Surprised there is no mention here about University of No Hardware losing
this weekend at the Whit to the same Merrimack squad Maine faced recently.

This USCHO message board analysis of UHN this season was penned by a
(notorious) Maine-basher (his name withheld to protect MY sanity, but you
old HOCKEY-L'ers would know the name).

All I can say is...I loved it when I read the score....and then read the
LAST sentence of his post, below !!

At least they didn't riot on the streets after this loss...

Quote follows:

Last night's result was kind of inevitable for two reasons. First, the
streak had to end sometime. Second, the way UNH has played this year, it was
only a matter of time before someone of Merrimack's calibre would knock them
off at home.

The major thing I see with this team is lack of defensive intensity. Umile's
teams, at least since the late 90's, were renowned for limiting the other
team to 20-25 shots per game. I think in one of Conklin's years (1999-2000?)
he actually faced less than 20 shots per game. Defense was the reason that
UNH was able to still compete despite the total lack of scoring (2000-01,
ugh!). This team has turned defense 180 degrees on its head.

My biggest beef is with the forwards. They are asleep out there 90% of the
time. Too often they seem surprised when a 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 turns into an
oddman rush. First line, frankly I don't expect them to be tough
defensively. Saviano and Collins are too small, and Martz (sorry Chuck, I
have to disagree) is not physical enough to duplicate the defense of guy
like Prudden. Second line, Micflickier is still learning and Aikins is okay
but I think Callander has been indifferent compared to last year. Remember,
he was the guy that Umile stuck on the first line after Gare got hurt and it
had as much to do with his defensive play as the offense he brought. I just
don't see the same effort this year. As for the rest of the upperclassmen -
Foley, boy I don't know what to say. He's a fifth year senior, I believe he
will suck it up but up to know his play has been remarkably inconsistent.
Caron has been a total disappointment, way too many stupid penalties. Scott
and Hoppe are what they are. BTW, for all those dissing Umile for playing
Hoppe, do you think it might have something to do with the effort he is
putting out in practice compared to some of his more talented teammates?
True, you can't win much with him, but you can't win either with more
talented guys who won't even put out the effort in practice. As for the
freshmen, they have to learn that you get playing time based on defense, not
offense. But how are they going to learn that when the upperclassmen are
stinking out the joint defensively?

Now to the defense. As far as I'm concerned, the only one out there who is
giving maximum effort each night is Mounsey. Last week at St. Lawrence, in
the third period it was Mick against the world. The rest of the defense,
terrible. Tepliltksy is a joke. He has not improved one iota defensively
since he was a freshman. At St. Lawrence he got a penalty for cross-checking
and one of our group remarked how the penalty couldn't have happened since
Teplitksy never gets close enough to anybody to hit them. Horst and
Lubesnick seem lost out there. I'm kind of surprised because last year I
thought Horst was one of our most valuable players, playing up front for
most of the game, then going back to defense often late in the game. And
Lubesnick was named Best Defenseman, an honor I thought he deserved. I just
can't understand how these two guys, who should be the rock on d along with
Mounsey are playing so poorly. One of Merrimack's goals last night,
Lubesnick looked like a statue. He's never going to physically punish
anyone, he needs to use his brains to play defense and this year he seems
not to be. As for Yandle, the kid thinks offense 100% of the time. Too often
I have watched this kid pinching in with no one behind him. He certainly has
great offensive skills but he has to learn that he is listed as a defenseman
on the roster sheet and should start playing like one. Sad to say, Cow was
right!

As for Ayers. He is still good. Against St. Lawrence the game would have
been 7-2 and I guess he was similar vs UMass. Maybe he needs a night off
once in awhile. He seems to give up the softies (and only one last night
could be seen that way) when he's on his third straight game. Two weeks ago
I thought Umile implied that there would be a rotation. I guess that's out
the window but maybe that thinking should be revisited. BTW, for the
Pinheads, if Matti was tending goal behind this UNH defense, he would be
giving up five a game.

So what can be done? Plenty of time to turn it around but the games are not
going to get any easier. I have to think that, with the way the team is
playing right not, they will be lucky to beat Miami. Then, after the Yale
game, the league scheudle starts in full force, lots of road games, a trip
to Maine. Does not look rosy. But Umile has righted the ship before. He is a
good coach, he has good assistants who have proven in the past that they can
get a bunch of highly recruited kids to buy into what constitutes a team
effort. The captains and the rest of the upperclassmen have to be part of
this too. The great captains (Mowers, Krog, etc.) have done this in the
past, hopefully the ones we have now can do it for this team.

Personally, I think the coaches have to finally decide who is going to play,
and who is going to play with whom, and leave it at that. Right now it seems
that UNH is still going with a "try out camp" mentality, good up to a point.
But with the heavy schedule coming up, the time for games is over. Settle on
a line-up and stick with it. If things don't get righted soon, there will be
no Wildcats (maybe NMU?) at the Verizon come March.