UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

I also believe Belfour will still not get much time, clearly there is a reason he isn't. The coaches and staff that spend time with him everyday know a lot we don't. they are obviously comfortable with him as a backup, he may get a night once or twice, but I see Blais riding Johnny the rest of the way out.

I think Stolarz was getting some time that he otherwise might not have because they were concerned that this might happen on some level. It did, anyway. The fact that he was getting any meaningful time over a 5th year senior, who was 3rd team all conference two seasons ago, tells me that, since he is/was a freshman, and only 18 years old at that.

And, I think we're gonna see Belfour get some PT as soon as Coach Blais gets into a game situation where he feels comfortable using him if for no other reason but to get the dust off him. How much beyond that is anybody's guess. Obviously, we're gonna be recruiting and signing a goalie in the off season. Or, maybe not, with Massa coming back.

I'll remind you that Belfour was the only UNO goalie with a winning record last season albeit in limited playing time. That said, his USHL numbers were not exactly stellar prior to his arrival here.

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Rob White of the Omaha World-Herald's weekly WCHA power ratings:

http://omaha.com/article/20130106/MA...rankings-jan-7

I post this because, while Rob is a nice guy and does a decent job covering the Omaha Stormchasers for the World Herald, it is pretty clear he doesn't know almost anything about hockey. I mean this, literally. Or, put another way, not even close to well enough to be the paper's go-to guy on hockey. My guess is that he has the gig because either nobody else at the paper wants it or they don't have anybody else to give it to. He was the between periods interview on the radio against CC on Saturday night and all the regulars on this board would have been rolling on the ground laughing at the unbelievably milquetoast nature of and the line of the questioning he was given by UNO color man, Terry Leahy during the interview. I suspect that Terry knows this because he is one of the better hockey announcers, as a color man, I've ever heard, and it was obvious he was asking questions he thought Rob might be able to handle. Guess they couldn't find anybody else to have on between periods. The whole interview lasted maybe 2 minutes or so, too, as opposed to most between periods interviews.

In any event, Rob has apparently been the drinking the koolade that somebody has been feeding him about our defense corps as he ordains them "one of the country's best groups of defensemen" in the power rankings at the link above despite the fact that UNO:

1. Has all of 1 shut-out this season (against UAH, I might add)
2. Is ranked 25th in team defense in the NCAA and 6th in the WCHA.
3. Has the 32nd ranked penalty kill in the nation and 6th in the WCHA.
4. Has allowed more goals than all but 4 WCHA teams.

Those are not the stats of "one of the country's best groups of defensemen".

The irony is that, prior to the start of the season, it was widely assumed that the defense would carry this team to wherever it might go this season and, instead, it's one of the 2 biggest problems with the team with the goaltending being the secondary, lesser issue, than the defense. And, of course, the defense is part of the problem with the goaltending.

If UNO has serious post-season aspirations then the defense needs to start playing more like "one of the country's best groups of defensemen", because, they have not, to date.

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Late breaking news. Ryan Massa to the "rescue":

http://www.omaha.com/article/2013010...o-redshirt-him

Not a shock.

[J.D.]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Outsider here...saw the story on the front page. Why did Massa leave in the first place if he led the team in minutes last year?

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Outsider here...saw the story on the front page. Why did Massa leave in the first place if he led the team in minutes last year?

That's a good question and Coach Blais has not ever said. "Personal reasons" were all I ever heard. That covers a lot of ground. Here's the story when announced:

http://www.omaha.com/article/2012071...707129999/1707

When it happened I didn't actually "ask around" about this so I don't know any more than that.

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

For anybody that is interested in such things, here is a VERY interesting legal summation/perspective of UNO's recent decision to do away with football and wrestling from both the financial angle and the Title IX side of things, and as that all related to hockey at UNO. This appeared in the Willamette Sports Law Review Journal just this fall:

http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/resou...%202012/p3.pdf

Fascinating read and not overly long. It endorses what the university did, mostly because of the Title IX implications of the whole affair.

I assume they have a degree program at this college in sports law and they found this particular situation to be worthy of such an in-depth look and writeup since the school could hardly be much farther from UNO, being located in Salem, OR.

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

The one thing you can definitely say about last night's game is that it underscored UNO's goaltending issues.

Faulkner is a "serviceable" goalie. That's all.

Coach Blais with none too pleased with our keeper in the paper today.

UNO fan is calling out UNO defenseman Micheal Young for last night's loss, though:

http://www.mavpuck.com/mpboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9139

For the record, I am no fan of Young's, either, and there was plenty of blame to go around for wasting a comeback effort like that

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Well, we left Denver in first place, still, albeit tied, now.

It was nice while it lasted because at the end of next weekend UNO will no longer be in first place since we don't play and there is no possible combination of wins and losses by other teams around us that would make this even a possibility.

Nice to hear both of Denver's announcers say, as did Gwozdecky, in the post game interview, that they thought DU played better tonight in the tie than they did last night in winning and that UNO had outplayed DU Friday night even though DU won.

We put a shot blizzard on them both nights as DU gave up the most shots they'd given up all season last night (42) followed by UNO putting even more than that on them tonight (46).

This team is going wherever John Faulkner allows it to go, it looks like. That's worrisome. That said, he was the difference in the game tonight, even though we "only" got out of there with a tie. Only the 2nd point we've ever earned in that place, I might add.

By the way, Ryan Walters is all that and then some. He also increased his national scoring lead out to 5 points this weekend. UNO maintains it's 2nd leading scoring team in the nation spot although they have scored more goals than any other team in the country and took over the national lead in shorties as well.

The DU announcers were right, his line, every time they were on the ice, made the Pioneers look edgy and very, very careful.

UNO, defensively, continues it's slide in the national rankings, now down to 35th. Our newspaper here, again, referred to UNO's defense being one of the top corps in the country again. Yeah, right. We've given up by far the most goals of any team in the WCHA with a winning record. Only two teams have given up more than us, period.

Noteworthy was that Bryce Aneloski was a healthy scratch tonight.

In two weeks, we play the "Neutral Zone Traps" up in Bemidji--our Kryptonite, who are yet again in a position to make or break our season.

[5mn_Major]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

By the way, Ryan Walters is all that and then some.

I am constantly impressed by Gopher recruits.

But the day we lost Walters...I knew it was an exceptional loss.

[Pants]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

To be honest, Walters is great, I have been watching him all season also, but I am far more impressed by Archibalds play. He plays both ends of the ice, he is physical, he is fast, if we get him back next year, he will be the Hobey contender for sure. Walters is fantastic, but he has done a lot of picking up the trash now and then (i'm not judging, a goal is a goal, you gotta be there to get it)

[SCSU Euro]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Where do you need to go to get tickets for the outdoor game and how are prices for that looking? Does it come with a ticket for the USHL game or are those sold separately?

[MAVFANJEFF]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Where do you need to go to get tickets for the outdoor game and how are prices for that looking? Does it come with a ticket for the USHL game or are those sold separately?

I would try ticketmaster. This thing is being promoted poorly so I doubt it will be close to being sold out.

[unomavfan]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

One ticket is good for both games, they start at $30 and go up from there.

[SCSU Euro]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

A) Is there going to be alcohol sold?

B) Will there be **** to do (and time) in between the games or are we to just sit out there for the whole thing?

[Red Cows]

Re: UNO 2012-13 Season Thread - Blaising To An Xcellent Season?

Where do you need to go to get tickets for the outdoor game and how are prices for that looking? Does it come with a ticket for the USHL game or are those sold separately?

These are available through Ticketmaster. It's $30.00 for both games (total):

http://www.ticketmaster.com/Battles-...artist/1781340

It is a USHL/NCAA doubleheader. Tickets are good for both games. Where to sit? Take a look at this thread on the topic in Mavpuck:

http://www.mavpuck.com/mpboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8519

These is also worth a look as to rink layout:

http://www.omahasports.org/archives/548

http://www.omavs.com/news/2012/2/14/...214124422.aspx

http://omahasteam.com/tickets/hockey...on-ice-tickets

The upper level availability (or lack thereof) is because of the presumed better sight lines up there.

Be advised that TD Ameritrade seats only 25,000 and the seats upstairs are not as "nosebleed" as you would think, having been to baseball games there.

This is now being advertised here in a big way, finally.

If you are coming, the Friday night game is going to be very worthy as well. I've been told that North Dakota is bringing something like a 100 busloads of fans, the Friday night game at the Clink is on national television, and a crowd well in excess of 10,000 will be on hand for that one as well. The first UNO/North Dakota game ever played was here in November 2010 and even though UNO lost (the lead changed hands 3 times in the game), it easily had the best atmosphere of any game UNO has ever played in the Clink. There was a mountain of UND fans here for that one. And, the best student turnout in UNO history, which has been a problem here, bar none. It will be worth going, trust me:

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/06...004924A2C85507