Saturday, January 17, 2009

GSS: UNH 6 - Dartmouth 4 Final

Granite State Showdown:

First Period

Game-on with the Wildcats donning the alternate silver jerseys.

The referees provided by the ECAC tonight.

A couple faceoffs in the Dartmouth end with the most recent chance off of a Fritsch shot that sat loose for a moment.

18:48 in the first.

Lot's of pressure from the 'Cats who are dominating early.

Shots listed at 4-0...

LeBlanc scores off of a Collins feed!

1-0 'Cats!

An assist to Butler on the goal at 15:10 of the first period.

Our Wildcats seem hungry for more.

Dartmouth powerplay on a Collins hooking call on a near breakaway at 11:40 of the first.

Penalty killed. Under 9:00 to play in the first with Moses drawing the call on a move around the defense at 11:54 of the period.

The UNH powerplay nearly allowed a shorthanded goal, on a shot that rang off of the crossbar but... they're awarding Dartmouth the goal despite seeming video evidence that the goal did not go in.

No review.

Spotting Dartmouth a goal.

1-1!

But Bobby Butler is having nothing to do with that - snipes the top corner.

2-1 'Cats!

Just 2:54 to play with the second Wildcat goal coming at 15:39.

JVR tries to score by putting himself in the net but no luck.

Jerry Pollastrone showing why he's the upperclassman shows the silly sophomore that you put the puck in the net

3-1 'Cats!

From Butler who was mad that they took away his assist on the first goal and Kevin "Point-Machine" Kapstad at 18:13

One minute to play in the first.

End of the First

That third goal came in 4-on-4 play (I must of nodded off) with Danny "Lady Byng" Dries, as some people like to call him, goading one of Dartmouth Coach Gaudet's sons, Joe, into coincidental roughings. The pair of minutes brings Dries penalty minutes on the year to 61.

Kevin Kapstad now has a nine game point streak during which he currently has a goal and nine assists.

Second Period

And on an early broken play, tipped in front

3-2 'Cats!

15:29 - UNH Powerplay with van Riemsdyk saucering a pass to Pollastrone for a shot and save by the Big Green's goaltender. Pollastrone was slashed, albeit gently, on the play.

Wildcats 0-for-2 on the powerplay with hardly a chance.

This game rolls towards its midpoint with at the 10:26 point of the second.

Shots are heavily slanted in the Wildcats favor, 23-14, just past halfway.

Sounds as if the guys are squandering the second again but Dan and Pete on the call point out the ice conditions and subsequent bouncing puck.

DeSimone goes for roughing at 11:55

Full-strength.

Broken play for the 'Cats as Moses' shot is blocked then goes to Dries who had the empty net in front of him, snapping his dry spell

4-2 'Cats!

A cross-checking call on Goggin results in a UNH powerplay.

Kessel on the powerplay from van Riemsdyk and Sislo who were just buzzing!

5-2 'Cats!

Shots are 28-15 Wildcats.

James van Riemsdyk makes a great push on the defenseman and gets it to Pollastrone who is stoned then van Riemsdyk goes into the net once more - called for tripping, an under-cutting of the defenseman, while HE, van Riemsdyk, had possession of the puck.

Dartmouth pp goal.

5-3 'Cats!

End of the Second

Five goals tonight from five different sticks, shots are 32-16 after two.

Bizarrely starting the third period 4-on-4 for both teams violating protocol coming onto the ice for the third...

Here's your Third Period

We're back to 5-on-5.

18:00 to play.

Nothing doing, back and forth. With Dartmouth looking to tip in front again in order to beat Foster.

A chance for the 'Cats but James can't find the loose puck.

13:00 to play.

More chances for the Big Green as they press, stopped by Foster.

11:10 to go, Dartmouth not giving up but the shots stand at 35-20 in favor of UNH.

Lady Byng going for a hit from behind - 9:33 to go.

PP goal

5-4 'Cats!

Just unable to shut down on the penaltykill.

7:47 to play.

Good chance for the second line, 4:23 to play.

DeSimone! After a long time scoring absence!

6-4 'Cats!

With 4:02 to go.

Dartmouth giving it all they've got with just over two minutes to play.

UNH Time-out.

The time is coming up for the Alan Thompson empty-netter.

Empty net Dartmouth.

Under a minute - Butler misses the 4x6 from center ice.

Game.

SIX different Wildcat goal scorers. And Collins, Pollastrone, Butler, Dries, DeSimone and freshman Steve Moses record multiple point games. Notably, James van Riemsdyk is held scoreless in his third straight game since returning from the World Junior Championships.


========

Pre-Game

The Eighth Annual Battle for the RiverStone Cup.

UNH vs. Dartmouth

Sounds like a good crowd!

Starting Lineup

Pollastrone - van Riemsdyk - Sislo
Collins - LeBlanc - Butler
Dries - DeSimone - Moses
Thompson - Borisenok - Fortney

Kapstad - Kessel
Fritsch - Campanale
Krates - Kipp

Foster

With WMUR having backed out of televising the annual event it looks like this one will be a total blackout. I'll be listening and live-blogging from the audio and live stats.

Live Audio Stream

Official Site

Tale of the Tape

Go 'Cats!

7 Comments:

Blogger HShoer said...

Ok so tonight the refs had abslutely no control over the game and players could've gotten hurt the way they were officiating. That tripping call on van Riemsdyk should've been on a Dartmouth player seeing as JVR had possesion of the puck and the only reason he went into the net was because a Dartmouth player tripped him, HE did not trip anyone. And lastly, the refs were completely disrespectful of coah Umile as they never once went over to the bench to talk to him when he tried to call them over, especially after the call on van Riemsdyk and after a Dartmouth goal that when they replayed on the scoreboard screen looked like it never actually crossed the goal line.

Jan 17, 2009, 10:10:00 PM  
Blogger UNHBulls said...

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some free tickets on the blueline thanks to some higher ups in the UNH admin. It was very nice to see a game from the side and not the student section, although I did miss the intensity especially for a physical game like tonights!

anyways...just want to mention the penalty call on JVR was perhapes the worst call I've seen all year, and I've seen every home game except Holy Cross and PC. And even though he didn't have a point he made some great passes and had several good shots.

As for Lady Byng (great nickname by the way) ... I think everyone at the VWA saw his hitting from behind before it happened. It was in open ice with no real reason for it.

I was also pulling for an Alan Thompson goal tonight, he did have a nice check though. I was also a little disturbed by some of Foster's play tonight I felt he got a little lazy at times.

Anyways I was very happy with the win, especially with 6 different players putting the puck in the net. A good balance will be huge down the strech and into the HE tourny.

Jan 17, 2009, 10:39:00 PM  
Blogger THE UNH MEN'S HOCKEY BLOGGER GUY said...

The call of the game certainly reflected that sentiment.

I deleted by own comments without posting them about the officiating so as to not pile on.

Not much to be done about it - I'm sure a complaint will be lodged by the team with the ECAC if it was egregious.

Interestingly enough, Captain, Greg Collins, seemed to indicate that he and the guys actually used Dartmouth's physicality and the impediment of the refereeing to motivate them to play harder - nice effect.

Take back the spotted goal and tighten up on the penaltykill, maybe get a little more opportunistic on the powerplay and it would have been a top-notch game.

Overall, I think it was the game they needed as their last non-conference game of the regular season. If you remember that I was talking about the whole team getting on the same page? This was it. Scoring from six different guys? When is the last time that happened? Six with a multiple point game too!? If they could get JVR scoring they could really tear it up though it did sound like he was making things happen out there.

We'll take it.

Jan 17, 2009, 10:53:00 PM  
Blogger THE UNH MEN'S HOCKEY BLOGGER GUY said...

Bulls,

Interesting point about Foster. Watching him against Holy Cross I said the same thing.

I don't really want to take it out on him if he isn't being lazy - as a goaltender myself I can firmly say, things happen.

If he's being lazy, he needs to shape up, obviously. Many of these performances have come against teams that we may think of as lesser teams. From my perspective, Brian is a goaltender that above all strives to remain cool under pressure. So sometimes he seems too relaxed and maybe he is. I think he will get into a rhythm down the stretch here where we can expect the same stonewalling that we saw early in the season before his injury. A team's fortunes ultimately rise and fall with its goaltending.

And hey, I was making the same conclusion as you about the scoring when you posted!

Nice score on the tix!

Thanks to you and HShoer for commenting tonight!

Jan 17, 2009, 11:11:00 PM  
Blogger UNHBulls said...

I'm not really sure if lazy was the right word choice... I feel like he seems to have trouble when he's not playing on pure reaction... like a infielder in baseball who makes the tough plays but bobbles one right to him...

I wonder how healthy he is because he hasn't been the same since the injury.

What hasn't helped Foster has been the teams play in the nuetral zone. Dartmouth, and other teams, have had seveal good rushes that started out because of a bad nuetral zone pass or turnover.

They have deffinitly been playing better as of late and have shown that they can play with anyone. This will be a very exciting home stretch into the playoffs.

Jan 18, 2009, 11:48:00 AM  
Blogger THE UNH MEN'S HOCKEY BLOGGER GUY said...

Well, he's a positional goaltender, not that he doesn't have great reflexes, but if he doesn't stay focused his positioning is unsound and he will fail to do simple reactionary or creative plays that is the bread and butter of other goaltenders - think Mike Ayers - that will keep the puck out of the net at least momentarily.

On the walkout goal, Dartmouth's last goal, while a great move by the player, it may have been averted by a poke check from Brian but it is not something you will see him do often because of his passive use of positioning.

And there are great reasons for his choice. Go for the poke and you're off-balance and out of position if there is a pass. He chose the high-percentage, safe play, but in a rare moment for him he did not secure the position thus leaving the opening.

Ultimately you're right. He does not seem to have the form that he did before he was injured where he was more at ease and seemingly more focused.

Also we can't ignore that he HAS made fantastic saves throughout the season often covering for team mistakes in a big way including last night.

And like you said, lately this team has started to come together. Could be interesting.

Jan 18, 2009, 12:19:00 PM  
Blogger UNHBulls said...

I don't want to give the wrong impression, I think Foster is a great goalie, and one or two of the Dartmouth goals were deflected right in front of him so he didn't have much of a chance. What I meant to say in my last post is that he needs to trust his instincts and not double guess himself. He definitely has the right tools he just needs to put it all together, the same can be said about the team as a whole...

Bring on the Terriers! And Go 'Cats!

Jan 18, 2009, 2:05:00 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Web Site Hit Counter

Firefox 2