Well the original idea was to roll out my Hockey East preview today or tomorrow and then post my UMass team preview at the end of the week. Some good news has necessitated a change of plans. I’m happy to say that I’ll be attending the Hockey East media day on Wednesday, so I’m going to wait to write up my conference preview until after that time. I’m looking forward to media day, though I’ll admit I’m a little worried I’ll be out of my element. I have a good idea of some of the things I want to ask Coach Cahoon and the UMass players in relation to the upcoming season, but seeing as though Fear The Triangle is a fan blog for the UMass hockey fans, I thought I’d open up the process a little. If any readers have (serious) questions they’d like asked of the coach or captains, please post them as comments to this entry and I’ll do my best to work them in.
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Today was essentially cut day across much of the NHL and it appears that Casey Wellman has landed a spot with the Wild, helped out a bit by some offseason/training camp injuries. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for James Marcou, Justin Braun, or Cory Quirk who were all assigned to Worcester. Matt Irwin was sent down to Worcester last week. It’ll be interesting to watch as these guys try to gain spots with the big club, especially Marcou and Irwin who left school early to try to live their NHL dreams.
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Dick Baker had a good feature post on Brian Keane and how he admits that guys like him will have to step up if the team will have any kind of success this season.
It appears that UMass’ home opener against BU will be televised live on NESN as will Quinnipiac’s visit in November. UMass’ lone visit to Lowell’s Tsongas Arena will also be found on NESN. All home games can also be found on CBS3 Now for Comcast subscribers in Western Mass this season. Though nothing has been released yet I expect the games in Minnesota and Wisconsin will likely end up on TV as well and are usually found on one of the Fox College Sports stations.
Of course why watch on TV when you can see the team in person. Single game tickets and mini-packs go on sale tomorrow.
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The first poll is out with defending champion Boston College picked atop the USA Hockey/USA Today Poll. Other Hockey East teams in the ranking include Maine (#8), UNH, (#9), and BU (#14), while UVM, Northeastern, and Merrimack all received votes. UMass out of conference opponents Wisconsin (#13) and Minnesota (#15) also made the list. I have no problems with the BC pick since they return almost everyone of consequence from last year, but the Maine pick seems like a reach considering the gaping question mark in net (Sirman is reportedly the favorite). All in all there appears to be a big drop-off after the Eagles in the conference.
Fear The Triangle - UMass Hockey Blog 
justin
/ September 27, 2010Congrats on scoring the media pass.
I’d be interested in two things-
1. What the team thinks of the fact that they’re being picked to finish at the bottom of the league (9th or 10th) by virtually every pronosticator.
2. Will Coach Cahoon compensate for an untested defense by playing a hyper-defensive system, or will he be more inclined to trust his goalies, and open things up offesnively.
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jjmc85
/ September 29, 2010I’d be interesting to hear what the players think of Cahoon’s post-BC game Navy-Seal comments. It would also be interesting to hear if they’ve noticed a difference so far (this is showing my extreme ignorance. I’m not even sure when they’re allowed to start practicing, so I don’t know if this is a valid question).
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rocks22
/ September 29, 2010This week and last week they can have 40 minute sessions on ice with the coaches for 3 days. This saturday marks the beginning of the usual in-season practice time.
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