Men’s hockey preps for second half challenges

Men’s hockey preps for second half challenges

By Marty Joseph, QBSN Staff Writer

Preview of Second Half:

The Bobcats get back into action on Dec. 30 and 31 with a two-game set at Nebraska-Omaha. ECAC actions starts back up on Jan. 6 with a huge match-up against rival Yale. The Bulldogs have been talked about as the biggest disappointment in the ECAC to this point, so look for it to be a statement game for both teams.

The Bobcats need to continue their home-ice success in a four-game home stand that brings Cornell, Colgate, Harvard and Dartmouth to High Point Solutions Rink in late January and early February. The home stand could turn around the team’s season in the ECAC and allow the team to move up in the Conference. Following the home stand, the Bobcats travel to St. Lawrence, Clarkson, Rensselaer and Union in mid-February for their final road trip of the regular season. The stretch could make or break the Bobcats’ season, but look for the team to be motivated heading into the road trip.

The Bobcats wrap-up regular season play with a pair of games on Feb. 24 and 25 as they host Brown and Yale. The High Point Solutions Rink will be packed on that Saturday in the game against Yale for the 10^th Anniversary of the Heroes Hat Championship. The game marks the sixth time the Bobcats and the Bulldogs will battle for the Championship. The Bobcats have won eight of nine Heroes Hat Championships, but look for revenge from last year’s 6-1 loss to Yale in the game.

What Needs to Be Continued:

The obvious strength of the Bobcats thus far has been the team’s play at High Point Solutions Rink. The team owns an 8-1-2 record on home ice which makes them the most dominant team at home in the ECAC. The Bobcats have been a dominant team in the first period of games all season long, out-scoring opponents 27-7 in the opening frame, and they own a 10-1-2 record when leading after the first period.

The team needs to continue its dominance in the shot category. Out-shooting opponents 737-445 this season gives the Bobcats one of the top offensive attacks in the nation in the category. One of the most underrated statistics the Bobcats have succeeded with this season is the team’s ability to kill penalties. The team has killed 89.4 percent of its penalties, which ranks the team fifth in the nation.

The Bobcats need their top players to continue to contribute the way they have been. Jeremy Langlois (Tempe, Ariz.) leads the team with 12 goals and 19 points; the tandem of Connor and Kellen Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) rank second and fifth respectively on the team with 17 and 14 points, and goaltender Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.) has been on one of the most dominant streaks in his career. Hartzell has gone eight consecutive starts holding the opposition to two or fewer goals and is currently ranked among the top goaltenders in the nation with a .911 save percentage and 2.02 goals against average. Look for these players to continue their play in the second half for the Bobcats.

What Needs to Be Improved:

ECAC Conference play is first on the agenda if the team looks to be in the discussion as one of the threats to win the Conference. The Bobcats did not play well in conference games during the month of November posting a 1-4-2 record, as goal scoring was the clear problem during the entire month. The team got it together in December posting a 2-0-1 record in the ECAC and owns the third seed in the conference but a sub .500 record in the ECAC is not where the Bobcats would like to be at the end of the season.

Sixty-minute efforts in games have been a small problem for the Bobcats as well.  Jumping out to big leads is what the team has been doing all season, but recently the team has allowed opponents to get back into games. The team held a 2-0 lead against Union, but was unable to hold off the Dutchmen and the game resulted in a 2-2 tie. In their final game before the break, the Bobcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Princeton and barely hung on for a 3-2 win. It hasn’t killed the Bobcats to this point, but look for the Bobcats to improve upon sustaining leads in games and not allowing opponents to get back into games in which the Bobcats own big leads during.

Struggling to score goals was the biggest reason for the Bobcats slump during the month of November. Recently it has looked like the team has solved the problem rolling into the break with a 4-0-1 record in its past five games. The Bobcats need to come out of the break focused on getting back to offensive force they were in October with key ECAC games in the month of January.