jimmywork wrote:MDlaxfan76 wrote: They also had an outstanding goalie who didn't mind (perhaps even thrived on) the high frequency of shots they gave up because of their total field aggressiveness. (My son had the same attitude with a much less able defense, so I very much appreciated Kelly's play as a big part of giving confidence to his teammates.)
Pretty sure your son's defensive personnel was more than "able" to run a similar package. Bobby Duvnjak was one of the most underrated dmen of the last decade, only person I've ever seen neutralize Molloy without help. Combined with Jahelka, Breit, and Ryan, I'd argue the Crimson had a better set of poles than the Brown ever did, and both groups are better than what UVA trotted out last year.
I wouldn't argue with your assessment of HU's poles!
But only when healthy.
By "able" I meant healthy.
In 2015 when my son was the starter for the first Brown game, Jahelka neutralized Molloy for a half and my son made a couple of saves on him, but then Jahelka went down for an injury and was out the second half, and then out the rest of the season. Duvnjak was already out for the season. Two AA caliber D-men out. Breit was on and off with injuries, later on Ryan hurt his shoulder as well. Terrific players but very few games with all of them available.
In 2016 when my son replaced the starter after a very rough first Q, Duvnjak was indeed very effective. That said, Molloy managed 8 shots on my son, 7 on cage from within 10 yards, no goals. Duvy and Molloy really went at it and I think it was Bobby's best career game with 5 CT's and 5 GB's. Bobby was indeed one of the best takeaway on ball defenders I've seen play, but as to defensive schemes and off-ball, those were not really his strong suits and I'm sure he'd smile and admit that too. Drove the 2016 D coach (not my favorite fellow) to distraction who the week before the season had demoted Bobby to 3rd line LSM, but as my son would say, "Just let Bobby be Bobby and we'll deal with it". Once HU had some injuries, they turned back to Duvnjak and he did his thing, AA season. Tremendous player!
However, in the 2nd time they faced Brown, Molloy scored 5 goals 2A, though Duvnjak had 2 CT's and 6GB's. My son was out with his 3rd concussion by then. That was the game Morgan Cheek 'came of age' for the Crimson with 9 G and 1 A.
Loved the way LSM Jack Breit played as well. Tremendous off the ground and pushing pace. Beast of a kid, smart player, and made some big time plays that were real momentum shifters. I especially recall a late game heroic GB out of the snow and feed for a score versus UMass in the season opener in 2015. Comeback win, was my son's first game in relief before getting the starting role after another comeback win in relief two games later. But Jack had a heck of a time with injuries too, though not season enders like Jahelka and Duvnjak. But he played seriously hurt for many of the games. Ryan had some wonderful games as well. I especially recall a tremendous game in a one goal victory over BU in 2015 in which Matt had a slew of takeaways and GB's. Smart player. Better as an LSM than close as he wasn't as physically dominating. He suffered a shoulder injury which he played through, but really had a tough time once injured. Courageous player though.
I also liked what Walker Kirby was able to do when he was moved to close D from SSDM when Duvnjak became unavailable in 2015 and then Jahelka too. Smart player, hard worker. Not easy to need to go to close from SSDM! But that was a big loss to SSDM crew.
And of course, you missed LSM Brian Fischer who IMO in 2015 was HU's best defensive player, graduated in '15. I especially recall his dominating performance in 2015 at HU vs Tewaarton finalist from Cornell, Connor Buczek, who only scored one goal on 14 shots often with Fischer's stick on his hands. Breit also got some successful runs against Buczek that day. Very exciting one goal upset win for HU with Buczek taking the final shot of the game, on cage, with 8 seconds left.
But having enough of these guys healthy all at once?
Rarely happened.
I'd say the biggest difference between those HU and Brown teams when my son was playing was the FOGO differential, and midfield GB's overall. In the 2015 game, Brown went 17 of 27 at X (Gural 16 of 25) and had 48 GB's to HU's 26. HU had 26 TO's to Brown's 18. Resulting in Brown taking 53 shots to HU's 31. My son had 17 saves to Kelly's 9 that day. In the 2016 reg season game, Brown won 15 of 22 FO's and 44-36 in GB's; again Gural. My son only played 3 q's that day with 10 saves, 6GA to Kelly's 9 saves, 8 GA. But unfortunately HU had given up 5 goals in the first Q. Exciting effort against the #1 offense of 2016 and you're right that Duvnjak had an exceptional day.
FOGO play was HU's Achilles heel for most of those years, with a few exception games. String of bad luck injuries, none of their top FOGO's had full healthy seasons. For instance, in that CU 2015 game, Massimilian went 17 of 23 for CU. HU was virtually powerless to stop him, but in the last minutes HU put out a non FOGO, SSDM Grove Stewart who simply forced Massimillian back towards his own goal, harassing him. His pass to CU goalie Knight was intercepted out of nowhere by Devin Dwyer who then pumped, then fired an outside shot in over Knight's shoulder, putting HU ahead by one. Massimilian then promptly won the last FO, setting up the play for Buczek to shoot the last shot.
But yes, HU's defense was way more talented man-for-man, and in aggregate, than UVA's crew these past years, and equal to or I agree actually better than Brown's D unit. But they were rarely healthy as a full crew, thus my " much less able" comment. Both Brown and HU those years played best at a hot pace, but HU rarely had the midfield GB and FOGO performances that Brown did.