Dan Meyers (photo by Karen Winger)
Well, no sooner do I note that the team is only 1-3 in games with over 40 shots and unable to score more than 2 goals in those games than the team blows those numbers away. In the end the Minutemen generated 43 shots en route to a 4-1 win to gain two key road points at Providence last night.
Unlike the previous night when UMass was able to make the most of their shots, mostly through some nice passing as well as some good old fashion crashing of the net. The passing came exclusively from Darren Rowe who played the best game of his UMass career. He had two heads up passes across the slot, the first to Mike Marcou to get UMass its first goal while the other came later to secure the win in the third as he setup Eddie Olczyk’s first collegiate score. The two goals in the middle came from UMass camping out in front of the goaltender waiting for a loose puck and Rocco Carzo and Will Ortiz were able to make the most of those Alex Beaudry rebounds and put them home. Beaudry actually played very well and made a couple spectacular saves but in the end UMass just put too many shots on him to stop and he got very little help in front of him.
Another big positive from the game, the team was able to put up four goals without any of them being scored by the first line of Marcou-Wellman-Syner. Don’t get me wrong, of course I want to see those guys score early and often. However if this team is going to be a legitimate conference and national contender this Spring they’re going to need scoring from their other lines and tonight showed that that was possible.
Overall, this was a much needed result. The win puts UMass back into a 2nd place tie with Boston College, though the Minutemen have played one more game than BC and 1st place UNH and two more than the teams behind them, Maine and Lowell. It also keeps them in good position in the pairwise as they’re currently tied for 7th, still the top spot among Hockey East teams. Lastly, while Providence is still a last place team, it hopefully gives them a little confidence in their play on the road which will be key down the stretch run. Now the Minutemen can watch Beanpot tomorrow and scout their next opponent for a 2nd place showdown at the Mullins on Friday.
Fear The Triangle Player of the Game – Dan Meyers
Though not entirely his fault, Meyers hasn’t exactly had the senior season he was probably hoping for and many fans would’ve been completely satisfied if Toot went with Paul Dainton for the rest of the season. Yet there was Meyers in net tonight, composed and ready to help lead the Minutemen to victory. From the drop of the puck he was completely on his game and while it was nice he finally got some goalscoring support in this start, he pretty much didn’t need it.
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Dick Baker has the recap for the Republican. In fact, it’s the only recap I can find.
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Jon Quick helped lead the Kings to a shootout win over the putrid Boston Bruins.
The ECHL’s Reading Royals gave out a four foot figurine of Quick at last night’s game. Ah, minor league hockey promotions. What will they think of next?
I’m still trying to find pictures of Quick’s olympic mask. If anyone comes across them on the internet please send me the link.
Fear The Triangle - UMass Hockey Blog 
Adam
/ February 1, 2010Its good to know that UMass is consistantly winning against really crappy teams. A loss could have been a mental back breaker of sorts.
I just wanted to get some opinions on something. At the BU game on Friday night, J. Marcou was whistled for another embelishment penalty. I think this is the third one on the season (The one at Lowell was questionable at best though). I can’t tell what kind of player he really is. At first, I thought he was the exact same player as Marc Savard with his playmaking abilities. Then I saw him unload some pretty good checks when he got a little angry, so it was a more physical Savard. Now, with what I am going to call dives, he completely looses the comparison to Savard and is more like a less talented Crosby.
I know the refs of Hockey East are not always the best, but this is a trend now. Its just not how the game should be played. I could be reading too much into this, but right now he is wasting his enormous skill by playing like this.
Just a side note, and of course I know I am not an expert, but it seems to me that the S.W.ar.M line is getting a bit too fancy for their own good. A spin/ behind the back pass from Marcou on a two on one break is just one example i can remember. When they were piling up goals earlier in the season, some goals were gorgeous, but a lot were not. Just a thought.
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rocks22
/ February 1, 2010Playmaker is certainly the best way to describe Marcou, even though I think he has a good enough shot where he could be more of a goalscorer if he wanted to. But his vision is unmatched as far as UMass hockey players I’ve ever seen and he’s made some of the most spectacular passes in the history of the program. He does have a bit of an edge to him though. I don’t think anyone has told him that he’s only 5’7″ and when he gets the chance (and physics are in his favor) he certainly doesn’t have a problem laying someone out.
The diving call against Lowell was one of the worst calls I’ve seen this year. Flat out worst. But as I wrote at the time, I have a feeling Fyrer called in realiation because he thought Marcou had shown him up earlier in the game. That’s my theory at least. Don’t underestimate the incompetency of Hockey East officiating. Marcou was called for diving on Friday, but I wasn’t there to witness it so I can’t really comment. He was called for diving again on Saturday. Though there, my eyes were elsewhere at the time and I didn’t see it. It does appear however that he has a reputation with the Hockey East officials and they are scrutinizing him more than other players. This is ridculous since Maine and BC have been legendary at diving for years and they rarely get called. Listen, in hockey players will try to draw penalties, it’s part of the game and has been for a while. But there’s a fine line between drawing penalties and diving. But a lot of players do it, even the good ones. There was no better diver in recent Hockey East history than UNH’s James VanRiemsdyk (aka James VanRiemsdive). It happens. We’ll see if it continues to be a problem from here on out.
I agree with you that the 1st line can get too fancy at times and I think you see that most in the games where UMass has not been able to win despite carrying the play, most notably the losses to UVM and Bentley. Part of the problem, and it’s a good problem to have, is that Marcou is that good. He’s always thinking a second or two ahead of everyone else and a lot of times you’ll see him make passes to where someone is, but he’s not ready for it or doesn’t have his stick down. He’s creating something where usually there would be nothing however, so it’s tough to get on him for that. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Toot’s not reminding them to keep it simple in practice.
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frank
/ February 1, 2010On Marcous diving on this weekends calls he was crossed checked in the head Gryba gets penalty so how is that diving.Then on Sat pulled down on top of the circle from behind player gets a trip and marcou gets a dive how did he fall was tripped .Makes no sennse how aplayer could get a trip and then get called for a dive.I could see if Marcou just fell but he has been a target this season for the other teams so these calls i cant understand
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Ryan
/ February 1, 2010the best diver in the history of hockey east and maybe even college hockey was david leaderer!
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