Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

[Bonin21]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Its a selfish sport at this level...of course they want to win as a team but its more like 24 individuals playing with the same jersey until the next nicer jersey comes along.

I don't see this attitude from the best three teams in MN (and the country).

[Lemonade]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

I don't see this attitude from the best three teams in MN (and the country).

Minnesota is also a different animal as they have the MN High School thing going for it and players stay there to play. Minnesota Gophers have 20 players from MN which is great since they have pride in playing for their state. BU has 9 from home state. Different animal. Technically the state school is UMASS and they only have 4 Mass residents.

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

I think thats a weak excuse. Farabee did fine. These high end players see college as a stepping stone and nothing more. A necessary evil before they get paid. Players want to sign that ELC as soon as possible so they start eating into that 3 year contract so they can become millionaires. If a NHL team wants you early and then most kids jump at it so the clock to getting that huge payday starts earlier. Its a selfish sport at this level...of course they want to win as a team but its more like 24 individuals playing with the same jersey until the next nicer jersey comes along.

My comment is less about Farabee and more towards some of the others that have left or are been rumored to be considering signing who would absolutely not step onto an NHL roster this year, and very likely would not next year. In that category: Krys, Farrance, Bowers, Harper.

Leaving early to go ride the bus indefinitely in the AHL is not the same as signing an ELC when you know you're going to be able to make the NHL roster in a year or so.

[Friend_of_BU_Hockey]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

I think the news of Farabee's departure and the somewhat knee-jerk responses by BU alums in the hockey media is causing a continuous loop of knee-jerk reactions. I can understand why some might criticize the coaching based on both results and observations. However, to blame the coaching staff for the team's overall body of work and the early departures is a bit of an overreaction.

Based on its recruiting, I think the coaching staff definitely accounted for the probability of another off-season of high roster turnover. When taking a look at last offseason's transgressions and the construction of this year's roster, it simply wasn't a deep enough roster for BU to accomplish more without most everything going right throughout the season. Unfortunately a lot of things didn't go the way many around BU hockey had expected:

- Oettinger's inconsistency much of the season
- Major injuries to (Bobo, Krys, Wise)
- Regression by key players (Harper, Bowers, Cockerill, Krys)
- Midseason departure (Vidoli)

The 2nd & 3rd points forced bottom-of-the lineup players -- especially at forward -- to play regular shifts. It was clear as the season progressed roster depth was lacking in close games, where the bench was shortened out of necessity.

I've said this in a prior thread, but this BU team lost a lot more than just its head coach after last season. The size, skill and experience last year's team possessed that was so helpful down the stretch wasn't there. Think about the players lost and players who backfilled in this year's lineup:

2017-2018
Greenway
Tkachuk
Melanson
Crone
Phelps
Olsson
Hickey
Macleod
Diffley


2018-2019
Farabee
Wise (12 games)
Willman
Quercia
DeBoer
Cheremeta
Blixt
Vidoli (5 games)


If Bowers returns, that at least "stems the hemorrhaging". In order for BU to be as competitive as they need to be in HE, key returnees must elevate their games and the high-end Freshmen can hopefully be as good as advertised, and the older Freshmen can hopefully contribute in depth roles immediately. Not to mention they need to shore up the goaltending situation with finding someone to share duties w/ Purpura.

[ColinWilsonFan]

I think thats a weak excuse. Farabee did fine. These high end players see college as a stepping stone and nothing more. A necessary evil before they get paid. Players want to sign that ELC as soon as possible so they start eating into that 3 year contract so they can become millionaires. If a NHL team wants you early and then most kids jump at it so the clock to getting that huge payday starts earlier. Its a selfish sport at this level...of course they want to win as a team but its more like 24 individuals playing with the same jersey until the next nicer jersey comes along.

You are just wrong “blue chip” prospects don’t leave to sign ATO’s and not burn a year of elc and go play in AHL.. most D1 coaches tell their kids better off to stay at a good D1 program than to play in the AHL farabee is a good player scored a lot of goals look at the rest of his game ...

Add krys now to the mix and who else ? Come on reality needs to come into play here and bigger fear now about potential of decommits? Sometimes maybe not every job is good for everyone and people have to realize their strengths and what they are good at

[ColinWilsonFan]

I think the news of Farabee's departure and the somewhat knee-jerk responses by BU alums in the hockey media is causing a continuous loop of knee-jerk reactions. I can understand why some might criticize the coaching based on both results and observations. However, to blame the coaching staff for the team's overall body of work and the early departures is a bit of an overreaction.

Based on its recruiting, I think the coaching staff definitely accounted for the probability of another off-season of high roster turnover. When taking a look at last offseason's transgressions and the construction of this year's roster, it simply wasn't a deep enough roster for BU to accomplish more without most everything going right throughout the season. Unfortunately a lot of things didn't go the way many around BU hockey had expected:

- Oettinger's inconsistency much of the season
- Major injuries to (Bobo, Krys, Wise)
- Regression by key players (Harper, Bowers, Cockerill, Krys)
- Midseason departure (Vidoli)

The 2nd & 3rd points forced bottom-of-the lineup players -- especially at forward -- to play regular shifts. It was clear as the season progressed roster depth was lacking in close games, where the bench was shortened out of necessity.

I've said this in a prior thread, but this BU team lost a lot more than just its head coach after last season. The size, skill and experience last year's team possessed that was so helpful down the stretch wasn't there. Think about the players lost and players who backfilled in this year's lineup:

2017-2018
Greenway
Tkachuk
Melanson
Crone
Phelps
Olsson
Hickey
Macleod
Diffley


2018-2019
Farabee
Wise (12 games)
Willman
Quercia
DeBoer
Cheremeta
Blixt
Vidoli (5 games)


If Bowers returns, that at least "stems the hemorrhaging". In order for BU to be as competitive as they need to be in HE, key returnees must elevate their games and the high-end Freshmen can hopefully be as good as advertised, and the older Freshmen can hopefully contribute in depth roles immediately. Not to mention they need to shore up the goaltending situation with finding someone to share duties w/ Purpura.

“Oettingers inconsistency” you obviously don’t know much about hockey the guy had the 5-6 best save percentage in the country and a bad GAA why ?! Because he was facing an insane amount of shots per game in number and quality .. there was no defensive structure in front of him in any meaningful way oettinger was by far the MVP
Of this team in every way ... There isn’t enough time even to address the rest we all love the team and this program but we need to deal with reality and not wishful thinking ....

[J.D.]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

This guy's coming out swinging

[chickod]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

I think thats a weak excuse. Farabee did fine. These high end players see college as a stepping stone and nothing more. A necessary evil before they get paid. Players want to sign that ELC as soon as possible so they start eating into that 3 year contract so they can become millionaires. If a NHL team wants you early and then most kids jump at it so the clock to getting that huge payday starts earlier. Its a selfish sport at this level...of course they want to win as a team but its more like 24 individuals playing with the same jersey until the next nicer jersey comes along.

Right. Which is going to turn off even more fans, IMO. I'm not saying I have a solution. But don't you think that at least "some" of the attendance decline is a direct result of this? Fans like to identify with players on teams, and the constant merry go round is not conducive to that. I won't stop watching because it's impossible after 49 years. But many will, or will choose other forms of entertainment. And the players had better watch it also. Nothing lasts forever and at some point schools are going to realize that the benefits of these programs are starting to get negated by the reduction in revenue. It's not as if they're getting name recognition to attract a wider pool of students. College hockey is a niche sport. UCF got more recognition by almost upsetting Duke in the BB tournament yesterday than BU will get in ten years for their hockey program. If you never travel to other areas of the country it's hard to realize that. It's a fad with schools that just recently elevated the sport, like Penn State and Arizona State. But a few years of not reaching the pinnacle and their attendance will tail off as well. Once the revenue starts to dry up, there will be fewer places for players to go to gain that necessary "experience" to get to the next level. Like everything else, a good rule is "everything in moderation." Once the pendulum swings too far in one direction, you can bet it's coming back soon.

[chickod]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

This guy's coming out swinging

Not wrong though. My guess is you would have said the same about Woll. The defense in front of him was less than stellar...and it's pretty tough when you don't score any goals. BU struggled to score all year (or they had a couple of games where they scored in bunches to skew the average). It's very difficult to win games when you get behind 1-0 and start believing your chances have just gone down by 50%.

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

“Oettingers inconsistency” you obviously don’t know much about hockey the guy had the 5-6 best save percentage in the country and a bad GAA why ?! Because he was facing an insane amount of shots per game in number and quality .. there was no defensive structure in front of him in any meaningful way oettinger was by far the MVP
Of this team in every way ... There isn’t enough time even to address the rest we all love the team and this program but we need to deal with reality and not wishful thinking ....

Jake's second half of the season was outstanding, but he did have an inconsistent first half. 4 on 35 @ Mankato, 4 on 30 @ Mankato, 3 on 17 @ MC, 2 on 19 @UNH, 4 on 27 @UML, 3 on 30 BC, 3 on 30 @NU, 5 on 39 PC. You're right, some very high shot totals in there and of course not all of those goals are his fault but 8 of the 16 first half games he was <.900. That plus having seen every game in person with my own eyes, he let in a larger than usual number of ones he'd want back.

Fortunately he reversed that in the second half and single-handedly won numerous games and kept us in others that we had no business being in.

[DLG]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

If things stay as they are right now we have lost 4 players
Two were sure to go all season and Bowers also but he had a poor year
Farabee 2nd half performance put him more on flyers radar- Krys makes no sense

The attendance and interest was down all season everywhere
Maybe all the games available on line and TV hurts more than we think
The hockey east attendance this weekend Fri 11,000 Sat 13,500 was encouraging

Think coaching criticism is team not improving much during season and number of returning players who regressed
Defense was strong point going in but played poorly defensively all year

No clue but sure a goalie to be added for next year--Maybe a graduate transfer?

[chickod]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

Jake's second half of the season was outstanding, but he did have an inconsistent first half. 4 on 35 @ Mankato, 4 on 30 @ Mankato, 3 on 17 @ MC, 2 on 19 @UNH, 4 on 27 @UML, 3 on 30 BC, 3 on 30 @NU, 5 on 39 PC. You're right, some very high shot totals in there and of course not all of those goals are his fault but 8 of the 16 first half games he was <.900. That plus having seen every game in person with my own eyes, he let in a larger than usual number of ones he'd want back.

Fortunately he reversed that in the second half and single-handedly won numerous games and kept us in others that we had no business being in.

Moot point now anyway, as he won't be back.

[Bomber]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

The Turnover Machine is taking his talents to The Madhouse on Madison.

ColinWilsonFan, did you watch this team all year? Jake had a spotty first semester.

[ColinWilsonFan]

Jake's second half of the season was outstanding, but he did have an inconsistent first half. 4 on 35 @ Mankato, 4 on 30 @ Mankato, 3 on 17 @ MC, 2 on 19 @UNH, 4 on 27 @UML, 3 on 30 BC, 3 on 30 @NU, 5 on 39 PC. You're right, some very high shot totals in there and of course not all of those goals are his fault but 8 of the 16 first half games he was <.900. That plus having seen every game in person with my own eyes, he let in a larger than usual number of ones he'd want back.

Fortunately he reversed that in the second half and single-handedly won numerous games and kept us in others that we had no business being in.

I have as well almost .... I think there’s a period of adjustment as a goalie till you figure out what you have in front of you when you aren’t playing with confidence and you need to adjust you make mistakes .. to his credit he figured it all out and adjusted any trained eye could see his style changed over the year

[Friend_of_BU_Hockey]

Re: Boston University 2018-2019 - Still Alive!

This guy's coming out swinging

A polite word to describe this fan is "passionate". Just doesn't come out the right way at times.