Backcheck
The rising pressure to snap out of an early funk could be no less timely for the Connecticut Huskies.
Thoroughly outdone in Saturday’s 7-1 loss to Syracuse –wherein they were doubled up on the shot clock (38-19) and forked out established starter Alex Garcia for only the third time in her career- Heather Linstad’s pupils are losers of their last three games and 1-4-0 on the year.
It is the first time they have been sub-.500 after their first five contests and the first time their record has dipped at least three games below the equator since the 2005-06 season. And Saturday’s upshot was the program’s most lopsided loss in nearly three years.
This makes it an awkward time to mention that the Huskies’ next challenger is none other than the defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth. Additionally, the following weekend will pit them in a home-and-home with the near-seamless Boston College.
For what it’s worth, here is where the Huskies stand on the national leaderboard in contrast to their next two adversaries: BC and UMD are Nos. 7 and 8, respectively, in offense. Connecticut is tied for 16th with Union.
BC boasts the nation’s second-best defense, while Duluth is tied for eighth. The Huskies are No. 24 out of 28 teams who have already started their season.
The Bulldogs are running away with the country’s top power play, converting 40 percent of the time. The Eagles are fourth in that category with a 26.3 success rate. Connecticut ties Vermont for the No. 18 slot, having scored only twice on 20 opportunities.
A team that once customarily filled up on Ws before Thanksgiving dinner and one that was within teethmarks of an at-large bid to last year’s NCAA tournament, UConn is already facing the unfamiliar specter of a Hockey East cramming session. And while a rapid reversal in time for at least two wins in their next four games would doubtlessly turn things back in the right direction, anything less will decree consternation.
Granted, the Huskies still have another nine interleague games to spruce up their national rep. But in order to really supplement what they have already lost, they will have to at least split their road trip with the Bulldogs and be sure to top fellow aspirant Quinnipiac when they meet on November 27.
It can be done, but it must begin from the top down. Veteran forwards Brittany Murphy and Monique Weber, in particular, both need to thaw out and start leading with senior Jennifer Chaisson, who is currently the only Husky with a positive plus-minus rating.
Weber, who charged up 24 goals in her first two seasons, is the runaway team leader with 19 shots on goal, yet still has a goose-egg when it comes to shots in the goal. Conversely, Murphy, like many of her mates, could stand to take a few more hacks at the opposing cage.
That could go a long way in terms of sculpting more reliable leads, something UConn has egregiously lacked. Friday night’s 5-3 loss to Colgate was the second time the Huskies tripped after scoring first, just as they had done the previous week when a 2-0 edge devolved into a 3-2 St. Lawrence win.
***
A week after what defender Casie Fields pronounced to her campus newspaper “probably the worst game we’ve ever played,” Northeastern rinsed out the vinegar from a 4-0 loss to Quinnipiac and lashed Robert Morris, 6-4, on Saturday. The Hub Huskies followed that up with a 4-3 win Sunday at the Consol Energy Center, enhancing their record to 3-1-1.
That’s all good, but beneath the standings still sits a frank 50-50 problem. Once in charge of maintaining an efficiently defensive program and fostering a pack of puckslinging pups to complement that, head coach Dave Flint is facing a Whack-a-Mole irritant in the wee stages of the season.
NU’s offense has been a pleasant surprise, averaging 3.4 goals per game. But the defense –Florence Schelling, Leah Sulyma, and all- has been equally uncharacteristic, allotting the opponent the exact same median of 3.4 goals a night. The penalty kill, dead last in the league at this time, has been particularly problematic, allowing five strikes on 25 opposing opportunities.
Still, as little as the Huskies can afford to have their goalie guild this disfigured, there is no cause to believe that Schelling and Sulyma will never come around. At least one, more likely both, will eventually up her save percentage back to above .900 and trim her goals-against average back below 3. Nothing but a permanent devotion disease will prevent that for such world-class netminders.
***
Providence kept up its trendy goal gush for one more night this weekend, stomping Syracuse, 4-1, on Friday. The following day, the Friars momentarily misplaced their firepower, long enough for them to settle for only two goals after scoring at least four in each of their previous five games, but not long enough to terminate their winning streak.
A come-from-behind, 2-1 triumph over Colgate, revved up by Nicole Anderson’s equalizer amidst a 20-shot third period and finalized by Alyse Ruff’s overtime strike, gives PC a 5-1-0 transcript. It is the program’s best start in Bob Deraney’s 12-year reign as head coach and guarantees its first winning finish to the month of October since 2005-06.
Since spilling an old could’ve-would’ve-should’ve match with Robert Morris on opening night, the Friars have sucked in five straight wins, outscoring their adversaries, 22-5, in that space. They now lead the league with six multi-goal scorers (although one, Jean O’Neill, is still out with an injury) and 17 out of 18 skaters have at least one point to her credit.
More critically, PC –which is 2-0-0 when surrendering the first goal- has established early enough that it can still handle a closer, defensive arm-wrestling bout.
***
Skim the line charts of any Boston University box score and it is clear that icebreaking developments are getting tougher to find by the week.
Jenn Wakefield, blah, blah, Marie-Philip Poulin, blah, multi-goal game, blah, blah, Jenelle Kohanchuk, two assists, blah, blah, blah. For once, something is much more exciting on the ice than it appears on paper.
Naturally, BU buffs will not be seeking sunglasses to take the edge off of regular red lights, but the rest of the community may want something a tad more original here and there.
For them, there was this in the Terriers’ first weekend on home ice: after previously splitting the shifts with sophomore Alissa Fromkin, freshman goaltender Kerrin Sperry played the full length of a two-game sweep of Wayne State. She repelled 36 of 39 shots faced in the 7-2 and 4-1 triumphs, augmenting her statistical distance from Fromkin.
***
Maine pulled off a nice head-turner Saturday, conjuring a split of its home series with the reckonable Quinnipiac. The Black Bears hustled out to a 3-0 lead by the 1:26 mark of the second period, and then contained the Bobcats comeback to pace themselves to a 4-2 win, snapping Quinnipiac’s season-long five-game winning streak. Now 3-3-0 overall, this is the fastest they have reached three victories in five years…Boston College scored at least once in all six periods as it swept Vermont, looting 3-0 and 4-1 decisions away from the Gutterson Fieldhouse…UNH senior defender Courtney Birchard returned to the scoresheets after going barren in her first three games back from an injury that cut her 2009-10 season short. Birchard grabbed a goal-assist value pack in Friday’s 4-3 triumph at Rensselaer and slugged home the icebreaker in a 4-1 win over Union on Saturday. Granted, these were likely some of the softer adversaries the Wildcats will face this year, but for Birchard, it must be an encouraging return to normalcy…So far, Hockey East teams are an aggregate 20-11-3 against the rest of the nation. The WCHA sorority is a distant second at 7-7-1.
Forecheck
Friday night’s Providence-Rensselaer matchup will be the first of its kind in the women’s hockey realm, but it is sure to evoke historical reflections between the two institutions. It has, of course, been a little more than 25 years since RPI edged PC, 2-1, in the NCAA men’s hockey championship.
Weekly scoreboard
Friday, October 15
New Hampshire 4, Rensselaer 3
Boston University 7, Wayne State 2
Providence 4, Syracuse 1
Quinnipiac 4, Maine 2
Colgate 5, Connecticut 3
Boston College 3, Vermont 0
Saturday, October 16
Boston University 4, Wayne State 1
Northeastern 6, Robert Morris 4
Providence 2, Colgate 1 (OT)
Syracuse 7, Connecticut 1
Boston College 4, Vermont 1
Maine 4, Quinnipiac 2
New Hampshire 4, Union 1
Sunday, October 17
Northeastern 4, Robert Morris 3
Upcoming schedule
Friday, October 22
Princeton at Northeastern, 4:00 pm
Boston College at Quinnipiac, 5:00 pm
Clarkson at New Hampshire, 7:00 pm
Rensselaer at Providence, 7:00 pm
Yale at Vermont, 7:00 pm
Maine at Niagara, 7:00 pm
St. Lawrence at Boston University, 7:00 pm
Saturday, October 23
Maine at Niagara, 2:00 pm
Yale at Vermont, 2:00 pm
Clarkson at Boston University, 3:00 pm
Connecticut at Minnesota Duluth, 3:07 pm
Princeton at Providence, 4:00 pm
St. Lawrence at New Hampshire, 5:00 pm
Sunday, October 24
Rensselaer at Northeastern, 1:00 pm
Brown at Boston College, 2:30 pm
Connecticut at Minnesota Duluth, 3:07 pm
Al Daniel is the Hockey East correspondent to Beyond the Dashers
No comments:
Post a Comment