Fight Mass – is it Friday yet?

Ug, is this becoming a thing now?

For the second straight game of a young, infinitely promising, season, our boys in Maroon came out looking like the clearly better team, let the other team back in the game durring the middle 20 minutes, and then closed the game out in a fashion that reminded everybody why we were so hopeful in the first place.

Say what you will about the team playing down to to its opponents  There are certainly a wealth of things to improve with this team. However, it sure as hell feels good to root for a team that can close a game out. Yes, there are large stretches of the last 2 games where, if they were playing an elite team, would likely bury the minutemen, but what the last 2 ugly games prove is that these guys have heart. Its good to know, after only 2 games, that this team can and will close out games. They have that 5th gear that every shitty sportswriter has talked about for the last 40 years. Clusterfucks, like the URI road loss, herein referred as the ‘taco travesty, that prompted me to yell into a voice memo and call it a fight cast slash maybebreakaseastattheryancenter doesn’t look like it will happen with this team. They can close out games against worse teams. 

Yes, the 2 wins we have in hand aren’t the dominating efforts that alot of UMass nation was looking for, but at the end of the day, a wins a win. I’m 90% confident that most of the glaring issues the minutemen have displayed will we fixed by the time we hit the conference slate. Chaz has showed flashes, and if the trend continues into game 3, he will be back at full effect by the time he steps on continental US soil. Theres a 10 day break between Sunday’s game and they next game, a should-win against Siena on the road. As for the next two games, you have to dance with who you came to the dance with. UMass has proved it will keep the game closer than it should be against weaker opponents, lets hope the same is true for the inverse. I never thought I would say this, but lets hope this team can summon the Toot notebook and play up to a better opponent, and lets just see what happens.

I don’t think its likely UMass will beat NC State, after these first 2 games. Then-again, If UMass squeaks a win out, I wouldn’t bat an eye. Alot of UMass fans are putting more eggs in the ‘beat NC state’ basket than I think is reasonable. Its still a young season. Yes, it would be fucking ballin’ to make a national splash and beat NC state, but I’m not entirely sure a loss will tell us very much.

Here’s to it being close, because lord knows we are kinda good at that so far.

The ‘Prop Joe coaches Providence’ memorial bullet points

•  Good to see Tyler Bergantino get into the game, but golly did he look lost. If you go back and iso watch his, he was just kind of wandering and not playing a confident game. Totally reactionary on the floor, with makes him a liability on both ends. There was one break where Chaz threw the lob, and had it been Putney or pretty much any forward it would have been an easy alley opp. Bergantino takes it as a pass and is immediately swarmed. I want him to get minutes, but to be frank I’d rather not see him again until Siena. That being said, having Tyler be in the flow of the offense by the end of the year needs to be a priority.
• Pretty much the last sentence, but applied to Trey Davis and multiplied by infinity. Chaz only played 32 last night, and having Trey be able to come in for those 8 and keep momentum is going to be the key for the team. Trey looked good, but experience will be key. I’d love to see him come in for more stretches in the 1st half, rather than just have Chaz play until he gets tired.
• Jesse has taken the greatest step of anyone I’ve seen so far, bar none. Jesse is fearless, and as far as I’m concerned is the number one reason UMass is 2-0 and not 0-2. Jesse’s nickname needs to be one of those old school ones you can choose in create a player, like The iceman or something. Dude’s a dagger, y’all
• First Sampson, then Terrell. The game winner tonight is going to by Putney or Freddie. Its pretty much guaranteed at this point.

Oh yeah and UMass hockey needs to beat Maine show us you have a pulse guys, its important.

See you guys on the internet

-Matt

If Max or I still wrote previews, what we would have written was last night’s game against Providence was going to be the biggest indicator of what kind of team we have this year. Yes, UMass looked reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally good against BC twice, BU twice and UNH, but its not like that statement didn’t apply to the Toot era either, The major issue with the Toot era, the one that made you wonder aloud ‘HOW THE FRANCH DO WE ONLY HAVE  SIX WINS’, was the perpetually underwhelming performances against the back half of Hockey East. Despite having the talent to play with the BUs and BCs of the world, the Cahoon era teams CONSISTENTLY lost to teams like Vermont, Merrimack (back when they weren’t good) and, most of all, Providence. UMass is 0-3-3 against Providence in the last 2 years. Read that again. Not a single win in 2 fucking years AGAINST PROVIDENCE!!!!

Well, I’m happy to report that so far, in winnable games against lesser opponents, the Micheletto era is still batting 1.000. UMass won 4-0 last night in a game that was never really in doubt. After a sloppy 1st period that made me wonder if anything really did change, the Minutemen came out of the second like a baby set on fire and ended up going into the second intermission with a 3-0 lead. The biggest development of last night’s match was the reemergence of Michael “Space Cat” Purrrreria who get a pretty little PP goal to go along with 2 assists. You could tell Mikey was smelling that first goal after having 2 solid games last weekend without a point, and I think its no coincidence that the 2 assists came after that first goal. Once Mikey broke that goal-less drought, he seemed a bit more willing to pass first rather than try to force a shot. With Mikey back in (hopefully) full force, I’m feeling even more confident in this team. I would take the top 2 lines to war with anybody in college hockey right now. The talent is there, and hopefully the passion stays there. So far, from what I’ve seen, this team doesn’t give up. Yeah, it has gotten beat by a lack of conditioning, and simply by depth of talent, but I have yet to watch a game this year where you knew the team’s heart wasn’t in it (it was obvious our boys were going to lose in the 3rd period of the BC game last week, but I would blame conditioning and playing a team that was 25-1-0 in their last 26, rather than heart). If this team can get up for Providence, then I feel pretty good about saying there is a chance we sniff home ice and, please for the love of god i hope, avoid Conte in the quarters this year.

The Debbie Gillies memorial bullet point section of Matt’s recaps 

•  Tim Schaller, the insufferable scumbag who got 5 and the game for a completely blatant shove of the heroic Conor Allen into the sanction, is from Merrimack NH. FOR SHAME, FUTURE CITY I WILL WORK IN
• Oh Conor Allen is like a homeless man’s college hockey version of Bobby Orr. That second goal was a beauty. Top shelf, shorthanded. I drunkenly bought that goal a drink, it was so pretty.
• Speaking of scum, Steven McParland, the dude who boarded the saint Eric Filiou CLEARLY after the whistle and did not receive a penalty is now enemy number one of us and, in turn, you. Dude looks like a scumbag, seriously, look. Oh, and he’s a freshman. Enjoy the next 4 years, fuckface.
• Passing along a story I heard about the BC game on Sunday. Apparently, on the goal that would have put UMass up 3-1 in the 3rd, Parker Milner was, and I’m quoting from somebody who was right behind the net, clearly inside the goal and past the line when he stopped the puck. However, when the refs went to review it, miraculously, the overhead camera” wasn’t working”. However, it was working for the rest of the game. Thus, no goal. Fucking Conte.
• Quick mini rant about the student section. First, apparently it was small because it was a long weekend. Okay, I hate your excuse, but I guess its a valid one. Whatever. However, y’all n**gas quiet and shit. Step ya game up. Oh, and to the jerkoff who wanted to start a fuck the Friars chant while Filiou was down, then called us pussies when he was promptly scolded: fuck off, I hate you and would absolute break your neck, you fucking nobody. Its hard to let go of something I took so much pride in improving, but the student section is no longer mine to police. Adam (the new guy with the flag) and his posse is doing what they can, but its hard to be the only clever people in a wave of perpetual ignorance. They need the new era. Freshman, sophomores, anybody who gives a shit, be the next generation  Go down to the flag section, yell stuff thats clever, yell loud, don’t use “fuck” as your crutch. There’s going to be a time where i’m not going to know a single soul in the row I used to call home. Its overwhelming to have no control over it. But the next wave of intelligent snarky students needs to start now. The love and support you can feel in a student section, where you see the same people game after game for your UMass career. That starts when you put yourself in a position to succeed. Come down, start the next generation. Be the solution, not the problem.
• Shane Walsh is the best player ever I love him he needs to be on a line with Troy Power and Sheary and be the all awesome line.
• Evan Stack’s new nickname is Even Stackers because he’s not bad but he has yet to do anything to differentiate himself from his competition in a saturated hockey player/bar market.
• KJ ”lol im not spelling that out” Tiefenwerth is showing flashes. He can’t score, but it looks like his vision is getting better every game. He had a great deke to get in the offensive zone, and then a great laser pass. He’ll get an assist during the 3 games in 6 nights stand next week. I’m calling it.
• Providence showed the most Hockey East goonery at the Mullins Center since Maine back in the day. I was waiting for Oleg to lose his shit and just start punching. There was one scrum where he just tackled somebody, but it wasn’t really a tackle it was just a sad FIFA 13 style ‘errrrrrbody fall down’ moment. The one guy who did look like he was about to eat the one game suspension and drop the gloves after the Allen boarding was Mike “like a bus” Busillo who definitely looks like he was about to drop the gloves with the photographer in his Hockey East headshot. Bus skated towards the PC bench and was definitely looking to fuck shit up. Good for him, I’m glad we get to keep chippy Mike Marcou without Mike Marcou.
• #bikemarcou owns

See you guys on Tuesday for basketball, y’all. Expect a preview but then don’t expect it because Max ain’t writing shit, apparently.

-Matt

We are less than 2 hours from the beginning of one of the great days in UMass sports. Both Televised. Both with the potential to be great, not only in quality, but in outcome.

At noon, you have UMass playing Temple in Atlantic City. Temple is a good team, and any other year this would be an all but assured loss, but, this being the year of Chaz, a win is always in play. However, UMass is going to need to play a damn near perfect game to stay close today. However, this team has proven time and time again that it not only can stay in games, but they are able to finish them out as well (as someone who watched the previous Kellog era teams, this is inexplicable). I could absolutely see Chaz and “Handsome” Ralph Putney singlehandedly winning the game for UMass, as they are often the most dynamic players on the court at any given moment, combined with the fact that both have an undeniable swagger that makes me think that the big stage of Atlantic city coupled with the underdog angle (although lets be honest, a 1vs8 matchup is near meaningless in the clusterfuck that is the A10 thsi year).

Now lets be honest, you could be reading this when you get home from work tonight and say “lololol nice guess fag” after UMass is handily beaten. However, lets state unequivocally that, as of 10:15 AM, Matt “waka floka flume” Civello likes UMass’s chances for an upset special in Atlantic City. So, fuck it, take a few hours and pull a nooner. Craft beer tastes beter when you drink it before responsibilities.

Meanwhile, in not nearly as optimistic, we have UMass v BC tonight on The NBC Sports Network aka VS aka the station that refuses to have a highlight show at night for no apparent reason. Now, one would think that having secured 2 wins in 3 games against the hated BC eagles, a UMass superfan/blogging expert like myself would like our chances to shock the world (again) and pull an upset at BC. Well, you would be wrong because I have about as much faith in this game as I do Parker Milner’s ability to not hit a green line train after macking on a bitty at an applebees or Stevie Moses’s ability to not be a massive protruding prick. First, unlike the 2 glorious wins against the hated eagles, this game happens solely at a place called Conte Forum (or Kelly rink, fuck if I know why there are multiple names), a place where exactly zero of the wins for UMass occurred this year. What did occur there, to which you should be a slightly bit concerned, is a 5-2 beatdown that should have been 13-1 if not for Teglia standing on his head (a Teg stand, you could say (#freeTegs(#unreal))) and a late goal by Marcou when the game was long decided. It was a rough game. It was a game that made me as pessimistic as could be about this year. Yeah, thats the place we are playing.

Not only that, but this is an Eagles team that is hot as fuck. The Eagles havent lost since January and havent lost at home sine DECEMBER 2ND. So yeah, thats what we’re playing.

Don’t get me wrong, UMass has a punchers chance, and if anything, UMass made the superfrauds sweat a little for a week, but frankly I’m sick of every year talking myself into UMass having a chance in the Hockey east semis. It just leads to me being disappointed and playing Melancholy Hill on the long drive back to wherever isn’t newton. Its like Prince playing Bonnaroo. It will happen when it happens, but  I’m not going to give myself a boner at the mere thought of it.

IMPORTANT FIGHT MASS ANNOUNCEMENT So, it seems like a bunch of you kids have taken my vaguely melancholy tweets about enjoying college while you’re there and going to an away game while still a student to heart. Well golly, thats swell. A toast to you Gentlemen (and ladies!). Now, the blogging brotherhood of fightmass has been to many a’roadgame and have learned through trial, error and thick, syrupy humiliation, the proper road etiquette for the still spry UMass student Fan. The cornerstone rules are as follows:

• Never, ever, swear

Might Seem obvious, but the fact of the matter is that loose lips that may be acceptile in the friendly confines of the Bill are not going to be acceptable on the road. Change “fuck em ups” to “sieve sieve sieve” and “see ya asshole” to “see ya [insert ironically tame phrase]” (FightMass recommends ”ya turkey”) People on the road are looking for reasons to dislike you and kick you out, so don’t give them ammo by being obscene. Be load, but keep it clean.

• Be respectful and courteous to opposing fans and arena staff at all times

First, their is no reason to be a dick to the staff. They are there to do thier job and frankly, they may be your only advocate in the arena if things get hectic. Plus, you should always be nice to people with shitty jobs. Just common courtesy.  As for opposing fans, there is no need to tone down your passion and cheers, but at the same time don’t go giving dirty looks to people rooting on their own team. Smile, nod your head, be personable and nice. While there isn’t a chance that everybody in the place will be nice to you, its important to build a light rapport with people around you.

• Don’t pick fights

May seem obvious, but don’t bring a fight to yourself. In general, avoid individual taunting and putting yourself in volatile physical situations, such as stepping up to somebody when engaged in a verbal altercation. Listen, you have the absolute right to defend yourself and be loud and proud, and if somebody wants to taunt you they have it coming right back at them. But being a fan in an opposing arena where emotions run high is alot like driving in Amherst on a saturday night: there is a good chance every other car is drunk, be a defensive driver.

Oh, and this is the weekend theme

Hey everybody! It’s Matt with a bi-yearly article about UMass sports, reporting live from a Spanish household in Springfield!
Well, I might as well start this off by commenting on the improbable 3-2 victory over the number one Boston University Terriers IN BOSTON! Wut? Really UMass, really, your first road win is going to come in February and ITS GOING TO BE AGAINST THE NUMBER ONE TEAM IN THE NATION! Lol, you guys crack me up. But seriously folks, I’m still not 100% back on the UMass hockey train, but I will say this: The playoffs are starting to become intriguing again. With the glorious flagship wallowing in the twilight of the Toot Cahoon era, and UMass-LOL with an improbable breakout season, the idea of a UMass showdown in the Hockey East playoffs is in play. And while that is in no way an easy matchup, let alone a favorable one, its a sweet tossup from the perpetual 2-7 matchup at BC where we lose (seemingly) EVERY FUCKING YEAR.
I still have minimal faith in this team, having paid attention to the lows of the season in addition to the highs, something I suggest FTT commenters do (sample post: This team beat BC WHY WOULD THEY NOT BEAT LOWELL????). However, there is a chance, albeit slim, that having gotten over the hump of the first road win, an anecdote unable to ignore, its possible this team will start playing with more confidence on the road. There is absolutely no reason why this team should be dropping games to Northeastern and Vermont at ANY venue, yet this team was 0-2-1 against the cellar dwellers in Hockey east this year. Yet, with a road win behind them (and sadly, not longer from the 6-0 Fight Mass Vermont exodus last January) I hold out hope that UMass can be the gritty team they are in the Bill at Orono and the University of Sears. Unlikely, yes, but at this point can you really be certain with this team?

Ignoring very recent acts of glory, lets not forget the crushing mediocrity that UMass hockey fan experienced in the recent past. In an era of UMass athletics where there are so many high profile steps forward for high visibility sports, our beloved UMass Hockey program seems to be at a plateau. The apex of the Cahoon era came over half a decade ago, and the program has stayed consistently below average ever since. As other sports start showing potential (Basketball) or have new, exciting faces (Fooooootbaaaaaaaaallllllllll!) Hockey sits and waits for Toot to move on before its safe to be excited again.
Lets make something perfectly clear, I have a massive amount of respect for Toot. He took a program that had no identity or culture and built it to the point where the fan base earnestly feels they can make the jump to home ice contention. Toot has graduated players, limited distractions and built a fan base that did not exist before his tenure. However, the last few years has proven that UMass hockey is stuck in neutral, and frankly, there is a definable ceiling to what Toot can do. Toot is not on the level of Parker or York, and doesn’t have the youthful vision of a Dennehy or Tabbed. Toot is an old school coach who is what he is, and he is never going to be the next step that the fans of this program crave. So, like Penn State before all the kid sex, fan wait impatiently for the figurehead to step down before fresh blood comes in and reinvigorates the fan base (Yes, UMass, I said FRESH blood so no Blaise plz).
So yeah, I fully expect this team to make the playoffs barely, then get swept and I expect the same thing next year if Toot decides to ride out his contract, which according to Triangle seems to be the most likely outcome. So, in an era of great excitement for athletics at UMass, the hockey fan has years of the same outcome they have come to know and loathe. Ug.

Meanwhile, in exciting things, The UMass basketball team is also playing tonight. As a blog, we have been extremely cynical about the baskettaball team. Walsh was out at the start of the DK era, Max has been supportive yet skeptical and I nearly resigned from the blog and ruined my friendship with Max over smart ass tweets during a game the UMassHoops.com lost their shit over (please cue the Bob Dylan eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh). But this year has been transcendent for a kinda-sorta-fan like myself. This team is legit, and likable at the same time. Gone are the lifeless, lazy one man teams we have witnessed for the last few years. This team fucking MOVES. Plus, they hustle like a team that wants to win. Not only is it about running and creating fast breaks, but its the little things like diving for loose balls. This year the team does it, while I never saw it in years past. Its hard to point out a single reason for this. Yes, Chaz has been transcendent in his role as Point Guard/Scorer/Heart-and-soul/Good guy tweeter, but its not solely Chaz. It seems that the step away from a SG/SF dominated team to an interchangeable run and gun team has been the biggest change in culture. Yes, mistakes are made, but no longer is there a sense of laziness or an unlikeable player. I LOVE EVERY PLAYER ON THIS TEAM. I love this team, I do. And this is coming from someone who’s first major taste of the new look team in person was the train wreck at URI. Still love them, still love the effort. The entire culture of my UMass fandom has changed. Where I would previously be obsessing over hockey dates and giving slight glances towards the basketball schedule, I now find myself dreading Hockey games for their seemingly inevitable disappointment and feeling strong optimism towards the Basketball team. Yes, they may not be good enough to make the tournament, but at the very least I feel like theres a chance they will win any night, and at the very least they will play hard, fast and entertaining. The team that took a shit on the Mullins court against Dayton last year no longer exists, and damn, it feels good man.

Oh, and Football is going to be amazing. Molnar is the fucking boss. What a charismatic , likable dude. Now THATS something to riot over.

(But seriously folks, don’t riot and make us all look bad you fucking waste of space I hope you and your zoomass culture is systematically destroyed and your highschool quarterback mentality of cool is exposed for the immature garbage that it is. I hope you and your barstool culture is no longer viewed as ok in the lager culture and you become the social pariahs that you deserve to be you fucking scum.)

Here’s to hoping for positive peaceful gatherings for a successful Saturday,

-Matt

Hey y’all, your (ahem, our) UMass minutemen hockey club is less than 2 hours away from the first game of the rest of their lives in Not really close to the cool parts for 20-year-olds, Florida. Tonight, UMass will be taking on James Lizardo’s own Cornell Big Red, by far the best Academic institution ever named after a gum. Cornell is currently ranked #13 in the nation and has a defense that can, and will goddamnit, be referred to as “the balls”. They are letting in less than 2 goals per game and have let in 6 goals in the last 8 games with FIVE shutouts.

Fact is, this could get ugly. UMass has had the tendency of going down early and if this is the case tonight the likelyhood of coming back is slim to none. Hopefully Boyle (I’m just assuming he will be starting) is a bit better at taking shots from academics than he was against Harvard (cue Bob dylan eeeeeeeeeeeeh) and to a lesser extent, Yale. Personally, I am always dubious of the high rankings given to these Ivy schools verses the entirety of Hockey East, but Defense is something that usually transcends hype but when its against teams that may not be as good as advertised, who knows.

UMass is not a favorite in this game by a long shot, and all likelihood is that we will all be chilling in Clarksonville tomorrow but this team has good against bigger name teams and the first game after winter break is usually a wildcard (who knows, maybe all the Ivy kids got fat off the hopes and dreams of the middle class durring the holidays). Plus, while UMass is great at home its entirely posible they are just shit durring away games (Fact: goaltending has been a problem durring such games). While this is in no way home, its not technically an away game. So theres that.

On the actual “game consumption” front, the crack Fight Mass research team is actively looking for a video stream, but in the meantime John and Brock will do just fine.Any updates/links to video will be posted to the twitter account so get on that.

Also, be sure to go to Fear the Triangle’s live chat which starts at 7:30. I think he’ll post a coveritlive link on the site but honestly I have no fucking idea. There is at least a 67% chance I’m kicked out of this thing. Should be a cool night. Geometry jokes all around.

Here’s to the second half of the year not sucking (cut to me chanting “pleases don’t suck at calendar).

-Matt

Hey guys, hey. It’s Matt again live from state employment wishing you a happy Thanksg….wait, whats that you say? Its past Christmas already? Holy christ, I have been bad in updating this blog. Sorry about that guys. We had such good intentions.

But yes, what a season we have endured so far. The highest of highs, the ineptest of ineptitude, golly gee this season has had it all. And, because I’m Matt and I’m the lazy one, we are going straight towards bullet points for this rip-roaring recap.

Massive Highs

• Ah, where to start but beating BC. If there was ever going to be a signature win for this program, that would be it. Up to that point, I had never seen UMass beat BC. Like, ever. I came in to UMass and became a fan of the program during 2009, the Jimmy/Casey year. My first taste of BC/UMass hockey was December of 2009 where BC beat UMass 3-1 at the Bill in a relatively close but sluggish game. I was one of the few fans left in the student section after the 7-1 abortion of a game that was the official beginning of the Cahoon swoon/understanding what it means to be a UMass fun. I was there in the Conte (Cunte, lol) on the glass watching the Minutemen let it go in OT. I was there for both losses in the HE Quarterfinals watching any remaining potential for the Wellman/Marcou era drip away. I )was (not, thankfully) there for a 5-0 thrashing early into last year’s often painful campaign. I was there late February where a UMass team hitting its sweet spot (NOTE: sweet for that team was not losing by 4 and allowing 68 shots on Paul Dainton) lose by 1 two nights in a row of a home-and-home. I watched that same team lose 2 more spirited yet fruitless games against BC in the HE finals where we bid goodbye to the team as they boarded the bus back to Amherst (and inversely found out that Doug Kublin was aware of the Kubby Kounter). Just a few months ago I saw UMass get beaten completely and comprehensively by BC at Conte, where we bore witness to the first Teg-Stand game of the year (Seriously, Teglia was the only reason that game wasn’t 11-2 and it continues to be the reason I prefer Teglia over Boyle, but more on that later). So, to review, thats 11 games, 10 in person, with the exact same outcome: an overwhelming desire to punch somebody in the face. So, going into the game there wasn’t much hope. Hell, I’ll admit I seriously questioned going to the game as I assumed it was a guaranteed loss. A number one team versus a team that got beat by Providence with a goalie that got pulled the night before? Not a great precursor. But this team made it happen, literally every piece of the team came to win and they did it in fairly convincing fashion. It was a highlight in a year that, even by the most liberal predictions, was going to be up and down. The words “holy fucking shit we actually beat BC” were uttered by both friends and strangers as UMass fans went home deliriously happy for the first time in a long time. When I went back to the Boston area for thanksgiving, random members of my girlfriend’s family (who are from Hingham, a BC stronghold if there ever was one) as well as one awesome gas station attendant were talking about UMass beating BC. And then I realized, oh yeah, this is what happens when we win. Its a good feeling.

• Speaking of what happens when we win big, I would like to officially welcome Charley “The Maven from Lock Haven” Molnar to the UMass family.(Some fun facts about Lock Haven University: The Bald Eagles play Field Hockey at a D1 level in the A10 and  their football team holds the longest losing streak in all of NCAA Football with 43 straight losses) You may know Charlie from being the offensive coordinator for the most insufferable college in the world, having the almost comically impossible accomplishment of holding a coaching position at every directional Michigan university and having THE BEST INTRODUCTORY PRESS CONFERENCE IN UMASS HISTORY. Holy shit this guy has balls. Listen, I was the one with a big ole’ man-crush on Mike Leach (most likely for his overwhelming weirdness and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHT CAMEO) but Molnar is exactly the type of coach UMass needs to build the program: vocal, charismatic and with experience in the midwest. All signs point towards him being able to recruit the rust belt states that require a long suicide inducing drive through Western Pennsylvania to get to and thats whats going to be needed to field a competitive team. Texas and California recruits are not happening in big numbers right now. What the recruiting plan for UMass should be is “live in big University setting with lots of (southwest, Camby aproved) pussy and have your family and friends see you play 4 times and year. Come on fellas, get on the UMass train!” and at least we know Molnar knows how to pitch that.

• While I was on board with Derek in saying Connor Sheary was going to be the best non HoPS player on the team this year, I gotta say, Guzzo is giving him a run for his money and absolutely locked down “bestest surprise breakout gumbo!” player of the year. Guzzo’s passes have been spectacular, his defense gritty and he’s shown a bit of a scoring touch as well. He has the uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time and for a team that has a long illustrious history of having players in the wrong position at all times, its a welcome change. Plus, kids got a perfect sports name. So many U’s. Gotta love yelling GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZEE.

• Chaz. Need I say more? Chaz is the biggest game changer in the DK era and is proof that a point guard is key in the college game. Yes, the team has struggled at times this year, but never have I had the optimism that the team could win on any given night than I do this year. Even with Ricky, the team was consistently below par. But with Chaz I see players that would otherwise be fighting to have the ball passed to the so they can put up a bad shot settle back and trust that the point guard will find them in their spots. Not only that, but Chaz can create his own buckets in traffic with ease. Its great to see this team run after years of it being the obvious thing we never do.This team may not be tops of the A10 but they won’t be at the bottom either and for the first time in the DK era the team is overachieving (albeit from fairly low expectations. Its finally (kinda) fun to watch this team and thats more than enough for me.

Fight Meh:

Hey we have 3 goaltenders that don’t suck. Hell, we have 2 goaltenders that are above average. But golly, I still don’t think we have the shut down goalie that UMass needs to be a top 4 team in Hockey East. Let this run on paragraph be my official entry into the 2011-2012 Goaltending debate. Ok, well lets start with the obvious. Kevin Moore, keep on bloging baby, you are not going to tend net for the Minutemen this year. Stephen Masterlerz of puppets? Yeah, you are not our goalie either. We were assured by the Father of Connor Sheary that Masterlerz is the best of our goalie bunch from seeing him play in prep school, but that supposed superiority has not shown through. In fact, Masterlerz has not proven himself to be an equal of his fellow goalies. So we must say goodbye to Masterlerz in the Fight Mass goaltender search. Now ,judging from the media and fan alike, the consensus UMass goalie of the season/future is Kevin Boyle. However, I would disagree and say, as of right now, Teglia is the better goalie. There is no doubt that Boyle has gotten much better as the season has progressed, but Boyle still gets me nervous as fuck when I watch him play. His positioning is good but hes a bit slow to cover and he’s never seen a shot he didn’t want to turn into a rebound. Don’t get me wrong, I like Boyle and think he’s a viable long term option, however I truly believe that one of the largest attributes of Boyle’s success has been luck. Teglia, on the other hand has suffered from terrible luck this season. He’s been hurt, and when he has been healthy enough to start the team has played like absolute crap in front of him. As previously mentioned, Teglia was the lone shinning star for UMass when they played at BC early in the season, and when playing at BU, Teglia was the reason the game even made it to OT after horrendous play in the 2nd and 3rd. Boyle is a great technical goalie, but Teggs (yeah, we’re switching to that) has that uncanny ability to make the holyfuckingshit save, an attribute I will refer to as standonhisheadability. Lest the term be broken down to its literal meaning, Teggs can stand on his fucking head. Its Daintonian in a way. Teggs suffers from the same “WHY ARE YOU PLAYING THAT PUCK IDIOT” moments as Saint Paul did, but at the same time he makes the same amazing saves that keep you in any game. There was always an unshakeable feeling during the Dainton era that made you feel some glimmer of hope going into any game. “Yeah, we probably won’t win but if Pauly has a good night we have a punchers chance”. Teggs evokes that same feeling in me, and golly, The “Tegg Stand” is too good a term to be wasted. Thats why I think Teglia should be G1 of the Dillon Panth….I mean UMass Minutemen.

Other things that are happening

Well gang, that was a fun little “unreadable block of text-athon”. Lets do some quick thoughts then go the fuck to sleep

• Seriously UMass, where the fuck are my Frozen Fenway jerseys DO NOT FUCK THIS UP UVM HAS ONE AND SO DO I. I swear to god I will make this a reason I’m not giving to UMass when the annual fund calls before I stop and go to the confused freshman “lol no but seriously here’s $100 go away I’m poor”.

• Oleg has become, so predictably, a fan favorite. But the student section doesn’t understand the smashing Oleg produced in the first few games was bad and he’s been  exponentially better lately. “Oleg , smash, ugg why didn’t he hit that guy” “BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE A PENALTY YOU STUDENT SECTION IDIOT WHY DO YOU LIKE SEEING OUR PK EDDIE OLCZYK IS NOT THAT FUCKING EXCITING”

• But seriously folks, hats off to the PK and standout Eddie Olczyk. Good job buddy.

• The banner is a 6 at best, but it blows away the UFO Mullins center theme Max made last year that we trashed so thoroughly he made the poorly made Kubby banner which I still hold as my favorite. It was like the potato chip. Badger Max and good things will happen out of pure spite.

• HAHAHAHAHAHA MAX ADDED A SNOW THEME THIS IS THE WORST BLOG EVER I WOULD COMPLAIN BUT I HAVEN’T WRITTEN ANYTHING IN MONTHS AND DON’T EVEN COUNT AS A WRITER ANYMORE.

• Also, I tap my proverbial stick to Max who manned the twitter account a few times recently. Every time he has run the twitter account it has been funnier, more insightful and, in general, more better. I would let him have it because of the better quality but fuck that the twitter is mine and you will have to rip it from my cold dead hands before I give up the one thing I do competently.

• Mike Marcou hasn’t been terrible this year, but it still makes me nervous to watch him play. I assume this is what its like for a parent to watch their kid drive. “Him? Driving? The same one that drove the tricycle off the porch and broke his leg?”

• I know the out of touch white folks on UMassHoops disapprove, but I’m kind of obsessed with the Shakespearian nature of the Freddie Riley twitter feed. First, it used to be abovetherim1 or some close variant but now its @youngFLYandAshy which makes me laugh for reasons I’ve yet to understand. But Freddie has the most perfectly absurd twitter ever. He hates UMass some times (don’t we all sometimes), openly has an air of annoyance when he has a bad game or doesn’t play and retweets some of the best tweets ever (example, from yesterday: “the people that be in the video game stores be looking weird as shit”). Not only that, but Freddie himself has some classics. One time he tweeted simply “taking a shit”. But the cool thing about Freddie is that him twitter feed makes him come across as a tortured genius/curmudgeon. He’s oddly political, calling out blacks for buying too many Jordans and pondering to himself whether he should become the voice for black people. He went apeshit on the Steve Jobs love (rightly) calling him an unredeemable capitalist that never gave back. And while other players hide their feelings from the message board trolls Freddie lets it all out. He misses High School, is confused what he will do after UMass, and seems generally uncomfortable with his status as a Basketball player within the UMass culture. In other words, he’s a fucking human. Yes, me and Freddie got into some twitter beef last year where he called me out for being over critical in my tweets during a game and I called him out for being an offensive liability. However the thing that I have come to appreciate is that his response to the blog is such a uniquely Freddie Riley thing to do. He wears his heart out on his sleeve and doesn’t think twice about telling a blog to fuck off after it comes and makes 10 Big Shitty jokes in 2 hours. Freddie doesn’t write for you, Freddie writes for himself and if you want to come along for the ride so be it. My obsession with the Freddie Riley twitter has made me appreciate Freddie as a person. Yeah, he’s a frustrating player to watch, but the talent is there and watching such an emotionally complex human struggle through life is an amazing character study. I root for Freddie, and I can honestly say, beyond the obvious choice of Chaz, Freddie is my favorite player. I root for him so fucking hard. I really want to see him succeed, After 2+ years of watching him bear his soul online, good and bad, I see him as the scrappy underdog. This run on paragraph is entitled: How I learned to stop worrying and Love the Freddie Riley.

• I’m in love with the Fight Mass spam queue. The spammers are getting fucking crafty. Example 1, on a random contributors corner post: “And to think I was going to talk to someone in person about this”. Other one’s are equally vague and out of place but intentionally misspelled. On the same post: “I’m impressed! You’ve managed the almost ipmsosible” and, my personal favorite, on a random Max essay: “If infomration were soccer, this would be a gooooooooal!”. Haha, I love you spam queue.

• Fuck you autoplay on UMassathletics.com. That shit is annoying.

• Charley Molnar has 8 kids. That guy either loves to fuck or hates birth control. Don’t let him near Matt Hill.

• Oh cool, we got the local kid to come to UMass. As a QB. When he was being scouted as an LB. By other shitty teams. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Kellen Pagel era continues!

• Less than 2 weeks to Frozen Fenway. Fuck Yes. More posts when that happens (hopefully).

Feel free to complain about how terrible this post is,

-Matt

So, game is in 90 minutes, lets make this quick

• Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I was lazy, Max is moving in to a new place and Walsh writes a preview and postgame analysis and how dare you expect more
• Teglia please. If I walk in to Conte and see anyone but Tegs I’m going to immediately walk out and demand a refund.
• This BC team is good, but why am I more optimistic tonight than I have for any other game I’ve seen vs BC? UMass should lose tonight, and probably will, but I absolutely think this team could shock BC, something I didn’t think last year /cut to UMass losing 23-1
• Kind of a sleepy week for UMass. All eyes on football (for good reason, tomorrow will be fun) and with Hockey playing a team that is clearly better, everyone has eyes on next week against BU. Hopefully BC will be overlooking us as well.
• RIP Eddie Olczyk =(
• Olczyk isn’t a valid words with friends word. Make note.
• Here’s to Oleg making him way into the crowd

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand welcome back Minutefans. We are around 3 hours from puck drop of the first home game of the 2011-2012 UMass hockey season and god damn it feels good. If you haven’t already, Walsh’s game preview is a must read for specifics on this matchup, and while you are devouring good information you might as well read Triangle’s pregame as well.

This is a big weekend for UMass. Last weekend showed up that this team does have the talent to take games, but clearly there is going to be a struggle closing them out all year. The next two days will be important in setting the tone for the rest of the year. Northeastern was both a surprise and a disappointment, but winning out both games this weekend, vehemently winnable games might I add, will let our beloved minutemen head out to a string of tough games with some degree of confidence, hopefully enough to perhaps steal a game or two.

Boyle is getting the start, as far as I know. “O’BOYLE RULES!” seems to be the frontrunner of things yelled after big saves, but lets see where this goes.

It all starts tonight. Bentley is a cupcake. They will fight but if this team plays their game a win should be a gimme. But if watching this team for a few years has taught is anything, gimmes are the hardest games. We can’t see a repeat of the early home game against Army, where a young Minuteman team was absolutely manhandled in a way i neither want to ask nor tell about. Tonight is where a matured team needs to set the tone. Lets hope our outlook on the season isn’t radically changed by tomorrow

To all the Mullins Virgins out there, Scoops Bitter’s into to UMass fandom is a must read so you don’t look like an ignorant drunk asshole, instead of the preferred drunk asshole.

Also, we have just received word that Matty G will be saying de nada after the 1 minute thank you tonight, per my suggestion. It is imperative  that you and your friends yell “Gracias” instead of Thank you. I am of the opinion that this is awesome, but even if you think it sucks do it anyways so I can be happy, okay?

See you all at the Bill, lets rally around the flag kids

-Matt

Hey guys, hey. I hate to over-post but I feel as though this merits its own post. Per Matty V at the Gazette, UMass basketball super freshman and potential DK saver Jordan Laguerre is done for this year because of academics. Frankly, folks, this may be the final omen of the crumbling Kellog era. Already hampered with losses and a continually underperforming team, I could see DK gone by the end of this year.

We, as a blog (ok, the 2/3rds of us who give a shit on this blog) has high optimistic expectations for this team, especially given their A10 preseason ranking of 12. (!!!!!) Yes, in a conference in the number “ten” in its title, we were slotted to be 12th. Golly gee we didn’t see that coming 2 years ago. Laguerre was supposed to come in and provide a spark that this team has lacked for a while now. A pure scorer with surprisingly good passing skills and an all-around game, Laguerre was the supposed savior of this sinking ship but with him now done-zo for the year, it will be hard to replace the scoring left my Big City Anthony Gurley.

All is not bleak however. While I certainly don’t see this team shocking the conference, I could see them contending for home court in the A10 playoffs. Raphiael “Big D(ara)” Putney is going to be one of the best players in the conference someday (and that someday might be later this year for all we know, but mark my words he is the truth). I still have glimmers of hope that Sampson Carter will fulfill him promise along with TV, who could absolutely get over his Sophomore slump  and be a dominant player. Maybe the inclusion of a real point guard will be a much bigger deal than originally thought. Maybe Jesse Morgan will be only the good parts of Freddie “Freddie’s mannequin” Riley and only good things will come from their collective Twitter accounts.

Or maybe not. And it would be year 4 of the ‘hair gel and nice suit by no wins’ era. Either way, thank god we have hockey.

-Matt