UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

[E.J. Smith]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Well said, DB. Neither am I a former goalie or coach, but I know what I see on the ice (or, at least I think that I know what I see on the ice, having followed the team since the late 1950s). I am not a season ticket holder, as the commute for Friday games is nearly impossible for me. But, I attended 11 UNH games (mix of home and away) and 11 Bentley games (one of those shared :-) ) this past season, and saw a few more on TV. And, I agree that not having a real competition for all positions to determine ice time is insane, and antithetical to the NRN quest, if that is even a real thing, which I am beginning to doubt. :-)

When you saw Ty Conklin play and thought he was good, you were knowledgeable and right. When you see Danny Tirone play and think he's not so good that he should be above needing to compete for his job, you are a know nothing who never played. Try to keep that straight.

Now put on these navy blue colored glasses, that will help, just be careful about driving at night with them on, they tend to diminish one's vision, both inside and outside the Whitt.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Just going to cherry pick some comments from the last few posts, might follow up with more after ...

I agree that not having a real competition for all positions to determine ice time is insane, and antithetical to the NRN quest, if that is even a real thing, which I am beginning to doubt. :-)

Heresy, I say, Snively65!! Hey, once we get closer to the start of the season, can someone show me how to work one of those survey thingies? I think we could have a lot of fun with getting everyone's thoughts on why Coach has decided to grace us with his presence for one more season ...

Putting the 'A' on his chest pretty much closed the book on whether Clark/Robinson will have any opportunity to unseat him this year short of a total meltdown (see 10/16/2015 thru 11/7/2015).

Questioning decisions is not due to a lack of support for anyone in particular (in this case DT). UNH hockey is not all sunshine and rainbows as you paint the picture to be, hopefully the program is on the rise with the new blood both on the bench and behind it (after the last stand for the NRN).

All in all, I don't disagree too much on the ramifications of the "A", delta. I will point out that Wyer (sp?) had the "A" towards the end of the CDS era, and I didn't do him too much good. But overriding the "A", I think it's clear Coach has always recognized the incumbency thing (a little too often) AND then the senior thing works for DT as well. And when Coach basically abdicated his coaching responsibilities when he asked DT whether he wanted to stay in after the Lowell early Game 3 shellacking - I mean, what was Tirone going to say? "Coach - I'm baked - let's go with Clarkie?" You don't ask a college kid that question, and I'm not sure even an NHL coach asks that question with a season (at least theoretically) on the line. YOU make the decision - not him - even if it hurts your preferred goalie's feelings. He'll get over it. Coach Souza - take notes, please.

So the die was cast already before the "A" became the cherry on top of the Tirone as starter sundae, I'm afraid. Robinson will struggle for table scraps so long as DT plays passably, unless he becomes the Conklin/CDS to DT's Matile/Digi. And agree or disagree, but Clark's UNH ship has sailed, and barring lots of injuries, he will be a non-factor.

BTW - good to see someone on board with the importance of the NRN for the next 10+ months.

How can you say these things? Haven't you learned he has family and friends... If his coach thinks he is good he must be... We can not question as we aren't goalies and don't coach...

If you question anything you aren't a fan, a season ticket holder or a member of the friends.

We must be lemmings.

The lemmings must have found a nearby cliff, 'cuz thousands of 'em ain't making it to the arena in recent years.

Look, the guy can be spectacular, coming out of nowhere to make an OMG save. But the reason he has these is because he is out of position. The best goalies are the boring ones, who never seem to be in the wrong place. Once in awhile, like Tim Thomas in 2011 you, can make it work, but not for long. My biggest issue with the kid is not him but his coaches. When Lassonde was the goalie coach, there was a consistency. He even made Brian LaRochellle functional.

Worry not, Greg. I've been assured Coach Buckley is committed to doubling up on the frequency of his Skypes and video conferencing as soon as October rolls around. That is, after Pens' training camp, minor league camp, Mrs. B's annual anniversary vacation to the islands, and other wicked important stuff. That extra 5 minutes will be huge ...

[Chuck Murray]

Maybe the last word ... or not?

First, my apologies, I edited out some stuff to fit this in a single post ...

I think scoring is more or less fine. I’d rather see a 5-3 or 4-2 game than 8-7. You won’t find 2 more responsible teams defensively than Boston and Ottawa and that series had plenty of excitement.

Goalie pads have gotten bigger, it’s just a fact – that includes pants, jerseys, and chest protectors, not just leg pads and gloves. And they're lighter.

Goalies have gotten bigger, it’s just a fact – and they’re better athletes, not just the youngest/smallest/worst kid anymore. And they're stronger.

Goalie training has gotten much better ...

Shooting training has gotten much better ...

Please don’t change the size of the goal. I think I would hate that.

Please do mandate 200X100 rinks. THERE is the real problem with hockey today – the same space that was there 50 years ago but with guys half again as big and twice as fast, not to mention the “advancements” in coaching that have given us locked down neutral zones.

OK, let's go from the top. IF average scoring was 5-3 or 4-2, point well taken. It isn't. Agree the huge scoring games should be flukes, not the norm. I've seen the NHL All-Star game recently, can't be bothered with that junk on a regular basis. The Boston-Ottawa series was just fine quality and balance-wise, totally agree.

Goalies' pads oversized - agree. Goalies bigger - agree. More athletic? Not sure I agree. I suspect more goalies are more athletic than back in the day, but (as you point out later) you can say the same with the rest of the players too. There are too many "space fillers" out there, and the gap in athleticism between goalies and the other skaters has grown. JMO.

Training has clearly improved across the board. Like you said, with millions of dollars now in play, that was inevitable. If someone isn't chasing a pro career, they're chasing scholarships. It is what it is.

I don't want to attach more rule changes (see NFL) to influence how the game is played by the players. The dimensions of other things - goalie pads, the goal itself, AND the rink are all on the table from my perspective. Adding 15 feet of width to the NHL surface would be a nice step forward ... but with engineering issues with retrofitting the rinks (and loss of revenue from eliminating hundreds of seats), that's not likely to occur in our lifetime. So I'm left with raising the crossbar by a foot, and leaving the goalies' equipment situation as it stands. That one extra crossbar "ping" you get on average (?) per game becomes a goal, some of the scoring fall-off returns, and goalies have to play a little more upright on their skates than all the current swimming around on their pads stuff. I dunno, I just hate the look of that.

But on spacing and rink size ... other than the logistics, I'd be 100% on board. All you need to see is how the game opens up during the NHL's regular season 4 v. 4 overtimes.

In the meantime, raising the crossbar should at least be used experimentally in the AHL or ECHL to see how it works out. To me, it's the simplest fix that allows most of the rest to continue status quo.

Its really simple Chuck - the rule book has 'quadrupled' because goalie pads were inching larger and larger and now that problem has been addressed.

In the same vein, surely you can understand the difference between using the eye test to evaluate whats happening right in front of oneself (in addition to objective statistics) versus comparing what one thinks they see across the entire sport of hockey and compared with ones' minds-eye or varying photographs of different eras when we HAVE objective measures. I can see why you'd fail to see the distinction, when your sole goal is to hang on to beliefs and win an argument...

"Winning an argument". I always thought we were just debating opinions, and sometimes reasonable people can disagree? I know the millennial trend seems to be that everyone's entitled to an opinion - just so long as it's the *correct* opinion - but you seem to be taking this all a little too seriously. God knows, I'm not tabulating a W-L-T record anywhere ... but isn't this a more entertaining place when we have these debates?

Hey - if you want to spike the proverbial football after we finish, be my guest.

Sure goalies themselves are bigger - humans are bigger - but they are also vastly superior skaters and athletes today than they were then. Because they are bigger its harder to spot athleticism and you labeling them as space fillers is just not correct. Because Clark is not an athlete does not mean Oetinger and Woll, etc are not supreme athletic talents. They are. They challenge shooters, they play the butterfly, they skate and recover and they ARE athletic. Are you willing to institute rule changes that limit the size of goaltenders themselves? Are you ready to tell them they are not allowed to innovate and find new ways to be more effective?

You must be under 6-0, stand up and attempt to kick out shots while falling on your rear-end (like the good old days!) and can only go to the ice to swim on your back like the dominator! You can't leave the blue paint to cut down angles if you are good enough to recover!

I hope not, because thats ridiculous. Goalies are better. Now forwards need to get better.

I'll respectfully disagree with your classification of Oettinger as a "supreme athletic talent". I didn't see enough of Woll to fairly opine, but if he is the second coming of Hellebuyck, then ditto for him. I probably saw Oettinger more this season than any other HE goalie, and other than his size (and potential), I'm not sure what all the fuss is about? I'm not saying DT is a better goalie - but the talent that surrounded Oettinger was different level, no? Who's to say that if they swapped teams, DT's save % rises slightly to .920, and Oettinger playing with UNH's defense drops to .920? That's a one-shot-in-a-hundred difference both ways, for the stats geeks out there. Is that really so crazy?

The larger - and real - reason scoring is down is defensive systems are much less passive and much more aggressive, teams are more physical and much more creative at taking away space. Today, traps are being employed by teams with tons of talent and skating ability (UML) and not limited to teams that simply couldn't compete (early UMass). EVERYONE - even high-flying Dick Umile has done a 180 - is focusing on defense first.

Totally agree on the overall impact defensive systems have had on the game. We've had a front row seat over the last two decades with how Coach Umile has transitioned from wide-open hockey to a more defensive style, no doubt after taking a ton of criticism after UNH got drubbed in the '98 FF semis by Michigan, and of course some of the prior "Umiliations". But you really can't overly legislate how the game is played - BTW I agree your proposed rule for goalie mobility earlier was/is ridiculous - and as in soccer, systems come, systems go, and that's all part of the way the game evolves organically (and "organic" does not include oversized goalie protection). Coach Boucher (and some Swedish teams?) are using a 1-3-1 system nowadays, and as he did in Tampa, they're having some limited success with it. Always interesting to see these new wrinkles, and I'm almost never going to advocate against tactical adjustments.

(edited back-and-forth soccer stuff to save space)

You advocate for bigger nets (I'd like to see every rink be an Olympic surface) - that is fine, but you'll be able to make a much better case when you actually understand the problems that are leading to lower goal scoring, as opposed to pushing a false narrative...

But if you prefer to yell at the clouds on a clear skies, sunny afternoon oblivious to the fact that you're sitting under a shady tree...knock yourself out. This time you can have the last word...

Thanks for allowing me the last word this time, Dan - not that you or EJ or anyone else should not feel free to continue, but yeah, we are off on a few non-UNH tangents here. It is the offseason, after all. Anyway ... I addressed the fixed dimension issues earlier with EJ, and touched on the spacing/systems issues earlier as well, which I do recognize as being valid. Again, one of the reasons why I'm gung-ho on the "raise the crossbar" thing is because some of the other potential fixes would either mess with things I don't want to mess with (see prior comments), or they are less practical to change than simply adding a foot of height to the goal, which would also leave the pegs/anchors in the same place.

Now ... if you can only find a way to veer from using trendy labels like "false narratives" to question my sincerity, that would be terrific. I don't doubt for a second you are sincere in your beliefs - even when we disagree. On the other hand, you seem to be under the impression that I'm just here to annoy you, or make up arguments/debates for the sake of it. Considering that I'm posting under my real identity, I can assure you that if I write it, it's because I believe it. And I have other things going on that I can spend my time on, so this is not an all-consuming obsession (and yeah, I realize that long answers like this seem to cut against that ). But if it's contrary to your beliefs, then I'm sure others also disagree, while others may even agree. If we can leave imagined nefarious motives out of it, all the better.

my apologies in advance if the "false narrative" thingie was in jest. you always seem so earnest, so if i've missed a kidding around vibe, my bad

[UNH1932]

Re: Maybe the last word ... or not?

1999-2000 Ty Conklin 22 Ty Conklin 2.51 Ty Conklin 0.908
2000-2001 Ty Conklin 17 Ty Conklin 2.05 Ty Conklin 0.92
2001-2002 Matt Carney 16 Mike Ayers 2.44 Mike Ayers 0.915
2002-2003 Mike Ayers 27 Mike Ayers 2.18 Mike Ayers 0.926
2003-2004 Mike Ayers 17 Mike Ayers 2.86 Mike Ayers 0.899
2004-2005 Kevin Regan 15 Kevin Regan 2.35 Kevin Regan 0.928
2005-2006 Jeff Pietrasiak 12 Jeff Pietrasiak 2.21 Jeff Pietrasiak 0.926
2006-2007 Kevin Regan 24 Kevin Regan 2.06 Kevin Regan 0.935
2007-2008 Kevin Regan 23 Kevin Regan 2.21 Kevin Regan 0.93
2008-2009 Brian Foster 19 Brian Foster 2.68 Brian Foster 0.91
2009-2010 Brian Foster 14 Brian Foster 2.98 Brian Foster 0.908
2010-2011 Matt Di Girolamo 22 Matt Di Girolamo 2.44 Matt Di Girolamo 0.923
2011-2012 Casey DeSmith 9 Casey DeSmith 2.33 Casey DeSmith 0.926
2012-2013 Casey DeSmith 19 Casey DeSmith 2.23 Casey DeSmith 0.926
2013-2014 Casey DeSmith 20 Casey DeSmith 2.40 Casey DeSmith 0.920
2014-2015 Danny Tirone 13 Danny Tirone 2.14 Danny Tirone 0.924
2015-2016 Danny Tirone 11 Danny Tirone 3.22 Danny Tirone 0.905
2016-2017 Danny Tirone 15 Danny Tirone 2.99 Danny Tirone 0.910

Ty Conklin did make it to the pros but I believe Kevin Regan was probably the best college hockey goalie UNH ever had. I love Ty Conklin and he surely saw his fair share of breakaways. Casey Desmith has the second highest save percentage after Regan and many saw him as a sub-par goalie on the boards through the years (we only loved him when he took over for Digi). Dan, you made a good point about the defensemen and their parents and I should have been a bit more sensitive (thanks for your concern for them and I hope you continue) but I have never called out any player by name in a negative way and hopefully, I never will. I know Deltabravo had awful seats at Maine but over the past few years in Orono, Danny stood on his head and is the biggest reason we have owned them recently as they had the better chances (just like at Notre Dame, BC, Cornell, VT, NE, Providence .....etc, etc, etc). I am a bit surprised that you felt he was a subpar goalie as you were at many of the games he stood on his head. He is not Ty Conklin (though he may have been had he come in at 22 years of age when we had the best team in the country by a lot) and he is not Kevin Regan (I consider him the best we have had at the college level so far (Ty is every bit as good but it is my judgment call that Kevin was better and his 3 wins (I think 2 shutouts against BC (one for certain)) against Maine, BC and BU when they were all top 4 was the best season ever (except for the crushing defeat to NDame). He may not even be as good as Casey Desmith (who was very good and fans were on him all the time (2nd highest save % and teams were not nearly as strong as the others). In the eyes of our coaches and coaches of other hockey east teams, he is the best we have now and his numbers given our team records the past few years is very good. I believe he would have a better save % and record if he played on a star laden team. He does not but I do believe we will be very good this year. I believe 20 wins is attainable but Greg might be right with 14 wins. We have at least 9 forwards who would have been in top 6 in many eras and we have a young but talented defense. Will Danny miss a few with his glove hand this year (yes just like Conklin, Regan and Desmith did)? Will he get caught out of the net and fall down the other way for an easy goal (I hope not, but it happens to the best of them)? I am a bit more optimistic than most. We were in most of our games this year (down by 1 with less than 5 minutes left) and were only blown out a few times. Yes I was very disappointed with the UCONN series and I saw the games but not a game tape as I do not remember Tirone was the problem in either game (I am not always perfect in my assessments). If we can just go the positive route until we truly suck if that happens, I think it is better for us all as we can become Souza and Robinson haters as well next year.

Dan

Yes, both Tirone and Clark play in practice and the coaches and other player’s assessment is Tirone has been better than Clark. I believe Adam's shoulder never healed correctly (he does not every offer excuses) and his outing at SLU you saw on the web and he never really got another long term chance. It probably has a lot to do with practice M-R and Danny had only a few awful games (2 against Lowell was worse than awful though I try to be fair that other goalies would have suffered the same fate). I do hope there is a competition this fall and Umile has done rotational weekends since he got here if the goalies were equal. Thanks again for your suggestion on other players reading the site might find my past writings offensive. I do appreciate constructive criticism.

Chuck

Thanks for the positives and it was very interesting reading about defensive schemes used by others and how UNH has become more defensive over time. Thank you for taking the time to share your hockey knowledge and insights about changes in the sport over time. Hockey is a lot like soccer in many ways and sitting at a stadium in Europe, I could see how they designed their offensive and defensive schemes that you do not see on TV. The same is true in hockey on TV, you only see who has the puck at the time and not the other players. Be well and enjoy your summer.

[deltabravo62]

Re: Maybe the last word ... or not?

My primary issue is the inconsistency that he plays with. Look at the Maine games, the BU tie on the road, the Merrimack series (game 2/3), and the second Providence game as ones that he kept us in or won for us. The shots he faced in number and quality that he kept out were what led to good results.

Now look at the games against Bentley, Dartmouth, the second game in Vermont, the MSG Cornell game, and in particular the Colorado game. All winnable games with low shot totals against that he was not on his game. I leave out the Lowell blowouts (I was only at the first one) because after a certain point the entire team packs it in and it's just a shooting gallery, hard to fault the last line of defense for that. In most of those games the offense found themselves in such an early hole that they were not playing their game and could never get a rhythm going. The Dartmouth and Colorado games featured early goals on fairly routine plays that he could not handle.

His size and style of play lend themselves to inconsistent results. I always ask the question to myself of which DT we are going to see on a given night, and I wish that was not the case. I hope he finds new light this year with a more solid defense standing in front of him and they can become a much better shutdown unit than we have seen since the departures of Pesce, Knodel, TvR and the like. As always I am reserving any judgement of the newcomers until they have hit the ice in a blue and white uniform. I will be seated in Section 119 as usual (although moving to the end of the row this year) looking forward to seeing what is going to happen.

[E.J. Smith]

Re: Maybe the last word ... or not?

Ty Conklin did make it to the pros but I believe Kevin Regan was probably the best college hockey goalie UNH ever had. I love Ty Conklin and he surely saw his fair share of breakaways. Casey Desmith has the second highest save percentage after Regan and many saw him as a sub-par goalie on the boards through the years (we only loved him when he took over for Digi). Dan, you made a good point about the defensemen and their parents and I should have been a bit more sensitive (thanks for your concern for them and I hope you continue) but I have never called out any player by name in a negative way and hopefully, I never will. I know Deltabravo had awful seats at Maine but over the past few years in Orono, Danny stood on his head and is the biggest reason we have owned them recently as they had the better chances (just like at Notre Dame, BC, Cornell, VT, NE, Providence .....etc, etc, etc). I am a bit surprised that you felt he was a subpar goalie as you were at many of the games he stood on his head. He is not Ty Conklin (though he may have been had he come in at 22 years of age when we had the best team in the country by a lot) and he is not Kevin Regan (I consider him the best we have had at the college level so far (Ty is every bit as good but it is my judgment call that Kevin was better and his 3 wins (I think 2 shutouts against BC (one for certain)) against Maine, BC and BU when they were all top 4 was the best season ever (except for the crushing defeat to NDame). He may not even be as good as Casey Desmith (who was very good and fans were on him all the time (2nd highest save % and teams were not nearly as strong as the others). In the eyes of our coaches and coaches of other hockey east teams, he is the best we have now and his numbers given our team records the past few years is very good. I believe he would have a better save % and record if he played on a star laden team. He does not but I do believe we will be very good this year. I believe 20 wins is attainable but Greg might be right with 14 wins. We have at least 9 forwards who would have been in top 6 in many eras and we have a young but talented defense. Will Danny miss a few with his glove hand this year (yes just like Conklin, Regan and Desmith did)? Will he get caught out of the net and fall down the other way for an easy goal (I hope not, but it happens to the best of them)? I am a bit more optimistic than most. We were in most of our games this year (down by 1 with less than 5 minutes left) and were only blown out a few times. Yes I was very disappointed with the UCONN series and I saw the games but not a game tape as I do not remember Tirone was the problem in either game (I am not always perfect in my assessments). If we can just go the positive route until we truly suck if that happens, I think it is better for us all as we can become Souza and Robinson haters as well next year.

Middle right side of the keyboard, there's a key that's a little bigger than most of the others. That's called the Enter key. Do us a favor and give that badboy a tap every now and then while you're enlightening us with your pearls of wisdom on all things UNH hockey. Don't get too hung up on when, any time will probably do. Thanks in advance.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Now for something completely different ... from the USCHO front page news ...

http://www.uscho.com/2017/04/26/form...s-murder-plot/

Clayton played for the Purple Eagles from 1999 to 2002.

By my calculations, that probably means this dirtbag was on the Niagara team that ousted UNH in the D-1 tourney in between their two back-to-back bookended trips to the FF around the turn of the century.

Not that I'm still bitter or anything ...

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

UNH32, not sure how long you have been a fan or how many games you have gone to in your fandom life. I can tell you that I have been going since 1970 and, as much as I like Kevin Regan, he's not close to Ty Conklin as a goalie. Ty didn't "just make it" in the NHL, that would be Brian Foster. People I am sure remember Ty mostly for his goaltending in the runto the national championship game in 1999. But, frankly, I remember him more for the two years after, when Krog was long gone and Darren Haydar was the leading scorer two years in a row with something like 40 points per season. Back then we used to call it "Ty Against the World." The team couldn't score and, frankly, they didn't do much of a job keeping the puck out of the zone either. But, particularly in '99-'00, they won a lot of games. In fact, I think the only time they spent more than one week as #1 was in late 1999. And, really, that was all Ty. I knew as much about goaltending technique back then as I know today. However, I will say I have a better trained eye now. And, you know what? They don't deceive me. To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, "I know bad goaltending when I see it."

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Now for something completely different ... from the USCHO front page news ...

http://www.uscho.com/2017/04/26/form...s-murder-plot/

Clayton played for the Purple Eagles from 1999 to 2002.

By my calculations, that probably means this dirtbag was on the Niagara team that ousted UNH in the D-1 tourney in between their two back-to-back bookended trips to the FF around the turn of the century.

Not that I'm still bitter or anything ...

Yowser, Chuck!

Indeed, Thomas Clayton was a sophomore in 1999-2000 (32 games, 1 goal plus 10 assists, with 12 penalty minutes), but he did not score against UNH in that abominable 4-1 loss in the opening game of the regionals. Speaking of Conklin, whose name has come to life big time in this thread, Ty only recorded 15 saves in the loss to Niagara, after outperforming Clemmensen but losing 2-1 to BC at the Garden the previous weekend.

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Worry not, Greg. I've been assured Coach Buckley is committed to doubling up on the frequency of his Skypes and video conferencing as soon as October rolls around. That is, after Pens' training camp, minor league camp, Mrs. B's annual anniversary vacation to the islands, and other wicked important stuff. That extra 5 minutes will be huge ...

UNH Hockey 2017-18: In Buckley We Trust

[UNH1932]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Greg

I have been a fan since the mid-60's as it started with Jock McKenzie on the radio as a young kid and then season ticket holder since. Ty Conklin was an amazing goalie and I guess Mike Souza, Hemingway, Saviano etc were chopped liver. They had very good/great teams the entire time he was at UNH and he was spectacular. Conklin had a very good career in the NHL for himself and it was not his fault he got to UNH at 23 and left at 26. He played for very good teams Greg and I would give you that he and Regan were the best two goalies we ever had at UNH. Kevin had an outstanding career (as did Conklin). More people may agree with you but I do not believe it is a slam dunk for either and Kevin's senior year at age 22-23 was the best season for any goalie at UNH. I would take either of them over any other goalie before or after, though I have said that Casey Desmith was very underrated by UNH fans.

[Snively65]

Greg

I have been a fan since the mid-60's as it started with Jock McKenzie on the radio as a young kid and then season ticket holder since. Ty Conklin was an amazing goalie and I guess Mike Souza, Hemingway, Saviano etc were chopped liver. They had very good/great teams the entire time he was at UNH and he was spectacular. Conklin had a very good career in the NHL for himself and it was not his fault he got to UNH at 23 and left at 26. He played for very good teams Greg and I would give you that he and Regan were the best two goalies we ever had at UNH. Kevin had an outstanding career (as did Conklin). More people may agree with you but I do not believe it is a slam dunk for either and Kevin's senior year at age 22-23 was the best season for any goalie at UNH. I would take either of them over any other goalie before or after, though I have said that Casey Desmith was very underrated by UNH fans.

I remember Jock on WTSN: "Next to religion, sports is the most American way of life."

Glad that we agree Ty Conklin was a better goalie than Ty Rone. Conklin's NHL line was 96-67-21, cobbled together over a decade in net on six different teams; not too shabby.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Just to continue discussion on the goalie issue ... here's my UNH Top 5 going back to the mid-'70's:

(1) Ty Conklin
(2) Michael Ayers
(3) Kevin Regan
(4) Cap Raeder
(5) Jeff Levy

Fire away!!

[Greg Ambrose]

Greg

I have been a fan since the mid-60's as it started with Jock McKenzie on the radio as a young kid and then season ticket holder since. Ty Conklin was an amazing goalie and I guess Mike Souza, Hemingway, Saviano etc were chopped liver. They had very good/great teams the entire time he was at UNH and he was spectacular. Conklin had a very good career in the NHL for himself and it was not his fault he got to UNH at 23 and left at 26. He played for very good teams Greg and I would give you that he and Regan were the best two goalies we ever had at UNH. Kevin had an outstanding career (as did Conklin). More people may agree with you but I do not believe it is a slam dunk for either and Kevin's senior year at age 22-23 was the best season for any goalie at UNH. I would take either of them over any other goalie before or after, though I have said that Casey Desmith was very underrated by UNH fans.

So I gather the worth of the goaltender is partly based on how old he is.for the record, Ty played his last game for UNH as a 24 year old, not that it matters. The real fact is that both Ty and Kevin played on outstanding teams. We all know how great the 1999 team was but, If you recall, Kevin's senior year he was one of four All-Americans on a team that was a number one seed but somehow lost in the first round out in Colorado Springs to Notre Dame. As noted, Ty carved a pretty decent pro career while it appears Kevin plateaued and never made it to the show. So, no. Ty was better than Kevin. Unless you're grading on an age curve. Btw, how old is Tirone?

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

So I gather the worth of the goaltender is partly based on how old he is.for the record, Ty played his last game for UNH as a 24 year old, not that it matters. The real fact is that both Ty and Kevin played on outstanding teams. We all know how great the 1999 team was but, If you recall, Kevin's senior year he was one of four All-Americans on a team that was a number one seed but somehow lost in the first round out in Colorado Springs to Notre Dame. As noted, Ty carved a pretty decent pro career while it appears Kevin plateaued and never made it to the show. So, no. Ty was better than Kevin. Unless you're grading on an age curve. Btw, how old is Tirone?

DT will be 23 this season if I have that right; roster lists his bday June 1994...