UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

Anybody think we could've found a way to beat UML in 2013 Regionals IF we had a healthy Kevin Goumas and Grayson Downing?? Or was Hellebuyck (sp) too good...by the way UNH gets the top story in the HE blog on the front page...

[chickod]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

...the talent level you saw 15-20 years ago just doesn't exist anymore. Many reasons for this but the pool has been eroded...

EXTREMELY interesting comment. Because anyone "affiliated" with the game will continue to insist on how it is "growing." In fact, they just said it again on that NBC "History of the NHL" special where Bettman was spewing about how moving to the Sun Belt has increased the amount of talent by attracting kids that "never would have played" hockey if not for the NHL's expansion. They brag about how the talent pool has never been bigger.

Only problem is....increased numbers don't necessarily mean increased talent. One theory is that there is a "finite" amount of elite-level talent and expansion simply dilutes that talent so that no team can stockpile it (like, for example, the Montreal Canadiens of the mid-70s whose 1977 team may have been the greatest ever - Lemaire, LaFleur, Cornoyer, Robinson, Shutt, Houle, Lapoint, Dryden, Gainey, Jarvis, Savard - just an insane amount of talent). My theory is that kids just don't play anymore. When we were kids we played SOME sport EVERY DAY after school. Most kids only play "organized" sports now. But that doesn't allow you to develop the necessary "instincts" for the game. It's too choreographed. Not only that, the "good" kids play and the rest stand around and watch. When you play in the neighborhood, EVERYBODY plays.

I went to my high school's Thanksgiving football game and was astonished by how BAD the teams were. I'm not talking about "physical" talent (there was a running back who scored five touchdowns). I'm talking about knowledge of the game. Most of the kids were standing around. They didn't know where to go or what to do, and most importantly, they didn't 'react' to anything. On one touchdown pass there were literally five defenders within ten feet of the receiver and ALL of them just stood there and watched him catch the ball.

You can't be good at anything without working hard. It takes repetition. There is NO substitute. Kids today think they can do someone once or twice and be good at it. The attention span is non-existent. Nobody will ever convince me that ANY of these players today are better than Bobby Orr, for example. I will argue that to the grave...

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

EXTREMELY interesting comment. Because anyone "affiliated" with the game will continue to insist on how it is "growing." In fact, they just said it again on that NBC "History of the NHL" special where Bettman was spewing about how moving to the Sun Belt has increased the amount of talent by attracting kids that "never would have played" hockey if not for the NHL's expansion. They brag about how the talent pool has never been bigger.

Only problem is....increased numbers don't necessarily mean increased talent. One theory is that there is a "finite" amount of elite-level talent and expansion simply dilutes that talent so that no team can stockpile it (like, for example, the Montreal Canadiens of the mid-70s whose 1977 team may have been the greatest ever - Lemaire, LaFleur, Cornoyer, Robinson, Shutt, Houle, Lapoint, Dryden, Gainey, Jarvis, Savard - just an insane amount of talent). My theory is that kids just don't play anymore. When we were kids we played SOME sport EVERY DAY after school. Most kids only play "organized" sports now. But that doesn't allow you to develop the necessary "instincts" for the game. It's too choreographed. Not only that, the "good" kids play and the rest stand around and watch. When you play in the neighborhood, EVERYBODY plays.

I went to my high school's Thanksgiving football game and was astonished by how BAD the teams were. I'm not talking about "physical" talent (there was a running back who scored five touchdowns). I'm talking about knowledge of the game. Most of the kids were standing around. They didn't know where to go or what to do, and most importantly, they didn't 'react' to anything. On one touchdown pass there were literally five defenders within ten feet of the receiver and ALL of them just stood there and watched him catch the ball.

You can't be good at anything without working hard. It takes repetition. There is NO substitute. Kids today think they can do someone once or twice and be good at it. The attention span is non-existent. Nobody will ever convince me that ANY of these players today are better than Bobby Orr, for example. I will argue that to the grave...

...which was the reason I left coaching (but might get back in, heaven help me ) One of my fav things to remind my teams was "the only place where the word success comes before work is in the dictionary". I know, hardly original but you make some good points about work ethic. When back in my last year of coaching I had a great group but motivation wasn't stellar and they actually asked if they "had to go to the tournament". (sigh worthy) I knew I had made a good choice to leave coaching and concentrate on my young family and my officiating career...ho hum!

[Nifty16]

March, 2009 - Regional final loss to BU, 2-1. Dan was nice enough to link the highlights of this game a couple of weeks ago. Funny how your memory sometime fails you. But it was spot on because, all along, I have felt that UNH should have won that game. They had a ton more chances than BU, .

Hated the outcomes but have said many times this was the best game I have seen in person. That 08-09 is very underrated. They would have been the favorte in the Frozen Four

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

Game Day folks! Big weekend coming up...4 HE points on the line. HR is thinking split; would love to win one at the 'Whitt as we haven't beaten PC there at least not since I've been following?? Curious to see how many UNH fans will be there as when we got tix the place seemed sold out. HR's predictions:

Friday: PC 3 UNH 2
Sat: UNH 2 PC 1

Doubt I'll be right, but moves the forum along to it's closure! See some of you later. Go 'Cats!!

[e.cat]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

It will be interesting to see how UNH does against PC this weekend. Should go a long way in telling us where we really stand in the league with the team finally playing at full strength!

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

NH College Hockey: Wildcats healthy for weekend with Friars:
http://www.unionleader.com/article/2...TS22/171209956
Sophomore forward Joe Sacco (shoulder) is the lone UNH player out with an injury for this weekend’s home-and-home series with No. 9 Providence College.

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

EXTREMELY interesting comment. Because anyone "affiliated" with the game will continue to insist on how it is "growing." In fact, they just said it again on that NBC "History of the NHL" special where Bettman was spewing about how moving to the Sun Belt has increased the amount of talent by attracting kids that "never would have played" hockey if not for the NHL's expansion. They brag about how the talent pool has never been bigger.

My comment about 15-20 years ago is based on two things. First, the best players don't stay for 3 or 4 years anymore. Go to Conte Forum or Agganis Arena and look at the plaques on the wall for former players who played in the NHL. In the nineties and early aughts, just about every name up there played his 3 or 4 years at the school. In this day and age, would Brian Gionta or Chris Drury last four years at their schools? How about Jason Krog? Kids today leave too early. Except for the elite of the elite (McAvoy seems to be a good example), they are just not ready for the game at the NHL level. I find it interesting, for example, that Jack Eichel is in a slump this year while Jimmy Vesey is continuing to do well. Could it have anything to do with the fact that Eichel would be a junior at BU now and Vesey was a four year player at Harvard. Look, you can't deny the kids the opportunity to take the money that is being thrown their way but, because of it, the college game is suffering. Not much different than basketball in my estimation.

The second thing, talked about some, is that now so many kids go the Major Junior route. NHL level experience in terms of the number of games and the rules, and a lot of these kids get paid.

[E.J. Smith]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

EXTREMELY interesting comment. Because anyone "affiliated" with the game will continue to insist on how it is "growing." In fact, they just said it again on that NBC "History of the NHL" special where Bettman was spewing about how moving to the Sun Belt has increased the amount of talent by attracting kids that "never would have played" hockey if not for the NHL's expansion. They brag about how the talent pool has never been bigger.

Only problem is....increased numbers don't necessarily mean increased talent. One theory is that there is a "finite" amount of elite-level talent and expansion simply dilutes that talent so that no team can stockpile it (like, for example, the Montreal Canadiens of the mid-70s whose 1977 team may have been the greatest ever - Lemaire, LaFleur, Cornoyer, Robinson, Shutt, Houle, Lapoint, Dryden, Gainey, Jarvis, Savard - just an insane amount of talent). My theory is that kids just don't play anymore. When we were kids we played SOME sport EVERY DAY after school. Most kids only play "organized" sports now. But that doesn't allow you to develop the necessary "instincts" for the game. It's too choreographed. Not only that, the "good" kids play and the rest stand around and watch. When you play in the neighborhood, EVERYBODY plays.

You can't be good at anything without working hard. It takes repetition. There is NO substitute. Kids today think they can do someone once or twice and be good at it. The attention span is non-existent. Nobody will ever convince me that ANY of these players today are better than Bobby Orr, for example. I will argue that to the grave...

Response A: Get off my lawn, you damm kids!

Response B: The skill level of even the average hockey player today is insane. The heroes of yesteryear can't even begin to compare. There really weren't any skills coaches back in the day, now there are hundreds of them breaking down every aspect of the sport to it's smallest movement and building up incredibly skilled players. That's not to be confused with talented or athletic players, those are different components, but those are at as high or higher levels now as well.

Some people complain that kids focus too much on hockey and don't play other sports now. You turn it around and say they don't spend enough time playing and working on hockey. Respectfully, you have no idea how hard today's players work on their games. It's incredible how much time and effort the top kids put into hockey now - just the opportunity alone with the number of rinks, teams, camps, skills coaches, summer tournaments, it was NEVER like this back in the day.

You feel that talent and skill is down, because you don't see any of those juggernaut teams from ye olden days. The reason you don't see them is because talent is up, everyone is good now. Back then, the talent was limited, and few teams got it all, and the drop off to the have nots was huge, making the haves seem incredible. Now, the drop off is incredibly minimal, everyone can play - the gap between the top and bottom has shrunk, the best are still the best but they don't stand out so prominently any more, say it any way you want, the talent is just deeper now.

[Jon]

Re: UNH Wildcats-The Back Nine and Beyond!

It will be interesting to see how UNH does against PC this weekend. Should go a long way in telling us where we really stand in the league with the team finally playing at full strength!

i'm interested to see how PC does because if you ignore the results against the Clarkson juggernaut, you still have a team that does things like spot Merrimack a four goal lead, and conversely blows leads like they did against SLU, Miami, and BC. Good Hawkey shows up, PC is in business.

Foley is on fire this year.

[HockeyRef]

i'm interested to see how PC does because if you ignore the results against the Clarkson juggernaut, you still have a team that does things like spot Merrimack a four goal lead, and conversely blows leads like they did against SLU, Miami, and BC. Good Hawkey shows up, PC is in business.

Foley is on fire this year.

We're hoping "Good Danny" shows up as well!! 😉

[cavbim]

We're hoping "Good Danny" shows up as well!! 😉

“Good Danny” always shows up vs PC