UNH Wildcats 2017-2018 Season - The Quest Continues

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017-2018 Season - The Quest Continues

Did Fregona skate today? .

Nope but Dylan Chanter did. And he equaled his career high in points with TWO!!!!

How many friggin' times did we have to hear that from the announcers today?

[HockeyRef]

Nope but Dylan Chanter did. And he equaled his career high in points with TWO!!!!

How many friggin' times did we have to hear that from the announcers today?

Tell me again Mommy....😉

[HockeyRef]

Not what my nightcap will be but that's a good choice Ref!

Hey when in Rome...can't get enough of the XL Center!!

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017-2018 Season - The Quest Continues

Bad PR. Why would a future prospective coach believe anything from the AD?

"I'm sorry, but when we committed to you three years ago, we expected you to progress more, and you really haven't. We have a meritocracy here, and can't guarantee positions. So if you want to come, we'll honor the commitment, but you'll have to coach from the stands, or, we'd understand if you wanted to go elsewhere and coach."

Or does that accountability only work on 18 year olds?

[Scott]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017-2018 Season - The Quest Continues

NQPRFTRSG now at 0-5-3.

Regular season games remaining: 8

Days since last UNH victory: 52

#599

[HockeyRef]

I think that it is 6-0, but who's counting (oh, right, I was).

Did Fregona skate today? If not, I think that he should replace MacAdams next weekend; need to send a message to the team that they are SMT's, so no more goon tactics. That 5-min major may have cost the Cats a tie.

Well I meant seasons...😉

[scoreboard]

NQPRFTRSG now at 0-5-3.

Regular season games remaining: 8

Days since last UNH victory: 52

#599

Honestly, 599 may be a stretch

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017-2018 Season - The Quest Continues

While it was a drag Mac Adams got the 5 min major at least the kid hustles....which is a lot more than some players do. But whatever...the 'Cats are toast for home ice and beyond. Anyway... really liked what I saw from Robinson. Creel played two decent games for Yukon. Ho hum bored already with the season.

[Greg Ambrose]

15 years and 25 different teams have made the Frozen Four since UNH's last appearance. 7 of those teams are/were from HE. Marty made a great decision keeping Dick around...

While I was whiling my way on the elliptical this morning at the Y, I got to thinking about UNH, Umile and Frozen Fours. They made it there four times in his reign, got to the finals twice, but as many have noted, not in the last 15 years. So I got to thinking about the times they should have made the FF and didn’t. The most obvious one to me was 2010 when they blew out #1 seed Cornell at Albany, then got humiliated by RIT. Not that it would have mattered as they would have been crushed by BC just as RIT was, and watching a game in Ford Field would have been the pits. But they should have been there. The interesting thing is that, if the gods had been with them, they would have been in DC the year before instead of BU. And the year before that? They were the #1 seed in Colorado Springs, with four All Americans. But they were not ready to play (surprised?). Umile totally outcoached by Jackson. So how about that? Three consecutive FFs were within the realm of possibility I think. Dan, Watcher, how would recruiting have gone if this fantasy had played out?

Other than that, I agree that UNH in 1986 faced a more daunting task what with the WCHA interlocking schedule. But UNH was way in over its head in those days and, to compound things, their best players, guys like Douris and Leach, both of whom had productive NHL careers, had left. But the performance back then was brutal. I went to several games in that 19 wins in three seasons era where there were no more than 1,000 or 1,500 at Snively. I also agree that it is much more difficult to rebound quickly. UNH will have to focus on diamonds in the rough, guys under recruited, or those wallowing away in the stands at places like Wisconsin and Minnesota and get them to transfer. I think that’s a recruiting strategy underutilized in college hockey as a whole. Bottom line, UNH is going to have to get creative if they are going to make even a few steps up the ladder.

As for this season, there is not one game left on the schedule where you say “that’s a win.” I suppose you could say that the next five games are against teams that haven’t beaten us, but Northeastern will. Best we can hope for is to win three of four vs. UMass, UVM and Maine, all at home. But we coughed it up last night, so why should it be any different down the stretch? Sad, sad but clearly avoidable days here in Durham. Go Bruins!

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017-2018 Season - The Quest Continues

Wow...what a diff 2 years makes watching Warren Foegele out here...Pots too. Can't blame them for leaving they belong out there.

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017-2018 Season - The Quest Continues

Only a game. We're not Alabama of football, where we live through irrelevant athletic events.

Mistakes were made in hiring. After two Moscow Mules, do we really care that a student from another school put a rubber object past a line more than our students? I assume the middle aged guy who oversees organizing our students is a decent guy, so let him teach them life lessons in defeat.

(I will say Mike's politics, on things that do matter, really suck. However, there's no harm in giving Mike some more rope as an untested 38 year old thrown into water too deep, to try and swim. Do I care whether Lassonde is the HC or a trusted senior advisor, no. I've had my own failures at that age, in a far less public setting, so I hope he learns from them and works at his craft. Find us decent kids but also sell the drive to succeed a bit more than the "be true to your school, family" storyline. Even if the ruthlessness is not in your DNA, talk a good game of ruthlesness to succeed, even if you have more compassion. Different styles work (see York), but you'll need talent, so don't get a friend, get the very best recruiter in the world you can sell your style.)

[Dan]

Greg - I'll go out on a limb and say recruiting would have been better if they had made those three Frozen Fours. Especially if they had won one. They were all frustrating. I'd rank the ND loss as the worst - that team was stacked. If they get past BU the next year, they wipe out Vermont and probably clinch ab national title for Miami...

Here is the problem with looking at recruiting that way. They already had the next great recruiting class lines up - even without those FFs.

The 2009 recruiting class was supposed to be Ryan Bourque, Matt White, Cam Reid, Greg Burke, John Henrion, Brett Kostolansky and Connor Hardowa.

Unfortunately, they lost track of their recruits transcript progress and White and Reid were rejected by admissions (instead of taking a foreign language credit - they were so turned off they went back to juniors and committed to other colleges). Shortly after his buddy White was shown the door, Bourque bounced to major juniors and neither Burke and Henrion ever met expectations.

To make up for losing their star trio UNH brought in Austin Block, Scott Pavelski and Dalton Speelman. That really says it all. By to compound the problem they had to scramble going forward - Goumas and Sorkin had to come a year early and they had to fill holes with guys like Jeff Silengo. It hurt their classes for two consecutive years substantially. As a result the 2011-12 team went 15-19-3...

Around the same time (09) UNH was hit with recruiting probation due to Borek's email infraction. Who knows how many prospects they were barred from recruiting as a result of which high-end kids they had their sites on and lost. Whoever they missed out on, they were undoubtedly better than the prospects they turned to. The two classes that were really impacted by this infraction turned into the following...

2011 - Downing, DeSmith, TVR, Camper, Willows, Thrush
2012 - Correalle, Gaidreault, MacDonald, Smith, Pesce, Quast

...and UNH has never recovered. Downing was in the fold long prior to the probation. I remember watching him play with Reid in Surrey prior to the infraction or admissions issues. DeSmith I believe was too. And TVR Was a legacy.

Those two recruiting mistakes, the subsequent losses buried UNH and made recruiting much more difficult. I'm not sure a few more FF even delay the results we've seen. They simply give us a few more memories of the good times. Borek was always a good recruiter to a front runner. But once the wins slipped, so did his results. They needed a dynamic recruiter and visionary to get them back on track back then and they need the same thing now...

In retrospect they shot themselves in the foot badly! These were all self-inflicted mistakes. Combined with the Laleggia, Vecchione incidencts and whiffing on guys like Kalinowski, etc and what an you say. It's a **** shame, but they've brought it on themselves. All under Umile's inattentive (to recruiting) eye...

[Dan]

Only a game. We're not Alabama of football, where we live through irrelevant athletic events.

Mistakes were made in hiring. After two Moscow Mules, do we really care that a student from another school put a rubber object past a line more than our students? I assume the middle aged guy who oversees organizing our students is a decent guy, so let him teach them life lessons in defeat.

(I will say Mike's politics, on things that do matter, really suck. However, there's no harm in giving Mike some more rope as an untested 38 year old thrown into water too deep, to try and swim. Do I care whether Lassonde is the HC or a trusted senior advisor, no. I've had my own failures at that age, in a far less public setting, so I hope he learns from them and works at his craft. Find us decent kids but also sell the drive to succeed a bit more than the "be true to your school, family" storyline. Even if the ruthlessness is not in your DNA, talk a good game of ruthlesness to succeed, even if you have more compassion. Different styles work (see York), but you'll need talent, so don't get a friend, get the very best recruiter in the world you can sell your style.)

I know why you mean - and you're right to a point - but, I care. Because they can get a coach who is a decent guy, who teaches the kids life lessons, who is not cutthroat and cares AND still be good enough to win at the highest levels. That guy may be harder to find, but those qualities are not mutually exclusive...

[HockeyRef]

Greg - I'll go out on a limb and say recruiting would have been better if they had made those three Frozen Fours. Especially if they had won one. They were all frustrating. I'd rank the ND loss as the worst - that team was stacked. If they get past BU the next year, they wipe out Vermont and probably clinch ab national title for Miami...

Here is the problem with looking at recruiting that way. They already had the next great recruiting class lines up - even without those FFs.

The 2009 recruiting class was supposed to be Ryan Bourque, Matt White, Cam Reid, Greg Burke, John Henrion, Brett Kostolansky and Connor Hardowa.

Unfortunately, they lost track of their recruits transcript progress and White and Reid were rejected by admissions (instead of taking a foreign language credit - they were so turned off they went back to juniors and committed to other colleges). Shortly after his buddy White was shown the door, Bourque bounced to major juniors and neither Burke and Henrion ever met expectations.

To make up for losing their star trio UNH brought in Austin Block, Scott Pavelski and Dalton Speelman. That really says it all. By to compound the problem they had to scramble going forward - Goumas and Sorkin had to come a year early and they had to fill holes with guys like Jeff Silengo. It hurt their classes for two consecutive years substantially. As a result the 2011-12 team went 15-19-3...

Around the same time (09) UNH was hit with recruiting probation due to Borek's email infraction. Who knows how many prospects they were barred from recruiting as a result of which high-end kids they had their sites on and lost. Whoever they missed out on, they were undoubtedly better than the prospects they turned to. The two classes that were really impacted by this infraction turned into the following...

2011 - Downing, DeSmith, TVR, Camper, Willows, Thrush
2012 - Correalle, Gaidreault, MacDonald, Smith, Pesce, Quast

...and UNH has never recovered. Those two recruiting mistakes, the subsequent losses buried UNH and made recruiting much more difficult. I'm not sure a few more FF even delay the results we've seen. They simply give us a few more memories of the good times. Borek was always a good recruiter to a front runner. But once the wins slipped, so did his results. They needed a dynamic recruiter and visionary to get them back on track back then and they need the same thing now...

In retrospect they shot themselves in the foot badly! These were all self-inflicted mistakes. Combined with the Laleggia, Vecchione incidencts and whiffing on guys like Kalinowski, etc and what an you say. It's a **** shame, but they've brought it on themselves. All under Umile's inattentive (to recruiting) eye...

Dan...tell an under educated fan (me) how they recover?

[Dan]

Dan...tell an under educated fan (me) how they recover?

I'll post some thoughts when I get home from CC/Miami.

Writing that post to Greg was surreal - reliving all those mistakes. If you go back in time and keep that 09 class, don't hit send on the wrong group in your database and don't shoot yourself in your foot with the Laleggia/Vecchione situations UNH doesn't have to worry about recovery. There still a power, they may have a NC in their bag and Umile doesn't JVR to retire...

As to reality, I'll think on it...