UNH 2021 Off-Season Thread: Finally!?!

[Darius]

Holy Cross names Sommer, Sorenson new assistants, Butler volunteer assistant, Hailer director of hockey operations:
https://www.uscho.com/2021/07/06/hol...key-operations/

“Bobby has NHL and Olympic experience that will have a tremendous impact on our forwards on day one,” Riga said. “His background in teaching at his hockey camps and clinics in the Worcester area give us great resources as well. This is home for him and he is highly respected in the hockey world. We are fortunate to have him join our staff.”

[Snively65]

https://twitter.com/sundevilhockey/s...295375362?s=21

UNH will be at Arizona State (Oct 15 & 16) according to this tweet - though it’s hard to tell from the drawing...

Thanks, Dan. These two away games in Arizona bring our total to 31, with 16 home, 13 away, and 2 at the Ledyard Classic, which is essentially home for us. :-)

[Scott]

So Will Margel is coming this season afterall...Happy Summer everyone!!

Official press release from UNH:

https://unhwildcats.com/news/2021/7/...man-class.aspx

Edit: Did not realize that Connor Sweeney was Bob Sweeney's son!

[HockeyRef]

Patrick Grasso will play for the Utica Comets this coming season....

[Chuck Murray]

Patrick Grasso will play for the Utica Comets this coming season....

... for a couple of weeks before he gets demoted to Vancouver's ECHL affiliate.

[Snively65]

Updated this previous post. All ready for your predictions, Chuck. :-)

There are now 15 away games posted on the Schedule thread spreadsheet, typically the second half of home and home weekends, along with two at Arizona State on 15-16 October, two in Orono on 18/19 February, and two games at the Ledyard Classic on 30/31 December, which brings the UNH total to 31 games. Maybe one of the unknown unknowns will be a return visit to the Bentley Arena, as one more OOC game is needed, along with two more HEA third games.

UNH Away 2021-22:

10/15-16 - @ AZ State (2)
10/29 - @ PC
11/6 - @ NU
11/19 - @ UMass
12/3 - @ BU
12/30-31 - Ledyard Classic: Mercyhurst, BC, or Dartmouth
1/15 - @ BC
1/21 - @ UConn
2/4 - @ UConn
1/11 - @ UVM
2/18-19 - @ Maine (2)
2/25 - @ Mac

[Chuck Murray]

UNH Away 2021-22:

10/15-16 - @ AZ State (2) W/T
10/29 - @ PC L
11/6 - @ NU L
11/19 - @ UMass L
12/3 - @ BU W
12/30-31 - Ledyard Classic: Mercyhurst, BC, or Dartmouth L/W
1/15 - @ BC L
1/21 - @ UConn W
2/4 - @ UConn L
2/11 - @ UVM W
2/18-19 - @ Maine (2) W/L
2/25 - @ Mac T

[NCAA watcher]

The 5 person freshman class was announced. Combined with transfers, you have the following "trades":
in Blaisdell out Grasso EVEN/UPGRADE
in Margel out Crookshank BIG DOWNGRADE
in Cronin out Kelleher SLIGHT DOWNGRADE
in Sweeney out Sato VERY SLIGHT DOWNGRADE
in Gagne out Maass UPGRADE
in Huard out Nagle UPGRADE
in Fessenden out Taylor EVEN

Notes on recruiting class
UNH is getting older. It chose not to bring in any of the younger, better talent of Evans or Ardanaz, giving them another year of juniors. Of the 5 UNH recruits, 3 are aging out of juniors (i.e., age 20).
The same will happen next year, where Winters/Devlin/Penney will be aged out.

Notes on 2021-22 Season
Right wing was a problem all of last year, with Grasso ineffective in 5X5, and Kelleher injured and not that productive when he played. With not bringing in Evans early, there's a lot of pressure on Cafarelli to step up and hold up the right side, and for Cronin to be ready right away. Cafarelli is talented enough to fit in the top 6, but had work to do with conditioning and intensity of puck pursuit.
I'm looking forward to Blaisdell match his hype. IF, IF both Cafarelli and Blaisdell can make the second line click at 15-20 points, then the third line can find a good level.

The defense should be good enough. Reid can have a breakthrough, and lets see how long Gagne takes to get up to speed.

2021-22
Sr.Ward---------------Sr.Pierson-----------Grad.MacAdams
Jr.Blaisdell------------Sr.Engaras----------So.Cafarelli
Jr.Stevenson---------So.Gendron----------Fr.Cronin
Fr.Margel------------Jr.Herrmann---------Sr.Esposito
So.Richels------------Sr.Cipollone---------Jr.Hankinson
Fr.Sweeney---------

Jr.Eriksson--------Fr.Gagne
Sr.MacKinnon-----So.Reid
Sr.Verrier---------So.Jenson
Fr.Huard----------Sr.Semandel
Sr.Hickey

Grad.Robinson-----Jr.Fessenden----So.Forman

Notes on the future
The two promising potential freshmen, Kelowna twins Evans and Ardanaz will defer and play in the BCHL next year. They should have big years, and presumably be ready to step in as impact kids in 2022 with Russian Sardaryan. There's still a big glut, with Turner/Sacco/Winters and Devlin also potentially part of that class (and potentially a kid like Ellis Rickwood?), replacing only MacAdams and potentially Pierson and Engaras (both may have pro offers). It will be a very young group up front class wise, meaning Freshmen, but clearly UNH is going older, having Evans and Ardanaz come in as 19 year olds rather than a year early, and having three 20 year olds (Winters/Devlin/Penney), and potentially pushing Leclerc to a 20 year old season in 2023.

The recruits returning to juniors are interesting, it will be fun to monitor this year. Should have big numbers from Evans and Ardanaz, and Sardaryan should show some promise in a tough league.

2022-23
Grad.Ward-------[[[[Grad.Pierson or Engaras or Fr.Rickwood]]]]------Jr.Cafarelli
Sr.Blaisdell----------Fr.Sardaryan--------Fr.Evans
Sr.Stevenson-------Jr.Gendron-----------So.Cronin
So.Margel-----------Sr.Herrmann---------Fr.Turner
Jr.Richels-----------Fr.Devlin--------------Fr.D.Sacco
Fr.Winters----------So.Sweeney----------Sr.Hankinson

Sr.Eriksson-------So.Gagne
Jr.Reid-----------Fr.Ardanaz
Fr.Carfagna------Jr.Jenson
So.Huard---------Fr.Penney

Fr.Baliotti-----------Sr.Fessenden---------Jr.Forman

2023-24
Grad.Blaisdell-------So.Sardaryan-------So.Evans
Grad.Stevenson----Sr.Cafarelli----------[[So.Rickwood]]
Jr.Margel------------Sr.Gendron----------Jr.Cronin
Sr.Richels-----------So.Turner------------So.D.Sacco
So.Winters----------Fr.Leclerc------------So.Devlin
Jr.Sweeney----------Fr.N.Ring

Sr.Reid-----------Jr.Gagne
So.Ardanaz-------Fr.Fitzgerald
So.Carfagna------Sr.Jenson
Jr.Huard----------So.Penney

So.Baliotti-----------Fr.Muszelik---------Jr.Forman

[Snively65]

UNH Away 2021-22:

10/15-16 - @ AZ State (2) W/T
10/29 - @ PC L
11/6 - @ NU L
11/19 - @ UMass L
12/3 - @ BU W
12/30-31 - Ledyard Classic: Mercyhurst, BC, or Dartmouth L/W
1/15 - @ BC L
1/21 - @ UConn W
2/4 - @ UConn L
2/11 - @ UVM W
2/18-19 - @ Maine (2) W/L
2/25 - @ Mac T

Ok, by my tally, Chuck is predicting a 0.500 record so far (7-6-3 home, 6-7-2 away). Maybe if two of the three remaining games to be scheduled are against "cupcakes" (need to do a search here to get the definition, as in "if you cannot beat the cupcakes, YOU are the cupcake"), Chuck will predict our first winning record since the 2013/14 season (22-18-1)? Whatever the future, we must improve over last season's 6-14-3 record, although watcher seems to be suggesting an overall downgrade in talent compared to last season.

[NCAA watcher]

Whatever the future, we must improve over last season's 6-14-3 record, although watcher seems to be suggesting an overall downgrade in talent compared to last season.

To clarify, the in vs. out just looks at the overall trajectory of a program - if you are replacing players with similar or better players. But for a team like UNH, I think the internal growth of existing players should lead to a better result. A healthy Stevenson should replace Grasso's production. Ward's production didn't match his play for some reason, so hopefully he clicks with Pierson or someone. Reid stepped up last year at the end, and I could see a further jump to be the #1 D. Maass was not useful much of the year, so even though Gagne will have learning pains with his footspeed, I could see that being an upgrade. And I mention Cafarelli as a key. If he shows some compete level, he could be a big step up. Even Gendron, who played far better than expected, could step up and be a solid #3 center. Also a kid like Richels needs to work on his skating (and puck receiving), but could be a good role player if he improves.

The only clear loss was Crookshank. Plus, using the Cronin/Kelleher comparison, even if Cronin's ceiling is lower than Kelleher's, Kelleher was a non-contributor last year, so UNH should have more contribution from Cronin.

I think I predicted UNH at 5th in HE early in the offseason. UMass got some transfers and late recruits that probably put them ahead of UNH again.

1.BC
2.Northeastern
3.Providence
4.BU
5.U.Mass
6/7.UNH/UConn
8.Lowell
9.Merrimack
10.Maine
11.Vermont


And overall, I'm just happy to see a normal season again.

[Chuck Murray]

I think I predicted UNH at 5th in HE early in the offseason. UMass got some transfers and late recruits that probably put them ahead of UNH again.

1.BC
2.Northeastern
3.Providence
4.BU
5.U.Mass
6/7.UNH/UConn
8.Lowell
9.Merrimack
10.Maine
11.Vermont

And overall, I'm just happy to see a normal season again.

UMass will do better than you're projecting, 'Watcher. I'd be tempted to flip them and Providence in your standings. I also don't see UMass Lowell slipping behind UNH and/or UConn. I made the mistake of predicting UNH to finish 5th two seasons ago, I'm afraid they're simply going to have to prove it to me out on the ice before I go predicting them in or close to the top half of the league. I know I've predicted an overall .500-ish season, but some of that is due to out of conference opponents, and I do agree IF there is going to be improvement at UNH this season, it will be internal from guys already in the program.

I suspect we're looking at another 8th-9th place HE finish, which as your signature points out has become par for the course unfortunately. I think we can officially deem this stretch as the worst in the overall history of the UNH program (or at least for the years I've been on this planet and following hockey). The mid-'80's were horrendous, but relatively short-lived, and there were some very good years towards the end of the Holt Era, plus the budding promise of the Kullen/early Umile Era that kept interest in the program humming. The Holt Era kind of fell off a cliff around the time that HEA was being discussed and then coming to fruition, whereas the fall-off at the end stages of the Umile Era has been gradual, slow and very painful. As we've discussed far too many times.

[Dan]

Rickwood to CLARKSON...

[NCAA watcher]

Rickwood to CLARKSON...

It's hard to compete with the bright lights of Potsdam, or the lure of the ECAC

[Chuck Murray]

It's hard to compete with the bright lights of Potsdam, or the lure of the ECAC

I'm only surprised that Barr didn't get him to come to Orono and the "bright lights of Bangor" ...

[maineiac]

[QUOTE=Gibber;n3666336]Good evening folks, long time!
Longshot but I’m wondering if anyone has a ticket stub from the 2009 NCAA regional win over NoDak. I’m working on a framed piece with a photo I took of the celly from the game tying goal signed by Fortney and JVR and was hoping to include a ticket with it.

What was the date of that game? I will check my stash of stubs.