Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)
Your point is taken, and I would at least agree that the players care more than any of us about the results. But let's be totally frank here. Let's assume UVM is a talented and somewhat underrated team. We can point to any number of factors to explain that, but it's probably safest to look at them in broad and general terms and conclude that they are a good but not great team. Kind of like most of the league, actually. And they were the road team this past weekend. Did they not have regular practices the last two weeks, even if they didn't play the previous weekend? They had a close to 4 hour bus ride within 24 hours of the faceoff, and may have spent at least one (if not two) nights this past weekend in quarters that were not their own. And according to at least one poster, they may have had a late arrival at the arena for Friday night's game due to heavier-than-usual traffic coming back over the General Sullivan bridge.
Those are an awful lot of intangibles working against them, and on top of that the host team was coming off a home sweep of the #14 team in the country (at the time) the previous weekend. One team had every reason to come roaring out of the blocks on Friday night, and the other had every available excuse in the book not to. As it turned out, the former team came out stale and uninspired, even by the measure of their usually-protective coach ... and the latter team sucked it up, and put on a dynamic and committed performance, from the start of the first period Friday through to the end of the third period Saturday. And were rightly awarded for their efforts.
Using the word "quit" can create some bad feelings when taken literally, although there are certainly times when it literally fits, and we need look no further than the most recent Super Bowl to see a team (and certainly its key player) who had every reason to compete to the figurative death, and certainly cared more than any of their fans about the outcome of the game, and from Manning's perspective the impact of the outcome on his so-called "legacy". Yet they came up very short, and I think most observers would say Denver "quit" at some point WAY too early in the second half. Even if they were only outscored 14-8 over the period of the game they "quit" on.
I think the best explanation of "quit" offered on this thread after this weekend came from Greg, who correctly pointed out that every time UVM increased their intensity when challenged by UNH, the home team was umable (or unwilling?) to match that uptick. It was pretty obvious to me, albeit watching on TV Friday, and I weighed in and said so on here before the folks who were at the game added their similar thoughts - which Coach Umile echoed in the media immediately afterwards.
I've edited out a few more paragraphs after this, because no one wants to read about competitive theory and psychology on a Monday morning after a bad weekend of on-ice results. I'm sure the players have lots of enthusiasm, and they showed that recently with a 3-1-0 record after TvR went down for what appears to be the rest of the season. I'm also sure they have intensity - ask Notre Dame after the previous weekend. We were all very complimentary of that performance on here, without reservation. But intensity isn't a straight line proposition and constant. Intensity has to be measured in comparison to the intensity of your opponent on any given night, and on Friday UNH came up a distant second in that category. After UVM's fourth goal restored their 2 goal lead in the 3rd period, I turned to my daughter and said "I'm afraid they're going to let down and let in another one quickly". It was barely out of my mouth when Goal #5 hit the twine from a ridiculous angle. Really, I'm not that good - I'm not Kreskin, but we've all seen this movie before. Just as sure as Denver "mailed it in" after the 2nd half kickoff two weekends ago, UNH mailed it in Friday night after Goal #4, and got themselves in that predicament to begin with by failing to match UVM's effort and intensity over the 50-ish minutes that preceded it.
It pains me to say things like this, it really does. I'll be around for the rest of the season, and I'm always going to be hoping to see that magical moment. I've been in the house for all three of UNH's tourney championships (ECAC and HE) over a 35 year period, and saw them in three of their last four Frozen Fours (did not travel to Anaheim) so I'm in this for the duration, I'm afraid. I want the players to succeed on and off the ice, and to use what they've learned on and off the ice at UNH to be successful in their lives after hockey is done for them. I'm hoping Coach Umile gets to ride off into the sunset someday with the ultimate trophy, amd if not, then hopefully at least with another conference tourney trophy. I really, really do.
But the evidence out on the ice in recent seasons tells me the slide away from the pinnacle has sadly not stopped yet, and despite the early promise of last season, I'm afraid that has largely proven to be nothing but a temporary mirage that has been exposed by the last season-and-a-half of unceasing mediocrity. It is going to take an incredibly special effort from a lot of different people, on and off the ice, to turn things around for UNH Hockey - whether it's during the remainder of this season, or in future seasons. JMHO.
Originally posted by thegeese
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Those are an awful lot of intangibles working against them, and on top of that the host team was coming off a home sweep of the #14 team in the country (at the time) the previous weekend. One team had every reason to come roaring out of the blocks on Friday night, and the other had every available excuse in the book not to. As it turned out, the former team came out stale and uninspired, even by the measure of their usually-protective coach ... and the latter team sucked it up, and put on a dynamic and committed performance, from the start of the first period Friday through to the end of the third period Saturday. And were rightly awarded for their efforts.
Using the word "quit" can create some bad feelings when taken literally, although there are certainly times when it literally fits, and we need look no further than the most recent Super Bowl to see a team (and certainly its key player) who had every reason to compete to the figurative death, and certainly cared more than any of their fans about the outcome of the game, and from Manning's perspective the impact of the outcome on his so-called "legacy". Yet they came up very short, and I think most observers would say Denver "quit" at some point WAY too early in the second half. Even if they were only outscored 14-8 over the period of the game they "quit" on.
I think the best explanation of "quit" offered on this thread after this weekend came from Greg, who correctly pointed out that every time UVM increased their intensity when challenged by UNH, the home team was umable (or unwilling?) to match that uptick. It was pretty obvious to me, albeit watching on TV Friday, and I weighed in and said so on here before the folks who were at the game added their similar thoughts - which Coach Umile echoed in the media immediately afterwards.
I've edited out a few more paragraphs after this, because no one wants to read about competitive theory and psychology on a Monday morning after a bad weekend of on-ice results. I'm sure the players have lots of enthusiasm, and they showed that recently with a 3-1-0 record after TvR went down for what appears to be the rest of the season. I'm also sure they have intensity - ask Notre Dame after the previous weekend. We were all very complimentary of that performance on here, without reservation. But intensity isn't a straight line proposition and constant. Intensity has to be measured in comparison to the intensity of your opponent on any given night, and on Friday UNH came up a distant second in that category. After UVM's fourth goal restored their 2 goal lead in the 3rd period, I turned to my daughter and said "I'm afraid they're going to let down and let in another one quickly". It was barely out of my mouth when Goal #5 hit the twine from a ridiculous angle. Really, I'm not that good - I'm not Kreskin, but we've all seen this movie before. Just as sure as Denver "mailed it in" after the 2nd half kickoff two weekends ago, UNH mailed it in Friday night after Goal #4, and got themselves in that predicament to begin with by failing to match UVM's effort and intensity over the 50-ish minutes that preceded it.
It pains me to say things like this, it really does. I'll be around for the rest of the season, and I'm always going to be hoping to see that magical moment. I've been in the house for all three of UNH's tourney championships (ECAC and HE) over a 35 year period, and saw them in three of their last four Frozen Fours (did not travel to Anaheim) so I'm in this for the duration, I'm afraid. I want the players to succeed on and off the ice, and to use what they've learned on and off the ice at UNH to be successful in their lives after hockey is done for them. I'm hoping Coach Umile gets to ride off into the sunset someday with the ultimate trophy, amd if not, then hopefully at least with another conference tourney trophy. I really, really do.
But the evidence out on the ice in recent seasons tells me the slide away from the pinnacle has sadly not stopped yet, and despite the early promise of last season, I'm afraid that has largely proven to be nothing but a temporary mirage that has been exposed by the last season-and-a-half of unceasing mediocrity. It is going to take an incredibly special effort from a lot of different people, on and off the ice, to turn things around for UNH Hockey - whether it's during the remainder of this season, or in future seasons. JMHO.
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