I’ll throw 2 cents in here, but be advised I was watching a really awful B2 link of the game that kept refreshing itself and stopping every 30 seconds. It seemed like the Colonials never got through the neutral zone with any kind of organized attack for most of the night. They were either forcing an ill advised pass, or were generally indecisive. As the chemistry improves, this will go away and the the boys will be getting up and down the ice better, it’s just a matter of time. We all knew bringing in this many new players would take some time for them to adjust to each other.
A bigger concern was the lack of production on the power play, the unit which in the past could carry this team until the offense jelled in 5 on 5 situations in the early parts of seasons past. The Colonials were guilty of some overhandling of the puck, and seemed tense, missing the net on some golden opportunities especially on a key 5×3 PP in the third which would have tied the game. The puck movememt wasn’t bad though, and give Merrimack credit, they shut down the passing and shooting lanes very well.
Among the bright spots was the play of Wes Russel. He stopped 29 of 31 I believe, some of them really good ones, and he kept us in the game until the boys got their legs underneath them. His performance was a pleasant surprise and if he can remain consistent, the presumed shaky goaltending may be an afterthought in another few games.
The backline did a credible job as well. It’s smaller and faster, but it didn’t skate in quicksand all night either, note the relative absence of bad penalties in their own end which had plagued this team in it’s first four years. It was a rough first period, but as the game moved on the defense got into a puck in, puck out rhythm more consistently, instead of floundering and flailing away as in years past.
Overall, it was a bit of a dissapointment, but people needn’t be worried about results at this point either, just keep looking for improvement on a game by game basis as they take a few lumps here and there to start the season. I’ll say this, this team is already much further along in their development than the team that started with a similar amount of newcomers 4 years ago, you look up and down the roster and there’s 29 NCAA D-1 hockey players, no weak links.
I’ll throw 2 cents in here, but be advised I was watching a really awful B2 link of the game that kept refreshing itself and stopping every 30 seconds. It seemed like the Colonials never got through the neutral zone with any kind of organized attack for most of the night. They were either forcing an ill advised pass, or were generally indecisive. As the chemistry improves, this will go away and the the boys will be getting up and down the ice better, it’s just a matter of time. We all knew bringing in this many new players would take some time for them to adjust to each other.
A bigger concern was the lack of production on the power play, the unit which in the past could carry this team until the offense jelled in 5 on 5 situations in the early parts of seasons past. The Colonials were guilty of some overhandling of the puck, and seemed tense, missing the net on some golden opportunities especially on a key 5×3 PP in the third which would have tied the game. The puck movememt wasn’t bad though, and give Merrimack credit, they shut down the passing and shooting lanes very well.
Among the bright spots was the play of Wes Russel. He stopped 29 of 31 I believe, some of them really good ones, and he kept us in the game until the boys got their legs underneath them. His performance was a pleasant surprise and if he can remain consistent, the presumed shaky goaltending may be an afterthought in another few games.
The backline did a credible job as well. It’s smaller and faster, but it didn’t skate in quicksand all night either, note the relative absence of bad penalties in their own end which had plagued this team in it’s first four years. It was a rough first period, but as the game moved on the defense got into a puck in, puck out rhythm more consistently, instead of floundering and flailing away as in years past.
Overall, it was a bit of a dissapointment, but people needn’t be worried about results at this point either, just keep looking for improvement on a game by game basis as they take a few lumps here and there to start the season. I’ll say this, this team is already much further along in their development than the team that started with a similar amount of newcomers 4 years ago, you look up and down the roster and there’s 29 NCAA D-1 hockey players, no weak links.