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.