UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

[Dan]

Former UNH teammates Kacey Bellamy (USA) and Jen Wakefield (CAN) face-off for gold tonight at 11:10 ET. Wakefield played two years at UNH before transferring to BU - if you needed another reason to root for the US.

Bobby Butler and the men are done due to poor roster construction...

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Former UNH teammates Kacey Bellamy (USA) and Jen Wakefield (CAN) face-off for gold tonight at 11:10 ET. Wakefield played two years at UNH before transferring to BU - if you needed another reason to root for the US.

Bobby Butler and the men are done due to poor roster construction...

YESSSS!!! Congrats to Kacey Bellamy and her teammates! Just awesome....

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Former UNH teammates Kacey Bellamy (USA) and Jen Wakefield (CAN) face-off for gold tonight at 11:10 ET. Wakefield played two years at UNH before transferring to BU - if you needed another reason to root for the US.

Bobby Butler and the men are done due to poor roster construction...

Totally agree with that last comment. Mismatched parts. Very noticeable on the defensive end. Noah Welch and Matt Gilroy are no ones idea of puck moving defensemen. Plus the team was loaded with a bunch of AHL players that I never heard of. They should have gone with college kids exclusively.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Totally agree with that last comment. Mismatched parts. Very noticeable on the defensive end. Noah Welch and Matt Gilroy are no ones idea of puck moving defensemen. Plus the team was loaded with a bunch of AHL players that I never heard of. They should have gone with college kids exclusively.

Gilroy wasn't that bad. McCarthy though, JFC was he terrible.

[Dan]

Gilroy wasn't that bad. McCarthy though, JFC was he terrible.

I didn't like Gilroy either - or really any of the roster outside of Terry, Donato or Greenway - but yes McCarthy was horrid. Those two, their three minute, three icing shift and Granato's refusal to take a time-out cost them their QF. It was unreal how long they were out there. McCarthy - after being on for two minutes fails to change when the other two Fs do...

That Czech goal was so inevitable and preventable...

[Scott]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Great article about former 'Cat defenseman and current Bruins assistant coach Kevin Dean:

https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2017/11...ine-mastermind

[Greg Ambrose]

I didn't like Gilroy either - or really any of the roster outside of Terry, Donato or Greenway - but yes McCarthy was horrid. Those two, their three minute, three icing shift and Granato's refusal to take a time-out cost them their QF. It was unreal how long they were out there. McCarthy - after being on for two minutes fails to change when the other two Fs do...

That Czech goal was so inevitable and preventable...

How about Chris Bourque maning the point on the PP? And I noticed that as the game went on, the Czechs spent most of their time attempting to neutralize Terry, the only real creator on the team. Dan, who has his rights. Do you think he and Donato go back to school for the NCAAs or sign right away?

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Great article about former 'Cat defenseman and current Bruins assistant coach Kevin Dean:

https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2017/11...ine-mastermind

Some were poking his name around for the new asst...but I doubt he'd come/ leave the B's?

[Dan]

How about Chris Bourque maning the point on the PP? And I noticed that as the game went on, the Czechs spent most of their time attempting to neutralize Terry, the only real creator on the team. Dan, who has his rights. Do you think he and Donato go back to school for the NCAAs or sign right away?

I think both finish out the season in school and then jump right into a few NHL games (maybe even the post-season?) before the end of the season. Donato plays for his dad - So I can't see him leaving the program in the lurch. Harvard's season may not be more than a few weeks from over, anyway...

Terry's rights are owned by Anaheim. He could have easily left last season, but he, Gambrell (who also should have made the Olympic team - he scored 47 pts as a frosh on a line with B's Danton Heinen two years ago) and Borgstrom (who should probably be on the Finish team - and is the best of the DU trio) made coordinated decisions to return and chase back-to-back titles. Terry is from the Denver burbs and grew up a DU fan. I can't see him leaving mid season. It was fun to watch him play well in Korea - he is special with the puck on his stick...

I don't know that an all-NCAA team would have finished any better (though it's hard to imagine them losing to Slovenia), but they sure would have been more fun to watch. Seeing Terry and Donato dominate, there's no doubt guys like Gambrell, Gaudette and Brickley would have done the same...

[Dan]

Some were poking his name around for the new asst...but I doubt he'd come/ leave the B's?

There is no way Dean leaves to be an assistant at UNH. Whether or not he would have left to be the HC may have been something worth looking into...

[wildcatdc]

There is no way Dean leaves to be an assistant at UNH. Whether or not he would have left to be the HC may have been something worth looking into...

With his trajectory, might see him get a sniff at HC at the NHL level. Good to see from a fellow 1991 grad.

[wildcatdc]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

By the way, for those of you who were devotees of Karl’s, he has been quite ill but is on the mend in the hospital. His daughter has set up a GoFundMe page, which has hit its goal, but given the circumstances, you might consider a donation anyway.

https://www.gofundme.com/549hj1s

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

FWIW dept if I have this right we would have to sweep NU to have home ice in the first round of the MBPBEGAM tourney?

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

FWIW dept if I have this right we would have to sweep NU to have home ice in the first round of the MBPBEGAM tourney?

EDIT: Impossible at this point I think with the flagship win last night over UConn...? Oh well. See some of you for what is going to be our last home game this season...Go 'Cats!

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Great article about former 'Cat defenseman and current Bruins assistant coach Kevin Dean:

https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2017/11...ine-mastermind

Some were poking his name around for the new asst...but I doubt he'd come/ leave the B's?

There is no way Dean leaves to be an assistant at UNH. Whether or not he would have left to be the HC may have been something worth looking into...

With his trajectory, might see him get a sniff at HC at the NHL level. Good to see from a fellow 1991 grad.

I'm agreeing with Dan on this one. No way he accepts anything but a HC position at the D-1 level, even with UNH. He's on the cusp of some exciting possibilities at the NHL level, and he's already run an AHL team. Anything but a HC job at UNH would be a huge step backwards for Dean.

Plus it sounds like he is pals with Souza and Stewart (and would have been an ideal "fourth" for last summer's epic "Fun With" episodes), so it would probably be tough for him to undercut those guys at this point, even if BS35+5 was visionary enough to offer him the job (and while it's pretty clear he isn't, I'm willing to be corrected).

If Dean is stuck in neutral at the NHL level in a couple of years - there are only at least another 100 guys who are NHL assistants or AHL head coaches on the same plane as him, plus others elsewhere - the UNH HC job might be a good match. Plus, Dean turns 50 at the end of next season, so the time clock is ticking on his HC opportunities to begin with.

Unless of course, Souza shows his stuff and gets things turned around in short order. Timing is everything. So I'm guessing this will be another one of those compelling "near miss" scenario - maybe for the best, maybe for the worst? Me - I'm getting too old nowadays to be "playing the long game" and I (selfishly) wish Coach Souza nothing but the best, but this offseason promises to be the most interesting one we've seen in awhile ...