Lowell will regret playing host to our UNH Wildcats tomorrow night. Lowell, with their diminutive coach, come into the game with a 3-3-3 record and a 2-1-2 record in Hockey East. They've barely managed to outscore their opponents, 25-24, in 9 games. They're coming off a loss to Maine last Friday that was close until the end. I hope they don't expect more of the same.
I expect our 'Cats will come in with a ton of intensity and turn the Riverhawks into sitting ducks. Carter Hutton (freshman goaltender) has played well for Lowell, .905 Save% and a 2.44 GAA but he will be up against the most potent offense in the land of college hockey, the UNH Wildcats, 37 goals in 8 games, outscoring our opponents 37-22. He has only faced an average of 24 shots per game. Look for our Wildcats to fill the back of the net again this night with their new-found intensity against a Lowell team looking to prove itself but just plain outmatched.
My Prediction - 6-1 UNH!
Some notes of interest:
While Lowell brought in an absolutely huge freshman class this year (14) the average age of the team is a quite normal at 20.93 years with a range of just one 18 year old (Jason Bergeron) up to the veteran 24 year old JR Bria. One freshman to keep away from the puck is the playmaker Paul Worthington who has 6 assists on the young year. Another frosh to look out for is Jeremy Dehner who has dished and potted the puck with some success this year at 3-3-6. Lowell's only real guns return in the form of Jason Tejchma and Jeremy Hall. Another look at Worthington may point to the reason for his success - he'll be 21 in a month! The trio of 20 year old freshmen who look to turn 21 by the end of the season may soon put the beer-goggles on Lowell's moderate success - we'll see if they can keep from kneeling to the porcelain god and keep Lowell out of the cellar.
Our 'Cats average age I have at 20.88 years in a rough statistical calculation (I just looked at the average year of birth - leaving it to statistics to plane out the month of birth - it should be close for both teams putting them in a statistical dead-heat with margin-of-error figured in.) Our young-guns include, from youngest, Peter LeBlanc (18 yrs), Dan Rossman, Bobby Butler and Brian Foster(all at 19 yrs). Our wily-veteran at 23 years old is Shawn Vinz - look for him to garner his first colleigate goal in Friday night's game. And let's give Brad Flaishans and Craig Switzer a belated Happy Birthday!, for the only October birthdays.
In case you forgot...
8-2 'Cats!
Go 'Cats!
*NEW*
"catlover" tries to redeem (herself?)... and (she?) provides us with a messed-up link in the comment section of this post... being the Great UNH Blogger Guy I am... I figured it out and fixed it for all of you so you can keep up with another 'Cat doing very well for himself... Sean Collins!
Thanks "catlover" there may be hope for you yet!
I hope everyone gets a chance to at least listen to the game tonight... even my poor dial-up connection and ol' crappy computer managed the Yahool broadcast. Look for it in my link section!
8-2 'Cats!
Go 'Cats!
1 Comments:
Link re: Sean Collins
http://www.echl.com/cgi-public.cgi?action=show_news&cat=1&id=8832
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