LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Princeton is athletic enough that they beat UVA straight up. I'm getting ready to watch this game on replay, but the result is not surprising. Princeton is a good team with a great player leading the offense.

notentitled wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 5:39 pm Princeton looked much more athletic, quick, and faster to the ball than Hopkins. The goalie was not the difference. One team was playing at one speed and the other was ...

Other teams have been faster and quicker than Hopkins for years. The difference is the shot clock (and poor goalie work), which advantages speed. Gone are the days when The Hop could run around and play catch for 3-4 minutes before taking a shot.

Which team appeared to be better coached?

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 4:32 pm
If Giacalone started that game the result might have been a little different. This is what I was talking about when I said Petro needed to be brought up on war crimes after the Villanova scrimmage if he wasn't the starter when the season began. Petro waited way too long to make the switch today and it cost us. The switch really should have been made like 19 games ago but I suppose beggars can't be choosers. Every time it's a night and day difference. Practically everyone within earshot in the stands today was begging Petro to put Giacalone in after Princeton's 10th goal or so.

A pink slip should be enough here.

You can't spell dope without a D and a P.

Unless of course this entire season is just his parting shot to the fans, alumni, and long suffering season ticket holders.

Zero productive offense. Syracuse, here we come!!

WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 5:34 pm

Chuckman wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 4:23 pm

Sums up the season so far.

Team bus on I-95 South.

The ripping on these kids has gone way over the line. Considering that Williams is in the midst of a difficult medical situation and he's inspiring a lot of young kids with his story of alopecia (along with Keough), I would definitely not describe him as "soft". He's actually making a difference in the real world. Give up the Hop thread for Lent, maybe we'll see a resurrection come tournament time.

After the Cuse game, Hop has 3 winnable non-con games and then starts the B1G season against the 2 worst B1G teams. It's likely you all will be 6-4 (2-0) heading into the PSU game. Things will look very different by then. Now, that is unless the team implodes and loses to one of MTSM, Navy, or UD.

johnnyonthegunpowder wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 7:43 pm The ripping on these kids has gone way over the line. Considering that Williams is in the midst of a difficult medical situation and he's inspiring a lot of young kids with his story of alopecia (along with Keough), I would definitely not describe him as "soft". He's actually making a difference in the real world. Give up the Hop thread for Lent, maybe we'll see a resurrection come tournament time.

George Baughan is the best defender in the Ivy League and maybe in the country. He made Reeves look bad 2 years ago. Cole hurt Princeton the past 2 seasons. Put the best pole on him this year.

If you only looked at certain team stats, you wouldn’t be able to guess the game was a rout. Jays were 80% successful on EMOs (4/5) vs. Tigers 28.57% (2/7). Hop won 63.64% of FOs (21/33). Jays outshot Princeton 49-44. Shots on goal and GBs were pretty even with Jays coming up short 24/26 and 31/34. Turnovers were close at 11/12 with Hop again coming up short.

The stats that spell the beans are starting GKs save percentages and clears. Darby, before he was lifted, was at 28.57% (4/14) vs. Peters’ 57.7% (15/11). Not only was Hop’s 62.5 % clearing abysmal, but to only have 8 clears is a true corollary of poor save performance.

The other team stat that irks is CTs. Tigers had nearly double to Jays’ five, and 3 of the 5 were by offensive players.

Individually, Hubler, Glassmeyer and Lyne had zero GBs and CTs. Without his usual mobility, Epstein had 4 GBs and 1 CT. Hawley had 4 GBs off the wing. Prouty and Narewski contributed 10 GBs.

Wheels wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 7:45 pm After the Cuse game, Hop has 3 winnable non-con games and then starts the B1G season against the 2 worst B1G teams. It's likely you all will be 6-4 (2-0) heading into the PSU game. Things will look very different by then. Now, that is unless the team implodes and loses to one of MTSM, Navy, or UD.

From your lips to God's ears. Though a midweek game at Delaware—who has played us tough the last two years—sandwiched between a road trip to Navy and the start of conference play is a recipe for disaster, IMO.

Still, even in that best case scenario, we would have zero resume-boosting "quality wins." Towson, MSM, Navy, Delaware, Michigan, and Rutgers (Yes I'm now realizing how ahead of ourselves we're getting here, but I digress) will not get it done if we want to play in the postseason unless a good chunk of those teams vastly turn their seasons around. We would probably need to win at least 2 of the 3 against PSU, OSU, and Maryland—possibly all three. I guess if we're playing better by then it wouldn't be impossible...But there's currently nothing about the team right now to say that's even a reasonable scenario. We really, really needed to win one of the last three games against what looks like top 10 teams.

Hoponboard wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:39 pm If you only looked at certain team stats, you wouldn’t be able to guess the game was a rout. Jays were 80% successful on EMOs (4/5) vs. Tigers 28.57% (2/7). Hop won 63.64% of FOs (21/33). Jays outshot Princeton 49-44. Shots on goal and GBs were pretty even with Jays coming up short 24/26 and 31/34. Turnovers were close at 11/12 with Hop again coming up short.

The stats that spell the beans are starting GKs save percentages and clears. Darby, before he was lifted, was at 28.57% (4/14) vs. Peters’ 57.7% (15/11). Not only was Hop’s 62.5 % clearing abysmal, but to only have 8 clears is a true corollary of poor save performance.

The other team stat that irks is CTs. Tigers had nearly double to Jays’ five, and 3 of the 5 were by offensive players.

Individually, Hubler, Glassmeyer and Lyne had zero GBs and CTs. Without his usual mobility, Epstein had 4 GBs and 1 CT. Hawley had 4 GBs off the wing. Prouty and Narewski contributed 10 GBs.

I think the GBs being pretty close is misleading. We won 12 more faceoffs but they were +3 in overall GBs? That means they're winning a lot of the non-faceoff GBs. Certainly felt that way too watching the game. How many times did we knock the ball out of their guy's stick only to fail to finish the job and pick the ball up? They left so many potential CTs on the field.

Even on 1 leg Epstein is still relentless on the ride.

Second straight game with no press conference. So much for accountability!

Well, on the bright side, HOP did win the last minute of play on a 2 goals to ZERO shutout!

So it sounds like everyone is looking for the Jays to bring it after the loss to SU. That's when they'll turn it around?
I think that's what I'm hearing.

If only everyone on the Hopkins team were as competitive as Joey Epstein. Did everyone see how Epstein grabbed the shirt of a Princeton defender as he was coming to the sideline and basically shoved him aside like some unwanted dog?

Epstein played hard on the ride even when the game was beyond reach. Even at half speed, Epstein had 2 goals, 2 assists, 5 shots, 4 SOGs, 4 GBs ( ) and 1 CT.

How did he do that?!?

If Giacalone had started and saved 60%, Princeton would have scored about 11 or 12 goals and it would have been a competitive game.

I assume Giacalone will start against Syracuse. If Giacalone doesn’t start next week, then the entire staff should be canned on the spot. Giacalone won’t be a cure for all ills, but he should make Hopkins more competitive.

DocBarrister

Mightyjoe wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:24 pm So it sounds like everyone is looking for the Jays to bring it after the loss to SU. That's when they'll turn it around?
I think that's what I'm hearing.

Not at all. Hopkins can beat Syracuse, but the Blue Jays really need to up their game. No way anyone should count out Hopkins.

DocBarrister

Mightyjoe wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:24 pm So it sounds like everyone is looking for the Jays to bring it after the loss to SU. That's when they'll turn it around?
I think that's what I'm hearing.

Gotta get momentum somehow, right? Unless Cuse just totally overlooks JHU next weekend, Cuse is just a better team right now. Too deep and too much size at the midfield for Hop to deal with. But a 5-game win streak heading into PSU, a team Hop has hung with, and things look really different. So you play for the AQ at this point. Get to the B1G tourney and go from there.

DocBarrister wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:34 pm I assume Giacalone will start against Syracuse.

I wouldn't count on it. This is the same staff that started a goalie in an NCAA tournament game who had been 16% in his previous three games. Even today a change wasn't made until it was far too late. Since he was decent in the first few games before today, my guess is he gets more than one bad outing before he's permanently replaced. I think that would be a rather large mistake and perhaps presage the end of the Pietramala regime, but at least he'd go down on his own terms: loyal to his guy until the catastrophic end.

Elsewhere, today John Tillman benched his starting goalie who had been at 51% on the year for a freshman who had never been in a game. It paid off. Not apples to apples but a reminder that goalie changes are quite common and you don't always have to wait until a guy hits rock bottom before you make the switch.

Speaking of goalies, Tim Marcille is a load of fun to watch on the sidelines. He was more entertaining than the actual game in the fourth quarter. Extremely vocal, cheering for every guy, celebrating every goal, even when the game was already about over. Perhaps a future leader of this team.

Going back to a prior post - when was the last time this team was fun to watch? My wife - also a JHU grad (one of the cute ones, I swear) - told me to turn off the game to today. She said she wasn't going to watch again until DP wasn't the the head coach. She doesn't read this message board, and she wouldn't tolerate me talking about it. So, turd's gotten real.

DocBarrister wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:37 pm

Mightyjoe wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:24 pm So it sounds like everyone is looking for the Jays to bring it after the loss to SU. That's when they'll turn it around?
I think that's what I'm hearing.

Not at all. Hopkins can beat Syracuse, but the Blue Jays really need to up their game. No way anyone should count out Hopkins.

DocBarrister

Doc, can I get a prescription for the transformational Class meds you're prescribing?. Sans a healthy Epstein, this is the most lethargic offensive 6 ever. And you can't even blame it on Petro's 4 corner stalls circa 2011 or so. WE still might only get 4 goals next week but the Orange are likely to post 20 unless Desko is merciful. Pass the pill bottle on this season.

nyjay wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 10:22 pm Going back to a prior post - when was the last time this team was fun to watch? My wife - also a JHU grad (one of the cute ones, I swear) - told me to turn off the game to today. She said she wasn't going to watch again until DP wasn't the the head coach. She doesn't read this message board, and she wouldn't tolerate me talking about it. So, turd's gotten real.

Hey, can you get her to call up the Athletic Director and voice her concerns? I'm serious. Or even have her send an email to the AD.
One woman to another. Could have an impact, no?

Hey, I know some former players, good ones, who absolutely despise this coach. This is something I can post because I have direct first hand knowledge of it.