Utica College 2017-2018 season

[jcase]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

Virtanen looked a little off his game both nights, but was good enough vs. who he played. He'll need to step it up when he faces Endicott, Adrian, Oswego, and the like.

Agree Virtanen gave up a couple cheapies on Friday, and Pat Roy wouldn't have stopped that third goal (amazing shot), however Baggetta was in the net on Saturday.

[Fishman'81]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

Agree Virtanen gave up a couple cheapies on Friday, and Pat Roy wouldn't have stopped that third goal (amazing shot), however Baggetta was in the net on Saturday.

My bad. Streamed the game; it was grainy at best, and without audio. (I'll take the result, though.)

[Fishman'81]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

Tonight's stream from the majorly-fun venue of Bill Gray's was of excellent quality... And free! ( And, as an aside, go there to watch a game if you can. There are 4 rinks under one roof, and one may dine on pub-grub and sip a beer in the lounge while having a terrific seat for any Naz home game right freakin' there in the bar and grill... It's truly beyond "great".)

Anyhoo, I would say that UC easily carried the play until they went-up 2-0 in the 3rd.

Then, you saw the usual "try to sit on the lead" thing, which seems to be some inevitable hockey-manifestation of human nature.

Whatever, it's a good win. Naz can skate and defend; they ain't chopped liver. They did miss a couple of open nets late in the game, but Virtanen was very sharp in terms of what he could hope to get a piece of. Nice to see a couple of the new guys get on the scoreboard,too.

So far, so good, Utica fans.

[UCfan30]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

Solid game against Naz, both teams skated well and some good physical play too. Virtanen looked a lot better in this start than his first, made plenty of good saves. Only way Naz scored was when they got a ton of traffic in front and he couldn't spot the puck. Also noticed a few of the newcomers getting some playing time this game as well. Looking forward to Saturday's game against Elmira, should be a good one!

[sshablak]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

UC #7 in the polls

[altazo]

Here's some pre-season info I compiled from a number of sources

ARRIVALS:               CL GM  G  A PTS AGE     HOMETOWN                HGT     WGT    SH LAST TEAM
Conor Landrigan (F)	Fr 45 52-70-122  21	New Tripoli, PA, USA	6'0"	185	L Binghamton Jr Senators (NA3HL)
Brett Everson (C)	Fr 59 17-53-70   21	Mississauga, ON, CAN	5'11"	181	L Hawkesbury Hawks (CCHL)
Jamie Bucell (F)	Fr 48 22-28-50   21	Garfield Heights, OH,	5'11"	185	R Philadelphia Little Flyers (EHL)
Vaden McManus (D)	Fr 40 09-31-40   21	Fayetteville, NC, USA	5'10"	170	R Hampton Roads Whalers Elite (USPHL)
Josh Haskin (F)		Fr 43 09-26-35   21	Albany, NY, USA		5'9"	179	R PAL Jr Islanders Premier (USPHL)
Tyler Pietrowski (F)	Fr 58 15-15-30   21	Curtice, OH, USA	6'2"	185	R Odessa Jackalopes (NAHL)
Hunter Gunski (D)	Fr 49 02-10-12   21	Goffstown, NH, USA	6'5"	209	L Wellington Dukes (OJHL)
Brandon Young (D)	Fr 48 02-09-11   20	Muskegon, MI, USA	6’4”	195	R Johnstown Tomahawks (NAHL)
Gregg Burmaster (F)	Jr 07 01-00-01   22	Clinton, NY, USA	6’0”	185	L Colorado College (NCAA D-I)
Daniel Fritz (D)	So 00 00-00-00   22	Harwood, MD, USA	6’2”	195	L Canisius College (NCAA D-I)

DEPARTURES:
Kevin Kirisits (D)	Graduated
Luc Boby (F)		Graduated
Easton Powers (F)	Graduated
Connor Schmidt (D)	Graduated
Corey Simic (G)		Sr
Kollin Schultz (D)	Sr
Max Bartell (F)		Sr
Alex Brisette (F)	Sr
Riley Egan (F)		Sr
Alex Roberts (F)	Jr
Nick Grose (D)		So - Ohio U (ACHA)

FUN FACT:
Fan fave Louis Educate (’15) hired as asst. coach, joins Adam Dekker (’08) as former player asst. coaches

Am I reading this correctly? UC had 7 non-graduating players from '16-'17 not return, including 5 would-be seniors?

[Fishman'81]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

Am I reading this correctly? UC had 7 non-graduating players from '16-'17 not return, including 5 would-be seniors?

Yeah, it's been that way at Utica for years. Some guys disappear via family issues, personal problems, etc., but others often seem to have been simply purged for lack of production*.

I'm not necessarily opposed to that idea, but I do have to wonder if this is a common practice at the few private schools which boast a profitable sports-program or two.




* Disclaimer: All of the basis for me saying the above is based on the testimony of UC players, UC players' parents, and players/parents are sometimes a just little bit biased.

[altazo]

Yeah, it's been that way at Utica for years. Some guys disappear via family issues, personal problems, etc., but others often seem to have been simply purged for lack of production*.

I'm not necessarily opposed to that idea, but I do have to wonder if this is a common practice at the few private schools which boast a profitable sports-program or two.




* Disclaimer: All of the basis for me saying the above is based on the testimony of UC players, UC players' parents, and players/parents are sometimes a just little bit biased.

I'm sorry, but if losing 5 incoming seniors off your roster is somewhat normal, there are issues with the UC program beyond perennially struggling to earn NCAA bids.

[bakdraft21]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

Am I reading this correctly? UC had 7 non-graduating players from '16-'17 not return, including 5 would-be seniors?

None of these players had huge #'s but it DOES seem a little out of wack that so many upperclassmen would not come back,perhaps promises unfullfilled on both or maybe one side??

[Fishman'81]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

None of these players had huge #'s but it DOES seem a little out of wack that so many upperclassmen would not come back,perhaps promises unfullfilled on both or maybe one side??

I've had my ear bent a-plenty by parents, but I don't care to post what is essentially hearsay... For the most part, though, there have been issues relating to early departures that didn't appear to be hockey-related. And, while this particular crop of such players really won't be missed on the ice, many of the other guys who left during the earlier years were among the most skilled on the team.

That used to drive me nuts, but -lets face it- playing D-3 hockey is not a realistic stepping-stone to a professional career in the game anyway. If a 23-24 YO underclassman gets a better offer of some sort that might translate into a career-opportunity in the real world, I wouldn't fault him for taking it.

[Fishman'81]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

I'm sorry, but if losing 5 incoming seniors off your roster is somewhat normal, there are issues with the UC program beyond perennially struggling to earn NCAA bids.

OK, hope you feel better, but the old ECAC-W was routinely victimized by the silly AQ gifts granted to slightly larger, but decidedly inferior conferences... Not to mention the berths awarded to mediocre teams from good conferences who happened to catch lightning in a bottle over the course of a brief tournament.

That's a fact, Jack.

[joecct]

OK, hope you feel better, but the old ECAC-W was routinely victimized by the silly AQ gifts granted to slightly larger, but decidedly inferior conferences... Not to mention the berths awarded to mediocre teams from good conferences who happened to catch lightning in a bottle over the course of a brief tournament.

That's a fact, Jack.

Give it a rest. If your conference was really good, they'd have a string of NCAA championships instead of 1 in the past 32 years.

[Fishman'81]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

Give it a rest. If your conference was really good, they'd have a string of NCAA championships instead of 1 in the past 32 years.

Not my conference, Jo-Jo... I never laced-'em up for the W, and your taking some vicarious pride in whatever conference your local team plays in fundamentally ridiculous, in any case, isn't it?

My point was that D-3 routinely awards at least a couple of NCAA bids to teams that have no business whatsoever of being within a country mile of one, via the arbitrary AQ's. There's no cogent argument to the contrary, and the W was screwed as often as any other conference since I've been following D-3. (2000.)

(Yes, the committee has done a good job of late within the constraints they face, but that hasn't always been the case.)

This is fairly obvious... Perhaps you should give it a rest, ya think?

[bakdraft21]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

I've had my ear bent a-plenty by parents, but I don't care to post what is essentially hearsay... For the most part, though, there have been issues relating to early departures that didn't appear to be hockey-related. And, while this particular crop of such players really won't be missed on the ice, many of the other guys who left during the earlier years were among the most skilled on the team.

That used to drive me nuts, but -lets face it- playing D-3 hockey is not a realistic stepping-stone to a professional career in the game anyway. If a 23-24 YO underclassman gets a better offer of some sort that might translate into a career-opportunity in the real world, I wouldn't fault him for taking it.

yes agree,we lost our goalie at Oswego for just that thing, a career opportunity, and I dont blame him..

[Fishman'81]

Re: Utica College 2017-2018 season

yes agree,we lost our goalie at Oswego for just that thing, a career opportunity, and I dont blame him..

Yes, the defections from Utica have nearly always about getting a real job, as far as I've heard.

I mean to say that many -if not most- D-3 Seniors anywhere are North of age 24 and have long-since abandoned the notion of having any meaningful professional career playing hockey, so why stick-around when a viable opportunity knocks?

More power to them, and thanks for the memories, guys.