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

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

    Originally posted by RIT Winters View Post
    I've gone on at length about this before and continue to do so. That's one of the things about college hockey, you just never know what you're going to get. For non-scholarship teams such as ours the disparity between years can be harsh as we cannot directly pay to win like scholarship schools can. So it's possible Bentley has a strong D class coming in that will be everything last years was and more, or it's possible your defense is completely awful and you guys regress from the progress made last year. You really have no way of knowing until the puck drops on the new year.

    RIT is in a very similar situation. Last year we lost the biggest pieces to our offense (Brenner/Favot) and that noticeably hurt us all year and we finished 3rd. We continued to lose this off-season with Burt graduating. So perhaps this year we rebound positively as some of our sophomores have monster years, or perhaps we struggle more. And I'm sure the entire AHA is happy to see that Shane Madolora has moved on, and it remains to be seen if the next two guys on the depth chart can carry us like he can.


    Canisius is still a Western pod team and, although mired in mediocrity most years, they are a team who can generally beat anybody on any given night, they just struggle to string them together. I believe that they are actually very, very similar to Bentley in that if you two switched pods, I think you would see their records flip too. Assuming Sacred Heart gets its act together, there is no team in the West that is as weak as the bottom 2 of the East (Army, AIC).

    I can only speak from an RIT fan perspective here, but Bentley's final ranking + postseason performance last year really struck me as a breakout year for the program, so to me there is a lot of expectation hanging around Bentley to see if they just had one good year or if it was the start of a rise for the program.
    I can appreciate the RIT perspective about the questions about if the east can actually rise. Every east team, and as a bentley person i greatly appreciate this, benefits from a massive goose from the lower part of the standings. What would normally be a 6th place team can become a 3rd place team. Likewise, in the west, what would be a 3rd place team easily becomes a 6th place team.

    Still, I can't help myself in this regard - the playoffs are the great equalizer. Even though a team travels great distances (like when Canisius went to UConn), I wholly believe talent wins these series moreso than anything. Therefore, even if Canisius finishes 6th, they should, hypothetically, beat a team like UConn in the playoffs. Or Bentley. So the regular season becomes less about winning games as it does avoiding some of these teams.

    I, for one, wasn't upset that Bentley missed out on a home ice second round series moreso than they missed out on a chance to play a beatable team in the 2nd round. I would've been MUCH happier playing Holy Cross in Worcester than playing RIT in Rochester. Likewise, had Bentley finished 3rd, they probably would've drawn RIT in the 2nd round, and I wouldn't want to play them in the playoffs, home or away. Home ice to me for certain teams is more overstated, even if it's great to sleep in your own beds. Unless you're Air Force. Then home ice makes someone fly across the country. That's never fun. But then again, Bentley's a place that until last year never really had a home-ice advantage (25 people in the stands. 25 people in the press box).

    That said, this year is going to be very different from our perspective simply because everyone is raising an eyebrow. There's increased talk about an on-campus building for the Falcons in the planning stages. The team last year broke out and now faces Year Two where they won't sneak up on anyone. People are now expecting them to finish in the top 4 or 5 teams in the league. They're expected to beat teams that are losing pieces (i.e. RIT in the regular season), and they need to, IMHO, distance themselves from the pack this year. The school's finally behind them resource wise (well, at least it's gaining traction, unlike 2 or 3 years ago), and the team itself is benefitting from talented players who play the right style for the system.

    When you factor that some of the western teams have graduated pieces and might actually be on the way down, you have to figure that you can go out and shore up the areas where they historically have been beaten.
    Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

    STAY UP #94 #58

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

      On important thing is that Bentley will not be able to sneak up on anyone. I believe that for a good portion of the season, only Holy Cross was considered the cream of the Eastern pod crop. Bentley put themselves in the discussion last year. The expectation is differant, from a league and a fan perspective.
      2006-07 Atlantic Hockey Champions!
      2008-09 Atlantic Hockey Co-Champions!
      2009-10 Atlantic Hockey Champions!
      2010 Frozen Four participant
      2010-11 Atlantic Hockey Champions!

      Member of the infamous Corner Crew

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

        Well, we did not sneak up on RIT in the quarters last March, unless RIT had forgotten the two close games they played during the regular season. And, we have been playing Air Force tough for a few seasons now, even if we do not have many wins to show for it. I think that AHA coaches do their best to keep their teams motivated, at least from what I have seen at the JAR. Now, if we can sneak up on some OOC opponents, that would be great. :-)

        Thanks for contributing to our thread, Komey and RIT Winters!

        Comment


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

          Not Bentley related but I figured it's worth a share, especially amongst what we sometimes talk about. Also, ECAC is moving to Lake Placid in 2014. Or moving back I should say.

          http://excalibursportspage.com/2012/...wer-of-sports/
          Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

          STAY UP #94 #58

          Comment


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

            From Twitter yesterday:

            Blake Dougherty is still rehabbing his knee. I'm not sure if that means he'll be ready for the season or not. I think it's a wide open race for the GK2 position between Dougherty and Antoni.
            Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

            STAY UP #94 #58

            Comment


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

              Originally posted by Humanoid View Post
              Not Bentley related but I figured it's worth a share, especially amongst what we sometimes talk about. Also, ECAC is moving to Lake Placid in 2014. Or moving back I should say.

              http://excalibursportspage.com/2012/...wer-of-sports/
              Good article, and Dan is Bentley's premier hockey blogger, so always good to get his perspective on all things sport. Thanks for posting.

              Comment


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

                Originally posted by RIT Winters View Post
                I've gone on at length about this before and continue to do so. That's one of the things about college hockey, you just never know what you're going to get. For non-scholarship teams such as ours the disparity between years can be harsh as we cannot directly pay to win like scholarship schools can. So it's possible Bentley has a strong D class coming in that will be everything last years was and more, or it's possible your defense is completely awful and you guys regress from the progress made last year. You really have no way of knowing until the puck drops on the new year.

                RIT is in a very similar situation. Last year we lost the biggest pieces to our offense (Brenner/Favot) and that noticeably hurt us all year and we finished 3rd. We continued to lose this off-season with Burt graduating. So perhaps this year we rebound positively as some of our sophomores have monster years, or perhaps we struggle more. And I'm sure the entire AHA is happy to see that Shane Madolora has moved on, and it remains to be seen if the next two guys on the depth chart can carry us like he can.



                Canisius is still a Western pod team and, although mired in mediocrity most years, they are a team who can generally beat anybody on any given night, they just struggle to string them together. I believe that they are actually very, very similar to Bentley in that if you two switched pods, I think you would see their records flip too. Assuming Sacred Heart gets its act together, there is no team in the West that is as weak as the bottom 2 of the East (Army, AIC).

                I can only speak from an RIT fan perspective here, but Bentley's final ranking + postseason performance last year really struck me as a breakout year for the program, so to me there is a lot of expectation hanging around Bentley to see if they just had one good year or if it was the start of a rise for the program.
                I have a great deal of respect for RIT and what they've accomplished over the last few years, but that "no-scholarship" argument is the biggest crock of s*** going. Literally every other team in the AHA wishes they had RIT's "problem" of no scholarships instead of the difficulties that plague their programs...

                Comment


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

                  Originally posted by hockeyjunkie10 View Post
                  I have a great deal of respect for RIT and what they've accomplished over the last few years, but that "no-scholarship" argument is the biggest crock of s*** going. Literally every other team in the AHA wishes they had RIT's "problem" of no scholarships instead of the difficulties that plague their programs...
                  Uh, okay? Instead of ignoring your ridiculous rant that kind of had nothing to do with my post, I'm going to reply.

                  RIT does as well as it does IN SPITE of the scholarship situation. How? Support. We sell out a lot of games, we built state of the art lockerrooms, and we're building a $30m new barn. We have one, probably two (next year) NHL players. We created an atmosphere that good players want to come to even though its not paid for, and an atmosphere that has not just students but the local community creating a buzz for the program. If your school ponied up the resources they too could see results.

                  I'm not sure how not having scholarships is anything but a disadvantage for any school, not just RIT? RIT is lucky to have what it has, but the other AHA schools without scholarships are at an even bigger disadvantage. And if RIT was able to offer scholarships, imagine how that would only improve on our results? Would Bentley be better without scholarships or with them? That's what I thought.
                  RIT

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

                    Originally posted by RIT Winters View Post
                    I'm not sure how not having scholarships is anything but a disadvantage for any school, not just RIT? RIT is lucky to have what it has, but the other AHA schools without scholarships are at an even bigger disadvantage. And if RIT was able to offer scholarships, imagine how that would only improve on our results? Would Bentley be better without scholarships or with them? That's what I thought.
                    Thanks for bringing this dialog back to Bentley, RIT Winters.

                    I think that Bentley is attracking better talent now despite lack of an on-campus rink and scholies because the coaching staff is selling the school, not just Div 1 hockey. Nearly all of our students earn very marketable business degrees (see earlier post in thread by Humanoid about our degree completion rates, grade point averages, etc.), so the huge majority of our players who will not be going on to play pro hockey, let alone in the NHL, are finding careers that allow themselves to continue playing hockey at various levels for the love of the game.

                    Comment


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

                      Originally posted by RIT Winters View Post
                      Uh, okay? Instead of ignoring your ridiculous rant that kind of had nothing to do with my post, I'm going to reply.

                      RIT does as well as it does IN SPITE of the scholarship situation. How? Support. We sell out a lot of games, we built state of the art lockerrooms, and we're building a $30m new barn. We have one, probably two (next year) NHL players. We created an atmosphere that good players want to come to even though its not paid for, and an atmosphere that has not just students but the local community creating a buzz for the program. If your school ponied up the resources they too could see results.

                      I'm not sure how not having scholarships is anything but a disadvantage for any school, not just RIT? RIT is lucky to have what it has, but the other AHA schools without scholarships are at an even bigger disadvantage. And if RIT was able to offer scholarships, imagine how that would only improve on our results? Would Bentley be better without scholarships or with them? That's what I thought.
                      Agree wholeheartedly with you Winters.

                      RIT is a case study for any sports marketing class about how you can grow without the necessary "resources" behind you. People automatically assume some teams are going to get better players with scholarships. That's what was the major argument to UConn when they were thinking of leaving for Hockey East (that, and they'd HAVE to offer scholarships). In a sport like hockey, scholarships are actually secondary to the attitude that makes players want to go to that school.

                      Hockey players usually don't have to worry about tuition since the majority of them come from families that can afford college. Statistically, I'm sure this holds true. RIT was able to identify the right situation and build their program from the ground up. They started as the right D3 program, succeeded, and then identified a great window of opportunity by jumping to D1. They've built at the D1 program by taking that D3 success and transposing it perfectly. As much as I don't like your coach (there's just something about him I don't like. Don't take it personally), I can't deny he's been the architect of a culture at that school that's amazing. He's managed to get the school behind him to make hockey the centerpiece of athletics, which allowed the men's program to become a staple in the city of Rochester itself.

                      RIT managed to build the program through support both institutionally and community-wise, which led the league to identify Rochester as the home for the AHA championship weekend. That wasn't done by chance; that was done purposely because Rochester became a great college hockey town, easily the best in the AHA in the northeast region. All of this was done without the benefit of scholarships. In that token, RIT doesn't have to increase spending in that regard because the hockey team was able to become solvent merely by doing all the right things in the community.

                      Bentley's starting to take that approach, finally, by getting the school behind it with financial support in the wake of the economic collapse. Bentley's building support from the ground up in the community and institutionally, evidenced by the fan buses and their work with Team Impact last year, all of which resulted in good publicity. Bentley also has some scholarships, but even with scholarship spending, they didn't enjoy nearly the type of support RIT did. And Soderquist, who was there back during the D2 era and IS bentley hockey, identified the same marketing strategy in the greater Waltham/Watertown area that RIT did in Rochester. He realized he can't compete in Boston with BC, BU, and Harvard, but he sure as heck can compete in the residential towns on Route 128 with Winchester, Woburn, Framingham, Lexington, Waltham, and that section.

                      RIT is a masterful program, and the parallels are there between what the Tigers did and what the Falcons are actually trying to do right now.
                      Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

                      STAY UP #94 #58

                      Comment


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

                        Support is a HUGE factor in the success at RIT. But that support does need to be bolstered by winning. That Bentley had a good team that was winning games and being in the hunt for the AHA had to help get the support of the students and community. I don't think you can underestimate that. Hockey recruits see that the team is getting supprt and I think helps get them thinking about going there - which helps get the team bettter, which means more support, which helps get better recruits, and on and on.
                        2006-07 Atlantic Hockey Champions!
                        2008-09 Atlantic Hockey Co-Champions!
                        2009-10 Atlantic Hockey Champions!
                        2010 Frozen Four participant
                        2010-11 Atlantic Hockey Champions!

                        Member of the infamous Corner Crew

                        Comment


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

                          Originally posted by Humanoid View Post
                          I don't know a terrible amount about playing overseas, but I have to believe this is higher than AA puck in the states. He joins Dustin Cloutier as the only Falcons playing some type of high-level (so to speak) pro hockey. Cloutier's in Kalamazoo with the K-Wings.
                          With a little free time, I discovered that there is NAHL team named the Odessa Jacklopes, where former Falcons D-man Josh Chase played for a couple of seasons after graduation from Bentley a few years ago.

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

                            Originally posted by Snively65 View Post
                            With a little free time, I discovered that there is NAHL team named the Odessa Jacklopes, where former Falcons D-man Josh Chase played for a couple of seasons after graduation from Bentley a few years ago.

                            Isn't the NAHL a tier II junior league team?

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

                              Originally posted by Snively65 View Post
                              With a little free time, I discovered that there is NAHL team named the Odessa Jacklopes, where former Falcons D-man Josh Chase played for a couple of seasons after graduation from Bentley a few years ago.
                              And umm.. CHL: http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=32958

                              Comment


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

                                Originally posted by brookie View Post
                                Isn't the NAHL a tier II junior league team?
                                The Odessa Jackalopes were a CHL mid-level professional league team at that time Josh Chase played with them, as noted in Zyklon's link. After Josh moved on, the Jackalopes joined the junior league NAHL. Sorry that I did not clarify in my original post.

                                Here are Wiki links to both the CHL and NAHL.

                                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Hockey_League

                                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_A..._Hockey_League

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