UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

[Greg A]

Re: Someone's being a little obtuse with their prediction

Would 8 out of 8 perhaps suffice?

Looks like 8th place is there for the taking, after UMaine lost to PC and UNH got past Merrimack. Now all UNH needs to do is match Maine's performance in the final RS game, and 8th place (and home games) go to the 'Cats.

Likewise also hoping the opposition is UMaine and not UConn, but with UConn's win tonight, it's still a possibility the first round opposition *could* be UConn. Hoping it's UMaine, but careful what you ask for, etc.

of course, all this speculation and excitement just sets us up for the crushing RS finale loss/tie

Actually it is more probable that we will play UConn than Maine. Yes, if UNH and Maine both win, Maine finishes 9th. And if Maine wins and we lose, they finish 8th and we finish 9th. But isn't the most likely scenario UNH winning and Maine losing? If that comes to pass, and we won't know until 9:30 or so tonight, Maine and UConn tie in points. However UConn holds the tiebreaker with Maine having gained 3 points against then. I know that two or three vs. Maine (games 5,6, 7 on the season) might be a better visual. But honestly, give me UConn any day.

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Last 4 wins:
Willows - 4G (1 GWG), 2A, +3
Camper - 3G (1 GWG), 1A, +3
Thrush - 1G, 2A, +4
Downing - 4A, +6 (missed BU game).

Since Camper replaced Smith at center between Foegele and Eiserman, his speed and play-making ability have helped that line to click.

[HockeyRef]

As for Camper, I see a senior who has had the great fortune to suddenly find himself playing with Foegel.

Honestly give Jay some credit! 😉 Sure it's awesome to have a great player like Foegele to work with but someone still has to put it in the net. Am aware of Jays output to this point but still think he works his tail off and deserves any kudos he's getting 😄. And I agree that we are seeing a big Frosh impact; Andrew P's tee shot last night oh my more of that please!

Here's hoping Ty Kelleher has a better night wasn't one of his more inspired games last night... The team needs to fight through the push and shove that 'Mack deals and play their game; it was obvious they were trying almost too hard in the first period to score fanning in some easy ones.

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Funny I see a team where at the end of the year the freshman are making an impact. Willows and Thrush are playing hard and their games are solid, but they both still miss wide open nets.

Last night could/should have been 6/7/8 - 1 after 2. We did everything, but finish.

[HockeyRef]

Last 4 wins:
Willows - 4G (1 GWG), 2A, +3
Camper - 3G (1 GWG), 1A, +3
Thrush - 1G, 2A, +4
Downing - 4A, +6 (missed BU game).

Since Camper replaced Smith at center between Foegele and Eiserman, his speed and play-making ability have helped that line to click.

Pretty hard to argue with those stats!! Tonight those Seniors will be counted on to bring their experience to the ice and seal the deal! Win baby win!!!

[Greg A]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Just a q for you Greg so are you saying that this year's team is worse talent wise than any you've seen even in lean years regardless of win/loss record? And I think most would agree with you that winning these next two weekends will be a definite accomplishment...

Interesting that you feel the talent in College hockey isn't what it used to be do others out there who have been following the sport feel the same?

Ref, I thought I'd do a little research this morning, to satisfy my own curiosity as well as yours. I'll start off by saying that I am focusing only on 1985-86 through 1987-88, the three year span when UNH won a total of 20 games (I had earlier said 19 by mistake). This takes in Charlie Holt's last year as coach and the first two years Bob Kullen was at the helm. You may know that Bob suffered his heart problems during this period and team was taken over by interim coach Dave O'Connor, with some help from Charlie as well. During this period I would say that the top five players that UNH had on their roster, not all at the same time, were Steve Leach, Peter Douris, James Richmond, Mike Golden, and Mike Rossetti. Leach and Douris played two years apiece at UNH then left for the pros. Both carved out careers in the NHL, including stints with the Bruins. I think they actually played with the B's at the same time. Richmond and Rossetti were four year players for UNH, with Richmond a two time captain, the only one besides Patrick Foley in UNH history I believe. Golden was a pretty good forward, had a lot of talent, but he wasn't much in the classroom. He was asked to leave after two years and, lo and behold, wound up at Maine where I believe he was an all-Hockey East selection at least once. That's pretty much it for UNH. I have gone over this many times with folks on this board but, IMO, UNH recruiting was not ready for the rigors of the schedule that they were about to face in those years, playing BU, BC, Maine, etc. in HE and WCHA powers like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota out west.

Just to give you an idea, during the three year period that I am talking about, BC had players like Craig Janney, Brian Leetch, Kevin Stevens, Ken Hodge, Jr., Greg Brdown, and Bob Sweeney, all who played in the NHL. BU had John Cullen, who I think is still BU's leading all time scorer, Clark Donatelli, Mike Kelfer, and Scott Young. Maine, which was just coming on then (the won 30+ games in 1987-88) had the Capuano brothers (Jack is the coach of the Islanders), the Weinrichs who both played in NHL plus a bunch of others who were Walsh's first wave. Add in guys like Rick Bennett from PC (now coach at Union), Bruce Racine, Northeastern goalie, Lowell's Jon Morris who also played in the NHL. and it was formative bunch. Then add in the WCHA. I noted on the Minnesota hockey website that in this three year span the Gophers had 21 guys drafted. Not all of them made it of course, but the group included Tom Chorske, Todd Richards, Rob Stauber, and Corey Millen. Wisconsin, which won 30+ games in 1988, had the great Tony Granato, Paul Ranheim and Steve Tuttle. And how can you forget North Dakota. They won the NCAA title in 1987, led by Tony Hrkac (the Hrkac Circus) who scored something like 130 points that year. And I am not even mentioning Minnesota-Duluth, who were nowhere is good as the other teams but produced back-to-back Hobey winners - Tom Kurvers and Bill Watson.

If we had this discussion back in the late 90's a very good argument could have been made that the talent of that day was every bit as good as what I have described above. But that was 15+ years ago. There are some very, very good players out there today, Jack Eichel the most obvious example in HE. But the breadth of talent over college hockey has dropped in the last several years,. I really don't think anyone can argue that convincingly. Reasons are many but there are two major ones for me. First, in several of the "hockey hotbed" areas of the country, there just aren't as many talented kids playing as there were 30 years ago. Since I am a Massachusetts guy, I look at how few kids are actually on the rosters of Hockey East schools. This is going way back, but I can remember in the 70's UNH's roster was all kids from Eastern Mass. and Ontario. Now we get hardly anyone from those areas. My guess is that the talent issue is the same in places like Michigan and upstate NY. Why this is, I don't know. Maybe the cost of the sport? The second reason is that many of the kids who used to populate college hockey are now going to play Major Juniors in Canada. Just in UNH's case I can think of two guys who had committed to UNH but wound up in the Quebec League - Keith Yandle and Ryan Bourque. I am sure that this had been duplicated across the college landscape.

This is my take. Open to discussion, of course.

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

"UNH Dominates Merrimack 4-1: Goal-by-Goal"
Includes video highlights.

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Hi Greg thanks for doing that research. Having been involved with athletics in one form or another over the past million years I think things have definitely changed.

From my limited hockey experience I wonder if it's the explosive growth of the sport itself. I mean even in my lil neck of the woods here in cow Hampshire everyone's playing hockey (or something like it haha).

One thing that might be of interest is how many of those players of the past made into the NHL as opposed to today's player. Eichel seems to obviously be in a class by himself I mean 50 pts this season (his last?)

[GoUNH]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Solid hockey last night. The boys showing some confidence and the seniors a little swagger. My expectations are in check but I've always got that glimmer of hope. Grayson Downing, whatever you've been eating for breakfast, keep it up please.

[sonar]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

As for Camper, I see a senior who has had the great fortune to suddenly find himself playing with Foegel.

agreed

[Greg A]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Hi Greg thanks for doing that research. Having been involved with athletics in one form or another over the past million years I think things have definitely changed.

From my limited hockey experience I wonder if it's the explosive growth of the sport itself. I mean even in my lil neck of the woods here in cow Hampshire everyone's playing hockey (or something like it haha).


One thing that might be of interest is how many of those players of the past made into the NHL as opposed to today's player. Eichel seems to obviously be in a class by himself I mean 50 pts this season (his last?)

Just last Sunday on the Bruins-Blackhawks broadcast, Doc Emrick mentioned that more than 30% of NHL players played in college, a substantial increase from just 10 years ago. Tough to measure quality though.

[wildcatdc]

Hi Greg thanks for doing that research. Having been involved with athletics in one form or another over the past million years I think things have definitely changed.

From my limited hockey experience I wonder if it's the explosive growth of the sport itself. I mean even in my lil neck of the woods here in cow Hampshire everyone's playing hockey (or something like it haha).

One thing that might be of interest is how many of those players of the past made into the NHL as opposed to today's player. Eichel seems to obviously be in a class by himself I mean 50 pts this season (his last?)

See you outside 103 at end of 1st!!

[HockeyRef]

See you outside 103 at end of 1st!!

An absolute pleasure meeting you and Emily tonight! And great to see you again Aerman!
WHAT a night!! Brawl breaks out tons of kids in the box!! 'Cats first shut out.. A good time was had by all...
Enjoy your time stateside! Go 'Cats!

[Chuck Murray]

Strong finish ... who knows what's next??

UNH sweeps for a second straight weekend, clinches 8th place and first round home ice with a 3-0 shutout of Merrimack to extend the 'Cats' winning streak to a season-high 5 games. Now we'll just have to await the outcome of UMaine-PC tonight to see if the Black Bears or the UConn Huskies will be providing the opposition next week.

Just to clarify ... in a season where the focus remains on growth and development of a young team for the future, I'd like to see UNH go up against UMaine to force them to beat a team in the postseason that's already gotten the better of them 3 out of 4 times in the regular season (including a 2 game HE sweep). If we're looking at this long-term, I'm not sure a series against UConn gives the 'Cats the same motivation (or challenge) of a real live elimination format series against your traditional rivals. Not to mention UMaine should attract a few more bodies to The Whitt ... and looking at UConn as a potential opponent, I'm not sure there's anything to gain from playing them less than two weeks after a two game sweep. Does it give you a better chance to advance to the next round? Of course it does. But does it make your team stronger and prepare it better for the future? I'll say, flat out, no it does not.

So bring on UMaine. It will be more fun, more challenging, and better for the future of the UNH program.

Looking back at my preseason prediction ... I think I predicted 7th place, so 8th place was close. I hoped for a stronger finish to the season than the daunting early season schedule would likely produce, and that's fortunately been the way things have played out. Finally, I predicted zero (0) post-season wins. That's one I'm really hoping I'm going to miss by a mile. Kudos to Coach Umile and the team for a strong finish, and showing some real promise for the future.

[walrus]

Re: Strong finish ... who knows what's next??

UNH sweeps for a second straight weekend, clinches 8th place and first round home ice with a 3-0 shutout of Merrimack to extend the 'Cats' winning streak to a season-high 5 games. Now we'll just have to await the outcome of UMaine-PC tonight to see if the Black Bears or the UConn Huskies will be providing the opposition next week.

Just to clarify ... in a season where the focus remains on growth and development of a young team for the future, I'd like to see UNH go up against UMaine to force them to beat a team in the postseason that's already gotten the better of them 3 out of 4 times in the regular season (including a 2 game HE sweep). If we're looking at this long-term, I'm not sure a series against UConn gives the 'Cats the same motivation (or challenge) of a real live elimination format series against your traditional rivals. Not to mention UMaine should attract a few more bodies to The Whitt ... and looking at UConn as a potential opponent, I'm not sure there's anything to gain from playing them less than two weeks after a two game sweep. Does it give you a better chance to advance to the next round? Of course it does. But does it make your team stronger and prepare it better for the future? I'll say, flat out, no it does not.

So bring on UMaine. It will be more fun, more challenging, and better for the future of the UNH program.

Looking back at my preseason prediction ... I think I predicted 7th place, so 8th place was close. I hoped for a stronger finish to the season than the daunting early season schedule would likely produce, and that's fortunately been the way things have played out. Finally, I predicted zero (0) post-season wins. That's one I'm really hoping I'm going to miss by a mile. Kudos to Coach Umile and the team for a strong finish, and showing some real promise for the future.

Maine ain't walking thru that door. Good luck with UConn