At 02:27 PM 11/14/96 EST, Dave Hendrickson wrote:
>Here is my preview of Maine's upcoming series.  You can check out the
>preview of all the Hockey East games by going to the "News and Articles"
>section at:
 
[snip]
 
>"Brian LaRochelle should be delighted to hear we're coming," said
>Maine coach Greg Cronin. "In four of our seven games the
>opposing goaltender has been named the Star of the Game.
>We're great for a goaltender's save percentage. It's almost
>comical.
 
This is a great point.  Marty Turco (Michigan), Dan Brenzavich (Colgate),
and Marc Robitaille-2 (Northeastern) all have been important factors in
those games, and with the exception of Turco, the other games would have
been Maine blowouts without those quality performances in net.
 
Has anyone else noticed that some goaltenders tend to play better against
Maine than other schools?  It seems to me that at times this *might* be the
case.
Marc Robitaille is a good example.  He gets lit up by UNH, and then stops 80
of 85 shots on goal (there you go Wayne! :-) against Maine.
 
What I want to hear some views on is whether or not people think that the
goaltenders are just raising their level of play to take on the Black Bears,
or do the Black Bears make these goaltenders look better by lacking the
snipers of years gone by?
 
>"Someone asked me what we should do to improve our goal
>scoring," Cronin continued, warming up to the subject. "I said we
>should put a bucket of pucks in the slot and see if we can shoot
>them into the open net. Right now I'm not sure that I'd like our
>chances. I guess you could say we're a little snakebit."
 
Ouch.  I'll be interested to see what changes Cronin makes for Friday's
contest.  The lines last weekend produced a ton of offense, but not many
goals.  I sense Cronin is frustrated and might shake things up.
 
Maine's going to like the spacious confines of Whittemore Center, but then
again, so does UNH!
 
>"Northeastern had 25 Grade A opportunities in two games. With
>UNH's firepower, they're likely to get that many in one night.
>We've got to try to limit those opportunities and play a tight
>defensive game. And we'll need better goaltending from Alfie
>Michaud."
 
Bingo.  I believe Michaud may have played his worst game of the year
Saturday against Northeastern.  His overall numbers are not as indictive of
his play to date as the solid defensive play of the team.  I think that save
percentage is a good number to take a look at, and Michaud's is the lowest
of all the top five goaltenders in the league.  On the other hand, he is
just a freshman and fans can't expect an All-American performance, but what
concerns me is how he doesn't seem to be able to make the big, individual play.
 
For instance, Maine allowed several goals last weekend where players walked
in on Michaud, and with the possible exception of one, they all scored.
It's not fair to suggest that he should stop all of them, but he seems to
get beat most, if not all, the time when the play is one-on-one.
 
This is where Maine could be in trouble this weekend.  UNH has great speed
up front, and Maine is not going to hold them to 20 shots either, and it's
likely that UNH will have several odd man rushes.  Alfie needs to come up
big for Maine to win either game this weekend, and the defense needs to stay
tight around him and not get into a shootout with UNH in their own building
(e.g. Maine's 6-5 win last year).
 
Brian LaRochelle isn't going to win any goaltending awards, but if Alfie
doesn't play well his performance isn't going to matter much.
---
Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])