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UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Season?

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  • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

    I feel like I have seen chatter about the Whitt ice being removed in mid-late April and the last few years they usually post images or video of the ice going in around late July to early August.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by deltabravo62 View Post
      I feel like I have seen chatter about the Whitt ice being removed in mid-late April and the last few years they usually post images or video of the ice going in around late July to early August.
      No curling teams in the Durham area?

      If not, missed $$ opportunity for BS35+8.

      Comment


      • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

        Maybe start a curling program, since Football no longer seems to be the U's calling card. After blowing the librarian's million on a scoreboard to assist in recruiting, the team is 9-5, 4-7 and now 0-2.

        Great call siphoning off and allocating the "donation". At least the fans can enjoy the highlights.

        Critics raised eyebrows at how the school decided to spend the gift: $100,000 to the library, as Morin requested, and $1 million to a video scoreboard for the newly renovated football stadium, which has already set UNH back $25 million.
        The Souza record:
        15-16 10th place
        16-17 10th place
        17-18 11th place
        18-19 8th place
        19-20 9th place
        20-21 10th place
        21-22 9th place
        22-23 10th place

        Comment


        • Originally posted by NCAA watcher View Post
          Maybe start a curling program, since Football no longer seems to be the U's calling card. After blowing the librarian's million on a scoreboard to assist in recruiting, the team is 9-5, 4-7 and now 0-2.

          Great call siphoning off and allocating the "donation". At least the fans can enjoy the highlights.
          But, my understanding is that Morin developed a fondness for football in his last few days living in a nursing home.

          Comment


          • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

            This blog used to be interesting when you'll talked about hockey but lately reading this blog you would never know a hockey team existed at UNH. In reading about the new recruits it looks like this years team could be the best one in years. Several of the new players on paper have the possibility of being better than the graduating seniors yet the talk is about football score boards. What's up guys.....is there still a D1 team at UNH?

            Comment


            • Originally posted by CoachD View Post
              This blog used to be interesting when you'll talked about hockey but lately reading this blog you would never know a hockey team existed at UNH. In reading about the new recruits it looks like this years team could be the best one in years. Several of the new players on paper have the possibility of being better than the graduating seniors yet the talk is about football score boards. What's up guys.....is there still a D1 team at UNH?
              What is the evidence that this season's new recruits are "the best ones in years"? Do we not hear this same statement every year? Details?

              Otherwise, just trying to keep this off-season thread alive during the, umm, off season. :-)
              Last edited by Snively65; 09-17-2019, 07:11 AM.

              Comment


              • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

                Originally posted by CoachD View Post
                This blog used to be interesting when you'll talked about hockey but lately reading this blog you would never know a hockey team existed at UNH. In reading about the new recruits it looks like this years team could be the best one in years. Several of the new players on paper have the possibility of being better than the graduating seniors yet the talk is about football score boards. What's up guys.....is there still a D1 team at UNH?
                Snively65 pretty much handled the low hanging fruit approach to a response here.

                Let me turn the tables a little bit and ask you … what has UNH Hockey done to get the masses excited to the levels of past years? Yes, not too long ago, UNH had one of the best D-1 programs in the country, year in and year out. And the interest level hummed in anticipation of "next year" with the school itself doing relatively little to stoke that interest - they took it for granted, allowed the local media to boost the program to the hockey-loving hordes. Coach Umile wasn't a publicist's dream, he was a hockey coach, and he relied on the on-ice results to keep the buzz on the program, which in turn helped him immeasurably with the other stuff he really didn't enjoy about his job - that whole recruiting thing. That was what McCloskey, Serino, Borek and Tortorella were for.

                The AD was (still is) asleep at the wheel when it comes to publicizing and romancing the NH hockey base, ceding it without even a fight when the Monarchs arrived in Manch during the good ol' days. "Doesn't matter, all is fine" as the AD pointed to a waiting list of over a thousand folks patiently waiting for season ticketholder interest to wane so they could step in and keep the house full.

                Eventually, guys like McCloskey and Serino wanted to do other things, and guys like Borek and Tortorella weren't quite as good at what they did as their predecessors were. Eventually they wanted to do other things, and guys like Souza and Stewart haven't yet established themselves at the levels of Borek or Tortorella, much less McCloskey and Serino. Coach Umile was the same coach, but the quality of "groceries" was slipping, and he himself couldn't be bothered to do something he always relied on others to do.

                The AD still can't be bothered, he's put his latest plan (MS7) in play, and he's just hoping it works out (as do the rest of us). I'm not seeing him doing anything to promote UNH Hockey, now that they're back to being the only game in town (state) by default.

                The fans - the long-term fans - have been entirely taken for granted. MS7 might turn out to be a heck of a hockey coach, but it's early days, and frankly he is showing the same talent for PR as his mentor/predecessor. Which is to say, next to nothing. If you got every hockey fan in the state in a single arena, and asked them "Who is the UNH Men's Hockey head coach?" my guess is one third would know it's Souza, another third would still think it's Coach Umile, and the final third wouldn't know at all.

                This is not made better in any way by the current state of the modern media, which doesn't provide the in-depth coverage they used to, don't ask pressing questions, and just copy and paste press releases to pass for "beat coverage" for the program. It's sad.

                I'm not necessarily expecting MS7 to turn into a hockey messiah and get the word out on his own. Guys like that (RIP Walshy) don't seem to exist anymore. Luckily for him, I don't think he has to be that "out there" or even that great to be successful. But he's got to turn this back into a winning program. Then, if he can do that, we can get on the other folks who've parked things in neutral for the better part of the last generation, and shame them into doing their share of the work to get stuff out there.

                I don't think it's incumbent upon guys like 'Watcher, C-H-C, Dan and an unpaid cast of dozens on here to generate the excitement that the folks with paying jobs should be handling. Those who post on here with their insight and knowledge, do so because they love the game, and they love the program. But it's not their "job" to create content for the casual or not-so-casual fans out there like you and me. So welcome aboard, CoachD (it couldn't really be U, right?), and don't hesitate to provide your thoughts and your own content. I've always said, the more, the merrier.
                Last edited by Chuck Murray; 09-17-2019, 11:19 AM.
                Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                Montreal Expos Forever ...

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Snively65 View Post
                  What is the evidence that this season's new recruits are "the best ones in years"? Do we not hear this same statement every year? Details?

                  Otherwise, just trying to keep this off-season thread alive during the, umm, off season. :-)
                  While I would agree that this UNH team has the potential to be the deepest Wildcat club in years, it’s very likely that this year’s recruiting class has the lowest ceiling of the four on the roster. The success of this year’s UNH season is entirely dependent on the continued development of the returning players like Gildon, Wyse, Crookshank, Pierson, Blackburn, Grasso, Kelleher, Robinson and Taylor...

                  Griffin is raw, recently underachieving forward with the potential for a top-6 role in the future and Eriksson is a top-four defenseman. Griffin probably plays regularly but has a lot of feet wetting to get out of the way. Eriksson is probably the best bet to be a real impact type this season, potentially grabbing the fourth slot on D out of the gate. Otherwise this is a solid but unspectacular group with low ceiling for UNH...

                  Herrmann and Stevenson are in the MacAdams/Esposito mood for me - solid, strong skating bottom six forwards. The type of forwards who can make a key impact IF a team can score consistently and carry the play within its top-six. McElhaney is a huge question mark after missing all of last season. Boyd still seems like an apt comparison to me.

                  —-

                  If you look at each class at the time of matriculation and note the players with expectation (or high potential) to grow into top-six, top-pair or starting goalie types on a competitive team I see it as follows (obviously not all have panned out yet - which is why you needed consistently recruit a real depth of these types)...

                  SR - Grasso, Blackburn, BVR, Fregona, Wyse
                  JR - Kelleher, Gildon, Maass, Robinson
                  SO - Pierson, Crookshank, MacKinnon, Taylor, Engaras
                  FR - Eriksson, Griffin

                  —-
                  To address Ref’s earlier request - here’s what I’d guess we might see out of the gate (with no more inside information than anyone else, so who knows)...

                  Crookshank - Pierson - Kelleher
                  Grasso - Blackburn - Griffin/Fregona
                  Stevenson/Herrmann - Engaras - Fregona/Griffin
                  Herrmann/Stevenson - Sacco - Esposito/MacAdams
                  Cippolone - Sato - Hankinson

                  Wyse - Gildon
                  Maass - Eriksson
                  MacKinnon - Verrier
                  McElhaney - Dawson
                  Hickey

                  Robinson
                  Taylor
                  Lazzarro

                  * Clearly the defense and goaltending appear to be team strengths. I think the bottom six will skate, defend and chip in at a higher level than we’ve seen in recent years. Success this season comes down to how consistently and productively the top-six forwards can play for UNH. They are short one top-six forward, preferably a left-shot forward and I’m concerned they have a lot of good forwards on those lines but no TK/AP type difference makers. They need a couple of those players to take big jumps...

                  I might prefer a jumbled Center mix that gets Engaras up into the top-6 - I would probably prefer a forward group like this if it was up to me...

                  Pierson - Blackburn - Grasso
                  Crookshank - Engaras - Kelleher
                  Stevenson - Griffin - Herrmann
                  Esposito - Sacco - Fregona
                  MacAdams/Cippolone
                  Last edited by Dan; 09-17-2019, 02:06 PM.
                  Live Free or Die!!
                  Miami University '03

                  Comment


                  • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

                    Originally posted by CoachD View Post
                    This blog used to be interesting when you'll talked about hockey but lately reading this blog you would never know a hockey team existed at UNH. In reading about the new recruits it looks like this years team could be the best one in years. Several of the new players on paper have the possibility of being better than the graduating seniors yet the talk is about football score boards. What's up guys.....is there still a D1 team at UNH?
                    Heck yeah!
                    Here we go 'Cats!!

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by HockeyRef View Post
                      Heck yeah!
                      Now, there is a pithy reply. :-)

                      I like Dan's own choice for lines, although Engaras still must sit on the pine (aka plastic) for a few more games, IIRC? Agreed that our blue line looks deeper and stronger this coming season than it has in a long while. "On to Miami."

                      Comment


                      • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

                        Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
                        Snively65 pretty much handled the low hanging fruit approach to a response here.

                        Let me turn the tables a little bit and ask you … what has UNH Hockey done to get the masses excited to the levels of past years? Yes, not too long ago, UNH had one of the best D-1 programs in the country, year in and year out. And the interest level hummed in anticipation of "next year" with the school itself doing relatively little to stoke that interest - they took it for granted, allowed the local media to boost the program to the hockey-loving hordes. Coach Umile wasn't a publicist's dream, he was a hockey coach, and he relied on the on-ice results to keep the buzz on the program, which in turn helped him immeasurably with the other stuff he really didn't enjoy about his job - that whole recruiting thing. That was what McCloskey, Serino, Borek and Tortorella were for.

                        The AD was (still is) asleep at the wheel when it comes to publicizing and romancing the NH hockey base, ceding it without even a fight when the Monarchs arrived in Manch during the good ol' days. "Doesn't matter, all is fine" as the AD pointed to a waiting list of over a thousand folks patiently waiting for season ticketholder interest to wane so they could step in and keep the house full.

                        Eventually, guys like McCloskey and Serino wanted to do other things, and guys like Borek and Tortorella weren't quite as good at what they did as their predecessors were. Eventually they wanted to do other things, and guys like Souza and Stewart haven't yet established themselves at the levels of Borek or Tortorella, much less McCloskey and Serino. Coach Umile was the same coach, but the quality of "groceries" was slipping, and he himself couldn't be bothered to do something he always relied on others to do.

                        The AD still can't be bothered, he's put his latest plan (MS7) in play, and he's just hoping it works out (as do the rest of us). I'm not seeing him doing anything to promote UNH Hockey, now that they're back to being the only game in town (state) by default.

                        The fans - the long-term fans - have been entirely taken for granted. MS7 might turn out to be a heck of a hockey coach, but it's early days, and frankly he is showing the same talent for PR as his mentor/predecessor. Which is to say, next to nothing. If you got every hockey fan in the state in a single arena, and asked them "Who is the UNH Men's Hockey head coach?" my guess is one third would know it's Souza, another third would still think it's Coach Umile, and the final third wouldn't know at all.

                        This is not made better in any way by the current state of the modern media, which doesn't provide the in-depth coverage they used to, don't ask pressing questions, and just copy and paste press releases to pass for "beat coverage" for the program. It's sad.

                        I'm not necessarily expecting MS7 to turn into a hockey messiah and get the word out on his own. Guys like that (RIP Walshy) don't seem to exist anymore. Luckily for him, I don't think he has to be that "out there" or even that great to be successful. But he's got to turn this back into a winning program. Then, if he can do that, we can get on the other folks who've parked things in neutral for the better part of the last generation, and shame them into doing their share of the work to get stuff out there.

                        I don't think it's incumbent upon guys like 'Watcher, C-H-C, Dan and an unpaid cast of dozens on here to generate the excitement that the folks with paying jobs should be handling. Those who post on here with their insight and knowledge, do so because they love the game, and they love the program. But it's not their "job" to create content for the casual or not-so-casual fans out there like you and me. So welcome aboard, CoachD (it couldn't really be U, right?), and don't hesitate to provide your thoughts and your own content. I've always said, the more, the merrier.
                        C'mon Chuck, play along for a bit. Will we be better than last year? Who will be captain? We didn't have any early d-men departures! I heard Benton Maas is carrying a 4.0 as a Paul School finance major. Check out @UNHMHOCKEY for some recent Merrimack Valley publicity and outreach.
                        I will not be out cheered in my own building.

                        Comment


                        • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

                          Originally posted by Darius View Post
                          C'mon Chuck, play along for a bit. Will we be better than last year? Who will be captain? We didn't have any early d-men departures! I heard Benton Maas is carrying a 4.0 as a Paul School finance major. Check out @UNHMHOCKEY for some recent Merrimack Valley publicity and outreach.
                          No problem, Darius. Just thought CoachD seemed to be a little too demanding, castigating our cast of characters on here for not posting more quality hockey content more frequently … in the offseason … while really offering nothing other than what he's read or heard about the incoming recruits (which Dan has since addressed, pouring a little cold water on CD's wide-eyed optimism).

                          I'd be willing to bet that over the course of the nearly 1,000 posts on this thread to date, pretty much everything you mentioned has been covered at least once (except the Maass the Genius thing you just dropped in as news), and I'm guessing there have probably been a half-dozen times someone has trotted out the projected starting line-ups for the Fall. I mean, no disrespect to anyone ... but how many times should 'Watcher or Dan have to recite their projections for next season to keep CoachD satisfied?
                          Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
                          Montreal Expos Forever ...

                          Comment


                          • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

                            Read this earlier.....

                            Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
                            MS7 might turn out to be a heck of a hockey coach, but it's early days, and frankly he is showing the same talent for PR as his mentor/predecessor. Which is to say, next to nothing.
                            Then saw this about an hour later in my twitter feed....

                            https://***********/RPI_HockeyCoach/...85133635481600
                            Are you guys brothers?

                            Comment


                            • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

                              Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
                              No problem, Darius. Just thought CoachD seemed to be a little too demanding, castigating our cast of characters on here for not posting more quality hockey content more frequently … in the offseason … while really offering nothing other than what he's read or heard about the incoming recruits (which Dan has since addressed, pouring a little cold water on CD's wide-eyed optimism).

                              I'd be willing to bet that over the course of the nearly 1,000 posts on this thread to date, pretty much everything you mentioned has been covered at least once (except the Maass the Genius thing you just dropped in as news), and I'm guessing there have probably been a half-dozen times someone has trotted out the projected starting line-ups for the Fall. I mean, no disrespect to anyone ... but how many times should 'Watcher or Dan have to recite their projections for next season to keep CoachD satisfied?
                              Chuck, Chuck, Chuck! I don't know a thing about Coach D but certainly think he has the right to inquire about hockey talk. I love it when someone posts their line predictions. Dan, Watcher, it doesn't matter because it is all opinion. Dan for example has far more knowledge than I have but I might suggest that while i think his quess is spot on (for November or December and beyond) I see Grasso - Blackburn - Kelleher followed by Crookshank - Pierson - And perhaps Sacco. Yes because that would be so UNH, to play the older kid early. My point is that you mention that he could have seen this on here countless times yet you have several dead horses that you just can't seem to stop beating. Everyone knows your feeling on the AD and no MS has yet to prove he is the KING! But the jury is out on that and will always be out. Why, opinion and we all have them. Soooo let others share and relax. Some folks like to guess about goals scored, who will do what, etc.
                              Cats fans, we are all Cats fans.

                              Comment


                              • Re: UNH Wildcats 2019 Offseason - How Much Progress Did We Really Make This Past Seas

                                Did I see on the news that Conklin is their volunteer goalie coach this year? Did I miss that this summer?

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