Video of the week: Darcy Tucker

Some of you may have seen this before, some of you may have not …

It’s a hit that Toronto’s Darcy Tucker laid on Philadelphia’s Sami Kapanen in a playoff series (2003?).

I think he felt that one …

The Linus Award

We are adding a new award to the year-end’ers. First off, I want to thank everyone for sending in emails with nominations so far, and remember you still have until the end of the regular season … then the ballot will be announced.

The new award being added is called the “Linus Award”. It was created by a faithful reader and “Mack” hockey fan.

The criteria: An opposing player are the only ones eligible for this award.

The opposing player that receives the most, “You Suck” chants at Lawler Arena is a winner.

Here are my nominees (feel free to email me and add more).

1) Brian Boyle – Boston College
2) Peter Lenes – Vermont

Healey named Hockey East Player of the Week

As expected, Jim Healey was named Hockey East Player of the Week today by Hockey East.

Healey stopped 77 of 79 shots on the weekend to give the Warriors two points against Vermont.

Healey’s numbers on the weekend:
0-0-2
1.00 GAA
.975 Save %

Healey’s numbers since taking over the starting job two Friday’s ago against BU:
0-2-2
1.75 GAA
.944 Save &

Recruit/Alumni Pages updated

The stats on those pages are updated as of 1/29/07.

Be on the lookout for the Hockey East awards today … Jim Healey has to be a favorite for Defensive player of the week if not player of the week.

Vermont @ Merrimack #2 – Lineups

Merrimack will run out the same lineup that they did last night…in case you forgot, it looks like this…

Kimball-Robitaille-Jones
Pallardy-Posteraro-Byrnes
Rego-Mills-Goebel
Kane-Bonitatibus-Vaskivuo

Sullivan-Sadlowski
Wilson-Loprieno
Bowen-Boulay

Healey
Watson
Braithwaite

————–
Vermont has made a few changes…including their goaltender

Vock-Strong-Carlson
Stalberg-Irwin-Mitchell
Roloff-Wisnowski-Lenes
Higgins-Anctil-Corran

MaCaulay-Lutz
Gunderson-Cullity
Kuk-Femenella

Spillane
Fallon
Hill

Warriors look to take three from Catamounts

Here are a few notes from last night’s game as we head into tonight…

*Last night was the first time that the Warriors had come from behind in the third period all season.

*Jim Healey’s numbers in Hockey East Games:
1-7-1
2.65 GAA
.911 Save%

If there was more scoring the record would be better, but I would take those GAA and Save% numbers any day of the week.

*Joe Loprieno is an animal. Simply stated.

*The entire defense did a great job last night. They all held their responsibilities and all six guys looked good. Brock Wilson had a great game in the defensive end, as did Pat Bowen and Brian Boulay. They were physical and held their man.

*Congratulations to Mike Vaskivuo for scoring his first collegiate goal.

*Matt Jones is going to be a player. Ever since his “breakout game” against UMass on Jan. 5, Jones has consistently been one of the best players on the ice. I think a combo of him and Ricci next year could be scary for opponents. Plain and simple, Ricci makes the players on his line better.

You want a bold prediction…If Matt Jones played with Rob Ricci for an entire season, he could have 15-20 goals. There I said it!

*Chris Kane, who is listed on the roster as a defenseman but has played forward for the majority of the season has done a great job as well. Filling in mainly because there isn’t a lot of forward depth, Kane hasn’t missed a beat (1-2-3 totals in 15 games playing mostly on the fourth line).

*Mickey Rego wasn’t on the scoresheet but had a tremendous game last night.

*Hank Carisio, who hasn’t been on the team since mid-November, still is tied for the team lead in goals (3) with Pat Kimball, J.C. Robitaille, and Matt Jones.

*A funny moment when the Warrior student section chanted that 5-foot-5 Vermont forward Peter Lenes was a “Leprechaun“.

Vermont @ Merrimack – Lineups

Merrimack:
Kimball-Robitaille-Jones
Pallardy-Posteraro-Byrnes
Rego-Mills-Goebel
Kane-Bonitatibus-Vaskivuo

Sullivan-Sadlowski
Wilson-Loprieno
Bowen-Boulay

Healey
Watson
Braithwaite

Tonight’s Warrior Scratches:
Mike Alexiou, Chris Nugent (knee), David Burkholder

- Alexiou played last Friday against BU but sat out the rematch on Saturday and is sitting out again tonight.

————-
Vermont:
Vock-Strong-Carlson
Stalberg-Irwin-Mitchell
Lenes-Collingham-Owens
Roloff-Anctil-Wisnowski

Cullity-Gunderson
Macaulay-Lutz
Kuk-Tomko

Fallon
Spillane
Hill

Vermont @ Merrimack – Preview

#10 Vermont Catamounts

@

#53 Merrimack College

Offense:

Goals Per Game:

UVM: 2.58

MC: 1.17

Shots Per Game:

UVM: 27.3

MC: 21.6

Record when scoring First:

UVM: 12-2-2

MC: 1-3-2

Record when outshooting:

UVM: 10-5-2

MC: 1-4-0

Defense:

Goals Against Per Game:

UVM: 1.83

MC: 3.39

Shots Against Per Game:

UVM: 23.2

MC: 28.4

Record when opponent scores first:

UVM: 2-6-0

MC: 2-15-0

Record when outshot by opponent:

UVM: 3-2-0

MC: 2-14-2

Special Teams:

Power Play:

UVM: 16.6% (25 of 151)

MC: 8.6% (12 of 139)

Penalty Kill:

UVM: 90.8% (128 of 141)

MC: 81.8% (144 of 176)

PIM Per Game:

UVM: 15.17

MC: 21.39

Where has the offense gone?

One question that I’m sure the Warrior’s would like to have answered; where has their offense gone?

Take a look at the statistical breakdown of the scoring compared to past years. Defensively there has been incredible improvement; it has however, come at the expense of the offense. But are the two related?

It hasn’t been a case of defense costing the offense, but rather a case of there not being many natural goal-scorers on the roster. The Warriors don’t have a T.J. Hensick (Michigan), or a Ted Cook (Niagra)

For example:
Derek Pallardy is GREAT at what he does. He is a 2nd/3rd line center who is good on faceoffs and plays exceptional defense. He can forecheck, has decent speed and is strong. Not to mention he is their best penalty killer.

However, he is not going to lead the team in scoring. It’s not his role.

Despite the scoring dropping, the Warrior’s are on pace to give up less goals than the previous season for the second straight year. If they hold to that pace, it would mean that the Warrior’s goals allowed will have gone down in each of Dennehy’s two seasons.

The Numbers:

2004/2005 (Chris Serino)
GF – 85, GA – 146

2005/2006 (Mark Dennehy 1st year)
GF – 64, GA – 118

2006/2007 (Mark Dennehy 2nd year pace)
GF – 40, GA – 115

In just his first season, Dennehy’s Warriors allowed almost one goal per game less than Serino’s. They are on pace anyway to finish with less this season as well.

Now let’s take a look at the last two years specifically. Let’s take a look at what production from last season was lost.

What the Warrior’s lost:
Rob Ricci – 10 goals
Matt Johnson – 14 goals
Bryan Schmidt – 6 goals
Brent Gough – 1 goal
Scott Drewicki – 1 goal
Jeff Royston – 3 goals
Jordan Fox – 3 goals
Mike Fournier – 2 goals
Jordan Black – 1 goal
TOTAL GOALS LOST – 50

Now let’s take a look at what the Warrior’s gained through freshmen/transfers…

What the Warrior’s gained (on pace):
Pat Kimball – 4 goals
J.C. Robitaille – 4 goals
Matt Jones – 4 goals
Joe Loprieno – 2 goals
Carmen Posteraro – 1 goal
Justin Bonitatibus – 1 goal
Pat Bowen – 0 goals
Brandon Sadlowski – 0 goals
Mike Vaskivuo – 0 goals
David Burkholder – 0 goals
TOTAL GOALS GAINED – 16

DIFFERENCE – 34 GOALS

You also have to believe that Ricci would increase his production from last season, so that margin could likely be greater.
It goes to show you that you can’t replace seniors with freshmen and hope that they contribute right away.

Believe me, this coaching staff is being patient with these players and bringing them along the right way. The staff was aware that this was going to be a process.

I see/hear people already passing judgement on the new staff and it makes me wonder why? This is the first season where they have had their own recruits. Dennehy was hired in June of 2005; too late to recruit for the 2005/2006 season.

The earliest you can pass judgement is the 2009/2010 season. That would be the first year in which this staff has an entire team of their own recruits.

By then you should see vast improvement, but the job will still not be complete.

For example, the recruits that the team signed for the 2006/2007 season will in theory not be as talented as recruits landed for the 2010/2011 season. As the team gets better it will open their doors to recruits that they might have not been able to sign in previous years.

That is not a knock on the this year’s team. The freshman in particular are playing significant minutes. They have all shown flashes but no one has contributed consistently game in and game out.

Matt Jones has been one of the best players on the ice since the Jan. 5 game against UMass. Before that he had just one assist.

J.C. Robitaille and Pat Kimball have both shown a knack for scoring at times, but they haven’t been consistent.

Consistency will come with the growth of those players. You can’t expect them to be consistent scorers in their first season. Rob Ricci did, but he is a rare player.

Being patient is hard, but it is a must. This program that was left to this staff was in shambles, and in some ways it still is.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a succesful D-I program. Let’s face it, this staff has to build from the ground up because they weren’t left with much of a foundation.

Healey named to Hockey East Honor Roll

Jim Healey was named to the Hockey East Honor Roll this week after stopping 41 of 46 shots faced on the weekend.

Healey’s numbers against BU this weekend:
0-2-0, 2.50 GAA, .891

Team Note:

*The Warriors have killed off 60 of their last 66 penalties (90.9%).