Season Prognosis

[AlbanyFan2018]

What does everyone think?  I am going 8-5 with one loss in the AE.

I saw a tweet from the Gazette that Coach Marr said he was very happy with the top 25, but that we needed more depth. IMO that is pretty good depth given that most teams play less than 25 guys during a game. I think we have very good depth at attack, so so at midfield. I would have said 6-7 deep on defense, but not sure where the defense stands. They did hold Rutgers to 4-5 goals in the first half, and played reasonably well against Colgate.

I'm not super excited about the man down defense. I've always liked that Albany has gotten more guys involved, but it looks like a bit of a liability this year. 

It looks like Tehoka has more pep in his step this year. He looks as big as ever, but quicker. I would go with Laffin ahead of Yunker at attack. Laffin has the best hands on the team, and has come up big in big games before. I would like to see him get a chance to start.

Face off and the face off unit looks like a work in progress.

Hopefully Dhluy is 100% healthy now. I like the trio of him, Flip, and Perla, but need to see better team defense and better slide decisions. 

I don't understand Gleason giving up as many rotations at LSM as he did in the fall. I really like Spahr's ground ball skills, but don't know why he hasn't gotten more opportunities. 

 

To over achieve, offense will have to very efficient due to fewer possessions, and defense/goalie will have to make improvements throughout the season. 

Edited February 11, 2019 by AlbanyFan2018

[dslyank]

2018, Excellent assessment. I am slightly more optimistic. 9-4 or even 10-3. I have us losing to Yale and Maryland and agree one stumble in conference. I agree with the issues you have pointed out {face-off, depth, defense/goalies, man down.}  My slightly higher optimism is based on:  I think the defense will come around; every team on our schedule (except perhaps yale) also have issues; with less players used and the preseason rotation experiments ironed out {i.e those who can preform WILL};  and lastly , I believe our offense (assisted by the shot clock) is just that GOOD. Also, even though we are young team, we are experienced enough that there really is no youngster really being heavily counted on. The young guys can be brought along slowly and will get better with experience. Of course, you could say this about our competition also; but I still feel we have as much if not MORE back than most of the teams on our schedule.

[AlbanyFan2018]

1 hour ago, dslyank said:

2018, Excellent assessment. I am slightly more optimistic. 9-4 or even 10-3. I have us losing to Yale and Maryland and agree one stumble in conference. I agree with the issues you have pointed out {face-off, depth, defense/goalies, man down.}  My slightly higher optimism is based on:  I think the defense will come around; every team on our schedule (except perhaps yale) also have issues; with less players used and the preseason rotation experiments ironed out {i.e those who can preform WILL};  and lastly , I believe our offense (assisted by the shot clock) is just that GOOD. Also, even though we are young team, we are experienced enough that there really is no youngster really being heavily counted on. The young guys can be brought along slowly and will get better with experience. Of course, you could say this about our competition also; but I still feel we have as much if not MORE back than most of the teams on our schedule.

I could see us getting to 9-4 or 10-3 if we can get 50/50 on face offs. The offense without the ball a ton was good in the tune up games.

i just caught Coach Marr on the radio. He said they are still exploring Patterson at attack or midfield.

i thought he was a little generous on the face off wins in the scrimmages. Sounds like Altamari has the nod heading into Syracuse.

[HOF2013]

20 hours ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

What does everyone think?  I am going 8-5 with one loss in the AE.

I saw a tweet from the Gazette that Coach Marr said he was very happy with the top 25, but that we needed more depth. IMO that is pretty good depth given that most teams play less than 25 guys during a game. I think we have very good depth at attack, so so at midfield. I would have said 6-7 deep on defense, but not sure where the defense stands. They did hold Rutgers to 4-5 goals in the first half, and played reasonably well against Colgate.

I'm not super excited about the man down defense. I've always liked that Albany has gotten more guys involved, but it looks like a bit of a liability this year. 

It looks like Tehoka has more pep in his step this year. He looks as big as ever, but quicker. I would go with Laffin ahead of Yunker at attack. Laffin has the best hands on the team, and has come up big in big games before. I would like to see him get a chance to start.

Face off and the face off unit looks like a work in progress.

Hopefully Dhluy is 100% healthy now. I like the trio of him, Flip, and Perla, but need to see better team defense and better slide decisions. 

I don't understand Gleason giving up as many rotations at LSM as he did in the fall. I really like Spahr's ground ball skills, but don't know why he hasn't gotten more opportunities. 

 

To over achieve, offense will have to very efficient due to fewer possessions, and defense/goalie will have to make improvements throughout the season. 

I agree on the def and the slides.  FO and Wing play will be a key I think.  I did not like man down either.