UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

[Lemonade]

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

I dont think we are as far off from competing as we think. Imagine this years team with Mike Vecchione on it....

[UNH1932]

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

Just caught up....reading the last 4 pages......love the discussion now,.....btw 1932, while sometimes the events that have occurred over the past 3 years sound and are negatives, I have always been proud of my time on the team, my time on both Friends boards, working with the teams and bleeding blue and white since 1973! Just saying......while beer and wine might boost revenues, I could care less......my point was that when UNH invites it's alumni players back, they shouldn't have to pony up to pay for the game and social after the game!
I agree that UNH should go after any recruit, anywhere.....as I noted, once they see our campus and location to everything, it's up to Souza to sell his program......for me chickod, today's social media and access to the world from a bathroom stall, is all the more reason to live in the "sticks", and be 45 minutes away from what a city can offer for the Arts, ( given that Portsmouth has some 125 restaurants of every culture)......I wholeheartedly agree with Dan about marketing......but in answer to that, look at the university going to a NY firm to come up with a new logo, instead of putting it to the Reknown Whittmore School! That is what they think of themselves......I'm sorry 1932 but here I have to agree with Dan, UNH has to change their thinking......I'm sure Souza will recruit as we all believe he will, the team will get better, maybe not next year but soon so it's up to UNH to invest in personnel now, and not brick......we need to build support programs that provide for better exposure online, (do we even have a video department), more alumni and corporate sponsors and donations, more community outreach with all athletic teams.......maybe the term "culture" is the best way to explain it.........
Also in fairness when we mention promoting UNH hockey and how it is within the top echelon nationally, keep in mind that the last few years volleyball has gone to California for the NCAAs, Swimming and Diving have been great for 5 years at least, track and field has nationally elite athletes and gymnastics makes the NCAAs annually.....so the UNH banner is seen and respected on many athletic fields of endeavor! (just like DU) 😉😉👍🏻

Zoofer
We do have video department and video for hockey practices and games for coaches and players as welll. Please get yourself on the alumni board and the USNH Board of Trustees. A large chunk of budgets are spent on the football field (need new turf this year ( a large amount of money)and stadium at present. If we fill the Whit the cash generation will follow. I wish you were correct in your assertion that bringing kids to campus and selling them works. Souza is selling them and Anthony Wyse was a huge get for him last year after decommit from Dartmouth. We probably have around 20 elite hockey players visit UNH every year (there are many in the area that contact coaches if they are within 2 hours that visit as well). Everybody loves our campus and I have seen British Columbia kids tell me if feels like home and they decide BU/BC/Providence/Northeastern is where they want to be. We lose out to the Boston schools if someone turns pro and they have an opening. We have had 3-4 over the past 4 years that were going to commit to UNH on Monday and York called them to offer them on Sunday because a player went pro. Chickod is right that the student athletes prefer cities. Thankfully many parents love UNH and the hockey family at UNH and we have some big wins when they convince their son that it is a great educational opportunity in a great environment. Souza is selling the program to kids wanting to compete for championships.

We need to bring back former players and their families on UNH dime and to get students sparked up to attend games. I see many from the Early 2000's in the arena as Jimmy Abbott has season tickets and sits in 103 with his family. I see Preston Callendar and Sean Collins from time to time when there kids aren't playing youth hockey. Can we sign them at 8-10 years old? I do want Flinton's kids and the Ontario alumni children to be the first to commit to UNH. We haven't had success with younger brothers of stars in other programs but it is time to have offspring playing for alma mater.

I do like Dan's ideas but please know that even BU and BC are not selling as many tickets even when they are in hunt for national championships. North Dakota (amazing rink with nothing else to do within 50 miles of the arena. Lowell does not sell out but they do charge far less money for tickets. I missed the BC game on election day and every arena I went to was not a sellout and that includes Notre Dame which has far less seats than the Whit.

Zoofer-Chair of Board of Trustees (sounds like a plan)

[HockeyRef]

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

I dont think we are as far off from competing as we think. Imagine this years team with Mike Vecchione on it....

I have...too many times! But, I agree...and it's gonna be grand. Truth be told, I gotta say, and of course you know I'm a big fan, that no matter what despite all of it...I love watching the team and cheer for them no matter what. The success I wish they would reach would allow them to keep playing right now and that's always the hardest part! Anyway...these are still college athletes and I think people often overlook that fact.

[E.J. Smith]

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

I dont think we are as far off from competing as we think. Imagine this years team with Mike Vecchione on it....

Imagine your investment portfolio with just one more zero on the end. Ifs and buts...

BU was closer to having Jack Eichel playing for them this year than we were to having Vecchione.

[E.J. Smith]

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

We have had 3-4 over the past 4 years that were going to commit to UNH on Monday and York called them to offer them on Sunday because a player went pro.

Then shame on UNH for not locking them up on Saturday. Speaking of Walshy, he would have. Completely serious, it's a competition, the sooner they realize that the better.

Chickod is right that the student athletes prefer cities.

You do know the most current National Championship trophy is sitting in that megalopolis of Grand Forks, ND, correct?

We need to bring back former players and their families on UNH dime

No, we don't, sorry. The only one that's going to excite is you, and a bunch of other guys on the far side of 50. Some 17 year old from Long Island isn't going to give two craps if Jamie Hislop is in the building. Echo chamber?

[Darius]

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

I dont think we are as far off from competing as we think. Imagine this years team with Mike Vecchione on it....

I hear you. I am with you, but it is the price you pay for talent. What if Poturalski had stayed or Maller was healthy all year? Ask BC fans if the Eagles might still be playing if no players left early last year.

My recruiting information comes from the USCHO UNH forums. Based on that we are in big trouble, but I am with you that we are close, maybe 2 or 3 players exceeding expectations, to being much more competitive. Will it happen? Who knows? That's why I will be at the Whitt watching players develop next season.

I was encouraged bey Coach's comment about needing to be stronger, am optimistic that the team will work towards that in the off season. I also sense that the team psyche is on the upswing.

[Dan]

Id argue that for UNH to truly have been competitive this season (in a late 90's/early 00's sense) they'd need all of their 'what-ifs'. Just Vecchione isn't enough because the talented youngsters are still just that - young. But if you rolled out...

Poturalski - Vecchione - Healthy Vela
Salvaggio - McNicholas - Kelleher
Eiserman - Nazarian - Hill
Van Riemsdyk - Blackburn - Grasso

Cleland - Marks
Wyse - Masonious
Ryzcek - Maller

Now you've got something. Assuming you can get anything out of the goaltenders. Unfortunately, as I've OFTEN said - you don't get recruiting credit unless they actually get to campus...

And in reality - what team in the country wouldn't be significantly improved with additions of Poturalski/Vecchione/Masonious/Ryzcek. Just up front you're talking likely Hobey winner and (if he returned - MVs biggest challenger as nations best player and easily a major Hobey challenger)an elite scorer...

[Lemonade]

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

You do know the most current National Championship trophy is sitting in that megalopolis of Grand Forks, ND, correct?

I dont buy that student athletes prefer the cities either. They prefer WINNING and right now thats BU/BC. Back a decade ago they preferred UMaine/UNH.....UNH beat out BC/BU for one of the latest blue chip recruits so it can happen.

[Dan]

They prefer WINNING...

Truth. (Or being sold on winning). (Or scholarship money).

End of debate...

[chickod]

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

You do know the most current National Championship trophy is sitting in that megalopolis of Grand Forks, ND, correct?

You took my point out of context. I said we're ("we" means any non-rural New England school - which you all agree that UNH is, given its proximity to Portsmouth, Boston, seacoast, etc.) not going to get the Western Canada farm kid who is comfortable in that environment. And if you look at the history of NCAA championships, "Western" schools won 17 out of the first 19 championships. They still lead the all-time series 49-19. From 1948-2000 the "Eastern" schools only won ELEVEN times.

My point is, North Dakota ALWAYS has enough talent to win because they get the majority of "those" kids. Their formula works because they have no competition in 80% of the geographical area of the United States for the kid THEY WANT. The Eastern schools have to be a little more aggressive. We're all competing for similar kids and it's not North Dakota you're competing against. It's BU/BC/Northeastern/Harvard/Providence/Lowell/Merrimack/Connecticut (I'm sure I left some out) all in the same more or less geographic, demographic and "suburban/urban" environment. Yes, Storrs is "rural" but it's an hour or so from three major cities (and a couple of hours from New York). Grand Forks is eight billion hours from New York. It's a different situation. You're not going to get the kids that North Dakota gets, and they don't WANT the kids that you do. The only place in New England "comparable" to a place like Grand Forks is Orono (you certainly can't compare Burlington, VT), and we'll just leave that there. Maybe if I used the word "isolated" it would be more accurate than "rural," because rural could mean a town of 2000 people even if there's a major city nearby. If you've ever driven through the mid-West, or areas in Nebraska, Colorado, the Dakotas, there are just miles and miles of nothing. Most of us probably wouldn't be able to stand living there for one week. You have to drive for miles to get to anything. Yeah, Durham is a nice, "rural" college town, but in ten minutes you can get to every big box store known to mankind, restaurants, theaters, the beach. In the middle of Nebraska you may have to drive three hours to get to any of that. It's just different.

So you have to BEAT more competition, because more schools are competing for the same kids. It takes an aggressive, positive attitude. Which is why the Northeast corridor is competitive and fast-paced. You snooze you lose. Not everyone is suited for that type of approach. You have to find the person who is.

[chickod]

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

Back a decade ago they preferred UMaine/UNH.....

Who's "they?" Maybe "some" did, but that's always the case. If all the blue-chippers "preferred" UNH/Maine, then they wouldn't have one National Championship between them compared to ten for BU and BC. (And I don't say that disparagingly, but c'mon)

[chickod]

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

Some 17 year old from Long Island isn't going to give two craps if Jamie Hislop is in the building. Echo chamber?

But he might if he were on the ice.

[Lemonade]

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

You took my point out of context. I said we're ("we" means any non-rural New England school - which you all agree that UNH is, given its proximity to Portsmouth, Boston, seacoast, etc.) not going to get the Western Canada farm kid who is comfortable in that environment. And if you look at the history of NCAA championships, "Western" schools won 17 out of the first 19 championships. They still lead the all-time series 49-19. From 1948-2000 the "Eastern" schools only won ELEVEN times.

My point is, North Dakota ALWAYS has enough talent to win because they get the majority of "those" kids. Their formula works because they have no competition in 80% of the geographical area of the United States for the kid THEY WANT. The Eastern schools have to be a little more aggressive. We're all competing for similar kids and it's not North Dakota you're competing against. It's BU/BC/Northeastern/Harvard/Providence/Lowell/Merrimack/Connecticut (I'm sure I left some out) all in the same more or less geographic, demographic and "suburban/urban" environment. Yes, Storrs is "rural" but it's an hour or so from three major cities (and a couple of hours from New York). Grand Forks is eight billion hours from New York. It's a different situation. You're not going to get the kids that North Dakota gets, and they don't WANT the kids that you do. The only place in New England "comparable" to a place like Grand Forks is Orono (you certainly can't compare Burlington, VT), and we'll just leave that there. Maybe if I used the word "isolated" it would be more accurate than "rural," because rural could mean a town of 2000 people even if there's a major city nearby. If you've ever driven through the mid-West, or areas in Nebraska, Colorado, the Dakotas, there are just miles and miles of nothing. Most of us probably wouldn't be able to stand living there for one week. You have to drive for miles to get to anything. Yeah, Durham is a nice, "rural" college town, but in ten minutes you can get to every big box store known to mankind, restaurants, theaters, the beach. In the middle of Nebraska you may have to drive three hours to get to any of that. It's just different.

So you have to BEAT more competition, because more schools are competing for the same kids. It takes an aggressive, positive attitude. Which is why the Northeast corridor is competitive and fast-paced. You snooze you lose. Not everyone is suited for that type of approach. You have to find the person who is.

I can tell you that ND gets commits because they have a winning tradition but they also have a ridiculous facility and lockerroom that is better than most NHL teams and they average 10,000 fans a game. Thats what sells the recruits not its location.

[Dan]

I can tell you that ND gets commits because they have a winning tradition but they also have a ridiculous facility and lockerroom that is better than most NHL teams and they average 10,000 fans a game. Thats what sells the recruits not its location.

These are all factors - but North Dakota builds ridiculous rosters because of their cost of attendance. I've said this before but ill re-post a breakdown tonight after work. Money and affording college is still the biggest factor in a families decision...

[chickod]

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

even BU and BC are not selling as many tickets even when they are in hunt for national championships

Sadly that's true. Personally I thought the "crowd" at Friday's Hockey East semi-final was almost disgusting. BU had ONE section in the loge and ONE in the balcony. The Lowell fans "saved" the gate. I get it that the private schools aren't going to bring as many fans as Ginormous State U, but it was embarrassing. I long for the days when UNH and Maine would regularly be there, as they would bring thousands of fans and if nothing else, the atmosphere is fantastic.

But this is a lament that won't change anything. Things have changed and this has been discussed ad nauseum on several other threads already. It is instructive to point out, though, that this should probably be kept in mind when making statements about "filling" the Whitt. That is going to be VERY tough to do. Baby steps. First is to "revive" interest in the program and try to grow things gradually. I don't think Agganis or Conte has sold out (except for maybe a game between both of those schools against each other) for years. I'm not going to go back through the records, but attendance is down EVERYWHERE.