Merrimack College 2017-2018

[MCWarrior1011]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

soooooooooo I honestly do not know what to say.

[BCeagle]

I would think the BC job would come down to Cav or Brown.

Based on what I have seen over the years Cav did not impress when he took over for York when York had health issues and for that matter neither has Brown.

UConn has not won anything yet under Cavanaugh but UConn provides. more resources for a coach than Merrimack for Dennehy. Huskies play in a nice facility the Xcel formerly the Hartford Civic Center.

McGinnis and Ayers don’t look like good HC for any D1 school. I can see Ayers as a possible bench coach for his alma mater UNH if that was a available and maybe be groomed for a HC job.

They’re all nice guys but don’t impress me at all as HC material.

Why would Montgomery leave DU ? It doesn’t make sense but would he go back to Maine to revise their program ?

[Runsub5]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

.......

Why would Montgomery leave DU ? It doesn’t make sense but would he go back to Maine to revise their program ?

No.

[BCeagle]

I can't believe a lot of you pin the program floundering on MD, what planet are you on, all of your great history in hockey occurred as a DIV2 program and the biggest reason you can't recruit with consistency is you are essentially a DIV 2 school trying to compete in DIV 1 and if you didn't have Stéphane Da Costa and Joe Cannata in 2011 your last good season would have been 1988. LOL! I mean have you looked at the academic rankings at places like PC, BU, NU, BC have you looked at there endowments? Your program is awesome and is amazing as it is but if you think 2011 season is going to happen year in and year out and you expect to steal great recruits ask yourself this how and why...? Really the landscape of hockey has changed and recruits are looking at far more than hockey and a pretty suburban campus Look how quickly schools like Arizona, UCONN and Penn State and likely soon to be IL have gone from non existence to respectability in NCAA hockey. Its about $$, I don't care who you have at the helm... MD has done a pretty good job all things considered. There simply isn't ayoung Jack Parker somewhere in the wings waiting to take the wheel at a place like MC. Sorry this is the truth and the truth hurts!

Not true, maybe many of the Merrimack fans. I think most of the non MC alums and fans agree that this small school just don’t have the resources to support a top notch program based on everything said.

[J.D.]

Based on what I have seen over the years Cav did not impress when he took over for York when York had health issues and for that matter neither has Brown.

UConn has not won anything yet under Cavanaugh but UConn provides. more resources for a coach than Merrimack for Dennehy. Huskies play in a nice facility the Xcel formerly the Hartford Civic Center.

McGinnis and Ayers don’t look like good HC for any D1 school. I can see Ayers as a possible bench coach for his alma mater UNH if that was a available and maybe be groomed for a HC job.

They’re all nice guys but don’t impress me at all as HC material.

Why would Montgomery leave DU ? It doesn’t make sense but would he go back to Maine to revise their program ?

Cav in charge of BC was a very small sample though. He has slowly built things at UConn. I think they have a lot of seniors though so we'll see how they do next year. Recruiting at BC is much easier than other places but still gotta know how to coach and motivate.

[brassbonanza]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

Based on what I have seen over the years Cav did not impress when he took over for York when York had health issues and for that matter neither has Brown.

UConn has not won anything yet under Cavanaugh but UConn provides. more resources for a coach than Merrimack for Dennehy. Huskies play in a nice facility the Xcel formerly the Hartford Civic Center.

McGinnis and Ayers don’t look like good HC for any D1 school. I can see Ayers as a possible bench coach for his alma mater UNH if that was a available and maybe be groomed for a HC job.

They’re all nice guys but don’t impress me at all as HC material.

Why would Montgomery leave DU ? It doesn’t make sense but would he go back to Maine to revise their program ?

XL in Hartford is anything but nice. It's a major recruiting crutch for UConn. What other team plays all of their games in a facility they don't practice at and is 25 miles from campus, where they are fourth on the scheduling totem pole?

[HockeyRef]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

Assistant coach went also? (Gilligan)

[MC Alumni]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

I'm no "booster", and I like Dennehy/love what he's done here. He deserves a spot in the MC hall of Fame, no doubt. He is the reason we are where we are.. and was a wonderful person to have as apart of the college.

Should he have been fired? I don't know. Is it the right decision? Only time will tell.

But here is one thing that is certain - and that is President Hopey's view on this institution. He see's this school as a top tier university and doesn't accept anything less.. it's been that way since he got here. Firing the Basketball Coach, Hiring Gibson as AD.. new football stadium.. entirely new campus pretty much... its pretty clear he expects a lot. And because of that I believe this was mostly his decision.

Emotions aside.. If you look strictly at the numbers.. the firing is justifiable. It simply is. 1 winning season of 13 years is obviously not great.
At this point, the gap between MC and other schools isn't AS big (it's still big)... but as the school grows.. so do the expectations...and I think Hopey has made that pretty clear.. at least internally. all I'm saying is that this isn't THAT big of a surprise for those of us in the alumni circles.

I don't know if this is a good decision.. but unfortunately we seem to all be stuck on the Hopey bandwagon.. wherever that takes us. I wish Dennehy the best and thank him for everything he's done for us.

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

but how about an occasional foray into the 3rd to 6th place positions in HE? The highest they have EVER finished is 4th because Da Costa fell into their lap for 2 years, and Canatta opted not to wait to play at BC. If the very best that could be hoped for was an 8th to 11th place every year under the current leadership, then it was time to make a change somewhere.

I think the whole point is, It's Merrimack!. Kids that score goals aren't going to line up to play at a school like that. You don't have to expect 8th-11th every year but he was the coach the brought the program to the HE title game and gave pretty much BC's most loaded team ever in my opinion a HELL of a game. Got the NCAAs. I mean Jesus It's Merrimack!. Of course that is NOT sustainable. 20 year old foreigners that can score in their sleep like Da Costa aren't exactly easy to produce.

Bad move IMO. I find it hilarious they just gave the guy a multi-year extension last February and now he is gone. They'll be paying for him to not coach and now they'll be bringing in a new coach and also pay him.

[MC Alumni]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

I think the whole point is, It's Merrimack!. Kids that score goals aren't going to line up to play at a school like that. You don't have to expect 8th-11th every year but he was the coach the brought the program to the HE title game and gave pretty much BC's most loaded team ever in my opinion a HELL of a game. Got the NCAAs. I mean Jesus It's Merrimack!. Of course that is NOT sustainable. 20 year old foreigners that can score in their sleep like Da Costa aren't exactly easy to produce.

Bad move IMO. I find it hilarious they just gave the guy a multi-year extension last February and now he is gone. They'll be paying for him to not coach and now they'll be bringing in a new coach and also pay him.

Who cares if its "just Merrimack".. Sure we're small but we still want our team to succeed just as bad as everybody else. Look at Davidson College and Wake Forest.. they're SMALLER than MC with LOADS of success. The argument that "its merrimack" holds no weight with MC people. You don't root for your team to finish 8-11..... When you pay for tuition/season tickets/or anything else that contributes to the team's success/coaches salaries, you have the right to demand whatever you want. I don't think asking for above 8th consistently is too much to ask. The "its just Merrimack" argument may fly from an outsiders perspective.. but that's about the only place it does fly.

Again, I'm not saying its a good or bad firing.. only time will tell. But our fans deserve success just as much as anybody else.. and you can't be upset at MC fans for wanting to find a way to find that success.

[BCeagle]

XL in Hartford is anything but nice. It's a major recruiting crutch for UConn. What other team plays all of their games in a facility they don't practice at and is 25 miles from campus, where they are fourth on the scheduling totem pole?

Well if you been to the Gutterson or some other older rinks it is nice. HAA, Tsongas etc are very nice for college campus rinks. The Hartford Civic Center was renovated and when I was there last month it didn’t seem like a bad venue. The parking was cheap and food was ok. I realize it was a pro rink for the Whalers but for UConn it is fine even if it is off campus for now.

[Yuppie Scum]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

Don't feed the BC trolls

[Yuppie Scum]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

Jeff Cox had a tweet about how booster Richard Gallant influenced the decision. He has since deleted that tweet.

I guess when you can get buildings named after you, you get to call some shots. (Disclaimer, I'm not a booster, but I'm almost done with my student loans after 13 years!)

[QUAlum2004]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

Really disappointing to see a good coach like Dennehy kicked to the curb. Turned a laughing stock into a respectable program.

[FiveHole12]

Re: Merrimack College 2017-2018

When you pay for tuition/season tickets/or anything else that contributes to the team's success/coaches salaries, you have the right to demand whatever you want.

What are your demands on the successor coming in? 20 wins/year? 25 wins/year? Two, three or four 20 goal scorers on the roster every year? 3 guys with 40 or more points per season?(NU has 3 of those guys this year... Mack can do it). You gonna tell him during the interview process?

Demand anything you want! It's your right. The candidates will be knocking down the doors.