UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

[C-H-C]

"UNH's Jeff Wyer: Senior Goalie and Alternate Captain"

[wildcatdc]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Love the thread title. All business, no funny stuff!! :-)

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

And, nicely spell-checked, unlike many thread titles. :-)

[Scott]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Back to page 1.......

So, who does Umile start in net this weekend? Wyer on Friday and DeSmith on Saturday?

[New Hampshire 'Cats Fan]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Looks like UNH will have one game on NBCSN this year:
http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/men/...medium=twitter

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Looks like UNH will have one game on NBCSN this year:
http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/men/...medium=twitter

Thanks for posting. BU at Lake Whitt on Friday, February 14th, in the middle of the long NHL mid-season break. BU in three of the five scheduled Hockey East games on NBCSN. Dave Strader and Dave Goucher doing the play-by-play with Ken Hodge doing commentary.

I wonder if NESN will be doing their usual Friday night package on Hockey East again this season?

[the geese]

The friday game this week is at 4 pm and not on tv. Does anyone have an alternate method of watching a feed?

[archon70]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Anything special to look for this year? Surprise player or area of play?

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

So, who does Umile start in net this weekend? Wyer on Friday and DeSmith on Saturday?

I'll be surprised if DeSmith doesn't start both. I'll be mildly suprised if Wyer plays Saturday, and shocked if he plays Friday. That's simply NOT part of the Coach Umile playbook.

[CollegeHockeyRinkReport]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Casey Thrush is one of five Hockey East players predicted to make a huge jump in production this season.

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/hock...h-matt-lane-bu

[Dan]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

So, who does Umile start in net this weekend? Wyer on Friday and DeSmith on Saturday?

Umile's quote in the UNH Preview certainly makes it sound like the expect to ride DeSmith again this season.

“We’re very, very comfortable with our goaltending,” Wildcats coach Dick Umile says. “Casey looks great. He’s in great shape and he’s competing hard. I expect him to [play] with an awful lot of confidence and pick up hopefully where he left off the beginning of last season.”

Read more: http://www.uscho.com/2013/10/10/stab...#ixzz2hLW69kjc

Two years ago Sorkin averaged nearly a point-per-game and Speelman was 3-3--6 in 11 games before injury. Those two are the key to the season for me. If they can each knock in 10+ goals and round out the top-six UNH will be in good shape. I'd also like to see much more scoring from Thrush & Correale, specifically.

It will be interesting to see if Goumas & Downing continue to play together into the regular season. Paired with Kelleher, I think they could be one of the most dangerous lines in the country - they'd really need the above players to step up to run out that combination consistently, however.

If they don't, I think we may see something like this instead:

Correale - Downing - Kellher
Speelman/Thrush - Goumas - Sorkin/Willows
Speelman/Thrush - Silengo - Sorkin/Willows
Gaudreault - Smith - Camper

(If needed, I'd move Goumas off the line, because I think his dynamic ability and skill-set really allow him to raise the level of play of whoever he's lined up with.)

Disappointing news on Maller. Sounds like Cleland will give them good minutes right away, while Quast picks up the sixth spot. I know he only played in two games last season, but if I recall correctly board reaction was pretty positive to his game in those two appearances? Hopefully, he'll be much better against Clarkson, and beyond, than he was against Acadia.

[CrazedUNHfan]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

I would hope to see Desmith for both games. I don't like platooning in college hockey because I think that in a 40ish game schedule where teams only play weekends there is no need to rest the starter. If anything changes I would hope that its a week by week platoon because its easier on a team and a goalie to know exactly when you are playing and that it is their job for the week.

My two biggest keys to the season are can at least 2 of Willows, Thrush, Silengo and Correale prove to be consistent scorers and can Quast hold down the fort on D. I think that we wont have to worry about our top offensive players scoring (Goumas, Downing, Sorkin, TVR, Knodel, and possible Kelleher) Its can we have the depth scoring that we lacked at the end of last year to put us over the hump from a tie to a win. And I did not think that Quast was too strong in his 2 games last year. He completely missed an assignment that led to one of the providence goals in game one and I think was out there on another one. But I think after a year with the team its his time to step up. This is one of the best defenses UNH has had in recent years and I think we will need Cleland and Quast to be minute eaters so we can rest TVR and Knodel and not have to worry. We also cant afford an injury with Maller gone so that will be the Achilles heel of the team if someone goes down and Randall is our 6.

Possibly three games against top nonhockey east contenders will tell us where this team is right now. I think we can conceivably win all 3 and start the year off with a bang. The season cant start soon enough

[GoUNH]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

The Union Leader is reporting that it will be Wyer tonight and DeSmith tomorrow night.

[claw]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Umile's quote in the UNH Preview certainly makes it sound like the expect to ride DeSmith again this season.

“We’re very, very comfortable with our goaltending,” Wildcats coach Dick Umile says. “Casey looks great. He’s in great shape and he’s competing hard. I expect him to [play] with an awful lot of confidence and pick up hopefully where he left off the beginning of last season.”

Read more: http://www.uscho.com/2013/10/10/stab...#ixzz2hLW69kjc

Two years ago Sorkin averaged nearly a point-per-game and Speelman was 3-3--6 in 11 games before injury. Those two are the key to the season for me. If they can each knock in 10+ goals and round out the top-six UNH will be in good shape. I'd also like to see much more scoring from Thrush & Correale, specifically.

It will be interesting to see if Goumas & Downing continue to play together into the regular season. Paired with Kelleher, I think they could be one of the most dangerous lines in the country - they'd really need the above players to step up to run out that combination consistently, however.

If they don't, I think we may see something like this instead:

Correale - Downing - Kellher
Speelman/Thrush - Goumas - Sorkin/Willows
Speelman/Thrush - Silengo - Sorkin/Willows
Gaudreault - Smith - Camper

(If needed, I'd move Goumas off the line, because I think his dynamic ability and skill-set really allow him to raise the level of play of whoever he's lined up with.)

Disappointing news on Maller. Sounds like Cleland will give them good minutes right away, while Quast picks up the sixth spot. I know he only played in two games last season, but if I recall correctly board reaction was pretty positive to his game in those two appearances? Hopefully, he'll be much better against Clarkson, and beyond, than he was against Acadia.

I agree with your general thoughts. UNH has to pick up secondary scoring to leave that top line together. Unfortunately Sorkin and Speelman were god awful in that game. They are the two that really need to step forward for this team to be the best it can be, but it was definitely not an inspired performance by either one of them. Speelman is one of those seemingly rare players at UNH that just hasn't really gotten any better during his time in Durham.

I really like what Thrush brings to the table in terms of his all around game. He's a guy you can plug in anywhere and he can fill a need. I don't think he has the high end skill to really be a dynamic scorer, but he is a guy that could give you ~20-25 points on the high end. The problem is I really loved the line he was on for the exhibition with Smith and Willows. Feel like if that line could be UNH's 3rd line this season they'd have an edge on most 3rd lines they'd face. But for that to happen, obviously the 2nd line needs to come from somewhere else.

[New Hampshire 'Cats Fan]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Having trouble inserting a video for some reason, so here is a link featuring a brief interview with Coach Umile and some of the players for the weekend tournament:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=MBueH1fcKw4