UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

In today's society Grandparents have become a huge part of their grandchildren's lives. The children that have both parents working full-time may not have the opportunity to follow their passions if not for a grandparent. For a person to become really good at something they need to put in a lot of time at it. If it is a sport they are passionate about they will need to put in a lot of time developing their overall athleticism and their sport specific skills. It does not matter if it is soccer, hockey or volleyball. There are a few fortunate children that have a Grandparent or two that are willing and happy to step in when the parents can not. There are a few athletes that reach the highest level of their sport because of Grandparents. Here is to all of the Grandparents that alter, sacrifice and give so much of their time to their Grandchildren!!!

Agree 100% Ray. Hopefully I'll get to be one in the not-too-distant future, but otherwise as someone who's heavily involved on the local front in coaching, I've seen many players/families over the years that follow your description above, and they've had a huge positive impact on their grandkids' futures. Further, when I was a young'un back in the day - when non-HS activities were FAR less organized than they are today - I could always count on my grandfather to pop up at our games, watching somewhere from a comfortable distance, not to interfere, but just to observe and quietly provide his support the only way he knew how. There was no college sports career for me, but I had a great time.

Checking out the HS games was always easy, but aside from that, it was all very impromptu, something kids seem to have lost out on in the years that have followed. We organized our own games all the time. The kids/teams I played with had our usual haunts, and he had that stuff figured out stone cold. What I've never figured out to this day is how he found our games when we started driving to playgrounds and fields in neighboring cities. This was a generation before the advent of GPS, mind you. Amazing.

I've been lucky to have more than my share of great mentors and role models, but my grandfather (who passed 40 years ago) will always stand at the top of that list. Thanks for posting, Ray, and letting me reconnect with some special times, long since past.

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

UNH picks up a commitment from ‘02 G Jed Baliotti who led Berkshire to Elite 8 semifinals. One of the top 3 goalies in prep hockey this season.

— Jeff Cox (@JeffCoxSports) April 1, 2020

Word is Harvard, UNH, Merrimack & Colgate have shown serious interest in 6-foot-3 '02 goalie Jed Baliotti of Berkshire, who had a great game today in upset win over top seed Lawrence Academy

— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) March 5, 2020

Almost 19 years (gasp) to the last Berkshire UNH goalie

8/06/01

Pietrasiak to UNH

Berkshire School goaltender Jeff Pietrasiak, who was closely eyed by just about every college coach present at Hockey Night in Boston last weekend, has made his college decision, and will join the UNH Wildcats in the fall of '02.

Pietrasiak will be a senior at Berkshire this fall.

Pietrasiak never quite lived up to his billing

6/11/01

Pietrasiak a Hot Property

Berkshire School goaltender Jeff Pietrasiak is going into his senior year as the most-heavily recruited prep school goaltender in a while, perhaps since J.R. Prestifilippo of Hotchkiss six years ago.

So far Pietrasiak, who is staying at Berkshire, has visited UNH, BC, Yale, and UMass-Amherst. Michigan and Colorado College are interested, too, and visits there may come in the fall.

Pietrasiak, 6'1", 180 lbs. and agile, is from Shrewsbury, Mass. (outside Worcester), and played at St. Peter Marian HS before going to Berkshire as a junior. With Berkshire this past season, he had eight shutouts. Noteworthy games included a 1-1 tie vs. Taft Dec. 4; a 2-2 tie vs. Cushing on Jan. 13; a 1-0 shutout over Westminster on Feb. 17; and, the biggest of all, a 2-0 shutout that at Taft in the NEPSAC quarterfinals that sent Berkshire on to the final four in Salem, NH.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

A ... GOALIE!!! STOP THE PRESSES!!! Thought we'd never get there …

Is it safe to assume he is projected to take Robinson's slot? If so, we're still looking for a #3 ...

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

He's only a junior so definitely not for next year. As an 02, he coud even be for Taylor.

[HockeyRef]

A ... GOALIE!!! STOP THE PRESSES!!! Thought we'd never get there …

Is it safe to assume he is projected to take Robinson's slot? If so, we're still looking for a #3 ...

Wow...great news! Wooo!!!

[Dan]

Wow...great news! Wooo!!!

It’s prep school - so relative team strength can make a huge difference - but big time SPCT through two seasons...

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/478615/jed-baliotti

[Lemonade]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

He's only a junior so definitely not for next year. As an 02, he coud even be for Taylor.

Probably tthree years away would be my guess..return for senior season then year in USHL....

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

#JedBaliotti (2/7/02) @JBaliotti junior goalie for @BerkshireBVH (25 gms 2.06, .930) commits to @UNHMHOCKEY. 6'3" 185 lbs, left glove, New Canaan, CT @_Neutral_Zone (2019 NE Select17 Camp): "takes away shooting angles..quiet in his own crease.. just stays true to his angles".

— Mike Lowry (@UNHHockeyBlog) April 1, 2020

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

#UNHCommit #JedBaliotti @JBaliotti is the only New England Prep goalie on @_Neutral_Zone's 2020 NHL Draft Watch List @nhl_nz Ranked #279 "Quick Laterally, but stays in the paint. He made me write WOW every game I saw." @UNHMHOCKEY @BerkshireBVH @StopItGoalies @NJ_Avalanche

— Mike Lowry (@UNHHockeyBlog) April 1, 2020

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

It’s prep school - so relative team strength can make a huge difference - but big time SPCT through two seasons...

https://www.eliteprospects.com/playe...5/jed-baliotti

Thanks for the info Dan...he will be on HR's radar...hope all is well with you; miss you on the Friday night Fights!

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

#UNHCommit #DavidSacco @dsacco20 will play for @BCHLSmokeEaters next season. @UNHMHOCKEY @LAHOCKEYISL @SJP_Hockey @capecodwhalers @vjwhockey @_Neutral_Zone @nhl_nz https://t.co/YiwWdYxDJO

— Mike Lowry (@UNHHockeyBlog) April 2, 2020

[Aerman]

The ability to change one's philosophy is the greatest skill a coach can have.


Ryan Hardy @ryanphardy
Buckle up. Hot take on defense & the connotations associated w/it. We reward “defense” too much in our sport & convince players that reliability, conformity, etc., is > than skill. Skill (talent w/substance) is ��. Obsession with defense is for those lacking skill or creativity. https://twitter.com/W1ldH0ckeyGuy/st...12750962827264 …

“I think our sport generally is very conservative. People don’t want to get embarrassed. I think when you when you stay kind of in the middle, you don’t really put yourself in the position to get embarrassed and you can control the most things. I think teaching defense is much easier than teaching offense and allowing for creativity. I think it’s hard at times from a coaching perspective to give up control, to cede control to the players. But I think that when you get the right nucleus of players and you have the right environment, the players are playing the game.

“Like I watched this morning, I was watching from a couple of years ago ‘Stroke of Genius,’ the Nadal-Federer documentary. It kind of was rooted around their match in 2008 at Wimbledon. I just found it so fascinating about how a tennis coach can’t communicate with you in the middle of the match, so you have to problem-solve and you have to work things out. And as I was watching it, I was thinking to myself, like, wow, I wonder if we ever played a regular game in the USHL and just didn’t have our coaches go on the bench, what the kids would do? Could they figure it out?

“You always hear like, I don’t know what the cliché is, but about a good team is when everyone has bought into what the coach is saying from a cultural perspective and then like a great team is when the players themselves actually drive the culture. I think that even in the style of play, when the players, I think of them as artists, when you put a bunch of artists together and let them create, and, yeah, you have to put in some framework and some structure and there has to be this kind of give and take and this collaboration, but what could it be if you allow these people who are the best in the world at what they do the freedom to express themselves and show the true genius that they have, like what could that be? Are we putting ourselves in a box by virtue of just doing it this way that we’ve always kind of done it, you know? And, yeah, like there’s some risk that comes with what I’m talking about. But maybe if we allow ourselves to open our mind to what the possibilities are, maybe we’d be shocked at what we could uncover or learn a thing.”

Made me think of Herb Brooks in Miracle.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2019 and Beyond

The ability to change one's philosophy is the greatest skill a coach can have.


Ryan Hardy @ryanphardy
Buckle up. Hot take on defense & the connotations associated w/it. We reward “defense” too much in our sport & convince players that reliability, conformity, etc., is > than skill. Skill (talent w/substance) is ��. Obsession with defense is for those lacking skill or creativity. https://twitter.com/W1ldH0ckeyGuy/st...12750962827264 …

“I think our sport generally is very conservative. People don’t want to get embarrassed. I think when you when you stay kind of in the middle, you don’t really put yourself in the position to get embarrassed and you can control the most things. I think teaching defense is much easier than teaching offense and allowing for creativity. I think it’s hard at times from a coaching perspective to give up control, to cede control to the players. But I think that when you get the right nucleus of players and you have the right environment, the players are playing the game.

“Like I watched this morning, I was watching from a couple of years ago ‘Stroke of Genius,’ the Nadal-Federer documentary. It kind of was rooted around their match in 2008 at Wimbledon. I just found it so fascinating about how a tennis coach can’t communicate with you in the middle of the match, so you have to problem-solve and you have to work things out. And as I was watching it, I was thinking to myself, like, wow, I wonder if we ever played a regular game in the USHL and just didn’t have our coaches go on the bench, what the kids would do? Could they figure it out?

“You always hear like, I don’t know what the cliché is, but about a good team is when everyone has bought into what the coach is saying from a cultural perspective and then like a great team is when the players themselves actually drive the culture. I think that even in the style of play, when the players, I think of them as artists, when you put a bunch of artists together and let them create, and, yeah, you have to put in some framework and some structure and there has to be this kind of give and take and this collaboration, but what could it be if you allow these people who are the best in the world at what they do the freedom to express themselves and show the true genius that they have, like what could that be? Are we putting ourselves in a box by virtue of just doing it this way that we’ve always kind of done it, you know? And, yeah, like there’s some risk that comes with what I’m talking about. But maybe if we allow ourselves to open our mind to what the possibilities are, maybe we’d be shocked at what we could uncover or learn a thing.”

I truly believe many coaches' fears of failure/embarrassment are their own biggest obstacles.

[Snively65]

The ability to change one's philosophy is the greatest skill a coach can have.


Ryan Hardy @ryanphardy
Buckle up. Hot take on defense & the connotations associated w/it. We reward “defense” too much in our sport & convince players that reliability, conformity, etc., is > than skill. Skill (talent w/substance) is ��. Obsession with defense is for those lacking skill or creativity. https://twitter.com/W1ldH0ckeyGuy/st...12750962827264 …

“I think our sport generally is very conservative. People don’t want to get embarrassed. I think when you when you stay kind of in the middle, you don’t really put yourself in the position to get embarrassed and you can control the most things. I think teaching defense is much easier than teaching offense and allowing for creativity. I think it’s hard at times from a coaching perspective to give up control, to cede control to the players. But I think that when you get the right nucleus of players and you have the right environment, the players are playing the game.

“Like I watched this morning, I was watching from a couple of years ago ‘Stroke of Genius,’ the Nadal-Federer documentary. It kind of was rooted around their match in 2008 at Wimbledon. I just found it so fascinating about how a tennis coach can’t communicate with you in the middle of the match, so you have to problem-solve and you have to work things out. And as I was watching it, I was thinking to myself, like, wow, I wonder if we ever played a regular game in the USHL and just didn’t have our coaches go on the bench, what the kids would do? Could they figure it out?

“You always hear like, I don’t know what the cliché is, but about a good team is when everyone has bought into what the coach is saying from a cultural perspective and then like a great team is when the players themselves actually drive the culture. I think that even in the style of play, when the players, I think of them as artists, when you put a bunch of artists together and let them create, and, yeah, you have to put in some framework and some structure and there has to be this kind of give and take and this collaboration, but what could it be if you allow these people who are the best in the world at what they do the freedom to express themselves and show the true genius that they have, like what could that be? Are we putting ourselves in a box by virtue of just doing it this way that we’ve always kind of done it, you know? And, yeah, like there’s some risk that comes with what I’m talking about. But maybe if we allow ourselves to open our mind to what the possibilities are, maybe we’d be shocked at what we could uncover or learn a thing.”

Made me think how much we will miss Max Gildon, whenever we play again.

[HockeyRef]

Made me think how much we will miss Max Gildon, whenever we play again.

No truer words my friend no truer words. Will be evident from day one.