Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

[Beantownhitter]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Sure, but irrelavent. Its when you're consuming the beer that's in question. College kids boozing = no problem. 2/3rds of the team getting boozed up before the biggest game of the season and then laying an egg in said game = ***** ridiculous and inexcusable, especially since the team was in 'win or go home for the season' mode. If the players aren't going to prepare and put out maximum effort for a game like that, when will they ever?

Hard to disagree with this. And I wouldn't try to explain it away either. But with all we've learned recently, it's probably fair to say that while the '08-'09 season was about "Burning the Boats", '09-'10 proved that the ship had sailed well before the St Patrick's Day debacle. Parker knew it (and admitted it in the FOH letter) and so did the rest of the team. (all of a sudden Parker's decision on who would select the Captain(s) makes more sense?)

Fortunately, for those who believe in yin-yang, '10-'11 has a very good chance to be different. Count me among those who expect as much.

[srsterrier]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Sure, but irrelavent. Its when you're consuming the beer that's in question. College kids boozing = no problem. 2/3rds of the team getting boozed up before the biggest game of the season and then laying an egg in said game = ***** ridiculous and inexcusable, especially since the team was in 'win or go home for the season' mode. If the players aren't going to prepare and put out maximum effort for a game like that, when will they ever?

-I agree with just about everything in this post. Violating team rules [and, in some cases, Commonwealth of Massachusetts laws] is bad. But violating your commitment to your teammates and the University is worse. If these guys have not figured it out yet, here it is again: it is a privilege to wear the Scarlet and White jersey. If they can't see it that way, then they should not be here. And to those who would say it's just a steppingstone to the NHL for a lot of these kids, maybe ... but what does that have to do with Saponari? He is a marginal NHL prospect as are most of the other guys on the team. Few will become NHL regulars.


- One more thing, just wondering: do you think the St. Patrick's day outing would have happened if Strait was still here?

[Terrierbyassociation]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

I agree with Rover. How can that many members of the team go out and so wantonly break a major team rule right before their win or go home game?

Its one thing if it was just 2-3 guys. It seems like more than half the team was there.

What the hell? That's not just leadership, that's on the coaching staff for not instilling the fear of God in these kids.

Boys will be boys to a point.

This one is just baffling.

[Hurl82]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

From all the stories over the past week, sounds like these guys could've fit right in with the 2009-10 team:

http://www.strateside.com/digineer_b..._A75/otter.gif

http://strangeherring.files.wordpres...imal_house.jpg

[mookie1995]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Coaching staff
fear of god

this was an ef you move. Plain and simple. Weekend. Out when everyone else is out, so you will be seen. Whether Parker and bavo are nice or tough, the ringleaders played a huge ef em on the program. Plain and simple...

[ericredaxe]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Some pretty varied opinions on who gets more of the blame pie here... coaching staff or players...

To me it's more on the players... yes I suppose the coaching staff perhaps should have put the fear of god in them (and that might be the case now)... but really, we are not talking about 14 year olds here... why should the coaching staff have to do that? Shouldn't a division 1 varsity athlete have enough pride in their performance to proplery prepare themselves for a win or go home situation?

[mookie1995]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Jack had already suspended the tiger4 not one year ago, but two years ago!!! Friggin Colby and shattenkirk were freshmen, pipko, kraus, and gryba sophomores!! Everyone on the team knew the potential punishment.

They didn't care. Or worse yet cared and said " fcuk it, so what."

[BUT09]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Some pretty varied opinions on who gets more of the blame pie here... coaching staff or players...

To me it's more on the players... yes I suppose the coaching staff perhaps should have put the fear of god in them (and that might be the case now)... but really, we are not talking about 14 year olds here... why should the coaching staff have to do that? Shouldn't a division 1 varsity athlete have enough pride in their performance to properly prepare themselves for a win or go home situation?

I agree. They are adults, their behavior is on them. They made their choices, and they have to live with them. The coaching staff can't babysit them at all times, and they can only do so much in terms of laying down the law. In the end, they are adults and will make their own decisions. If they commit a crime, are the police going to arrest Jack Parker?

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

To me it's more on the players... yes I suppose the coaching staff perhaps should have put the fear of god in them (and that might be the case now)... but really, we are not talking about 14 year olds here... why should the coaching staff have to do that? Shouldn't a division 1 varsity athlete have enough pride in their performance to proplery prepare themselves for a win or go home situation?

I tend to agree with you here. Do these kids really need someone babysitting them at this point in their lives? I mean seriously. And how stupid do you have to be to show up late for a punishment workout? Talk about freakin stupid.

[fangers]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

I tend to agree with you here. Do these kids really need someone babysitting them at this point in their lives? I mean seriously. And how stupid do you have to be to show up late for a punishment workout? Talk about freakin stupid.

Problem is, by the time many get to school this behaviour is well established, starting back in their midget & junior days (sadly, sometimes it started at home). Coaches/staff who either turn a blind eye or take the "if I don't know about it" approach, adults (sometimes fans, sometimes billits) who don't enforce team rules, etc. Many times, even if caught, if the player had talent there were little negative consequence, many times another coach or team willing to give them another chance.

[Federal League]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Problem is, by the time many get to school this behaviour is well established, starting back in their midget & junior days (sadly, sometimes it started at home). Coaches/staff who either turn a blind eye or take the "if I don't know about it" approach, adults (sometimes fans, sometimes billits) who don't enforce team rules, etc. Many times, even if caught, if the player had talent there were little negative consequence, many times another coach or team willing to give them another chance.

This is a good point. My high school's top football and hockey players got away with pretty much whatever they wanted in my town. All the cops knew who they were and would give them a half-hearted "Don't do it again" whenever they got caught.

[Rover]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Soooo.....what are we paying the coaching staff for?

Apparently its not their job to motivate players, nor discipline them, nor work on things in practice that might enhance the ability to win upcoming games, nor keep them in line...

Really, these people aren't making minimum wage. Once recruiting season is over, do they have any responsibilities? Not much from what I'm reading.

[ericredaxe]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Soooo.....what are we paying the coaching staff for?

Apparently its not their job to motivate players, nor discipline them, nor work on things in practice that might enhance the ability to win upcoming games, nor keep them in line...

Really, these people aren't making minimum wage. Once recruiting season is over, do they have any responsibilities? Not much from what I'm reading.

X's and O's comes to mind as the most important thing apart from recruiting... and i'm sure the coaching staff does a lot of things in practice to help enhance the teams ability to win upcoming games.

Dicipline yes, and motivation yes, but I still contend that these athletes are basically adults and should not have to be babysat 24/7.

[BU Hammer]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

Whether or not you hold the players or the coaches is a matter of how much responsibility you think they should take on. If you think they're young adults who, as such, should be capable of making responsible decisions and should be able to prioritize their status as athletes, and not simply college students who do what college kids do.

If you view them as college kids who need to be kept in line, then obviously, it's Parker's fault when they step out of line. In the end, it's somewhere in between, potentially varying a little one way or the other depending on where you're looking from.

[Beantownhitter]

Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

I'm going back to my earlier comment that referenced the hangover from the championship season. It manifested itself early this season when the team played sluggishly. If we're fair to everyone, at the very least it had to be somewhat hard to bring the same level of intensity every day coming off the Frozen 4 high. Parker kept pushing different buttons (as all coaches do) trying to find the one that would light the fuse. But something was off. The chemistry wasn't right. Along the way certain things were left sliding; some guys got a pass for an apparent lack of on-ice commitment while others (perhaps many others) were given a pass for a lack of commitment off-ice. Maybe everyone thought that if given a little wiggle room, the team would find a way to work through the hangover and gel as the season moved through the holidays. That's happened before...we've all seen it. Unfortunately, this time it didn't and these recent reports confirm that things kept going the wrong way, in fact getting worse.

For that, everyone should be accountable; Parker, the assistants, the captains and the players. When they look in the mirror they will all know that they made mistakes, that they let too many bad habits slide and that they accepted less than the best they had to give. They share in the failure equally. That will bother most of them I suspect. Some, maybe not, and it looks like for a couple of them, Parker has decided that, at least from a chemistry standpoint, he won't take the risk that it will happen again next year.

Trying to ration blame for a team failure makes for some interesting conversation, but it's ultimately a waste of time. The only way we get the kind of team BU deserves is if coaches and players insist that they each bear an equal share of responsibility for the failure this year and commit to insuring that next year will be different.