Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards

[Slasher7]

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

Quite honestly, I think he's ****ed if he does, ****ed if he doesn't. If he had dismissed those players and didn't say anything, he'd be accused of keeping information from people. It would leak, because one of the Saponaris would talk, and so forth. No one is ever happy how things like this are handled.

You're probably right. I think of the Motherwell/O'Hanley thing at BC. They were booted and neither said a word afterwards. I think a case can be made to be the first to speak, but I think a coach needs to take the high road sometimes though.

[TimP]

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

Is anyone really surprised that Jack Parker is trying to shift blame from himself to his players?

Keep slamming your players in the press and keep cutting them out of personal frustration. The word is out: even though you can't get in at BC, there are better places to go than the diploma mill down the road.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

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

Not to start trouble... I'm not trying to flame here. But...

I am having a hard time seeing the quote "conduct unbecoming of a BU hockey player" from Parker in light of these recent dismissals yet back in 2003 when John Sabo destroyed a kid's face outside of The Avenue, he didn't even suspend the kid. Am I crazy or does that seem like "conduct unbecoming" of basically a human being?

Whether or not these kids were good dismissals or were cancerous in the locker room or bad examples for the team ... I don't know. But I find it difficult to believe these kids were displaying bad conduct while Sabo did not according to Parker. Or he's changing the rules as he goes.

[Slasher7]

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

Not to start trouble... I'm not trying to flame here. But...

I am having a hard time seeing the quote "conduct unbecoming of a BU hockey player" from Parker in light of these recent dismissals yet back in 2003 when John Sabo destroyed a kid's face outside of The Avenue, he didn't even suspend the kid. Am I crazy or does that seem like "conduct unbecoming" of basically a human being?

Whether or not these kids were good dismissals or were cancerous in the locker room or bad examples for the team ... I don't know. But I find it difficult to believe these kids were displaying bad conduct while Sabo did not according to Parker. Or he's changing the rules as he goes.

Looking at the title of this thread "Booting Forwards", I assumed it was about John Sabo...

[Puck Swami]

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

I think BU fans have every right to question their coach in matters like this, but at the end of the day, I'd still put my trust in Parker. In 35+ years, he's won a lot of hardware and shaped a lot raw teenagers into the grown men that they eventually become.

JP is an old-school coach who isn't there to be friends with his players, who already know when they sign with BU that he's very tough on players when they screw up. He is an intimidating man who demands high standards from his players - the kind of guy they don't enjoy all that much while they are at BU, but they appreciate later in life because he's shaping their lives in the right direction.

Parker has seen every type of player and every of type locker room dynamic out there. Over the years, he's quietly and privately fixed hundreds of players and bad locker room situtations that we as fans will never see. That's his job. And when he (or his staff) realize that simply can't fix the issue, he's not afraid to dismiss players. He's doing it for the benefit of his team, and he's doing it as a deterrent to others.

That's not to say that coaches are perfect. Parker has made mistakes as all coaches do. But I think when anyone does something as well as Parker does for as long as he's done it, he's probably right a lot more often than he's wrong. Dismissing a player is usually the last thing a coach wants to do, and I am sure a ton of thought, consultation and dilberation went into the process.

[slurpees]

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

Is anyone really surprised that Jack Parker is trying to shift blame from himself to his players?

Keep slamming your players in the press and keep cutting them out of personal frustration. The word is out: even though you can't get in at BC, there are better places to go than the diploma mill down the road.

Just like Matt Gilroy can't play defense well, right?

[Noreaster]

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

It should be interesting to see how many of BU's current commits end up attending BU given how quickly Parker shifts the blame to the players using the media as the means to get that message across.

[Friend_of_BU_Hockey]

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

Because of the timing of the Freep articles, it's easy to see how some people are led to believe that on Monday, Jack suspended Vinny, then less than 24 hours later, decided to dismiss him from the team.

Based on 3hock's post from last week, it sounded like the suspensions were already handed out days before Monday's Freep article was published. I suspect FL had to verify his sources before publishing the article, hence the presumed lag time between the day the suspensions were actually handed out and the day the first article was published.

As others have suggested, I believe something else must have transpired from the time Vinny was informed of his suspension that led to his dismissal. This is why I'm not sure I agree w/ Jack when he said to Vinny the puckstar incident didn't factor into his decision...

[J.D.]

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

The two situations are very different... Bennett was just not getting the job done, and can you imagine 09 if he had NOT released Bennett?!?!

I have a problem with releasing players from their scholarship just because they haven't met your expectations. Unless Bennett was like Saponari, I don't think that was right at all.

It would leak, because one of the Saponaris would talk, and so forth.

Not necessarily. Some BC insiders might know what happened with Motherwell and O'Hanley, but it never got out to the general public.

[candycanes99]

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

Not necessarily. Some BC insiders might know what happened with Motherwell and O'Hanley, but it never got out to the general public.

None of the details we know came from Parker's statement though, they were all leaked through other means. All he said was "conducting unbecoming..." etc. He could have said nothing at all, but Jack likes to have press conferences and press releases. IIRC, O'Hanley and Motherwell were both suspended indefinitely, and Motherwell just decided to leave (not sure what O'Hanley ended up doing). This is an immediate dismissal, so maybe he felt like he had to give some justification.

[TommyNoblesIsLife]

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

I have a problem with releasing players from their scholarship just because they haven't met your expectations. Unless Bennett was like Saponari, I don't think that was right at all.

From what I heard about Bennett, the team didn't want him there and he refused to try hard in practice. If he doesn't care about how he plays on the ice, he doesn't deserve 50k a year to go to school.

As for Saponari, I definitely think what he did was wrong, but I don't understand what he did that got him kicked off the team. He would have had to do something egregiously worse than Trivino, and while it does seem there were cumulative issues leading up to the dismissal, it doesn't sound like any of that was that serious until after his season review meeting with the coaches. I also don't know if the plan was to suspend him, and then something changed on Tuesday morning, or if the plan was to punish him and they decided the punishment Tuesday morning (and thus they didn't plan on suspending him and something changed between Monday and Tuesday).

It just seems strange to me that the drinking thing happened in March, and the three of them are getting punished now.

[J.D.]

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

None of the details we know came from Parker's statement though, they were all leaked through other means. All he said was "conducting unbecoming..." etc. He could have said nothing at all, but Jack likes to have press conferences and press releases. IIRC, O'Hanley and Motherwell were both suspended indefinitely, and Motherwell just decided to leave (not sure what O'Hanley ended up doing). This is an immediate dismissal, so maybe he felt like he had to give some justification.

Hmm I believe you are correct in that it was an "indefinite suspension" and that both players saw the writing on the wall and decided to leave...

October 17, 2007
Standout BC defensemen serving indefinite suspensions

Boston College defensemen Brett Motherwell and Brian O'Hanley are serving an indefinite suspension for violating team rules. Both players participated in last Friday's opening game of the IceBreaker Tournament at St. Paul, Minn. — a 4-3 overtime loss for the Eagles against Michigan.

Neither player was in the lineup for Saturday's 4-1 win at the Icebreaker against Rensselaer, and this week's Boston College game notes from the BC Media Relations office states, "Junior defenseman Brett Motherwell and senior defenseman Brian O'Hanley will be out of the lineup indefinitely for a violation of team rules."

[Slasher7]

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

It just seems strange to me that the drinking thing happened in March, and the three of them are getting punished now.

I would imagine Parker wanted to:

a.) See how their grades finished up before making a final decision

or

b.) Knew they'd be kicked out but wanted them to finish the semester so they could transfer (if they chose to) and not lose a semester's worth of credits.

I'm going with a.)

[TommyNoblesIsLife]

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

I would imagine Parker wanted to:

a.) See how their grades finished up before making a final decision

or

b.) Knew they'd be kicked out but wanted them to finish the semester so they could transfer (if they chose to) and not lose a semester's worth of credits.

I'm going with a.)

Why would their grades matter though in this situation?

[Slasher7]

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

Why would their grades matter though in this situation?

Perhaps if they ended up with a really poor GPA, it would be easier to justify their exodus to the university and be ammo for any potential lawsuit brought on by the family.