official thread of the UNH wildcats

[unh_hockey]

Originally posted by dave1381
Recaps:
http://www4.fosters.com/News2003/November2003/November_08/Sports/sp1108e.asp
http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20032004/w/11/07/slu-unh.php

Looks as if Hansen is going to be done for a while :(
Awful lot of big names going down this season.

yeah I saw hansen in crutches at the game, kind of was surprised. Too bad, defintly gonna need the older players when the season really gets under way.

But good win for UNH tonite.

Question: where was vicki davis? shes one of our better forwards, and was out. why?

[dave1381]

Davis was out with some sort of groin injury.

[interestedobserver]

Davis has been unable to practice for almost a month now. MRIs, CATscans, blood tests have been inconclusive, other than she has rheumatoid arthritis. She is tryiing to get her medical condition under control and is presently considering red shirting for the balance of this year. She's pretty frustrated.

[unh_hockey]

Originally posted by interestedobserver
Davis has been unable to practice for almost a month now. MRIs, CATscans, blood tests have been inconclusive, other than she has rheumatoid arthritis. She is tryiing to get her medical condition under control and is presently considering red shirting for the balance of this year. She's pretty frustrated.

sorry to hear that, hope she gets well soon.:(

[seasquirt]

Here are some of my thoughts about this years team.
First I think there is not as much interest in the Wild Cats here as there was last year. I think that as it gets further from the team winning a conference title or better still a championship interest becomes less. There seems to be fewer fans at the home games and I think even fewer are making the trip to the away games. This is to bad since the hockey I have been watching from the team has been a lot of fun to watch.
As for how well the Team is playing, I think the ladies are playing good hockey. Not great but good. Considering how many new players there are I think they have done great for this point in the season. They still need to learn to work together but many of the new players are showing they can play well and the veterans are doing a great job helping the new comers. Many of the new players have stood out from the start of the season. By stood out, I mean I was able to identify them in a crowed. Of course having the names on the jerseys this year is a great help.
While I would have loved it if they had won every game I sure did not expect them to do so at the start of the season and as far as I am concerned they are doing better then I had hopped. Having three new goalies to place between the pipes sure didn’t make things easy for them either. What I have seen from the goalies so far they are doing rather well and if Bourdon turns out to be the best of the three then we should be in good shape cause I thought the other two were doing OK.
At times I have seen some very good hockey from this team and even when they are not playing at their best I can tell they are trying hard and skating their hearts out. Was loosing to St. Lawrence with 8 seconds to go in over time heart wrenching, it sure was but it was also an exciting hockey game. These ladies are not loosing by buy much and a bounce or two in their favor and they are undefeated. I am looking forward to the rest of the season and I expect that the team will be better each week and I can see them taking Hockey East which would be quite an accomplishment for them.
I am very happy with what they have done year to date. Most people don’t realize how hard it is to work as a team when you have a lot of new people being added to the mix. The more new the harder it is. Experience and maturity matter.
I expect they will loose another game or two before the end of the year but I am willing to bet that they will be if not close games at least hard fought games and for my money that is all you can hope for.
I hope more people start coming to the games and it would be nice to see a little more talk here about the team. I realize that there are some out there that only want to talk about the negative and the problems which is also fun to read and think about, but that should keep folks from saying they enjoy watching the team and even say they think the team is a good one. Now I don’t know much about hockey, or birthing babies, but I think I am learning. So with the little knowledge I have I proclaim this years team has shown that they can play good hockey and that they have a good, maybe even the best, chance to win hockey east. What more could you ask for. I
Oh yeah, Vickie Davis played last weekend so hopefully she is doing better. Stats show her playing 5 games this year but I am not sure how many minutes of those 5 games she played.

[topshelf25]

Any thoughts about the home and home with Northeastern this weekend??

[Spirit of '82]

A few thoughts-1) to win Hockey East, UNH has to win games like these. Can't do what they did with UConn and Yale-tieing games they should be winning.2)Rebecca Paul is a transfer form NE, and she should get lots of ice time because of this. She has lots to offer, a gritty, dtermined player- hope she is used properly against her old team.3) Is NE for real?? Is it possible that they can come back from the chaos of last season so quickly and compete with the top 10 teams?? If the answer is yes, it would be one of the top stories in Hockey East this year.

[Collegehockeynut]

As a college hockey fan, based upon pre-season assumptions, Northeastern has over-performed season to date and New Hampshire has under-performed season to date. If nothing else, this weekend will provide greater clarity as to the true abilities of each team. UNH should easily handle Northeastern. But if they do not, then Northeastern is truly stronger than I anticipated them to be and UNH is not the power to be reckoned with as I thought they would be this year.

Yet, I keep looking at the UNH roster and can't help but believe that UNH will win both games.

[leo and c]

On paper you are correct. NU is a team of freshman and sophmores!! Without GUNN it appears to be a sweep. Just look at the two rosters, wow! what a difference!

[topshelf25]

Can't get the NU and UNH game on the Internet - would appreciate any updates, comments on the game as it progresses. Go 'Cats!

[ClOuD 9]

UNH wins 4-2. NU was without Gunn and Woog and although they came close, they just couldn't deny UNH. NU pulled their goalie down 4-2 and I believe Gordon sent the puck down and almost got the empty netter, hit the post and went out (and then somehow the linesmen decided it was icing).

[seasquirt]

UNH seemed to have trouble getting going in the first period. In the second period things started to go UNH’s way. Gordon played very well tonight. Bourdon looked good in goal. The two she let in were stopped at least once and I think she stopped the first one twice. Some of the other cats were playing hard too. Wedster seemed to always be at the puck or in front of the net when she was on the ice. The goalie for NU stopped some good shots and the rest of the NU team made it a good game to watch. It will be interesting to see how Saturday’s day goes for UNH on the smaller ice at Northeastern. Looking forward to it.

[dave1381]

Originally posted by ClOuD 9
NU was without Gunn and Woog...
why no Woog?

[ClOuD 9]

Dunno, didn't see her, maybe Gibber or seasquirt can confirm?

[dave1381]

You might not have recognized her. She's lost a lot of weight.
(I mean that in the nicest way.)

[seasquirt]

The Cats beat Northeastern 5 to 0. As I see it, UNH played well, better then Thursday’s win against NU. NU got one puck past the UNH goalie late in the third period but it was called no goal because of a hand pass. Gordon Scored twice. Bourdon did a great job in net. She stopped a couple of good shot when the defense of UNH broke down. The passing of UNH was good and some of there set plays looked good too. Thomas left the game after hurting here leg. The game was a little rough at times. Good game by UNH all and all. As for Coach Woog, didn’t even notice if she was behind the bench today, the music was too loud for me and when it stopped I was just glad not to hear it.

[hockeyfan17]

My thoughts on the UNH/Northeastern series....

I was very happy to see the older players stepping up and making an impact on the scoresheet this week. Gordon, Jones, and Bernhard have really turned up their game the past few weeks and the UNH veteran defense look very sharp.
I am liking the freshmen goaltender Bourdon and what she has brought to the team since her return. She has great energy from what i've noticed so far and really seems to control the game out their. I am looking forward to seeing her develop for the next 4 years. I am as well impressed with the freshmen forwards and their consistent work ethics. I enjoy watching Hekle and Garland on D, both have great size and knowledge of the game. It will be interesting to see how the team shows up the next few weeks as they enter a diffcult stretch facing Brown Tuesday, than Harvard and Dartmouth in the upcoming weeks. It would be great to see them upset the #2, #3 teams in the nation.
I think to date UNH looks like the strongest hcokey East team. I dont think Providence has the depth the Wildcats have in the earlygoing. Just some thoughts..obviously its still very early. I am impressed with this team to date.

[dave1381]

recap... http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20032004/w/11/22/unh-nu.php

I don't think anyone would argue that UNH looks like the favorite in Hockey East now. They seem stronger than anyone else in every position across the board. No one has a threat like Thomas on the power play. Bourdon's looked fantastic, certainly better than Bugden, and UNH has people who can actually finish.

[ARM]

Wasn't Hockey East like that last year as well? UNH looked to be the better team for much of the season, but Providence came on very strong at the end. I'd say that the league as a whole looks to be less predictable; i.e., we should see a few more upsets.

[dave1381]

This year and last year are a bit similar, but not exactly.

Last year, Providence was the Hockey East favorite, and they had a convinving win over Dartmouth at this point of the year. Their record was about the same, but the schedule was tougher with two games at Duluth two start the year then two against Dartmouth shortly thereafter. Even though UNH had the better record, and was ahead in the polls/PWR of Providence for a bit, they were 0-1-1 vs. StL in their only tough first half series, and swept a Princeton team that didn't come on stronger till the end. I don't think you had a great case for UNH being the favorite.

This year, UNH has played a slightly harder schedule, split with St.L when they prob. should have swept. They beat Princeton, who Providence lost to the next day (Prov did lose to Princeton in Jan last year too, granted). Providence hasn't been as competitive with Harvard/Dartmouth as they were in the first half last year. So I think you have more of case for UNH moving into favorite status, not necessarily because UNH is looking better but more so because Providence is not looking as strong.

You are right that the league is a lot less predictable because the gap between Prov/UNH and the rest isn't nearly as large.