What Did We Learn Tuesday Night?

Tuesday, 12/11/07, saw all but Hamilton and New Hartford in action. Those two teams will face each other on Mill Street in New Hartford Wednesday night. From the three games played we learned several things. Let’s take them one game at a time.

LACK OF DEPTH KILLS – Westmoreland is a good second tier team and as they showed against Clinton Tuesday, they can skate with anybody for the first period. They have been in every game for the first 15 minutes. The problem is that they have to play the second and third periods. The killer is a lack of depth, especially on defense. Depth and experience is slow to grow, but the young Bulldogs are doing it. They still need help in the nets. For Clinton…what a relief! After getting off to a 1 – 4 start and looking to get back on track at Westmo, it must have been a little tense when the Bulldogs tied it up. But, the win puts the Warriors at 1-1 in the 3-2-E and only a game out of first.

GOT TO ADMIT, IT’S GETTING BETTER – How can you say that about a team that is 1-5 on the season, 0-3 in the 3-2-E and just lost to Whitesboro 10-1. But, I ain’t lying. The Proctor Raiders showed signs of life last night in their game at the Aud. They put 23 shots on goal against Whitesboro. That’s a great improvement when you consider that they couldn’t get into double digits in shots against New Hartford and RFA. Using this as a sign of improvement is also a sign of how far they have to go to get to the second tier in the league, but it is a sign and they are getting better. As for Whitesboro, no question about their talent and skill and they were expected to win big against Proctor. But, what was impressive is that they again kept their cool and physically didn’t take advantage of the Raiders. That doesn’t mean they took the night off.

CAZ IS REASON FOR CONCERN – Talking with some of the Whitesboro players Tuesday night, they are well aware that they host Cazenovia Thursday night. They’re aware because Cazenovia gives teams fits, as they did last night against RFA. The Lakers forced the Knights to OT before one of Rome’s young guns ended it. TJ Reilley had both Black Knight goals in the game. The freshman Reilley is one of the best goal scorers Rome has, when he’s not in penalty trouble.

Tonight, the high flying Spartans host Hamilton in the Emerald Knights first 3-2-E of the season. Consistency is a question regarding Hamilton. They have talent and enough depth to be dangerous, even against a team like New Hartford. But, those Spartans…with some consistency concerns of their own, New Hartford has the best line in the league – Zalewski, Fiorentino and Jason Fitzgerald.

New Hartford and Hamilton face off at 7:30PM.