The Hens defense continues to play really well as a unit and is extremely physical. The close D unit of Tate Wasson, Matt Montgomery and freshman Louie Atkinson is as good as any that I’ve seen in a long time. Kevin Ellington was spectacular in goal making 13 saves on the day while giving up just six goals in the first start of his career.
The only negative was that, at times, the Hens took forced shots early in possessions. I think a bunch of guys were trying to break the seal with a first goal of the season. They were much better when they were drawing slides and finding open teammates. Freshman John McCurry might be squeezing the stick a little too tightly looking for his for his first goal. He will be fine. His fellow freshman Tyler Owings from Boys Latin had a beautiful goal on a nice pass from Hank D'Ambrogi. Lots of freshman getting opportunities to contribute including Ryder Buell at SSDM and Ryder Villani alternating with Owings on the second midfield unit.
This Saturday the Hens face St John’s in Queens, a team that is really struggling. Last season, first-year coach Kyle Turri had St. John's heading in a positive direction even though they went 0-12, as crazy as that sounds. They were pretty competitive in more than half of those losses losing to Richmond by two, Denver by three and Providence by just one. But there is something to be said about getting into the habit of losing. This year, coach Turri and the boys from Queens continue this trend losing to NJIT, Quinnipiac and most recently to Hofstra, after blowing a four-goal lead late in the game.
The Red Storm has some really nice offensive talent, returning 6 of their top 7 scorers from last year including Brian Kelly (29g 19a), Sean Duffy (19g 4a), Caleb Zuhoski (9g 12a), Caiden Vlasimsky (13g 6a) and Bobby Seel (8g 7a). I watched the Hofstra game last night and the SJU offense plays fast and loose, looking for quick-strike goals in transition. This leads to a ton of shots and some really beautiful goals. Against Hofstra they got killed on faceoffs losing 23 of 33, yet were still able to get off 49 shots (32 on goal). On the other side of the field, this quick-strike offense means that their competition gets a time-of-possession advantage. In three games against NJIT, Quinnipiac and Hofstra the team has given up 14.7 goals a game and their goalies have a combined save percentage of .397, which is not good.
Saturday should be an interesting test for the Hens. They are facing a desperate team that will be playing at home in sub-zero temps and potentially snowfall. Last week, the Hens only gave up 19 shots on goal. I would expect that this number will increase against the free-wheeling Red Storm. If the Hens can put up 32 shots on goal, like they did last week, they will score at least 16 goals and safely cruise to a win. Nothing will be easy for the Hens this year, but if they get off the bus with a killer attitude this should be a successful roadtrip. They can’t get ahead of themselves, thinking about Penn. That’s for next week.
) I like what we saw of Ellington in goal.
Physical play should be felt in the bones with the cold…hope our rugged defense makes their shooters uncomfortable./NFL_Titans.gif)