UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Chuck, there are disappointments and then there are chokes. Losing in the FF to me is disappointing. Getting there is hard enough, so any victories once you get there are okay with me. Even regional losses in the mid-90's (Denver, CC) and the mid-oughts (Michigan, Michigan State, Miami) I'd have to classify as disappointments not chokes. Just not happy with how a team can perform at a high level throughout the season then just mail it in come post-season.

But isn't that part in bold pretty much the definition of a "choke"?

As for this team, after last year I had absolutely no expectations that they could play .500 hockey, let alone win the league. My take is that UNH has played better than expected, but teams like BC and BU did not perform up to their expectations. Somebody said that there are several great teams in the league. I'd have to disagree. A lot of teams have outstanding parts, but none of these teams will remind you of the Hockey East teams that played 10-15 years ago. Still exciting, just not at as high a level.

100% agreed across the board, Greg. I know sometimes as we get older, the players of old can get "better". But I do sense a slight drop-off in overall talent level in the league these days. Or maybe the talent is spread out more evenly across more teams, or more "system hockey" has leveled things out across the board?

I have some hope for this team because defense has been their hallmark most of the year and defense is, as they say, whats wins championships. I just hope they have enough offense to go with it. We'll see.

Again, I agree 100% Greg. Maybe even 110%. It's been a fun season, and I'm hoping for an equally fun post-season too. We'll see soon enough.

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

My lingering recollection of the Buffalo final was a team spending most of the game "playing not to lose", and I suspect that colors my analysis of whether that was a "choke" or not.

Totally agree, Snively. As to the potential of a "rematch" with Niagara later this month, I say "bring it on". We have an old score to settle there.

UMass-Lowell totally dominating the 'Mack after two periods now. Looks like we've all become temporary Providence fans for a week ...

Exactly on "playing not to lose" that 2003 finals game, which is one of the few times that I have not agreed with Umile's pre-game strategy.

If UNH happens to draw any AHA team in Manchvegas, we have a collective score to settle, as I include RIT at Albany on the same level as Niagara for definition of "choke." Of course, I am hoping for the most unlikely team at this point to prevail for the AHA autoseed, Bentley.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Of course, I am hoping for the most unlikely team at this point to prevail for the AHA autoseed, Bentley.

Someone has a very long (and very good) memory!!

[unh1982]

Someone has a very long (and very good) memory!!

Will be a dog fight For that fourth spot in the power.unh bc lowell all tied..lowell can improve, playing tuc pc....however if mack loses once they fall off helping unh and hurting lowell....but will not be decided till finals of HE

[zoofer]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

In regards to "biggest choke", use the way back machine guys...Chuck, Snively, CHC, how about the 74 quarters vs #8 RPI? #. 1 UNH, with Gordie Clark, CliffCox, and Jamie Hislop scoring 3 goals in 75 seconds (?) or so, getting beat by Don Cutts in net, 8-7 to be eliminated! That year was the first time UNH made #1 nationally...ah, the old ECAC division with 17 teams in it....now that was a choke!

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

In regards to "biggest choke", use the way back machine guys...Chuck, Snively, CHC, how about the 74 quarters vs #8 RPI? #. 1 UNH, with Gordie Clark, CliffCox, and Jamie Hislop scoring 3 goals in 75 seconds (?) or so, getting beat by Don Cutts in net, 8-7 to be eliminated! That year was the first time UNH made #1 nationally...ah, the old ECAC division with 17 teams in it....now that was a choke!

It was a crushing defeat, to be sure. The game included the highest highs (see video in the signature below) and the lowest lows.

Looking back after all these years, I don't feel the loss was a "choke". All-American goalie Cap Raeder was injured and didn't make the saves that were routine when he was healthy. Maybe he shouldn't have tried to play but he did the best he could given his limited mobility.

In any event, the loss didn't mean the beginning of the end for the hockey program. As you know better than any of us, some of the best years of UNH Hockey came immediately after the 1974 loss to RPI.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

In regards to "biggest choke", use the way back machine guys...Chuck, Snively, CHC, how about the 74 quarters vs #8 RPI? #. 1 UNH, with Gordie Clark, CliffCox, and Jamie Hislop scoring 3 goals in 75 seconds (?) or so, getting beat by Don Cutts in net, 8-7 to be eliminated! That year was the first time UNH made #1 nationally...ah, the old ECAC division with 17 teams in it....now that was a choke!

Didn't see that game, but I was at about that age when some creative pre-cable fiddling with the old VHF "rabbit ears" was able to bring in a very fuzzy Channel 11 for my first exposure to UNH Wildcats hockey. Definitely during the Cap Raeder era, and while I've heard and read great tales, and seen the C-H-C video more than a few times, I don't have a first-person recall of that game, so I'll bow to my seniors on that one.

First UNH game I ever saw in person was UNH vs. Dartmouth in the '79 ECAC Finals at the old Boston Garden. Had seen my first Beanpot a month or so before that (with a line-up cluttered with soon-to-be Olympic heroes, BU edged BC), loved the whole vibe, and figured the ECAC's with UNH involved would be even better. And was it ever!! Talk about a good place to start.

How I then decided to go to Bentley a few months later instead of UNH, BU or even BC (no - I never wasted my time or energy applying to Dartmouth for the inevitable rejection letter) after all that excitement is anybody's guess. Good times, though.

[unhpuckfan2001]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Although I have enjoyed reading all the old men looking back . . . let's also look ahead ;-)

UML beat M'Mack yesterday, slipping in front of our Wildcats by a point. The math is simple if you're interested in the RS Trophy.

UNH: win both games.
UML: tie one game, win the other.
Teams finish tied, UNH wins tiebreaker.

There are lots of other things at play that determine where UNH finished, but I honestly like their chances against Maine on the Whit surface. They know they control their own destiny if they JUST WIN.

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

How I then decided to go to Bentley a few months later instead of UNH, BU or even BC (no - I never wasted my time or energy applying to Dartmouth for the inevitable rejection letter) after all that excitement is anybody's guess. Good times, though.

Sorry in advance for the "old guy" talk, but I had no idea that you went to Bentley, Chuck (post 786 above). I teach at Bentley, so have been hoping that UNH would invite the Falcons to Lake Whitt for a game, but prospects of that happening are probably as remote as Bentley winning the AHA autobid and playing UNH at Manchvegas as a #4 vs #1 seed this year. As a Durham townie, I did not waste my time, energy, or money applying for Dartmouth either, but UNH worked out fine for me. I am hoping that the "other Snively" who began posting here before I did and went through the Oyster River school system a few years after me begins to chime into this thread, now that the post-season is closing in. Yeah, I know, he is also good at the "old guy" talk.

But, back to this weekend, good puck luck to the Wildcats, who are not entirely in control of their own destiny, as we need PC to take at least a point from UML, as noted by unhpuckfan2001.

[zoofer]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Old men talk my ***!! We just want to make sure that you young'uns have an appreciation for what has come before! I know that you're avid Wildcat fans but our past is what we are today....if not for the players that helped make UNH the family that we are, we'd been an average program...York and Parker are decent fellows but as mentors go, they arent't close to Charlie Holt and Umile, IMHO of course. Very biased here I admit!
btw CHC, Cap wasn't able to play that game, ur right. But the next 2 years losses hurt pretty bad as well, at Cornell and to Harvard, with Bill Cleary standing on the bench yelling....not until I put that arrow in the ceiling did we break the curse and beat Brown to head to the Garden!!

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

They know they control their own destiny if they JUST WIN.

No one controls their own destiny. That's what makes it destiny; that it is a predetermined course of events.

In any case, I think this is a team of destiny and they will be hoisting the big one in Pittsburgh!!!

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

In any case, I think this is a team of destiny and they will be hoisting the big one in Pittsburgh!!!

First, UNH needs to pull off a couple of upset wins in Manchvegas, where destiny has not been kind to the Cats over the years.

[e.cat]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Speaking of a long and very good memory, we've got to get points from a hungry Maine this weekend before we hoist anything anywhere. Maine will be looking to take us down, downtown to China Town!! if we look past them. Having said that I think Umile will have the boys ready and raring to go. The Whit will be rockin' I'm sure of that.

[GoUNH]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

Sorry in advance for the "old guy" talk, but I had no idea that you went to Bentley, Chuck (post 786 above). I teach at Bentley, so have been hoping that UNH would invite the Falcons to Lake Whitt for a game, but prospects of that happening are probably as remote as Bentley winning the AHA autobid and playing UNH at Manchvegas as a #4 vs #1 seed this year. As a Durham townie, I did not waste my time, energy, or money applying for Dartmouth either, but UNH worked out fine for me. I am hoping that the "other Snively" who began posting here before I did and went through the Oyster River school system a few years after me begins to chime into this thread, now that the post-season is closing in. Yeah, I know, he is also good at the "old guy" talk.

But, back to this weekend, good puck luck to the Wildcats, who are not entirely in control of their own destiny, as we need PC to take at least a point from UML, as noted by unhpuckfan2001.

Dont ever apologize for the "old guy" talk, because I do enjoy it. My first game was back in the Ralph Cox, Greg Moffet, Dana Barbin era as a 7th grader. I've been hooked ever since.

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Season Thread

I honestly like their chances against Maine

I should hope so....

Never mind the fact that UNH is #2 and Maine is #8, the Black Bears haven't won in Durham since gas was $2 a gallon...their last win at the Whitt was the same weekend that the Patriots last won a Super Bowl (and that's been a while, which might be news to you Brady/Belichick sycophants.) Since then the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins have all won world championships. BU has won a national championship. BC's won three of them...

Seems as if liking their chances is a no brainer....