NESCAC 2016-2017 season

[d3follower]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

They only dressed 14 skaters???

Also noticed that last year's leading scorer, Miranda Bell, nescac player of the year, is not listed on the roster?? This after last year their best returning player, Rachel Kennedy opted not to play her Senior year? What's the story at Bowdoin??

Rachel Kennedy was as good (maybe better) field hockey player as she was an ice hockey player. Last year, she (and another Bowdoin classmate) were selected for the USA's Maccabeiah field hockey team. I believe that she elected the Maccabeiah games over ice hockey (the Maccabeiah gams coincided with the ice hockey season).

The small roster has been a persistent problem at Bowdoin for several seasons -- It would seem to be a product of injuries and poor recruiting . . On the recruiting front, this year's class of new players is very small (4 FYs and 1 soph transfer) when it should have been large after last year's small roster . .

[Scott_TG]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Rachel Kennedy was as good (maybe better) field hockey player as she was an ice hockey player. Last year, she (and another Bowdoin classmate) were selected for the USA's Maccabeiah field hockey team. I believe that she elected the Maccabeiah games over ice hockey (the Maccabeiah gams coincided with the ice hockey season).

The small roster has been a persistent problem at Bowdoin for several seasons -- It would seem to be a product of injuries and poor recruiting . . On the recruiting front, this year's class of new players is very small (4 FYs and 1 soph transfer) when it should have been large after last year's small roster . .

Could there being more programs to choose from, plus Bowdoin's high cost of attendance ($61k a year according to my search) be the crux of their recruiting problems? Add in the weakening Canadian dollar and the player pool is getting spread very thin.

[bearcat]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Could there being more programs to choose from, plus Bowdoin's high cost of attendance ($61k a year according to my search) be the crux of their recruiting problems? Add in the weakening Canadian dollar and the player pool is getting spread very thin.

Doubtful...since they compete in the nescac and all of those schools are basically the same crazy $$$$ price...and if anything, their huge endowment would give them a big edge in financial aid awards. They also should have a HUGE recruiting advantage with the best rink in ALL of D3. My guess is the problem is either in Admissions Dept or [since that school is pretty competitive in all but football] more likely behind the bench.

[d3follower]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Could there being more programs to choose from, plus Bowdoin's high cost of attendance ($61k a year according to my search) be the crux of their recruiting problems? Add in the weakening Canadian dollar and the player pool is getting spread very thin.

No -- Bowdoin's financial aid is "need blind" and loan free. In the NESCAC, only Williams and Amherst are wealthier than Bowdoin. To put things in perspective, the Bowdoin's men's hockey team has 35 members . .

[shelfit]

"the Bowdoin's men's hockey team has 35 members."

Members....sounds like it's a country club.

[HockeyEast33]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Doubtful...since they compete in the nescac and all of those schools are basically the same crazy $$$$ price...and if anything, their huge endowment would give them a big edge in financial aid awards. They also should have a HUGE recruiting advantage with the best rink in ALL of D3. My guess is the problem is either in Admissions Dept or [since that school is pretty competitive in all but football] more likely behind the bench.

From personal experience the recruiting problem at Bowdoin is generally behind the bench (and Brunswick is not the most attractive location).

[d3follower]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

From personal experience the recruiting problem at Bowdoin is generally behind the bench (and Brunswick is not the most attractive location).

You can nix "location" as the explanation since the Bowdoin's men's program has no trouble attracting high-quality recruits to Brunswick and almost always has a larger squad than any other NESCAC (35 on the Bowdoin's men's team versus 24 on the Amherst men's team).

[CrossCheck]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

You can nix "location" as the explanation since the Bowdoin's men's program has no trouble attracting high-quality recruits to Brunswick and almost always has a larger squad than any other NESCAC (35 on the Bowdoin's men's team versus 24 on the Amherst men's team).

If anyone thinks location is the problem they are crazy. Maine is a beautiful place, especially when your campus is 5 min from the ocean. Having been to every nescac campus several times, I would rate Bowdoin's campus and the town #1 or #2 in the Conf.

[obserbear]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Once upon a time, back when they played in Dayton (which I miss for the nostalgia factor), the Polar Bears had a storied and successful women's program (and I appreciate it as a different era of play when paths to success may have been different). The first 4 seasons of DIII NCAA play saw the teams go 86-17-6 and reach the NCAA quarter final all 4 seasons. Time passed and Bowdoin then spent $20,000,000 or so to build Watson Arena. The '12-'13 women's team went 21-5-2 and hosted an NCAA quarter final (which saw a disastrous loss to eventual champion Elmira). A quick scan of numbers puts the team at 93-86-21 during the Watson seasons (merely 82-81-19 without including '12-'13). So we have a team with a successful pedigree, in a gorgeous place, supported by need blind admissions and an endowment enabling a guarantee to fully fund demonstrated financial need, yet the team was 8-14-2 last season and begins the new campaign dressing 14 skaters for the third game of the year???

[CrossCheck]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Once upon a time, back when they played in Dayton (which I miss for the nostalgia factor), the Polar Bears had a storied and successful women's program (and I appreciate it as a different era of play when paths to success may have been different). The first 4 seasons of DIII NCAA play saw the teams go 86-17-6 and reach the NCAA quarter final all 4 seasons. Time passed and Bowdoin then spent $20,000,000 or so to build Watson Arena. The '12-'13 women's team went 21-5-2 and hosted an NCAA quarter final (which saw a disastrous loss to eventual champion Elmira). A quick scan of numbers puts the team at 93-86-21 during the Watson seasons (merely 82-81-19 without including '12-'13). So we have a team with a successful pedigree, in a gorgeous place, supported by need blind admissions and an endowment enabling a guarantee to fully fund demonstrated financial need, yet the team was 8-14-2 last season and begins the new campaign dressing 14 skaters for the third game of the year???

Must be that terrible location. LOL

There's an old adage in coaching that "Lazy Effort Leads to... Lousy Results"

[HockeyEast33]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

If anyone thinks location is the problem they are crazy. Maine is a beautiful place, especially when your campus is 5 min from the ocean. Having been to every nescac campus several times, I would rate Bowdoin's campus and the town #1 or #2 in the Conf.

Coach recruiting is the primary problem as I said, but agree to disagree on location/campus. Maine is a beautiful place, but the Bowdoin campus is not what I would call picturesque (more like functional), especially with the tall concrete high rise at the one end of campus - try it in the rain some day (which is a lot of the time in Brunswick). Great rink though (some would argue Middlebury is better). As for NESCAC campuses, give me Amherst, Middlebury, Williams, Colby, or Hamilton over Bowdoin anytime.

What do we think are the worst NESCAC campuses - Wesleyan? Trinity? Conn College is in the middle I think.

[tjoneslo]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

For tonight's game we have the 0-8-1 Salve Regina Sea Hawks visiting the 2-0 Connecticut College Camels

And 5 minutes in it is 1-0 Conn college, with them dominating the play time.

Camels score again on the power play, and thus ends the first period.

[tjoneslo]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Salve scores two quick goals in the middle of the second to make the score 2-2. I missed the first one due to the camera being pointed at the ceiling, the second was sloppy defense of not clearing the puck from the front of the net.

Two minutes later the camels score on the Power play to make it 3-2. Thus ends the second period.

[d3follower]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

Coach recruiting is the primary problem as I said, but agree to disagree on location/campus. Maine is a beautiful place, but the Bowdoin campus is not what I would call picturesque (more like functional), especially with the tall concrete high rise at the one end of campus - try it in the rain some day (which is a lot of the time in Brunswick). Great rink though (some would argue Middlebury is better). As for NESCAC campuses, give me Amherst, Middlebury, Williams, Colby, or Hamilton over Bowdoin anytime.

What do we think are the worst NESCAC campuses - Wesleyan? Trinity? Conn College is in the middle I think.

That's strictly your sense of aesthetics as I would place Bowdoin at or near the top, especially in terms of its rather perfect quad, with a great balance of architectural styles. I also like the Amherst campus, with its great hilltop location and overlook, but do not like the way the Williams campus is split by a major roadway and find the granite look of the Middlebury campus foreboding and gloomy (but love the settings for both Williams and Middlebury). The uniform 1950s neo-Georgian look of the Colby and its obvious lack of history do not do much for me. The Hamilton campus looks very pretty in photos but have not been there . . In other words, to each his own as to which campus is the nicest and most attractive.

[tjoneslo]

Re: NESCAC 2016-2017 season

The camels score one more in the third and the game ends 4-2 for the camels.

I was interested in this game because of the two victories for the camels over Amherst last weekend. And their next weekend tilts against Middlebury.

Conn plays what I think of as the typical NESCAC style. Quick, lots of passing, physical when they need to be. They were faster and more physical than Salve Regina, and along with their better forchecking managed to dominate the game. As the game went on the Sea Hawks got legs under them and made better efforts.

I will be interested to see how this weekend goes.