Paul Gentile writes:
>
>What happened out in Amherst yesterday? I
>speculate that the Minutemen had the proverbial
>horseshoe you know where. They do have quite a
>good veterinary school out there! UNH soundly
>outplayed Amherst but to no avail.
>
>The main thing that Amherst and senior goalie
>Brian Regan did is to give Northeastern a little
>"heads up" going into the Huskies weekend series
>with UNH. These Wildcats can be beat ...
>especially if you play them three times in just a
>few weeks. Recent UNH losses to Maine and Amherst
>were both failed attempts to win the third of
>three games in a short period. A recent UNH
>victory over Northeastern could mean that the
>Huskies are bound to take at least one this
>weekend. The Huskies are also much more talented
>than Amherst and also stronger than Maine ... so a
>Husky sweep isn't out of the question either.
 
The reasoning is faulty.  When UNH lost to Maine, the Wildcats were coming
off two tough games during the week vs. BC and Northeastern, both of which
they won, while Maine was idle.  Walsh had over a week to prepare for the
game and did so with precision while UNH saw Maine as a team that they had
outscored 14-1 in three previous games. A UNH victory would have been their
FOURTH of the season vs. Maine.
 
As for UMass,I was there and can tell you that the game was one of the most
ridiculous ones I have ever seen.  Believe me when I tell you that, save
for their goals, UMass generated no offense the entire game.  I would
estimate that there were no more than 5 faceoffs in the UNH end the entire
game, most due to icings.  The first three goals were on glaring defensive
lapses while the fourth was caused by an incredibly bad decision by Matile.
By and large, the rest of the game was spent in the UMass zone.  The
difference for UMass on Sunday was Regan, he made some unbelievable stops
in the 3rd period.  Perhaps UNH took UMass a little bit lightly but I doubt
the same will hold true on Friday at Northeastern.
 
Greg Ambrose
 
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