gets beat up a bit in doing so and the cats top the gophs