Arthur Berman writes:
>Mike's comments imply that Jerry York may need to get to work on coaching
>the Eagles a bit better.  Correct me if I am wrong.
>
>Prior postings from Bowling Green on this list indicate that BG is much
>better off without York.  Any comments from BC people out there?
 
I have to echo Rick McAdoo's comments that York came to BC already in
the hole.  If I remember the details of the scholarship snafu
correctly, BC had none to offer this season and perhaps none next
season (unless other players were to leave or something else were to
happen).  The only freshman to have made a significant impact thus far
has been Jamie O'Leary, a forward, and also Ken Hemenway has seen a
lot of time on D but needs time to improve.  O'Leary did not even
appear on the Eagles' pre-season roster and had to have been a late
addition - a fine one at that.
 
The graduation of All-HE Second Team member Michael Spalla meant that
combined with the above situation, BC was going to be in trouble on
defense.  BC's forwards are talented offensively, but they are also
lacking in the area of quality two-way players who can help out the
struggling defense.  I suspect this was a reason that Joe Harney was
moved to F this weekend, to try to improve the defensive play of the
forwards.  I didn't pay enough attention to the performance of
Harney's line to notice if it helped, but BC did allow 65 shots
Saturday as opposed to 38 Friday.
 
BC has gone 2-4-0 since Christmas, wins over UMass-Amherst and Yale,
losses to Notre Dame, RPI, UMass-Amherst, Maine, and BU (2).  They
have allowed an avg of 5.33 goals/game in those 6 games, and it would
have been worse if not for Taylor.  That represents an increase of
upwards of a goal a game over their first half showing.
 
Jerry York certainly needs to be given more time to put his stamp on
this team, as with Paul Pooley at PC.  Both inherited teams who were
not going anywhere and who had very little coming in because of the
prior administrations.  And perhaps not unexpectedly, both have their
teams near the bottom of the standings right now.  As for next year, I
have not heard much about PC's recruiting, but BC announced last
semester that they had landed two of the top recruits in the country
(according to some folks), so if these players can provide immediate
help, I expect next season to be better.
 
I wouldn't presume to tell York how to run his team, because I think
he is probably doing just about what he can with what he has.  I do
think that patience is required in a situation like this, both on the
part of the coaches and the fans.  But I have to agree with Rick that
at this point, prime consideration has to be given to improving the
overall defensive play and to cutting down on the number of penalties
taken that put them down a man.
 
I'd also add that the problem with the penalties this weekend at least
can probably be ascribed to the fact that it was a normally intense
series with BC's #1 rival, and also the Eagles seemed frustrated at
the way they fell behind early.  But BC is somewhat of a veteran team
with approximately 12 of their everyday skaters being juniors or
seniors.  These are the guys who should be leading by example, but
instead, they tended to be the ones involved in the rough stuff and
taking the bad penalties.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93