UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

[Kdaddy1968]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Really?

Given how the team has played.. who says we don't change the lineup.. or put Mario and Bradley on the 4th line.. why mess with this teams chemistry..

[Cat lover]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

So who was the ranked team tonight? Vermont did a amazing job of not letting Mich get any speed out of its zone and with the exception of the PK I cant remember them getting pinned in the d-zone for any long periods all night.

Lekkas was very good early when they needed him and stayed focused in the second half of the game when his work load was low.

Since going down 2-0 last Sat the Cats have gone almost 120 minutes and outscored 2 good teams 8-0.

Safe bet that Colton, Mario and Bradley reunite Sun with the Puffer and Lodermeir lines staying put. Muscoby prob in but Petruzzelli might have to wait till next week.

[GreenCat]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

This is what happened two years ago. First half of the year they won 14 out of 18 or something like that and then just flatlined after the new year. Granted they lost Mario down the stretch, but it still seemed like the rest of the conference caught up and then surpassed their play.

Nothing like some good solid Ws to get me to stop b1tc#ing about Sneddon. Unlike that season I feel like this team is winning with confidence along with solid passing, and skill and not just puck luck like that year. I haven't seen them play like this in a long time. I hope this continues. Let's not see a let down on Sunday or a return to the dump and chase!!

[Ronnieb]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

Winning fixes everything 🙂

[j24vt]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

That was the best game I've seen at Gutterson in a few years.Got to sit right behind the goal tonight. Lekkas's save about 4 minutes in was unbelievable.

[UVM Cat in Texas]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

Yeah, Go Cats Go! Craig Puffer is the clear MVP of this team after the first 6 games!

[UVM Cat in Texas]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

Not that polls mean jack, but let's see if they still ignore us after this weekend!

[charliecatamount]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

****, great win, starting to believe in this team. Wheres all the Sneddon chirpers at?

[UVM Cat in Texas]

****, great win, starting to believe in this team. Wheres all the Sneddon chirpers at?

Well, I'd have to consider myself a Sneddon chirper, but it's hard to argue with W's! And good ones at that! Kevin Sneddon for President!

[Cat lover]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

Puffer's game winner was not a shot the Cats would have taken in resent years, instead they would have gone wide and
sent a hope shot at the goal. Like Puffer's goal Alvaro's on Friday and Forgione's last week all drove to the net by going
around or thru defensemen. Sure you dont always get by but if you do 1/3 of the time the scoring chances get much better.

Didnt see any drop off in chemistry with the Captains playing.

Didnt see any fans in the stands either. YIKESS these guys won the league last year and cant even fill 1/4 of the place.

[CTcatamount]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

Wow. Great team performance!

We have 5 solid forward lines and becuase of that it seems like we've moved away from the trap this season. Fun to watch these guys... lots of speed out there. It's going to be difficult deciding who to sit up front this season.

Alvaro is a player. Good hands and very good skater.

Puffer scored the game winner right below me and he just saw the lane drove it, and put one nice move on the keeper before picking his spot. Was a great move. His first was just getting a little dirty in front on the power play, I think he got a tip on the initial shot and then Ruck spilled the rebound. Puffer outcompeted two NU players and barely got it over the line. His instincts are on point, seems to be in the right place to be a lot of the time.

Lekkas was very good after a tough opening period. Their first was an odd one. Looked like a fairly typical rush into the zone and their player turned on the jets past Phillips (I think) and ripped one top corner. I don't think Lekkas expected the forward to create such a good shooting chance becuase there was a LOT of net open. Their second Sikura just skated through the whole team. Great individual play (like something out of NHL17) but don't like to give those up. It wasn't really a rush NU had possession of the puck in the zone Ori and Muscoby I think were the D pair out there and he split them, walked in alone on Lekkas.

Played good team d the rest of the way with Lekkas making a lot of nice position saves and one spectacular gumby glove save in the third. Northeastern has some good skill players... but big gap between lines 2 and 3.

Re the fans: Sunday afternoon, Pats playing, very early in the season. i don't think it's indicative of what you see at a typical league game in fairness to them.

Not that it matters too much but I call bs if we aren't ranked higher than 15

[HHound]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

Wow. Great team performance!

We have 5 solid forward lines and becuase of that it seems like we've moved away from the trap this season. Fun to watch these guys... lots of speed out there. It's going to be difficult deciding who to sit up front this season.

Alvaro is a player. Good hands and very good skater.

Puffer scored the game winner right below me and he just saw the lane drove it, and put one nice move on the keeper before picking his spot. Was a great move. His first was just getting a little dirty in front on the power play, I think he got a tip on the initial shot and then Ruck spilled the rebound. Puffer outcompeted two NU players and barely got it over the line. His instincts are on point, seems to be in the right place to be a lot of the time.

Lekkas was very good after a tough opening period. Their first was an odd one. Looked like a fairly typical rush into the zone and their player turned on the jets past Phillips (I think) and ripped one top corner. I don't think Lekkas expected the forward to create such a good shooting chance becuase there was a LOT of net open. Their second Sikora just skated through the whole team. Great individual play (like something out of NHL17) but don't like to give those up. It wasn't really a rush NU had possession of the puck in the zone Ori and Muscoby I think were the D pair out there and he split them, walked in alone on Lekkas.

Played good team d the rest of the way with Lekkas making a lot of nice position saves and one spectacular gumby glove save in the third. Northeastern has some good skill players... but big gap between lines 2 and 3.

Re the fans: Sunday afternoon, Pats playing, very early in the season. i don't think it's indicative of what you see at a typical league game in fairness to them.

That's a pretty fair summary (from the UVM POV) of what I thought was a very competitive game with some terrific plays from both teams. I do want to point out a couple of things. NU was missing 2/3 of its first line as both Stevens brothers are out with injuries. The second line LW Jozefek was playing his first game in several weeks and promptly took two penalties with the second leading to UVM first goal. If you want to enjoy the broadcast of the game, it's available on demand. You'll see that first goal would probably never have happened had Trevor Owen not broken his stick. He was in position to clear the puck from the crease, but couldn't reach the puck with his hand.

Your team played well and was more fun to watch than I can remember for many years. I look forward to the rematch, but first NU has to deal with BU, ND, PC and BC plus Minnesota. What fun!?

[Catamount93]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

I've been chirping about Sneddon and I'm not ready to jump on the bandwagon that he's the permanent answer just yet. Nobody's rooting for the Cats and Sneddon to prove me wrong harder than I am, but how many times over the last several years have we had runs of outstanding play only for them to come unglued? In my opinion, many.

The best news is that we have been able to pretty consistently put up 3-4+ goals per game, which is always what holds us back. Our defensive play has never been awful.

I want to see us still playing well in late January before I'm ready to give Sneddon more leash.

Go Cats!

[j24vt]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

That was a fun weekend of hockey to watch. Biggest differences I've noticed this year compared to last year:

- Passing. The players are looking for open players behind them. In the past it seemed like they were only looking forward and, if nothing was available, dump the puck into the corner. Maybe they are coaching more offense with a trailing player rather than entering the offensive zone flat? It has been really enjoyable watching them complete passes through the middle and entering the offensive zone rather than the clear the blue line and dump and chase.
- Penalties. The refs are calling things much tighter this year across the board. The improvement I see with UVM compared to last year is there have not been as many 'selfish' penalties where a player gets beat and then takes a stupid penalty after the whistle. It also seems like the team has finally figured out how to avoid checking from behind penalties.
- Shooting. The team is driving to the net with the puck more this year rather than taking it into the corner and trying to pass across the slot. Better things happen in the slot than in the corners I think this is what is accounting for the across the board increase in production. Last year UVM was very easy to defend against because the forwards seemed predisposed to carrying the puck into the corner.

[Hoser]

Re: UVM 2016-2017 Season: Go Cats Go!

That was a fun weekend of hockey to watch. Biggest differences I've noticed this year compared to last year:

- Passing. The players are looking for open players behind them. In the past it seemed like they were only looking forward and, if nothing was available, dump the puck into the corner. Maybe they are coaching more offense with a trailing player rather than entering the offensive zone flat? It has been really enjoyable watching them complete passes through the middle and entering the offensive zone rather than the clear the blue line and dump and chase.
- Penalties. The refs are calling things much tighter this year across the board. The improvement I see with UVM compared to last year is there have not been as many 'selfish' penalties where a player gets beat and then takes a stupid penalty after the whistle. It also seems like the team has finally figured out how to avoid checking from behind penalties.
- Shooting. The team is driving to the net with the puck more this year rather than taking it into the corner and trying to pass across the slot. Better things happen in the slot than in the corners I think this is what is accounting for the across the board increase in production. Last year UVM was very easy to defend against because the forwards seemed predisposed to carrying the puck into the corner.

A good analysis I think.

The captains being back was a non factor for or against. Petruzelli and Bradley were invisible and Muscoby looked rusty but was with Abramson so no harm occurred as he hangs back more then the other d. Puskarich is the issue in my opinion. He is a true sniper, and he took 7 shots, but he is a possession killer with his shooting from everywhere, including impossible angles, and his lack of interest in passing the puck. The willingness to pass the puck is one of the main reasons this team has come out of the gate hot. I hope that Puskarich, Bradley and Petruzelli do not put themselves before the team.
Lekkas was solid and has to keep playing until he shows some chinks in the armor.
How long do we have to put up with O'Donnell? He makes a glaring mistake every game and is excessively average at best. Massie was starting to look much better. Why can't he go in and we haven't seen Lee in a while either. Lee is not a force but does not make errors like O'Donnell.