UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

[scoreboard]

Quote from NCAA Watcher:
"Tale of two senior managers whose work force consists of 18-24 year olds. The first trusts kids. For players, he provides them encouragement to trust their own abilities and surprisingly, the kids want to play for him. He recognizes the need for contemporary mentorship, and consistently hires youngsters with little or no NCAA experience to mentor. Mike Cavanagh had no experience, Scott Paluch had no experience, Greg Brown had no experience, and now Ayers has no experience.

The other senior manager does not trust kids. He wants them to do only what he says, follow instructions, and success comes from hard work and following his instructions and systems. In turn, the solution to problems is to make his message louder. Thus, he surrounds himself with his own contemporaries.

Two of these things are not like the other"

This is unbelievable. NCAA Watcher has captured the ethos surrounding the UNH men's ice hockey staff, led by the head coach, in as few a words as possible. One would almost think he has played for UNH and experienced the atmosphere surrounding the .... "if your one of my old buddies I'll hire you as an assistant because I do not want to be second guessed." I applaud Watchers observation and comment.

I agree, Watcher's posts are always spot on. He shows a major reason why UNH will most likely never win a title with the status quo.

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

[QUOTE=NCAA watcher;5731602]Tale of two senior managers whose work force consists of 18-24 year olds. The first trusts kids. For players, he provides them encouragement to trust their own abilities and surprisingly, the kids want to play for him. He recognizes the need for contemporary mentorship, and consistently hires youngsters with little or no NCAA experience to mentor. Mike Cavanagh had no experience, Scott Paluch had no experience, Greg Brown had no experience, and now Ayers has no experience.

The other senior manager does not trust kids. He wants them to do only what he says, follow instructions, and success comes from hard work and following his instructions and systems. In turn, the solution to problems is to make his message louder. Thus, he surrounds himself with his own contemporaries.

As much as I respect your opinions, your comment that Umile does not "trust" kids is pretty harsh. I am sure the way he looks at this is that his method of operation that he has used since he became coach has worked pretty well. Okay, no national championship but plenty of accomplishment, especially compared to 90% of D1 schools. He is certainly not going to change now, pushing 65 and heading into his 24th year behind the bench. Umile is a different person that York, you can see that in public comments and his demeanor on the bench. Every manager operates differently, in every industry. Some nurture, some don't. I don't think there is a right way or a wrong way to do this. Jim Madigan has a young staff at Northeastern, same with Mike Dennehy at Merrimack. how's that working out for them?

[J.D.]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

look on the bright side, with guys like ayers/souza/ciocco making waves in the industry, you should have a quality young coach in place when whistling dick does retire.

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

From nhl.com article on Brett Pesce:

"I had to earn my spot," Pesce told NHL.com. "In the beginning of the year, I wasn't getting as much playing time as I usually had in the past, but [associate coach] Jim Tortorella taught me a lot and really helped step up my game. Toward the end of the year, he was giving me time on the penalty kill and 5-on-5. I'm thankful for that."

[JB]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

Ayers to BC looks like a fantastic move for UNH...

Ayers gets to learn at the elbow of the current master of college hockey. Ayers gets to see how things are done at BC and a different way to operate.

All the repect in the world to Holt and now Umile but what they both do hasn't shown a consistent way to get it done. Too often under both UNH just didn't seem prepared the "right" way for the big game. My test is swap Umile and Walsh in 1999 and does the Umile coach Maine team win that game? How about the 2006-07 or the 2007-08 UNH teams that came out oh so tight in the NCAAs to get bounced in the 1st round by lower seeds would York have done better? There is something in that game prep history that leave UNH teams tight - may have been solved with the recent run of 1st round NCAA wins...

In 3 to 5 years when Umile is ready to step down, Ayers will be ready to step in having been assistant coach for several HE tournament champs and at least 1 NCAA champ (based on York's run rate). This will make the UNH Admin (read budget) happy as the cost of a proven head coach is much higher than a 1st time head coach. Hopefully Ayers can bring with him that something that UNH's staff can't get across and can push UNH over the top.

I just can't wait for the fall of 2018...

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

Ayers to BC looks like a fantastic move for UNH...

Ayers gets to learn at the elbow of the current master of college hockey. Ayers gets to see how things are done at BC and a different way to operate.

All the repect in the world to Holt and now Umile but what they both do hasn't shown a consistent way to get it done. Too often under both UNH just didn't seem prepared the "right" way for the big game. My test is swap Umile and Walsh in 1999 and does the Umile coach Maine team win that game? How about the 2006-07 or the 2007-08 UNH teams that came out oh so tight in the NCAAs to get bounced in the 1st round by lower seeds would York have done better? There is something in that game prep history that leave UNH teams tight - may have been solved with the recent run of 1st round NCAA wins...

In 3 to 5 years when Umile is ready to step down, Ayers will be ready to step in having been assistant coach for several HE tournament champs and at least 1 NCAA champ (based on York's run rate). This will make the UNH Admin (read budget) happy as the cost of a proven head coach is much higher than a 1st time head coach. Hopefully Ayers can bring with him that something that UNH's staff can't get across and can push UNH over the top.

I just can't wait for the fall of 2018...

Whoa... slow down there.

[JB]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

Whoa... slow down there.

Hey on that plan by 2022 UNH should have the big hardware... just 9 short years away...

You Maroon-and-Golder's don't mind a Blue and White guy standing on the back bumper for a little while, do ya?

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

Too often under both UNH just didn't seem prepared the "right" way for the big game. My test is swap Umile and Walsh in 1999 and does the Umile coach Maine team win that game? How about the 2006-07 or the 2007-08 UNH teams that came out oh so tight in the NCAAs to get bounced in the 1st round by lower seeds would York have done better? There is something in that game prep history that leave UNH teams tight - may have been solved with the recent run of 1st round NCAA wins...

In 3 to 5 years when Umile is ready to step down, Ayers will be ready to step in having been assistant coach for several HE tournament champs and at least 1 NCAA champ (based on York's run rate). This will make the UNH Admin (read budget) happy as the cost of a proven head coach is much higher than a 1st time head coach. Hopefully Ayers can bring with him that something that UNH's staff can't get across and can push UNH over the top.

I just can't wait for the fall of 2018...

You can criticize Umile for the '08 collapse, I really thought that team had a chance to win it all. But '99 is a different story. Maine and UNH (as well as BC) were pretty much equal that year. When you lose a game in double overtime, after you almost win it (John Sadowski), it's pretty hard to blame it on the coach or the players. Just a bounce of the puck. If you're going to do that, give Umile credit for winning HE in '03 (Ryan Whitney).

I do like your fantasizing though. Looks like in a few short years we'll have all these alums to choose from I guess. Be careful for what you wish for. Let's see how any of these guys pan out, both on recruiting the players and coaching them up. Look at those alums who are already in the coaching ranks and tell me how they have produced.

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

How'd BC do in the post season this year? Just sayin'.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

How'd BC do in the post season this year? Just sayin'.

Usually it's best to say something intelligent before using the "just sayin" phrase. Otherwise it just doesn't work.

Just sayin'

(see what I did there?)

[J.D.]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

Good lord, Darius...

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

[New Hampshire 'Cats Fan]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

Men's Ice Hockey Announces 2013-14 Recruiting Class

[JB]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

You can criticize Umile for the '08 collapse, I really thought that team had a chance to win it all. But '99 is a different story. Maine and UNH (as well as BC) were pretty much equal that year. When you lose a game in double overtime, after you almost win it (John Sadowski), it's pretty hard to blame it on the coach or the players. Just a bounce of the puck. If you're going to do that, give Umile credit for winning HE in '03 (Ryan Whitney).

I like Umile as a coach and note regularly to the Fire Umile crew be careful what you wish for, UNH is not the easiest place to coach college hockey and he has kept the program relevant.

But that game didn't start well for UNH down 2-0 at the 25 minute mark. Some of that was Noeth making a mess (14 power plays in that game the calls were ridiculous - both ways) however some of that was UNH playing tight sloppy hockey. The rest of the game there were too many missed opportunities some was a hot goalie some was potentially the squeeze on the stick. In that game UNH was clearly the superior talent, but at the end not the superior team, I personally think somebody like Walsh that had the experience and been there before beats that Maine team 4-1 ish like UNH had done a month back. (it ended just over 10 minutes into single overtime)

Look at the Hockey East Championship game the same year UNH was down 3-0 15 minutes in and 4-1 end of the first. Finally straightened things out in the 2nd and got that game to OT.

In both those games to be within a bounce is great, fighting back in both to be tied and within that bounce is fantastic. A better start in those games and the bounce wouldn't have mattered.

It appears to me that a decade later (far too long) UNH has finally started to learn how to play those games, since 2009 UND/BU regional into the last couple of years, they have not clearly been the superior talent but have been a tough out.



Hopefully you all realize the rest is for fun ... Mike Ayers for President!

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2012-2013 Postseason Thread

How about the 2006-07 or the 2007-08 UNH teams that came out oh so tight in the NCAAs to get bounced in the 1st round by lower seeds

Can someone refresh my memory? Who was the captain of that 2007 team that folded down the stretch?