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UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
We're only a week away from dropping the puck on another UNH Hockey season, with the exhibition game next Sunday at The Whitt getting things underway. The 'Cats finished last season strongly - actually, surprisingly they've been at their best towards the end of both of their last two seasons - but on both occasions were left at home for the NCAA's due to their (uncharacteristic) slow starts to those seasons. Slow starts - like strong finishes - have historically been rare in the Umile era, and it's been painfully ironic that just as the 'Cats have seemingly discovered the recipe to strong late season performances ... their traditional quick starts have abandoned them, and ultimately killed their chances to advance into the only tournament that REALLY matters.
The offseason has featured two main themes that we'll carry into the upcoming season, and should impact what we'll be seeing from the program in the future. Theme One has been the much discussed and debated "changing of the guard" at the top of the program ... and while that hasn't actually officially been confirmed other than airings of guidelines and mile posts, the signals coming out of Durham are we're into the first of three chapters in the final act of Coach Umile's reign. The arrival of Mike Souza as the apparent "successor in waiting", and the public discussion of a three year "extension" to Coach Umile's lifetime contract at least on the surface seems to be setting out the mid-range future of the program, and as someone who has pleaded in the past for the injection of fresh new blood into the recruiting and leadership of the UNH program, overall I'm pleased to see the arrivals of Coaches Stewart and Souza to implement this new approach. Now the pieces are at least in place, and hopefully now we can see the positive effects on the improvement of the quality of the incoming recruits, as well as the positive on-campus development of these kids into productive D-1 players.
To me, although I still have questions about Coach Stewart's long-term commitment (i.e. how does he feel about being bypassed by Coach Souza? and secondly, does Coach Souza see Coach Stewart as his right-hand man if/when Souza does ascend to the top job?), and I still warily eye the whole "three year plan" concept IF UNH does begin to march back up the D-1 competitive pyramid, giving Coach Umile a professional "second wind" ... having some of those issues in place might shake some of the perceived complacency out of the top of the program, and force everyone to be at their best. Coach Umile certainly wants to end on a high note, and perhaps privately he still harbors hopes of continuing past Year Three ... Coach Souza needs to establish his credibility as the apparent successor, both behind the bench in the long run AND on the recruiting trails before then ... and Coach Stewart will want to at least match (if not exceed) Coach Souza's success with recruiting and teaching, if only to solidify his position, if not create a "dark horse" possibility that he'll instead take over. Perhaps there may be conflicting agendas to some degree there, but I think it forces everyone to be at their best, and for the mid-range future of the UNH Hockey program, I think that's a good thing.
The second theme goes to the strength of schedule (or lack thereof) that UNH has assembled for this coming season. In this space last season, I predicted a very difficult start to the season, resulting in a finish in the lower half of HE's regular season standings. Sadly, those turned out to be pretty accurate, and even when the strong finish many of us hoped for did indeed materialize ... it wasn't quite enough to get into the NCAA tourney. And seeing a PC team that limped into the national tourney (ironically like so many slow-finishing UNH teams of the past) catch fire and win it all was admittedly a little bit painful - not the least from the late largesse of their FF Finals opposition. "Why can't that ever happen for us?" has to be a thought that crossed many NH minds last April ... but you gotta get there first to give yourself that chance.
And so that brings us to that schedule thingie, and I'll say here and now that I expect UNH to win at least 10 games by the December break - and hopefully more. They should also have at least 9-10 points on the board after their first 7 HE regular season games. And that points outlook should have them postured for the top 4 - and REAL "home ice" for the HE quarterfinals, instead of "home ice" for the everyone-gets-a-medal round. And if the team can even come close to being able to approximate the strong late-season play of the last two seasons ... a return to the NCAA's SHOULD be attainable. But a fast start - like the good ol' days - is essential not only to set the foundation for a more challenging second-half league schedule, but also to build on the confidence the team developed down the stretch last season. "Champions of December" has been a taunt to the program in the past, but I'd welcome a return to that *title* in 90 days' time, so long as the team doesn't buy into any hype, and understands that even more will be required once they hit early 2016.
I'll leave it to others to discuss other issues within the team, including:
* Will Tirone continue as the everyday goalie? Will Clark get some starts, or is he en route to transferring out when Robinson arrives next season?
* Is Maller going to be able to return to form in the top two pairings? Which younger D-men will fill the other slots?
* Does the senior class of forwards have any shot at making an impact, and if not, what younger players step up?
That's it for now. But I'm optimistic about the outlook on the ice this season, and I'm even more compelled to see how the off-ice dynamics of Umile-Souza-Stewart work to the benefit (or detriment?) of the program. And I'm intentionally ignoring the "bells-and-whistles" additions to The Whitt, advanced analytics, etc. as a matter of personal policy, while I'm strongly rooting against BC (just because), UConn (Luce Canaan), and NICC (reasons too numerous to list here) to fall FAR short of expectations.
Drop the puck already. Go Cats!!
The offseason has featured two main themes that we'll carry into the upcoming season, and should impact what we'll be seeing from the program in the future. Theme One has been the much discussed and debated "changing of the guard" at the top of the program ... and while that hasn't actually officially been confirmed other than airings of guidelines and mile posts, the signals coming out of Durham are we're into the first of three chapters in the final act of Coach Umile's reign. The arrival of Mike Souza as the apparent "successor in waiting", and the public discussion of a three year "extension" to Coach Umile's lifetime contract at least on the surface seems to be setting out the mid-range future of the program, and as someone who has pleaded in the past for the injection of fresh new blood into the recruiting and leadership of the UNH program, overall I'm pleased to see the arrivals of Coaches Stewart and Souza to implement this new approach. Now the pieces are at least in place, and hopefully now we can see the positive effects on the improvement of the quality of the incoming recruits, as well as the positive on-campus development of these kids into productive D-1 players.
To me, although I still have questions about Coach Stewart's long-term commitment (i.e. how does he feel about being bypassed by Coach Souza? and secondly, does Coach Souza see Coach Stewart as his right-hand man if/when Souza does ascend to the top job?), and I still warily eye the whole "three year plan" concept IF UNH does begin to march back up the D-1 competitive pyramid, giving Coach Umile a professional "second wind" ... having some of those issues in place might shake some of the perceived complacency out of the top of the program, and force everyone to be at their best. Coach Umile certainly wants to end on a high note, and perhaps privately he still harbors hopes of continuing past Year Three ... Coach Souza needs to establish his credibility as the apparent successor, both behind the bench in the long run AND on the recruiting trails before then ... and Coach Stewart will want to at least match (if not exceed) Coach Souza's success with recruiting and teaching, if only to solidify his position, if not create a "dark horse" possibility that he'll instead take over. Perhaps there may be conflicting agendas to some degree there, but I think it forces everyone to be at their best, and for the mid-range future of the UNH Hockey program, I think that's a good thing.
The second theme goes to the strength of schedule (or lack thereof) that UNH has assembled for this coming season. In this space last season, I predicted a very difficult start to the season, resulting in a finish in the lower half of HE's regular season standings. Sadly, those turned out to be pretty accurate, and even when the strong finish many of us hoped for did indeed materialize ... it wasn't quite enough to get into the NCAA tourney. And seeing a PC team that limped into the national tourney (ironically like so many slow-finishing UNH teams of the past) catch fire and win it all was admittedly a little bit painful - not the least from the late largesse of their FF Finals opposition. "Why can't that ever happen for us?" has to be a thought that crossed many NH minds last April ... but you gotta get there first to give yourself that chance.
And so that brings us to that schedule thingie, and I'll say here and now that I expect UNH to win at least 10 games by the December break - and hopefully more. They should also have at least 9-10 points on the board after their first 7 HE regular season games. And that points outlook should have them postured for the top 4 - and REAL "home ice" for the HE quarterfinals, instead of "home ice" for the everyone-gets-a-medal round. And if the team can even come close to being able to approximate the strong late-season play of the last two seasons ... a return to the NCAA's SHOULD be attainable. But a fast start - like the good ol' days - is essential not only to set the foundation for a more challenging second-half league schedule, but also to build on the confidence the team developed down the stretch last season. "Champions of December" has been a taunt to the program in the past, but I'd welcome a return to that *title* in 90 days' time, so long as the team doesn't buy into any hype, and understands that even more will be required once they hit early 2016.
I'll leave it to others to discuss other issues within the team, including:
* Will Tirone continue as the everyday goalie? Will Clark get some starts, or is he en route to transferring out when Robinson arrives next season?
* Is Maller going to be able to return to form in the top two pairings? Which younger D-men will fill the other slots?
* Does the senior class of forwards have any shot at making an impact, and if not, what younger players step up?
That's it for now. But I'm optimistic about the outlook on the ice this season, and I'm even more compelled to see how the off-ice dynamics of Umile-Souza-Stewart work to the benefit (or detriment?) of the program. And I'm intentionally ignoring the "bells-and-whistles" additions to The Whitt, advanced analytics, etc. as a matter of personal policy, while I'm strongly rooting against BC (just because), UConn (Luce Canaan), and NICC (reasons too numerous to list here) to fall FAR short of expectations.
Drop the puck already. Go Cats!!
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