Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

[Humanoid]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

Eaxctly, fish throwing is not a Bentley tradition, and copying another team's tradition is no different than plagiarism in my book. Below is the summary in Wikipedia, which is reasonably close to my long-term recollections of all things UNH hockey. To me the funny part about the UNH fish throwing tradition is that Zeta Chi alums are allowed to attend home games these days for only as long as it takes to throw out the fish, then must leave Lake Whitt, as their fraternity received a lifetime ban from UNH (think Delta Tau Chi [sic] in Animal House).

But, the stupid thing about the Bentley fish-throwing incident late last season was that the head ref warned the students that he would assess Bentley a 2-minute minor if another fish was thrown, and the students tried to throw a second fish anyway. Fortunately, after two tries, they could not get the second fish over the glass, with it breaking apart and falling onto the walkway on the second try. Taking stupid penalties is never a good idea, and I think that more disciplined play is one of the major reasons that Bentley performed better last season.


from Wikipedia on UNH hockey

Traditions

Throwing Out the Fish (Hockey)

UNH has a long history of successful hockey programs. Dating back to Charlie Holt in the ‘70's to present day coach Dick Umile, it has had great support and is a figurehead among the university community. A prominent tradition within the program has been the throwing of the fish. After UNH scores its first goal, all fans turn their attention to the opposing teams net. Up and over the boards, a fish is thrown onto the ice. The crowd erupts in excitement.

According to Bob Norton, a former UNH assistant coach, the fish-tossing tradition began in the early 1970s. "It goes back to when we were playing a Division II team, and our program had gone way past theirs. I remember (the UNH fans) threw out this little dinky thing and they called it a Division II fish. I guess they were trying to tell them they weren't worthy of a first-rate fish."

This tradition caught on as the Zeta Chi fraternity made it a ritual to throw out the fish after UNH's first goal. The fish was used to resemble the visiting team, "fishing the puck out of the net."

One of Umile's favorite fish incidents occurred in the early 1990s. At that time, the home team received a penalty if fans threw objects on the ice. "At all these different rinks people were throwing things—tennis balls, newspapers --and it was really holding up the game," Umile recalls. "It's the Maine weekend, and the cops won't let the kid in with the fish. I'm in the office before the game, and the students come to get me. So I go down there, get the fish from the cops, and we're walking in with the fish in the bag. The kids say, 'But coach, we're going to get a penalty.' I say, 'Don't worry about it. We'll kill the penalty. Just throw the fish.'"

You know -this is great and all, but I highly doubt Bentley students are well-read enough to know about the traditions up at UNH hockey. The coaching staff last year kept iterating that they just wanted students to come out and be rowdy. When they announced the warning about the 2-minute penalty, they stopped throwing the fish from what I could tell. They threw it twice. Once was funny, and the second drew the warning. In all fairness, it was the rink guy's mistake since he put the fish in a barrel where it could be easily retrieved..........right in front of the stands. He should've barreled it with the ice from the Zamboni like everyone else does.

All this said - I'm of the opinion that I really don't care what the students do as long as they come out. I'm sure Coach Soderquist would have the same opinion as Coach Umile about the fish - we'll kill that penalty if you guys show up and make noise and get wild.

Traditions are funny - we can't predict who or what will make them happen. We can't predict how they come along, and we certainly can't force them. Many teams share the same traditions but with their own spin on them. And the traditions at Bentley are starting to come along. It'll take some time but they'll get there. And if it turns into this, there's always going to be some latitude from the officials. It's when you throw stuff three times that it goes from fun to obnoxious. After all, look at the Easy button last year.

[schiegs]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

All this said - I'm of the opinion that I really don't care what the students do as long as they come out. I'm sure Coach Soderquist would have the same opinion as Coach Umile about the fish - we'll kill that penalty if you guys show up and make noise and get wild.

My point exactly. When Bentley starts selling out games, we can worry about reigning in the fish. I assumed the ridiculousness of throwing an entire school of cod on the ice went without saying.

I never meant to insinuate that the fish thing was original. Most "traditions" aren't. Fish throwing not withstanding, there's about 20 schools that claim to be the birthplace of "the wave", the "tomahawk chop," and most others.

[Snively65]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

You know -this is great and all, but I highly doubt Bentley students are well-read enough to know about the traditions up at UNH hockey. The coaching staff last year kept iterating that they just wanted students to come out and be rowdy. When they announced the warning about the 2-minute penalty, they stopped throwing the fish from what I could tell. They threw it twice. Once was funny, and the second drew the warning. In all fairness, it was the rink guy's mistake since he put the fish in a barrel where it could be easily retrieved..........right in front of the stands. He should've barreled it with the ice from the Zamboni like everyone else does.

I guess that we heard and saw things differently, as I heard the ref give his warning after the first fish, and was relieved when I saw the second fish (recycled fish, whatever) not make it over the glass despite two tries. One of the students from the Falcons Nest told me that the fish-throwing idea came from a student who had attended a game in Durham (must have been a game in which the Cats were not shut out; ha, ha, ha). But, I agree with Bentley2 above that Bentley student fans need to establish their own tradition(s). Not to worry about fan support this coming season, as I heard that the Falcons Nest only graduated one member this past May.

[FalconsNest]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

For the record, that fish was thrown by the women's field hockey team. They went rogue. The Falcons Nest wouldnt risk a penalty like that. Just want to clear the name of the Nest.

Doesnt mean you wont see squid this year though...

[schiegs]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

Whole, fresh, raw chickens.

[Snively65]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

For the record, that fish was thrown by the women's field hockey team. They went rogue. The Falcons Nest wouldnt risk a penalty like that. Just want to clear the name of the Nest.

Doesnt mean you wont see squid this year though...

Welcome to the Fan Forum, FalconsNest. Good to have you on board. Hope that you will continue to participate in this thread through the upcoming season.

[FalconsNest]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

Welcome to the Fan Forum, FalconsNest. Good to have you on board. Hope that you will continue to participate in this thread through the upcoming season.

Happy to be here. Nothing better to talk about then Bentley hockey. So what are our thoughts this year with our NC games? Michigan will be a tough one, even as the biggest homer in the world i admit that. But no reason we cant beat Huntsville, Harvard, Dartmouth, ULowell (if they ever want to play us), and NU. I can see them going 3-2 in this stretch losing to Michigan and Lowell. Thoughts?

[eXcSports]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

Hey all. Finally got approved to post on the forums; it took about 4 months. Just wanted to say thanks for putting your necks out there in support of the program, and thanks for giving me material for some of the articles. I'm looking forward to this year, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to converse on these boards.

Seriously - what took so long!

[Humanoid]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

Hey all. Finally got approved to post on the forums; it took about 4 months. Just wanted to say thanks for putting your necks out there in support of the program, and thanks for giving me material for some of the articles. I'm looking forward to this year, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to converse on these boards.

Seriously - what took so long!

Dan! Thanks for joining aboard. Been enjoying your coverage and looking forward to some more as the year moves on! This team is going to be solid, or at least we hope.

Was actually just coming to post your latest post too on Dan Koudys. Good read on a player who is clearly looking to finish off his career the right way.

http://excalibursportspage.com/2012/...rn-some-heads/

[Humanoid]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

Happy to be here. Nothing better to talk about then Bentley hockey. So what are our thoughts this year with our NC games? Michigan will be a tough one, even as the biggest homer in the world i admit that. But no reason we cant beat Huntsville, Harvard, Dartmouth, ULowell (if they ever want to play us), and NU. I can see them going 3-2 in this stretch losing to Michigan and Lowell. Thoughts?

There is no reason Bentley, with this team, can't take some wins away from some teams. There will probably be a tie or two in there too. Harvard doesn't lose games for some reason. They just didn't win any last year. And I'm not sure about Northeastern being a good team at all this year. They've gotta straighten out the program before they get it all turned around on the ice. The coaching change last year really screwed them up (see also: Gaudreau, johnny). even though they stole Kevin Roy from Brown under shady circumstances.

I'm calling for 2-2-1 or 1-2-2 moreso with a win over UAH and NU, tying the EZAC teams (yea I went there), and losing to Michigan/Lowell. But the Lowell game will be closer than anticipated.

Had Lowell kept the original date, I'd have predicted win for Bentley. But the hot rumor is they squirmed out of that game into the other date in December.

[Snively65]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

Had Lowell kept the original date, I'd have predicted win for Bentley. But the hot rumor is they squirmed out of that game into the other date in December.

On the other hand, I wish that we were playing the Wolverines a bit later in the season to give our new D-men some time to get a few games behind them. I was in Ann Arbor last October when we took the Wolverines (players and fans, and probably Red also) by surprise as we hung around in both games until less than five minutes from the end. We will not take the Wolverines by surprise this season, but if Komm can stand on his head and the new guys can play some solid team D, I think this game will be a good one, as I think that we will score more than one goal (Hunwick graduated).

[Humanoid]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

On the other hand, I wish that we were playing the Wolverines a bit later in the season to give our new D-men some time to get a few games behind them. I was in Ann Arbor last October when we took the Wolverines (players and fans, and probably Red also) by surprise as we hung around in both games until less than five minutes from the end. We will not take the Wolverines by surprise this season, but if Komm can stand on his head and the new guys can play some solid team D, I think this game will be a good one, as I think that we will score more than one goal (Hunwick graduated).

My only thing is that it's quite possible Komm doesn't play in Michigan. Coach Soderquist's biggest regret last year was that Komm peaked a little bit too early and ran out of gas down the stretch, only to turn it back on during the playoffs. He ran into a scenario where he wanted to spell Komm during the end of the year, but Dougherty wasn't quite ready and they were really trying to redshirt him. Then Rank decided to take his ball and go home to go play in the SPHL (which made no sense to anybody in hockey circles who I talked to). By the end of the year, Komm was truly on fumes......then Dougherty tore his ACL when the Holy Cross dude ran over him. So Bentley went into the playoffs with one healthy goalie who was pretty gassed. That's also the main reason, IMHO, why Bentley lost out on a first round bye - Komm became shockingly vulnerable down the stretch and turned it back on in the playoffs because it shot new life into his legs.

Komm played in 38 games total last year including postseason. He shattered the minutes played record and the saves records, but he logged almost 2300 minutes of game time. That's far too much of a workload. My guess is that his total drops down to close to 28-30 this year, so he can play all the conference games and be peaking in the playoffs. Depending on Dougherty's health and the rise of Antoni, the #2 slot is extremely important and wide open.

[Humanoid]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

On the other hand, I wish that we were playing the Wolverines a bit later in the season to give our new D-men some time to get a few games behind them. I was in Ann Arbor last October when we took the Wolverines (players and fans, and probably Red also) by surprise as we hung around in both games until less than five minutes from the end. We will not take the Wolverines by surprise this season, but if Komm can stand on his head and the new guys can play some solid team D, I think this game will be a good one, as I think that we will score more than one goal (Hunwick graduated).

That said, there's no reason why the defense can't gel as a unit for Michigan and come in and do some damage. Michigan is a winnable game because they've lost key parts and Hunwick's gone. It'll take a Herculean effort, but I think it's very possible.

[RIT Winters]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

That said, there's no reason why the defense can't gel as a unit for Michigan and come in and do some damage. Michigan is a winnable game because they've lost key parts and Hunwick's gone. It'll take a Herculean effort, but I think it's very possible.

We'll soften them up for you!

[Snively65]

Re: Bentley Hockey 2012-2013: The New Era of JAR Pride Begins

We'll soften them up for you!

You need to do a better job than Niagara did last year.

Or, perhaps Niagara caused the Wolverines to think that they could sleep walk past Bentley the next weekend?