Nescac 2011-2012

[Phil D. Stands]

Trinity showing strong communication skills on the ice and their breakout was good as a result, and the highlight of the weekend had to be in the third period of the second game when an offensive player took the puck deep into the zone while the rest of the line shifted off, and former teammate from highschool (now on the opposing squad) called for the puck (by name) and was rewarded with a picture-perfect feed onto their stick -- it was priceless -- maybe not sporting according to the queen's rules, but by NASCAR standards this beat monkeying with the resistor plates --- a fine definition of "sneaky good" -- keep it in your playbook, gals (but for just when you need it most)!

[Phil D. Stands]

So did anyone see either the Bowdoin-Colby, Midd-Trinity or the Hamilton-Conn game?
Was Wheeler injured during the 2nd period or just having an off night?
Can anyone explain: Williams beats Utica; Utica neats Hamilton; Hamilton shuts out Conn?
Nice to see Styrbicki and Melberg were in the lineup for Midd and that Greer is back on the ice; Jones is 9/10 and her saves % goes down to .977.
I watched a nice, workwoman-like 8-0 Lord Jeff win in Middletown. Amherst had some nice net play from Murphy when they needed it early and just keeps putting quality team players out shift after shift.

O'bear -- can you explain the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Amh on the bench? Certainly coach plumer wasn't beefing, I would imagine. I just am wondering -- Salve v. St Mikes Friday night also saw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed against the Salve bench and since that coincided with a St Mikes goal by a delay of about 10-12 seconds then it would appear a coach wasn't letting go of a goal call against his/her team, but I wonder if the refs are enforcing something more stringently this year with coach's beefing?

[obserbear]

O'bear -- can you explain the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Amh on the bench? Certainly coach plumer wasn't beefing, I would imagine. I just am wondering -- Salve v. St Mikes Friday night also saw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed against the Salve bench and since that coincided with a St Mikes goal by a delay of about 10-12 seconds then it would appear a coach wasn't letting go of a goal call against his/her team, but I wonder if the refs are enforcing something more stringently this year with coach's beefing?

I honestly do not know exactly what caused the call. The penalty followed one of the few times the puck was in the Amherst D zone and play was whistled with the puck coming out of a scrum on the boards to Russell's gloveside. It was possible to say the officals, to that point, were letting Wesleyan get by with physical play which typically would result in interference or checking being called, and when the ref's arm went up, my first thought was the penalty was on the Cardinals. There was then some on ice confusion and officals visited both benches. I did not think to ask about it after the game, as it hardly made much difference, but I did have the impression that at least one Lord Jeff forward was surprised the Cardinals were not called more for the clutching and grabbing.

[Phil D. Stands]

I honestly do not know exactly what caused the call. The penalty followed one of the few times the puck was in the Amherst D zone and play was whistled with the puck coming out of a scrum on the boards to Russell's gloveside. It was possible to say the officals, to that point, were letting Wesleyan get by with physical play which typically would result in interference or checking being called, and when the ref's arm went up, my first thought was the penalty was on the Cardinals. There was then some on ice confusion and officals visited both benches. I did not think to ask about it after the game, as it hardly made much difference, but I did have the impression that at least one Lord Jeff forward was surprised the Cardinals were not called more for the clutching and grabbing.

...gotcha...that's a gracious way to assign the blame (to the bench) rather than flag the french-speaker

[dontyelldad]

O'bear -- can you explain the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Amh on the bench? Certainly coach plumer wasn't beefing, I would imagine.

I believe it was on the coach. Call followed a waved off icing & scrum in front of the Amherst goal which resulted in the puck and the goalie in the back of the net. Don't know if the discussion was about icing or play in front of the net or a slow whistle, but the stripes spoke w the Amherst bench, then the Wes bench, then appeared to warn the Amherst bench on the way by (finger to lips) ... followed by penalty call.

[dontyelldad]

Wesleyan 4 Nichols 1. 3 goal third gives the Cards the road win.

[obserbear]

Tough night for the NESCAC!!!
Let us hope the rest of the non-conference weekend goes better!!!

[dontyelldad]

Tough night for the NESCAC!!!
Let us hope the rest of the non-conference weekend goes better!!!

Yes, let's hope so. You watching today?

[obserbear]

Yes, let's hope so. You watching today?

I am heading for New London and the Tommies-Camels (2 plus hours should be enough time to get up to Amherst and I may even have time for dinner).
That said...GO U (freaking) BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just a frustrating night against Salve (glad not to have predicted anything...I probably was 0 for the evening).

[chirp purp]

anyone catch the amherst - rit tilt?? would love to hear how the teams matched up. obviously it appears pretty even from the box score, but always appreciate the "i-was-there" opinions

[obserbear]

anyone catch the amherst - rit tilt?? would love to hear how the teams matched up. obviously it appears pretty even from the box score, but always appreciate the "i-was-there" opinions

Hi C P,
Sorry to not respond on the RIT-Amherst tilt, but the result was a bit of a disappointment to the NESCAC faithful. To begin, there were a number of former Amherst stars in town for the game; I spoke with Hanlon and Elek and saw others. There was clearly a "big game" vibe at Orr. It all came to an anti-climax as 3pm approached and it became clear something was wrong...like the Zamboni was not working. The players were all emerging from locker rooms wondering what was going on and eventually the tech people were able to determine the need to over-ride some sort of emergency shutoff on the machine and it came on ice. The teams then had a short re-warmup and the party started something like 45 minutes late. Amherst came out flying and was able to allay any of my fear they would not be able to match the physical play of RIT. The Tigers had just completed a 4 game swing through Ontario and with many Canadians on their roster seemed to bring a bit more physical play than the Kaselouskas-Mann ref team was willing to condone. The previous day they played against Trinity with the Guay-Zanetti ref team making the calls; a team noted for their let them play style of officiating. The game clearly represented a failure by the Amherst powerplay, as they had numerous opportunites, including the 3rd period major, but failed to cash in. The lone goal of the game was a flukey play. Yokoyama fed the puck out of center ice to Hills on the left wing breaking in; she was well covered 1x1 by a D and was being steered wide to Murphy's stickside when the puck careened off a skate and bounced acoss and in off the far, gloveside post. Coach Plumer really shortened his bench (which is not really his style, but an indication of his desire to win) and his special teams just ran out of gas in the 3rd. I think any objective fan in attendance felt Amherst outplayed RIT. This is not intended to dis the Tigers; they played great D in front of Chamberlain, who obviously had an outstanding game. Two really good teams I hope to see more of as we get into the meat of the season!

[obserbear]

The St. Michaels' Tournament sees Colby in action tonight at 7 against host St. Michaels with Nichols on ice against Sacred Heart right now. Theoretically this should be Colby's show (they are ranked #30 in the Rutter and #24 in D3hockey.com's Wiitala, while St. Michaels is #50 in Rutter and #51 in Wiitala, with Nichols at #46 and #43...and Sacred Heart is, well, Sacred Heart). More action tomorrow up at St. Mikes.
Trinity (#36 R and #45 W) hosts Southern Maine (#39 R and #40 W) on Sunday and Monday.
The good old Polar Bears swing into action against Sacred Heart Monday, while Codfish Bowl host UMass-Boston faces Wesleyan. Again in theory, Bowdoin should win here (I think I regretted saying something like that last year???) as they rank #21 R and #14 W (UMB #34 R and #23 W and Wesleyan #43 R and #32 W), but they have been a tad inconsistent so far. Anyway...
GO U BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[obserbear]

OMG!!!!!!!!!
http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wclbstm1.d30

[PrezdeJohnson09]

OMG!!!!!!!!!
http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wclbstm1.d30

"and that's why they play the games!!"

[obserbear]

"and that's why they play the games!!"

Boy, the ECAC-East just owns the NESCAC, eh?

[LaRondelle]

And so does ECAC-West.

[Plugger]

And so does ECAC-West.

I would not go that far, but I would agree that RIT Goalie Chamberlin has NESCAC's #, as Amherst was certainly the better team the night they played before Christmas, but Chamberlin was great. The same could be said for the Middlebury game last year in the NCAA. She played great and slightly outperformed Bloom, who was All American. In both games the NESCAC outshot RIT, but door was shut by the goaltender. Let's see how rest of season goes before saying who has who's #. Time will tell.

[obserbear]

Thank goodness:
http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wclbnic1.d31

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Thank goodness:
http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wclbnic1.d31

Nichols actually is improved this year from what I've heard and judging by some early box scores. Not saying they should have beaten Colby...but still.

[Phil D. Stands]

OMG!!!!!!!!!
http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wclbstm1.d30

I can testify...it was a good first win for St. Mike's and Colby certainly had the better of the play, but as you can imagine sometimes so much so that they got burned on defense for 2 breakaway goals by Santore who is talented and the top scorer for St. Mike's...she found herself in front with the puck unattended three times and scored on two of them by taking her time and deke-ing the goalie. the third st.mikes goal was a deflection off an offensive players shin, and Erin Stevens for St.Mike's was working hard to get her first shutout of the season until a predictable let-down by an entire shift left her out to dry. Colby is a little challenged for offense when their leading scorer (up to this w/e) is a d-man, so it isn't surprising that they managed just 3 goals this w/e. Their defense is usually good, and just got caught on some fine passing at times they didn't expect -- they had been lulled into complacency by the majority of St. Mike's play, I think.