The signs were there for all to see last weekend against Canisius. UConn
was dazzling for the first ten minutes ... and the last ten minutes. But
for the two periods worth of play in between they were flat as a pancake.
  Obviously mentally and physically stale. Passes going awry, the obvious
one-touch movement not made in favor of something fancier but slower to
develop, a lack of hunger and desperation until it was too late in the
game.
 
I had a chance to briefly exchange pleasantries with Canisius Head Coach
Brian Cavanaugh after the first period of that game. Despite a bitterly
disappointing first half of the season for him,  I thought he sounded
remarkably chipper and upbeat in his tone. And well he might have! Canisius
had just weathered the opening storm and had indeed started to turn the
game around to his liking. Sure enough, the Ice Griffs scored in the first
couple of minutes of the second and played a very intelligent defensive
style for the remainder of the game to steal a point from UConn -- which on
prior form they should not have been able to do.   I have always been a fan
of Cavanaugh's coaching,  and I also think he provided the earliest vision
for the MAAC when the ECAC West first started to disintegrate. But there
was a major disconnect in my mind about the way UConn played and ended up
coughing up a point.
 
Flash forward to last night with the Huskies at home against Sacred Heart.
UConn was completely flat again. And surprise!! Sacred Heart was no
Fairfield. They could skate pretty darn well. Nonetheless,  the Pioneers
played with caution and buried the only two real opportunities they had in
the first two periods. UConn, by contrast, could not seem to solve Sacred
Heart's goalie Alexis Jutras Binet who gave up absolutely nothing down low
and wasn't too shabby on high stuff either.   He stood on his head to stop
43 of 44 Husky shots. The shot totals were 42-10 with a minute to go in the
game, and Sacred Heart had yet to take a SOG in the third. They took two in
the final minute and both ended up as ENG's. A sure four point weekend for
UConn ended up with only one point. Arghhh!!
 
Welcome to the club, I guess. The other league leaders were upset as well
this weekend, with HC falling to Iona and QC dropping a decision to AIC.
Hmm .... What is this disease? Well, probably nothing that a little team
time off from the inter-session two-a-days and a healthy dose of the KISS
principle on the style of play cannot cure. Focus the mind. Get fresh
again. Look at a tape of Colgate coming out of their zone against Maine at
the HCC before Christmas. Especially just before their second or third
goal. Simple, simple, simple. Basic, basic, basic. But a thing of such
beauty that Shawn Walsh decided that an aggressive forecheck would pay
diminishing returns. And send those new big guys into the slot to accept
the abuse and tie up the D's. Northeastern transfer Eric Goclowski is a
good looking big forward with the right feisty attitude, and freshman Evan
Schwartz looks promising too. Much needed muscle up front to free up the
snipers including the returned Ryan Murphy. Getting the synergy going will
be the challenge. Lots of potential, though.
 
Btw, I had the opportunity to watch the Union vs. UMass-Lowell game last
week and compare its standard of play with what I have seen in the MAAC
this year. The top teams of the MAAC skate much much better than either
Union or UML, but it is problematic if they could deal with the size of a
UML. Interestingly enough, UML was completely taken out of their game when
the hitting started, and if Union wasn't so incredibly sloppy in their
defense they could have beaten UML. Although they had the edge in shots,
the score was 7-1 against. I mention this because it appears that the MAAC
NC schedules next year will not be quite so insular as they are this year.
Apparently HE is reaching out to a couple of the better MAAC teams for
tourney invites. Good for them. It should be interesting.
 
        -- Dick Tuthill
 
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