At 3:44 PM -0500 2/21/97, David M. Josselyn wrote:
> At 3:12 PM -0500 2/21/97, Deron Treadwell wrote:
> >Merrimack has made a great turnaround.  Should Merrimack finish fourth or
> >fifth, that is a significant improvement from their last place finish a year
> >ago.  You all saw Mike Machnik's statistical analysis of where Merrimack has
> >come from, and boom.  That turnaround has to be atrributed to Anderson.
>
> Why? If a team never better than sixth and quite often last suddenly plays
> better, why does the credit go to the coach who has been there the whole
> time?
 
Thst staff deserves some of it because they have made important decisions
that have helped the team.  But the players deserve some of it too -
perhaps most of it because they have to get the job done.  It's been an
all-around effort.
 
One of those decisions that I felt was good involved platooning players on
the fourth line with players on other lines during the Maine game.  For
example, Kris Porter (not known as a strong skater) seemed to struggle more
in the second game of a weekend series, and in the game at Maine (won by
Merrimack 5-4 in OT), we continually saw a situation where Beck and
Stringer were put on the ice with one of the fourth liners like Jason
Feeley.  Feeley would skate half the shift and then dart off to the bench
for Porter, who would come on and be able to skate hard for the remaining
half of the shift.  This was a brilliant move and enabled them to get the
most they could out of Porter.  Result was that Porter had a goal and two
assists and Merrimack won at Maine for the first time since 1979.
 
I've never seen something like this done before - turning one line into a
"line and a third" - and it got results and was something that can only be
attributed to the coaching decision.
 
I think that Anderson has used his personnel in ways like this very well
this semester, and it is unquestionably an example of how the staff has
played a key role in the team's success.
 
> Merrimack has gotten 1) good goaltending --partially because Legault and
> Thibeault were platooned the first time ever. Several of "us" have
> advocated this since the two of them were freshmen. Mike M. will remember
> that. The one loss in the past six games was the one game Legault made two
> successive starts, I think-- I'm sure Mike will correct me if I'm wrong.
 
No, Thibeault started the PC game and was pulled three minutes in after
allowing two goals.
 
With Merrimack's 1-1 tie at Northeastern tonight, the Warriors are now
6-1-1 over their last 8.  Legault has started five of those games and
allowed 13 goals in the five starts.  Thibeault started the other three and
allowed 8 (in just over two games since he was pulled at PC).
 
I don't think the good goaltending is attributable to the platooning so
much as it is to the fact that Legault has improved drastically since the
first semester.  The numbers reflect this.  Thibeault had a 3.91 GAA the
first half and 3.49 the second half...Legault went from 5.22 to 3.29 before
the NU game, and it will come down even more.  So Thibeault got a bit
better while Legault got a lot better.
 
In the second semester, Legault is 8-3-1, and Thibeault is 2-2-0.
 
> But several upperclassmen (Beck, Kesselring, Laroche) have turned their
> games up a notch.
 
This is absolutely the key to the offense.  Only Stringer and Porter scored
consistently over the first half.  Now you add four more players into the
mix (Beck & the J-K-L line) and also the third line which has produced
about a goal a game.  You can't focus on one line anymore because the first
two are about equal now and the third is also dangerous.
 
As the scoring has picked up, so has the confidence.  Now they might fall
behind by a goal or two but not have their spirit dashed.  There is the
feeling that they will find a way to go out and get the goal they need.
 
At Northeastern tonight, the offense struggled but not in terms of chances
- Rick McAdoo's comments were right on, Merrimack had a lot of chances but
faced a good goaltender and also missed some of the good chances they had.
Yet trailing 1-0 into the third, they got enough to at least get a tie.  A
frustrating game because the puck wasn't bouncing their way and because NU
played extremely well, but they still got a point - and if Philbin's shot
is an inch lower, Merrimack wins this game.
 
> >Now what if Lowell makes it to fifth, gets home ice (because Maine is out)
> >and goes to the FleetCenter while Merrimack goes to play some golf?  That
> >could change everything.
>
> If Merrimack tanks from here on end, do you blame the long-abused Anderson,
> or the players?
 
Who knows...you'd have to see how things go.
 
Just as the coaches do not put the puck in the net, they also don't hit the
crossbar on a prime scoring chance with four minutes left.  Credit the
coaches for the things they do right and the players for the things they do
right.
 
---                                                                   ---
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