Under 18 vs. Cornell

Here is a clip of the turning point of Saturday night's game. Ben Berard!

marty
Here is a clip of the turning point of Saturday night's game. Ben Berard!

The more I see it, the softer that slashing call looks

they played pretty well against a team that has held its own vs college teams this yr.. create pretty good pressure much of the game and didnt get crazy sloppy.

upprdeck
they played pretty well against a team that has held its own vs college teams this yr.. create pretty good pressure much of the game and didnt get crazy sloppy.

Yeah, I think the two exhibitions should give us cause for optimism. Biggest question remains who starts in goal next week; my best guess is Howe.

I thought the newcomers acquitted themselves well. For me the most noticeable were Ertel, Rego, Psenicka, and Kempf, but no one looked out of place. Berard looks poised to have a huge year, and will be our key power play guy with Barron’s departure. Andreev looks faster and if he can finish better should put up a lot of points. Rego look like an excellent power play QB similar to Kaldis, and he should pair well with Malinski.

Having Betts, Locke, and Haiskenan back as 5th years should do wonders for continuity and stability.

I didn't get to watch much of the game, but I felt a little badly for our 3rd period goalie. Didn't get enough action to establish himself as an option.

The under-18 team looked very fast. Good warmup game.

scoop85

upprdeck
they played pretty well against a team that has held its own vs college teams this yr.. create pretty good pressure much of the game and didnt get crazy sloppy.

Yeah, I think the two exhibitions should give us cause for optimism. Biggest question remains who starts in goal next week; my best guess is Howe.

I agree on both above points. Howe faced many more shots than the other two goalies, so I would posit that the team feels most "comfortable" in front of him, i.e., that the skaters are willing to take a risk here or there because they know he'll bail them out. Yet, during five-on-five play, the D never indeed looked sloppy, which is enormously encouraging. Frankly, how our whole season is going to turn out absolutely depends on that unit.

Regarding the forwards, we're going to have to get used to seeing fewer goals this season. I don't think the high-end shooting accuracy is there. BUT, considering how well I saw them backchecking as a unit last night, that might not be such a horrible thing. Really impressed with all the sticks in lanes and not quitting on harrying puck handlers legally from behind. Those U-18ers were fast, and we certainly were able to keep up with them.

So, I'm seeing customary shutdown defense with a few fewer goals. Low-end analogue would be '08; high-end would be '18. (One doesn't ask for '03, '05, or '20, particularly with a new goalie.) We're at least a top-8 team, most likely a top-6, and probably top-4.

scoop85

upprdeck
they played pretty well against a team that has held its own vs college teams this yr.. create pretty good pressure much of the game and didnt get crazy sloppy.

Biggest question remains who starts in goal next week; my best guess is Howe.

Agree with this guess, but he leaves many too many rebounds. He really likes his stick, retrieved 2 warm up pucks of his that landed in section K.

Either he gets better on controlling rebounds, or the team does, otherwise a good team will capitalize on those loose pucks.