It's nice to win, isn't it? Thanks to three goals in a four minute span which included two strikes 16 seconds apart, the Eagles picked up a must needed league victory over New Hampshire by a score of 3-2. Obviously the team probably would have taken any type of win tonight, whether it was 500-499 or 1-0, they just couldn't go into the break without any Hockey East points. I thought a lot of the guys that I thought played well last night showed up and brought their games tonight. The Cangelosi-Fitz-Sanford line is beginning to look like a formidable trio while the second line of Tuch-Gilmour-Straight continues to generate quality scoring chances while at the same time holding opponents off the board. The most notable statistic of the night, in my opinion, was that Austin Cangelosi was +3 with three points, giving him four on the weekend. A lot of fans have been calling for the highly touted recruited to start producing and I think he's really starting to turn the corner. If you this guy, the reason for his slow start has been because BC hasn't been able to play at a fast pace all season and unfortunately, they may not get a chance to until Wood, Bracco, White, Dudek, and Brown come in but right now it's good to see Austin showing progress.
On the defensive side of things, I thought Teddy Doherty responded with a great game after struggling somewhat on the big sheet last night. As the series progressed, BC did a better job of taking away UNH's time and space once they hit the offensive blue line. For example, their first goal last night was a result of BC giving them too much space once they broke into the zone. The more aggressive BC gets with their highly skilled defenseman, the better the results usually are. In fact, all four of UNH's goals this weekend were due to some very fixable errors on the defensive side of the puck, issues that could certainly be solved once Santini returns. I was a bit worried about Ian McCoshen's play five games through the season but I don't think it's crazy to say that he's been BC's best defenseman in The Sheriff's absence, really happy with the way he's been playing.
Look, the second half of this season is going to be an absolute battle but it can't be any tougher than what this team had to go through in the first 16 games. They lost their best defenseman, they can't find a way to buy a goal, they've had a lot of bad puck luck, and they've had to battle through a good amount of adversity. I'm not saying they're going to win 30 straight games and hoist the National Championship at the end of the season but the more hockey games they win, the more confidence they will possess. You never want to face a confident BC team in February and March.
With all that being said, they will host Michigan next weekend in what will be the final game before Christmas break. Any time you play the Maize and Blue, there's a little more juice in the tank. 1998 will never be forgotten.
Solid weekend. Go Eagles.
No comments:
Post a Comment