Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

[Hokydad]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

.....oooh, ooooh, I know! Vecchione,Taylor, Young.

For one, Vechionne. your **** right. he will be a very, very good player there and a crowd favorite. They always get made fun of by the RPI fans because they dont have the supposed rep some of the otehr players have but they come in and do well. just like they said Shayne G was an ok recruit and coming in to early, Welch, Simpson, Carr and several others. Remember RPI telling us Bodie was not close to Koudys.
safe to say Union knows how to evaluate talent

Vechionne had 3 more points this weekend in USHL on a team decimated with injuries. Will be ready for the fall

[turk181]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

For one, Vechionne. your **** right. he will be a very, very good player there and a crowd favorite. They always get made fun of by the RPI fans because they dont have the supposed rep some of the otehr players have but they come in and do well. just like they said Shayne G was an ok recruit and coming in to early, Welch, Simpson, Carr and several others. Remember RPI telling us Bodie was not close to Koudys.
safe to say Union knows how to evaluate talent

Vechionne had 3 more points this weekend in USHL on a team decimated with injuries. Will be ready for the fall

just to be clear, I was making fun of all the posts but not about the talent of the 3 I mentioned....I could've also included Griff Martin.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

For one, Vechionne. your **** right. he will be a very, very good player there and a crowd favorite. They always get made fun of by the RPI fans because they dont have the supposed rep some of the otehr players have but they come in and do well. just like they said Shayne G was an ok recruit and coming in to early, Welch, Simpson, Carr and several others. Remember RPI telling us Bodie was not close to Koudys.
safe to say Union knows how to evaluate talent

Vechionne had 3 more points this weekend in USHL on a team decimated with injuries. Will be ready for the fall

Chris Heisenberg, who, being a UNH fan, is unbiased on this as opposed to you and me, rates two RPI USHL recruits, Bourbonnais and Melanson, higher than Vecchione.

OTOH, I will give you Young over Soffer.

[Hokydad]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Chris Heisenberg, who, being a UNH fan, is unbiased on this as opposed to you and me, rates two RPI USHL recruits, Bourbonnais and Melanson, higher than Vecchione.

OTOH, I will give you Young over Soffer.

And I 100% guarantee you Chris has never seen either play.

Just like Pat Koudys was far superior to Bodie and Shayne G

Vechionne and Bourbonnais play in the final weekend series vs each other fri and sat night..
Vechionne holds a slight lead over him in scoring.


l

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

And I 100% guarantee you Chris has never seen either play.

Just like Pat Koudys was far superior to Bodie and Shayne G

Vechionne and Bourbonnais play in the final weekend series vs each other fri and sat night..
Vechionne holds a slight lead over him in scoring.


l

I introduced Heisenberg into the discussion in an attempt (obvious futile) to eliminate our mutual biases from the conversation. CH has told me that the rankings are based upon observations by him and others whom he trusts.

He did rate Bodie quite highly, not so for Gostisbehere.

[Hokydad]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

the PK over MB/SG was done by RPI scouts/get a lifers
CH told you that? He told me on more then one occasion that he puts very little if any weight into the rankings. It is more of a list then a ranking, even thouigh he says he tries to put in somewhat of an order.
Nice service and great resource but more informative then rankings

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

the PK over MB/SG was done by RPI scouts/get a lifers
CH told you that? He told me on more then one occasion that he puts very little if any weight into the rankings. It is more of a list then a ranking, even thouigh he says he tries to put in somewhat of an order.
Nice service and great resource but more informative then rankings

It is indeed more a list than ranking, but he does try to put them in order. The only reason that I quoted him is that he isn't biased on this. He has no relative ranking of Koudys vs. Bodie and Gostisbehere, although he rated all but SG highly.

[rdf8585]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

No surprise but the Grosenick signing is now official: http://sharks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=664746

[rdf8585]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Grosenick, a junior, will finish his degree in managerial economics by taking classes over the summer.

[Wholin1]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Grosenick is a very bright young man and will do well in his chosen (nonhockey) field. The only Union player who left early for the pros that I am aware of and didn't get his degree was TJ Fox. RB mentioned several times over the weekend that Troy will be getting his degree as well. I also saw an article in the TU today indicating that Rick Bennett was actually on the road this weekend looking for a new goalie recruit. I think it is unlikely that Joe Young will come in early.

In fact he was injured for several games this year, I believe it was a lower body injury. I'm not certain he was entirely healthy after that.

[rdf8585]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Just got back from Messa as Rick Bennett and Troy Grosenick discussed the signing this afternoon. It was clear it wasn't an easy decision for Grosenick... he'll clearly miss playing at Union.

Here's the audio of each session:

BENNETT: http://t.co/3Cb7fvpyDE

GROSENICK: http://t.co/00W4DNpib4

[ADK11]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Grosenick is a very bright young man and will do well in his chosen (nonhockey) field. The only Union player who left early for the pros that I am aware of and didn't get his degree was TJ Fox. RB mentioned several times over the weekend that Troy will be getting his degree as well. I also saw an article in the TU today indicating that Rick Bennett was actually on the road this weekend looking for a new goalie recruit. I think it is unlikely that Joe Young will come in early.

In fact he was injured for several games this year, I believe it was a lower body injury. I'm not certain he was entirely healthy after that.

Correct, Young is not coming next Fall and on top of things did not have a great season in either the BCHL or EJHL. Bennett said they are looking hard for a backup goalie for next season in his interview with Schott. There are actually several good ones out there, but remains to be seen who is ready and able to come to U right away. I would have thought that the coaches would have been keeping an eye out when they were recruiting earlier in case of this eventuality - which was hardly surprising.

As for next year's recruits, I'm not going to get into a war with the RPI folks (esp. since IMO Appert has a good looking class coming in), but I think U has a very solid class coming. Vecchione and Lichtenwald should be perfect fits up front, as they both have talent and play with jam. The more important position is defense though; Taylor has excellent offensive upside, though he needs to get bigger; Martin is very well rounded and reportedly was one of the best d-men in NE Preps; Matt Krug is a big dependable defensive d-man who handles the puck well. I'll probably do my annual review of recruits at some time in the next month or so, though is nice that other bloggers and posters on here are keeping track of them too.

[Wholin1]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Just got back from Messa as Rick Bennett and Troy Grosenick discussed the signing this afternoon. It was clear it wasn't an easy decision for Grosenick... he'll clearly miss playing at Union.

Here's the audio of each session:

BENNETT: http://t.co/3Cb7fvpyDE

GROSENICK: http://t.co/00W4DNpib4

Heartfelt interview with Troy and typical no BS moments with RB. One thing that occurs to me and Rick Bennett alluded to it, is how good a goalie coach is Jason Tapp? He's had both of his starting goaltenders sign with NHL teams in the past three seasons and possibly a third waiting in the wings. I've got to believe that with a track record like his that he's going to be a hot commodity in his own right. I just hope he's not going anywhere. Ugh, more off season angst.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Heartfelt interview with Troy and typical no BS moments with RB. One thing that occurs to me and Rick Bennett alluded to it, is how good a goalie coach is Jason Tapp? He's had both of his starting goaltenders sign with NHL teams in the past three seasons and possibly a third waiting in the wings. I've got to believe that with a track record like his that he's going to be a hot commodity in his own right. I just hope he's not going anywhere. Ugh, more off season angst.

I'm surprised he didn't go with Leaman, although after reading about Jon Gillies' performance (had him on my fantasy team), I'd say your entire staff within the past 5 years (both current and former) isn't too bad with upping the game of goaltenders. The only way I could POSSIBLY see an assistant like that leaving is if an opportunity to lead an up-and-coming program arises. Obviously there's one of those in Alaska, but I suppose it depends upon the mindset of the coach. I assume Tapp is a full assistant and not just volunteer? If so, the story sounds a bit familiar...

[rdf8585]

Re: Union Hockey Official off Season Thread: Can U Three Peat?

Tapp is a full-time assistant now. He was a volunteer under Leaman but moved to a full-timer when Bennett took over.