Red Hot Hockey

[MattS]

Did the ice seem soft?  There seemed to me more spontaneous falls than I expect and the crew came out with shovels during every commercial time-out to scrape up shavings.

MSG ice is (or at least was pre-renovation) notorious in the NHL for having the worst ice of any rink.

[Trotsky]

From Adam's writeup on CHN:

"For whatever reason, a lot of the passes that went to the seam, our guys refused to shoot one-timers and force it to the net," Schafer said. "It's almost like they were looking to be perfect and they just refused to (shoot). And when they start doing that, they hesitate too much. ... But their goaltender played well, we hit a couple crossbars, and some nights that happens."

Thank you for posting this: maybe some of the anti-"SHOOOOT!" criticism will die down now. (Not that I do that because I know they can't hear me anyway, but sometimes it's just clear the guys need to shoot more.)

I still think it's dumb to yell "shoot!" but in keeping with my deference to all things Schafer, I confess I was wrong.  In this case.

[Dafatone]

From Adam's writeup on CHN:

"For whatever reason, a lot of the passes that went to the seam, our guys refused to shoot one-timers and force it to the net," Schafer said. "It's almost like they were looking to be perfect and they just refused to (shoot). And when they start doing that, they hesitate too much. ... But their goaltender played well, we hit a couple crossbars, and some nights that happens."

Thank you for posting this: maybe some of the anti-"SHOOOOT!" criticism will die down now. (Not that I do that because I know they can't hear me anyway, but sometimes it's just clear the guys need to shoot more.)

I still think it's dumb to yell "shoot!" but in keeping with my deference to all things Schafer, I confess I was wrong.  In this case.

It was pretty embarrassing to bring my dad to a Lynah game and have him turn out to be a "SHOOT!" yeller.

The power play's been good enough this year that one hesitation-filled game doesn't worry me.  I'm willing to blame the ice.

[Rosey]

The power play's been good enough this year that one hesitation-filled game doesn't worry me.  I'm willing to blame the ice.

The ice BU was skating on was a lot better, for sure.

[css228]

Did the ice seem soft?  There seemed to me more spontaneous falls than I expect and the crew came out with shovels during every commercial time-out to scrape up shavings.

MSG ice is (or at least was pre-renovation) notorious in the NHL for having the worst ice of any rink.

I guess we're not counting the Florida teams as NHL anymore. Still MSG is by far the worst of any team in a climate where expecting good ice is reasonable.

[MattS]

Did the ice seem soft?  There seemed to me more spontaneous falls than I expect and the crew came out with shovels during every commercial time-out to scrape up shavings.

MSG ice is (or at least was pre-renovation) notorious in the NHL for having the worst ice of any rink.

I guess we're not counting the Florida teams as NHL anymore. Still MSG is by far the worst of any team in a climate where expecting good ice is reasonable.

God I hate nickpickers. I will rephrase my statement...MSG ice is one of, if not the worst ice in the NHL. This statement is based upon articles I have read where the article is based upon polls taken of current NHL players when said article was written. I do not know if during the renovation of MSG, the root cause that made the ice surface considered to be one of the worst was fixed.

[ugarte]

From Adam's writeup on CHN:

"For whatever reason, a lot of the passes that went to the seam, our guys refused to shoot one-timers and force it to the net," Schafer said. "It's almost like they were looking to be perfect and they just refused to (shoot). And when they start doing that, they hesitate too much. ... But their goaltender played well, we hit a couple crossbars, and some nights that happens."

Thank you for posting this: maybe some of the anti-"SHOOOOT!" criticism will die down now. (Not that I do that because I know they can't hear me anyway, but sometimes it's just clear the guys need to shoot more.)

I still think it's dumb to yell "shoot!" but in keeping with my deference to all things Schafer, I confess I was wrong.  In this case.

Definitely wrong in this case. It was infuriating how perfect an opportunity had to be when BU wasn't even very good at clearing rebounds.

One other thing that drove me nuts: all three goals were passes through (or almost through) the crease tapped in at the far post. Iles could have gotten a stick on at least two if not all three of the passes. Am I alone in thinking that he was relying too much on his defensemen to mark the scorers and keep them from receiving the pass? BU had almost no offense aside from the defensive breakdowns that led to the first two goals, and with the defense playing catch-up I was surprised Iles wasn't more aggressive in getting in the passing lane.

[Jim Hyla]

From Adam's writeup on CHN:

"For whatever reason, a lot of the passes that went to the seam, our guys refused to shoot one-timers and force it to the net," Schafer said. "It's almost like they were looking to be perfect and they just refused to (shoot). And when they start doing that, they hesitate too much. ... But their goaltender played well, we hit a couple crossbars, and some nights that happens."

Thank you for posting this: maybe some of the anti-"SHOOOOT!" criticism will die down now. (Not that I do that because I know they can't hear me anyway, but sometimes it's just clear the guys need to shoot more.)

I still think it's dumb to yell "shoot!" but in keeping with my deference to all things Schafer, I confess I was wrong.  In this case.

Definitely wrong in this case. It was infuriating how perfect an opportunity had to be when BU wasn't even very good at clearing rebounds.

One other thing that drove me nuts: all three goals were passes through (or almost through) the crease tapped in at the far post. Iles could have gotten a stick on at least two if not all three of the passes. Am I alone in thinking that he was relying too much on his defensemen to mark the scorers and keep them from receiving the pass? BU had almost no offense aside from the defensive breakdowns that led to the first two goals, and with the defense playing catch-up I was surprised Iles wasn't more aggressive in getting in the passing lane.

It is still pretty dumb to yell shoot. That is unless you're the coach, hopefully they respond to them. The goalies primary job is to take care of the shooter, the defense should cover the others. Yes, he can help himself by intercepting passes, but that's an extra. The rest of the team let him down, just look at Buckles holding his head when his man got the backdoor goal. Hopefully it's a learning opportunity.

[KeithK]

It is still pretty dumb to yell shoot. That is unless you're the coach,

Yep.  especially since most fans seem to yell it even when there's a defender in the lane right in front of the puck carrier when taking a shot would very likely result in an odd man rush the other way. Or else they just yell continuously like some idiot kid yelling "PIX!" over and over into the phone.

[ugarte]

From Adam's writeup on CHN:

"For whatever reason, a lot of the passes that went to the seam, our guys refused to shoot one-timers and force it to the net," Schafer said. "It's almost like they were looking to be perfect and they just refused to (shoot). And when they start doing that, they hesitate too much. ... But their goaltender played well, we hit a couple crossbars, and some nights that happens."

Thank you for posting this: maybe some of the anti-"SHOOOOT!" criticism will die down now. (Not that I do that because I know they can't hear me anyway, but sometimes it's just clear the guys need to shoot more.)

I still think it's dumb to yell "shoot!" but in keeping with my deference to all things Schafer, I confess I was wrong.  In this case.

Definitely wrong in this case. It was infuriating how perfect an opportunity had to be when BU wasn't even very good at clearing rebounds.

One other thing that drove me nuts: all three goals were passes through (or almost through) the crease tapped in at the far post. Iles could have gotten a stick on at least two if not all three of the passes. Am I alone in thinking that he was relying too much on his defensemen to mark the scorers and keep them from receiving the pass? BU had almost no offense aside from the defensive breakdowns that led to the first two goals, and with the defense playing catch-up I was surprised Iles wasn't more aggressive in getting in the passing lane.

It is still pretty dumb to yell shoot. That is unless you're the coach, hopefully they respond to them. The goalies primary job is to take care of the shooter, the defense should cover the others. Yes, he can help himself by intercepting passes, but that's an extra. The rest of the team let him down, just look at Buckles holding his head when his man got the backdoor goal. Hopefully it's a learning opportunity.

As to yelling "shoot" - I've said worse things in frustration. It can get a little ridiculous, but then, the way we were holding the puck was pretty ridiculous too. I mean, if we can yell "you suck" at a guy playing hockey at a top D-I program, yelling "SHOOT" after a 20 second cycle doesn't seem so crazy. (I don't yell "shoot" - I'm more a "GIVE ME A F'ING BREAK!" guy.)

Re: Iles, this isn't so much about "blame" (since there is enough of that to go around on the goals) but about what a goalie should do. I've watched enough soccer to know that goalies will intercept crosses if they come too close. Iles had the advantage of putting a stick into the passing lane but seemed to suffer from the same thing that bedeviled Cornell forwards: the stick is never on the ice when the puck is.

[Jim Hyla]

From Adam's writeup on CHN:

"For whatever reason, a lot of the passes that went to the seam, our guys refused to shoot one-timers and force it to the net," Schafer said. "It's almost like they were looking to be perfect and they just refused to (shoot). And when they start doing that, they hesitate too much. ... But their goaltender played well, we hit a couple crossbars, and some nights that happens."

Thank you for posting this: maybe some of the anti-"SHOOOOT!" criticism will die down now. (Not that I do that because I know they can't hear me anyway, but sometimes it's just clear the guys need to shoot more.)

I still think it's dumb to yell "shoot!" but in keeping with my deference to all things Schafer, I confess I was wrong.  In this case.

Definitely wrong in this case. It was infuriating how perfect an opportunity had to be when BU wasn't even very good at clearing rebounds.

One other thing that drove me nuts: all three goals were passes through (or almost through) the crease tapped in at the far post. Iles could have gotten a stick on at least two if not all three of the passes. Am I alone in thinking that he was relying too much on his defensemen to mark the scorers and keep them from receiving the pass? BU had almost no offense aside from the defensive breakdowns that led to the first two goals, and with the defense playing catch-up I was surprised Iles wasn't more aggressive in getting in the passing lane.

It is still pretty dumb to yell shoot. That is unless you're the coach, hopefully they respond to them. The goalies primary job is to take care of the shooter, the defense should cover the others. Yes, he can help himself by intercepting passes, but that's an extra. The rest of the team let him down, just look at Buckles holding his head when his man got the backdoor goal. Hopefully it's a learning opportunity.

As to yelling "shoot" - I've said worse things in frustration. It can get a little ridiculous, but then, the way we were holding the puck was pretty ridiculous too. I mean, if we can yell "you suck" at a guy playing hockey at a top D-I program, yelling "SHOOT" after a 20 second cycle doesn't seem so crazy. (I don't yell "shoot" - I'm more a "GIVE ME A F'ING BREAK!" guy.)

Re: Iles, this isn't so much about "blame" (since there is enough of that to go around on the goals) but about what a goalie should do. I've watched enough soccer to know that goalies will intercept crosses if they come too close. Iles had the advantage of putting a stick into the passing lane but seemed to suffer from the same thing that bedeviled Cornell forwards: the stick is never on the ice when the puck is.

Not to drag this out forever, but I went back and looked at the goals, and I think Iles was playing them as he should have. The first goal pass was way out from the crease. If he was in position to stop that pass, he would have been way open for a shot inside the post. The second goal could have been tipped in by either of 2 BU players, or our defense. The third one was an unfortunate redirection by Lewis, Jason said Willcox, but I think not as he was much too high, near the top of the circle, when there were 2 BU men down low. The redirection went right to a BU player who passed to the open man. Two of those goals were directly related to our not backchecking correctly.

[jeff '84]

Screw BU, but good article: An American Player Who Can Do It All, Except Vote
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/sports/hockey/at-17-jack-eichel-is-seen-as-the-new-face-of-american-hockey.html?ref=sports

Ugh, and this: at least CU gets an honorable mention. 2014 College Hockey Recruiting Class Rankings:
http://overtheboards.net/2014-college-hockey-recruiting-class-rankings/

[Roy 82]

Screw BU, but good article: An American Player Who Can Do It All, Except Vote
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/sports/hockey/at-17-jack-eichel-is-seen-as-the-new-face-of-american-hockey.html?ref=sports

Ugh, and this: at least CU gets an honorable mention. 2014 College Hockey Recruiting Class Rankings:
http://overtheboards.net/2014-college-hockey-recruiting-class-rankings/

I read the entire article wondering what quirk would prevent him from voting in the US before I relaized that it was simply that he was too young.

Don't worry, I have my mornng coffee now.::coffee::