UNH-CC recap

Some thoughts from the UNH weekend sweep of Colorado College.
Kevin Kapstad really impressed me this weekend, were was that hitting last year? He will be a fan favorite in no time.
Craig Switzer needs to step up and stop making stupid mistakes. He has shown in the past we can play solid D, needs to stop thinking he needs to carry the team on his shoulders
When did Brad Flashins become such a good offensive defenseman, but hell we will take it.
Overall very happy about the way the defense played this weekend, well after the first period Friday.
James Van Reinsdyke really showed me a lot with his great hustle and drawing at least 4 penalties on CC.
Brian Foster looked very solid in net Saturday night. Like the 1, 2 punch we have in net, and should be set between the pipes for the next 3 years.
Paul Thompson has earned a place in the line up.
Love the attitude this years Cats team has, I can’t remember the last time I saw them play with a little chip on their shoulder and would be aggressors in the physical game.
Was very impressed with the turn out of CC fans, they were loud Saturday night. Hard not like a team that has that good of a turnout from the distance.
All 4 lines played a solid weekend. The Pollastone-Lablanc-Butler line was probably the best of the weekend. Like how Coach Umile has them as the “third” line to get a better match up for them.
Like to see the Cats take less stupid penalties, I don’t mind penalties coming from some aggressive play, but some of the ones they took this weekend were stupid one in the offensive zone.
The Cats showed some great conditioning over both games, they seemed to wear down CC in the third period both night, just like they did to BU last weekend. Overall very happy with the way the Cats played over the last 5 periods of the weekend, I hope they can keep up this play all year and not fade off like last year.

Random Q thoughts

What is it with the celebration after every round in the baseball playoffs? They do the big celebration when they make the playoffs, after the division rounds, after the LCS round and the World Series, seems to be a little ridiculous to me. No other sports does that. Just something that drives me crazy, break out the champagne we won the wild card, woohoo!!!
The Bruins might actually make the playoffs this year, the Claude Julian hiring was the right move
Sorry to say Red Sox fans, you are now Yankees fans.
If the Patriots can develop there running game, they could be the best 1 year team ever.
“Chuck” is my favorite new TV show.
Had nice weather for my week off, thank you global warming!!
Chris Mathews is just a putz, no real reason to say this just wanted to
When did CNN turn into a network who yells and blames everyone for everything, instead of reporting the news? No wonder your ratings have gone down, keep this up will be with MSNBC soon
Good to see everyone step up in the fires in California. Good to see people helping each other instead of blaming each other.
Watching the news the other day and the reporter asked an “expert” what to do if a fire is coming towards your house, I have an idea, get the hell out of there, and I am not an expert!
I really don’t care if Brittany Spears has her kids or not, there are millions of families that go through custody battles every year.
Ok you can start to pay attention to the Presidential elections now, the primaries are a few months away.
The mayor of Portsmouth, Steve Marchand, was running for Senate but dropped out because Jeanne Sheehan decided to run, what a wuss. Why would anyone vote for anything else if you don’t believe you are the best person for the job. Have some balls!!

UNH-CC round 1

UNH needs to work on coming out with some fire, it could have been worse then 3-1 after the first.
UNH controlled the play in 2nd and 3rd and matched up well with the fast CC forwards.
CC has some guys with some wheels, was impressed with their speed.
Jerry Pollastone has shown himself to be a clutch player and knows how to score the big goals
That might have been some of best hitting I have seen by a UNH team in a long time, and especially Kevin Kapstad, count at least 3 hard hits he had. Hopefully they keep that up.
Sislo need to control his shot more, he had quite a few shots go wide.
The Cats really moved the puck well on the PP and had some really golden opportunities, as the team gels more of those will go in.
18-1 shot advantage in the 3rd? WOW!!!!
Was obvious that CC’s goal in the 3rd was to hold JVR as much as possible. Turned in to 2 PP for the Cats, so that backed fired for them. Liked the way Paul Thompson played. Didn’t have many scoring chances played some good D.

True Fan vs. Bandwagon Fans

So the World Series is all set with the Red Sox beating Cleveland in the ALCS. Living in New England that is all you hear about. Which is fine, I totally understand. But there is one thing that really bugs me is all the bandwagon fans. This is a huge problem with the Red Sox and Patriots. There seems to be a whole group of “fans” who know very little about either team before 2000. Of course this is not just a phenomena for New England, it happens every time is good and has a few years of winning. These fans make the real fans look bad. I know people who have always been a fan of both teams through thick and thin, and deserve to be part of success both teams have had, but there are to many of these bandwagoners to give them there due credit for always being there. People like my friend Todd I have know for over 25 years. He has been a huge fan of the Sox and Pats since I have known him, to me he is a true fan. I was having a conversation with him tonight about the 86 series and weather in game 6 should the wild pitch been scored that or a pass ball for Rich Gedman, to this day I say pass ball on Gedman and not a wild pitch for the Steamer, that is Bob Stanley to all the Johnny come lately. Of course most of these people wearing their pink hats have no idea what that debate is about. The same can be said for the Pats and who should have started Eason or Grogan? A true fan will know what that is about.
A true fan also know not to talk smack till its over. A true fan gets more excitement out of their team winning then another team losing, they don’t chant Yankees suck when the Sox are playing Tampa, and they don’t gloat if the Colts lose. A true fan respects a good team even if its not their team, they will say if their teams losses that the better team won. A true fan will be there when Rod Rust is coaching the Pats to a 1-15 record, and come back the next year. A true fan will be there when Butch Hobson is showing to be an awful major league manager. To those fans I say enjoy the ride, as you know it does not last forever. But that true fan will be there when their team has to go through the rebuilding that every great team eventually has to go through.
I can honestly say for some sick reason I have been a fan of the same teams for over 20 years, and I am positive if you ask me 20 years from now will be a fan of those teams. I have been a Blue Jays fan since the early 1980’s when they were awful, but stuck with them and got to see them win 2 World Series, and hopefully more. I have been a Steelers fan as long as I can remember and got to see them win a Super Bowl a few years ago, could have been 2 if it weren’t for Neil O’Donnell. I have for some god forsaken reason always been a Bruins fan, and have to believe they will win a Stanley Cup sometime in my life, and I also guarantee I will be at least one game. Have seen them play for the cup twice, but lose to 2 great Oilers teams. I have been a Penn State fan for College Football since as long as I can remember, have seen them in a national championship in 87, and should have won one in 94, got to love polls, and will always love Papa Joe. And of course if you have read anything I have written know I am a huge UNH fan in college hockey. Have seen them in 2 National Championship games, one in live in person. I truly believe they will win one in my life, and hopefully it will be soon. Even if none of my teams win I will root for them, because that is what a real fan does.

UNH-UNB- Lets get it on!!

Some of my thoughts about the game last night 4-3 lost to UNB.
- JVR is the real deal, paid close attention to him, he seems to find an open patch of ice all the time. Like his aggressive style around the net. Needs to bring that a little more around the boards but overall very impressed for his first game.
- I have said a couple of times but Fortney has really impressed me, again
- Were was Butler?
- DeSimone started off slow but played better as the game went along.
- The entire team played better in the third.
- UNB played a very tough defensive style, which was a good test for the Cats for their first game.
- There is a lot of work to be in defense, but it should come together.
- Sislo looked good to me, I think he will add more then people think before the end of the year.
Overall wasn't upset with the game. Glad it was an exhibition game. There is a lot of work to be done, but I am sure we all know that going into the game. Will take awhile for everyone to get use playing with each other, after all there are a lot of new players. It's a long season and I would rather the team take time to get everything right then panic after a month or so and make drastic changes that will put the team farther back. My feeling is this time will start to gel and coming together after Christmas, so will probably be the opposite of last year, and I am fine with that.
Now bring on BU!!!