UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

[leswp1]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

to be fair, a lot of us Lowell alums forget there are major parts of the campus where a house pet could get to graduation day. That's mainly because most of us didn't do those majors. Most of us here took the hard ones.

edit: oh, zlax (I forget if he's a PC or a UNHer)... ah, whatever... people look at Lowell and they see the engineering and the other higher quality majors... but that's mostly because the rest is nothing worth remembering.

I am sure Amherst has some things that are very good academically. That never seems to hit the news. Too be fair, lately the only thing anyone gets to see about it is riots and disciplinary stuff. It has been ZooMass for as long as I can remember hearing about it. (>30 yrs) For us older people it is also the financial drain that took $ away from our school- not for academic buildings but to build the Mullins and basketball (I hate bouncy ball)

And the last I paid attn. basketball was in trouble with the NCAA. (That was awhile ago )

[UMLFan]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

HEWBA Award winners. Bazin finished second in COY. Smith on all HE-Rookie team.

[boblav1]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

HEWBA Award winners. Bazin finished second in COY. Smith on all HE-Rookie team.

Smith was also named to the Hockey East All Rookie team.
http://hockeyeastonline.com/men/pres...3/mar18awa.php

[leswp1]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

Would have switched some of the 1st and 2nd team choices. Have trouble with the BU coach being 1 although I guess no one really did amazing things this yr. I am more impressed with coaches who don't have stars and bring out the best in players. If you have all studs it is a bit harder to fail. (built in bias against the 'chosen few' coming out)

[brassbonanza]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

Would have switched some of the 1st and 2nd team choices. Have trouble with the BU coach being 1 although I guess no one really did amazing things this yr. I am more impressed with coaches who don't have stars and bring out the best in players. If you have all studs it is a bit harder to fail. (built in bias against the 'chosen few' coming out)

You have trouble with a coach going from second-to-last to first being coach of the year? I agree there's an argument for Norm, but just because he doesn't (can't?) bring in talented players doesn't make him a shoo-in for COY when he finishes three spots behind the guy who did.

[Patman]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

I am sure Amherst has some things that are very good academically. That never seems to hit the news. Too be fair, lately the only thing anyone gets to see about it is riots and disciplinary stuff. It has been ZooMass for as long as I can remember hearing about it. (>30 yrs) For us older people it is also the financial drain that took $ away from our school- not for academic buildings but to build the Mullins and basketball (I hate bouncy ball)

And the last I paid attn. basketball was in trouble with the NCAA. (That was awhile ago )

we build, they burn

[Patman]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

You have trouble with a coach going from second-to-last to first being coach of the year? I agree there's an argument for Norm, but just because he doesn't (can't?) bring in talented players doesn't make him a shoo-in for COY when he finishes three spots behind the guy who did.

I thought a general argument for Cavanaugh wasn't wrong... but then again, we expect bad for UConn out of reputation and not based on what they had for players.

[Gainzo]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

You have trouble with a coach going from second-to-last to first being coach of the year? I agree there's an argument for Norm, but just because he doesn't (can't?) bring in talented players doesn't make him a shoo-in for COY when he finishes three spots behind the guy who did.

Parker took BU to the HE Final two years ago. Quinn takes over and and you guys have a terrible season. Eichel arrives this season and all of a sudden Quinn is the Coach of the year?

BTW: Nice dig at Bazin and Lowell.

[ScottK]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

While we're discussing postseason awards,, here's a question for everyone. Who would you consider to be the team MVP this season? There are several players that one could make a case for, and all would be valid.

My choice would be Joe Gambardella, but I'm interested in other opinions.

[brassbonanza]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

Parker took BU to the HE Final two years ago. Quinn takes over and and you guys have a terrible season. Eichel arrives this season and all of a sudden Quinn is the Coach of the year?

BTW: Nice dig at Bazin and Lowell.

Lol that same team Parker took to the HE Final also missed the NCAA tournament, finished barely third in the league, fourth in the Beanpot, and was a whopping 21-16. By no means was that any semblance of a great team, they were decidedly average. Quinn took over, had a transition year as he implemented a style of play to a group of guys who largely weren't talented enough to play it, had some unexpected departures, a key injury to Grezclyk, and the season was a throwaway as most BU fans expected. Simply inputting Eichel and saying OK guys, go ahead /= getting them to where they are now. The amount of coaching he's had to do to keep the team together, prevent rifts from forming between guys who could be jealous of Jack and the other freshmen, contain their focus with the extraordinary level of media attention Jack has received, and get everyone to buy in to what he's doing and teaching has been exceptional.

As I said, there's certainly an argument for Norm with the amount that was lost from last year, but the notion of "having trouble with" the coach who turned a 10-win team who finished 10th of 11 into the runaway conference champion doesn't make much sense.

I agree Cav deserves accolades for what he did, UConn is going to be a strong HE program so long as he stays. My thought was if he was able to get UConn to finish in the top half he'd be a real contender for COY. They did some great things this year, and ninth is a very respectable finish for a first-year program, but not quite to the level of COY. If I had to rank them, I'd go Quinn, Bazin, Cav. Whoever in the media voted York is a dope.

[Gainzo]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

While we're discussing postseason awards,, here's a question for everyone. Who would you consider to be the team MVP this season? There are several players that one could make a case for, and all would be valid.

My choice would be Joe Gambardella, but I'm interested in other opinions.

I felt Gambardella went missing a few times this season but he is a force when he wants to be. I'm leaning toward Zack Kamrass. Kamrass is so consistent and is everything you want in a student-athlete that represents the University.

How about "Most Improved over the season?" I was totally down on Zink the first half of the season as he was taking stupid penalties and trying to score every time he had the puck. He has really turned his game around the last couple of months and he has my vote for the category I just made up!

[John_Fuller]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

MVP: Zach Kamrass

Captain of a team that was expected to rebuild and under his leadership brought them to another 20-win season. This year could have just as easily gone 20 games south and has the numbers to back it up. As stated, as fine a gentlemen as you want to represent the team and the University.

ROTY: CJ Smith

No dispute here and answered a lot of the scoring questions from early this year.

Unsung Hero: Kevin Boyle

Had impossible shoes to fill on the heels of Connor Hellebuyck and Doug Carr. I would be remiss by saying it wasn't as pretty as his predecessors made it look but he did get the job done at the end of each night. Maybe not in the elite class like a Gillies but he has been more than serviceable.

Most Improved Player: Tyler Mueller

I've always seen some really good potential from this kid and if nothing else, I think there is a really big upside on him for his sophomore year. He did have 13 assists during this year. If he can reduce his time on the penalty bench, trust himself, and develop a little more speed, he could be a really solid defenseman in this league. Has a pretty good shot too as we saw him take Cal Petersen for a test drive in the second period of Game 3.


I know awards are given to individuals but this year's team especially could have all been given honors.

[leswp1]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

You have trouble with a coach going from second-to-last to first being coach of the year? I agree there's an argument for Norm, but just because he doesn't (can't?) bring in talented players doesn't make him a shoo-in for COY when he finishes three spots behind the guy who did.

I didn't say that I thought Norm should win. I just said I wasn't as impressed with coaches who have all the tools and then win. I am more impressed when the coach doesn't have studs and gets amazing things out of players who shouldn't achieve. I didn't mean that in reference to Norm in particular. You might not think he brings in talent but having watched Frosh players do a bang up job, I don't agree that he had no talent to work with (except for the struggle in goal). I actually don't have an opinion of who should have been chosen.

[UMLFan]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

MVP: Zach Kamrass

Captain of a team that was expected to rebuild and under his leadership brought them to another 20-win season. This year could have just as easily gone 20 games south and has the numbers to back it up. As stated, as fine a gentlemen as you want to represent the team and the University.

ROTY: CJ Smith

No dispute here and answered a lot of the scoring questions from early this year.

Unsung Hero: Kevin Boyle

Had impossible shoes to fill on the heels of Connor Hellebuyck and Doug Carr. I would be remiss by saying it wasn't as pretty as his predecessors made it look but he did get the job done at the end of each night. Maybe not in the elite class like a Gillies but he has been more than serviceable.

Most Improved Player: Tyler Mueller

I've always seen some really good potential from this kid and if nothing else, I think there is a really big upside on him for his sophomore year. He did have 13 assists during this year. If he can reduce his time on the penalty bench, trust himself, and develop a little more speed, he could be a really solid defenseman in this league. Has a pretty good shot too as we saw him take Cal Petersen for a test drive in the second period of Game 3.


I know awards are given to individuals but this year's team especially could have all been given honors.

Pretty much exactly how I would do it.

[Gainzo]

Re: UMass Lowell 2014-2015 Season: The March to March Thread II

Lol that same team Parker took to the HE Final also missed the NCAA tournament, finished barely third in the league, fourth in the Beanpot, and was a whopping 21-16. By no means was that any semblance of a great team, they were decidedly average. Quinn took over, had a transition year as he implemented a style of play to a group of guys who largely weren't talented enough to play it, had some unexpected departures, a key injury to Grezclyk, and the season was a throwaway as most BU fans expected. Simply inputting Eichel and saying OK guys, go ahead /= getting them to where they are now. The amount of coaching he's had to do to keep the team together, prevent rifts from forming between guys who could be jealous of Jack and the other freshmen, contain their focus with the extraordinary level of media attention Jack has received, and get everyone to buy in to what he's doing and teaching has been exceptional.

I agree Cav deserves accolades for what he did, UConn is going to be a strong HE program so long as he stays. My thought was if he was able to get UConn to finish in the top half he'd be a real contender for COY. They did some great things this year, and ninth is a very respectable finish for a first-year program, but not quite to the level of COY. If I had to rank them, I'd go Quinn, Bazin, Cav. Whoever in the media voted York is a dope.

I feel so bad for Quinn as he had no talented players at BU when he took over for Parker

He also did a fantastic job of not making the rest of the team hate Eichel? Are you making this up as you go?