BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

[Jofa]

Oh, and putting Cloonan on the ice the last 3 minutes of a one-goal game is a fireable offense.

It would be hard to mess up the start of the season more then OConnell has so far. A royal gag. He honestly is not a D1 major program level coach. Players are going backwards rather then him getting more out of them then Quinn which was the hope. Development equals zero. I look for a couple of second semester defections as well as some future commits. Fabbro must be kicking himself.

[mookie1995]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

GQ looking smart to escape when he did..... not much cooking to be done with the groceries

[DLG]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

2,815

The under wins.

And only 200 more at BC
Interest at all time low and Boston globe has no coverage till after football

[defkit]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

The season is certainly going down a disappointing path so far. I only watched the first 30 minutes or so, but the the team was lacking the ability to establish any presence offensively, while UML set up shop pretty regularly.

That being said, I wonder if we are allowed to consider that a coach might actually learn from mistakes and improve over time? Most jobs expect that someone's first month, year, etc. on the job could involve a learning curve and that they may get better at it as time goes on. David Quinn's first season had 10 wins (I know, the team had several guys who were borderline D-1 caliber, should have been in D-3). This is Albie's first ever HC position. Just something to consider before we brand him for life as a HC failure...

[buoldtimer]

The season is certainly going down a disappointing path so far. I only watched the first 30 minutes or so, but the the team was lacking the ability to establish any presence offensively, while UML set up shop pretty regularly.

That being said, I wonder if we are allowed to consider that a coach might actually learn from mistakes and improve over time? Most jobs expect that someone's first month, year, etc. on the job could involve a learning curve and that they may get better at it as time goes on. David Quinn's first season had 10 wins (I know, the team had several guys who were borderline D-1 caliber, should have been in D-3). This is Albie's first ever HC position. Just something to consider before we brand him for life as a HC failure...

BU hasn’t received 1st Round Draft Pick level goaltending this season.

[Jofa]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

“We generated enough offense to win tonight,” first-year BU coach Albie O’Connell said. “Defensively, there were some lapses, but it’s hockey, there’s going to be lapses at times. You can’t play perfect. … The nice thing is we actually scored tonight. That was positive.”

Now I feel better ......

[Harry Cleverly]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

BU hasn’t received 1st Round Draft Pick level goaltending this season.

The goaltending has not been the problem. I guess you missed the second BC game, among others.

He has had some average games. Last night was average because he kicked out a few rebounds that went right back to Riverhawks and ended up goals.
But that has been as much, if not more, down to a defense that can be more than shaky in its own zone..

[Jofa]

The goaltending has not been the problem. I guess you missed the second BC game, among others.

He has had some average games. Last night was average because he kicked out a few rebounds that went right back to Riverhawks and ended up goals.
But that has been as much, if not more, down to a defense that can be more than shaky in its own zone..

I think the point was “first round draft pick” . Average isn’t that.

[Scarlet]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

Good road win tonight. Seemed like a different team.

The PA announcer at Tsongas is a moron. Announced Willman with a penalty when it was clearly Kotkansalo. For Curry’s goal, he announced it as a penalty. And then whoever runs the scoreboard, they posted a winner as from Summerville, MA.

[Harry Cleverly]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

I think the point was “first round draft pick” . Average isn’t that.

Average has been his "bad" games.

Take the last six games -- @ Lowell (excellent); Lowell (average); @ BC (outstanding); BC (above average); Union (excellent); UConn (excellent).

Goaltending has not been a problem. It is a plus.

[Thiessen'sBetter]

That being said, I wonder if we are allowed to consider that a coach might actually learn from mistakes and improve over time? Most jobs expect that someone's first month, year, etc. on the job could involve a learning curve and that they may get better at it as time goes on. David Quinn's first season had 10 wins (I know, the team had several guys who were borderline D-1 caliber, should have been in D-3). This is Albie's first ever HC position. Just something to consider before we brand him for life as a HC failure...

After his first couple years, many (myself included) branded Madigan as a HC failure and he has proven those people wrong. He has grown and improved as a coach in so many different areas. Figured I'd point that out since many of the complaints I see about Albie's coaching (or lack thereof) remind me of the NU board in 2013.

[brassbonanza]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

After his first couple years, many (myself included) branded Madigan as a HC failure and he has proven those people wrong. He has grown and improved as a coach in so many different areas. Figured I'd point that out since many of the complaints I see about Albie's coaching (or lack thereof) remind me of the NU board in 2013.

The difference here though is Madigan was objectively bad for his first five seasons, so your calling for his firing then was reasonable. If it took him five years to adjust and figure it out, that's a long time to wait. You also had the argument that Madigan hadn't been a hockey coach in any capacity for nearly 20 years before he was hired. Albie is not even halfway through one season, so labeling him a failure at this point is far too soon. He has a lot to fix and the initial results so far are below standard, but anyone calling for his firing right now is foolish.

[RedAndWhite102]

BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

This team has definitely been frustrating to watch at times but I personally feel better about them this year than I did last year at this time and that team won silverware. This team has shown they can generate offense and at times will dominate periods of play, the obvious issue is the inability to score.

Farabee is getting adjusted and I feel is going to have a big second half of the season. He showed Friday against Lowell his ability to generate scoring chances by himself which was something this team dearly missed last season when Keller left.

Harper and Blixt have been disappointing.

While it’s entirely possible they never put it all together and continue to struggle the rest of the year, they’ve shown they have the skill to make a push after the winter break. Will this team win a national championship? Absolutely not and we all knew that. But there’s no reason this group of guys can’t win a Beanpot and be playing at the Garden in March for a HE championship.

[SpauldingSmails]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

Unless there were people hiding in the elevator shafts, no way there was close to 3K there on Friday. I'm guessing 1K, including the counter help.

Back to hockey: It is wholly unfair to judge Albie at this point. Are you saying that York should be canned as well for his poor start? BU is always going to be at a disadvantage due to their youth - at least at the beginning of the season. I didn't have the rosters for Friday in front of me, but Lowell looked like a men's team playing against a high school team due to their size. The bigger question is whether we abandon the whole early commit thing and see if we can recruit some more mature talent. It's infinitely less exciting, but it's better than losing. I suppose a bigger question is, how is it that players leave BU and become better in the pros than they were in college? Surrounding talent? System?

[chickod]

Re: BU Terriers 2018-19: Albie in Charge

BU is always going to be at a disadvantage due to their youth - at least at the beginning of the season. I didn't have the rosters for Friday in front of me, but Lowell looked like a men's team playing against a high school team due to their size. The bigger question is whether we abandon the whole early commit thing and see if we can recruit some more mature talent. It's infinitely less exciting, but it's better than losing.

Agreed. This seems to come up every year and I have been chastised for saying virtually the same thing (that there are not many "veteran" players to provide stability and continuity). Which is why I posted back in October that they will improve as the season goes along. I said that this recruiting strategy will always result in a disadvantage due to the way the PWR system works, but I was also lambasted for that with a response something to the effect of "It's because Hockey East is bad, not because of the OOC results." OK. Whatever. All I know is, it was more "effective" when we were competing at a top 10 level and didn't have to worry about winning the HE tournament to get into the NCAAs. So whatever the reason, until something changes, I see more of the same. Recruiting great talent "eventually" wins, but that talent needs time to adjust, learn to play with teammates and compete against generally older and stronger players. IMO a "mix" would be better, but the powers that be have decided to go this route (NHL farm team, using the "enticement" of getting to the NHL as a carrot). So it is what it is.

It is wholly unfair to judge Albie at this point.

You can't put it on the coach. If everyone got fired from their jobs after three months, there wouldn't be too many people working. You have to give it a chance.