My thoughts on the UConn trip...
The campus is much larger than I had expected...sprawled out over a series of hills and valleys...a bit hard to find your way around...oh well, we're all used to flat land. Basketball is definately king...we visited three gift shops and book stores and found NOTHING but basketball stuff...couldn't even buy a UConn puck at the ice arena...they had a couple of them on the table where they were selling programs, but they were not for sale...I tried to buy one, and they said "sorry, that's our paperweight"
The town of "Storrs" doesn't really exist...the campus IS the town. Connecticutt state law prohibits smoking in all places of business, including bars...it was nice to be able to sit in a dumpy campus bar without choking on second hand smoke...the bad news was it was easier to smell the stale beer and mildew.
Everyone we met at UConn was super nice...even the grumpy old guy who shood us out of his reserved seats was polite about it. Their arena is awfully small, and the seats were all open metal bleachers...mighty cold in there, I think it was colder inside than it was out. Everything at their concession stand was about a dollar higher that at home ($3 for a bottle of water) and if there was a water fountain anywhere in the building, I never found it. Apparently their locker room facilities are lacking...BG and UMass had to share shower facilities after Thursday's game (house rules...losers get to shower first).
UMass was a solid DEFENSIVE team, but they were never able to get the puck INSIDE in our zone...the one time they did, they scored. Even though we were out-shot, we were not out-played...most of their shots were from outside, and from tough angles...we made a couple of mistakes that gave them breakaways, but Horrell stuffed them. Their top line was good, but they had no offense beyond that line.
The UConn team was just totally overmatched. We were two steps faster on every shift, and altho the shots were about even, the game was anything BUT even. I commend our team and coaches for staying within the game plan, and not allowing it to get sloppy or silly. Nice to see Bob Frazee get a chance to play...I do wish he had gotten in sooner, it seemed almost like an afterthought. The one sloppy point of the game came right after Frazee went in, a defensive mistake behind our goal gave them a quick 'two on none', Frazee never had a chance on that shot. He was solid after that.
We did what we should have done in this tournament...won a tight game against the 'best' team in the field, and dominated the other. It's obvious that the team was well preparred, and ready to play...perhaps this is the spark we need to kick off a strong second half.
We also had the opportunity to watch AHL game on Saturday night in Hartford. Providence Bruins beat Hartford 3-1. Jonathon Sigalet got an assist on the game winning goal. Jordan was dressed, but not play...we had a chance to talk with him...he's happy, healthy and sends his best wishes back to everybody at BG. Jonathon looks good...seems to be adding some upper body bulk, but could use a haircut
