UMass Lowell 2020-2021: Down the long hallway

[bottomdweller]

Honestly no idea. But I think it's fair at this point to ask what's going on. You always have turnover on a roster, and so seeing some of the guys that didn't play much looking to transfer makes all the sense in the world. But Brown and Blackmun were integral to the team, and would have been next year as well. Barton signing with the Wings is a different matter, but that's a ton of talent to lose and unlike the BCs and BUs of the world, we don't have those types of recruits coming in that can backfill easily (I don't believe anyway).

Not to mention BC is allegedly picking up Brown. That hurts.

[Bomber]

Something has to be up. These high-end guys leaving doesn't jive.

[Middle Street]

Norm's contract must be winding down right? He gets paid a lot, I think earlier this year the papers reported he made over 700k in 2020. I think some of that was deferred, and his avg salary was about 500k. Maybe the school doesn't want to keep paying him that? I certainly don't want him to leave, but they didn't bring any money in this season and the on ice results haven't been as good in recent years.

[boblav1]

Norm's contract must be winding down right? He gets paid a lot, I think earlier this year the papers reported he made over 700k in 2020. I think some of that was deferred, and his avg salary was about 500k. Maybe the school doesn't want to keep paying him that? I certainly don't want him to leave, but they didn't bring any money in this season and the on ice results haven't been as good in recent years.

Norm signed an extension in 2017 through next season.
Bazin signs contract extension to stay at UMass Lowell through 2021-22 season

[UMLFan]

At one point, it looked like we would have 34 players on the roster for this upcoming season. Things always seem to get more real as we get closer to the season starting.

With so much change the last couple of weeks, I wanted to see where we stood for the 2021/2022 season. This roster is currently assuming that all those who entered the transfer portal will leave (Brown, Neaton, Blackmun, Baxter, Procopio, Sawchuk, O'Rourke). We had originally expected 12 seniors, so more than half that class is now gone.

If I'm correct on the incoming freshmen ... that leaves Lowell with just 1 solitary commit for 22 and beyond: Daniil Dolzhenko

21/22 roster

Defense (9):
Seniors: Jonathan McDonald
Juniors: Marek Korencik, Jordan Schulting
Sophomore: Brehdan Engum, Ben Meehan
Freshmen: Gabe Blanchard, Ben Brunette, Isac Jonsson, T.J. Schweighardt

Forwards (20):
Seniors: Lucas Condotta, Samuel Knoblauch, Reid Stefanson
Juniors: Carl Berglund, Brian Chambers, Zach Kaiser, Josh Latta, Andre Lee, Blake Wells
Sophomores: Matt Allen, Andranik Armstrong-Kingkade, Matt Kinash, Jackson Sterrett
Freshmen: Matt Crasa, Justin Dauphinais, Owen Fowler, Clark Kerner, Roc Truman, Scout Truman

Goalies (3):
Senior: Owen Savory
Junior:
Sophomore: Henry Welsch
Freshman: Aidan Harper

This leaves us at 31 on the roster, with the class breakdown for 2021/2022 being:
Seniors: 5
Juniors: 8
Sophomores: 7
Freshmen: 11

[Patman]

I want to know what the hell is going on with this program. Losing Brown and Blackmun is something that shouldn't happen. Is this the reality of the new "transfer right away" nonsense? Is something else going on?

I want to be angry and say this is unacceptable and a bit of transparency. It also doesn't help that our coach seems to be looking out over the hedge at other jobs every god damn season.

[boblav1]

CC hires Kris Mayotte. I have no idea if Norm was even in the mix.

CC Hockey @CC_Hockey1
“I am honored and humbled to become the next head coach at Colorado College and continue the historic tradition of Tiger Hockey” - Kris Mayotte, new head hockey coach at Colorado College.

[UMLFan]

Thanks to Mary for finding this and letting me know. A couple of quotes from Bazin regarding what's going on in today's Sun.

“It’s very shameful that life lessons get lost in all this,” Bazin said. “It’s a bad sign of the times when kids can’t be held accountable for their performance, etc. That’s what’s so disappointing, to be frank.”

“This is a new landscape. The pasture is always greener on the other side,” Bazin said with an air of sarcasm. “It’s a little bit disconcerting where this is heading. I think it’s a shame what’s going on right now in amateur sports.”

I like Bazin, but man ... when you're making half a million a year, that amateur sports comment kinda burns me.

[bottomdweller]

Thanks to Mary for finding this and letting me know. A couple of quotes from Bazin regarding what's going on in today's Sun.


I like Bazin, but man ... when you're making half a million a year, that amateur sports comment kinda burns me.

Blech to that amateur sports comment. But I don't think you can ever blame the player for wanting to transfer. Every rule the NCAA puts out there negatively affects the student athlete. Coaches leave all the time for that greener pasture, but players get screwed.

To Pat's comment above, I too wonder if Brown and especially Blackmun would leave if they had to sit out a year. I was feeling pretty good about the team going into next year after the HE championship game. Now it definitely feels like the program is starting to take many steps backwards. Hopefully they're able to replace some production by picking up a transfer or two.

[Lemonade]

Blech to that amateur sports comment. But I don't think you can ever blame the player for wanting to transfer. Every rule the NCAA puts out there negatively affects the student athlete. Coaches leave all the time for that greener pasture, but players get screwed.

To Pat's comment above, I too wonder if Brown and especially Blackmun would leave if they had to sit out a year. I was feeling pretty good about the team going into next year after the HE championship game. Now it definitely feels like the program is starting to take many steps backwards. Hopefully they're able to replace some production by picking up a transfer or two.

Something just doesn't add up as both players are very talented, team came on at the end of the season and should have a highly competitive team next season. Bazin is know as a top tier coach. Whats not to like? They started and played big minutes. I think the transfer portal isn't a good thing. No way they leave and sit out a season. This is essentially free agency for NCAA hockey and instead of players staying and building something they jump **** to the flavor of the month team.

[DNAEagle]

College coaches have to become GM 's in order to manage the franchise, nothing to do with the college. The transfer portal has become nothing more than free a agency program or a waiver wire, it will get worse.

[UMLFan]

Something just doesn't add up as both players are very talented, team came on at the end of the season and should have a highly competitive team next season. Bazin is know as a top tier coach. Whats not to like? They started and played big minutes. I think the transfer portal isn't a good thing. No way they leave and sit out a season. This is essentially free agency for NCAA hockey and instead of players staying and building something they jump **** to the flavor of the month team.

It's completely my gut feeling, but I think part of the quote from Bazin was regarding Brown (who was benched a few games).

[ScottK]

It's completely my gut feeling, but I think part of the quote from Bazin was regarding Brown (who was benched a few games).

The only game that Brown didn't play was the 2nd BC game, a night after he was a -4 in a 7-1 loss at BC. That was in the middle of a stretch where he had 1 point (an assist) over 8 games. In the other 11 games that he played, he was 8-4-12 and +4.

He had a similar stretch in the middle of his freshman year when he went 13 games without a goal.

[UMLSec123]

Those guys don't want to be here? Well make them pay. Hit them and throw them of their game anyway you can when you play them. As bad as this whole thing is, it could add more hate and rivalry to the game.

[boblav1]

The article mention 300 players in the portal. Is that correct? Even if it's half that amount I would think it would be tough for all these players to find a new team. So what happens if a player gets no offers from another school? Do they just stay with their current team?