UNH 2020 Off-Season Thread: That Rinky-Shrinky Thang And Other Lively Banter :D

[Scott]

Wildcat Century Club:

Rank	Player	Years	GP	G	A	Pts	PPG	GPG	APG
28	Bob Miller	1974-77	65	51	97	148	2.27	0.78	1.5

Sad day. One of the all-time Wildcat greats. 64 years old is too young.

[Darius]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl...64/ar-BB19EfPE

I can see him drinking a beer at the Tin Palace bar as if it was yesterday.

It's like being asked your favorite song by your favorite band, but if I had to pick, he is my all time favorite UNH player. Magical almost mythical talent. Sad day, indeed.

[Chuck Murray]

"It is with sadness that we share with you Bruins Alumni member, Bobby Miller has passed away at the age of 64. Bobby played four seasons with the Bruins from the 1977-1981. He was the youngest member of the 11 players to score 20 goals during the 1977-1978 season."

https://***********/nhlbruinsalumni

Wow, bummer. From back in the day, my early years of UNH fandom, Miller was the first guy who made the step directly from Durham to the NHL (Bruins), with virtually no time in between (only 3 games?), and wedged a full season with the '76 USA Olympic Team in between two very productive full seasons at UNH. Fantastic rookie year with the B's, was on the "too many men" team that nearly broke up the Habs' 4 year Cup run in the '78 SC semifinals. Never quite progressed in the years that followed, and was eventually traded for the eminently forgettable Mike Gillis to the Colorado Rockies (pre-Avs), when he got there a year or so after his former B's coach Don Cherry had come and gone.

Not sure if Miller's career waned because of injury, or he just peaked early and withered in Colorado, or dropped down the depth chart in Boston after Cherry left town. But at least in my eyes, he was the most talented skater UNH had during the years he was there, and while Rod Langway was eventually the guy who rose to the top at the next level, Miller got there a year earlier than even Langway did, and before UNH teammates like Hislop ('75) and Lumley, Gould, Crowder and Francis from the '77 team. A shooting star that burned brightly in the '70's, but faded out by the '80's. Never met him, but never heard a bad word about him either. Would love to hear from our long-timers how Miller spent his last 30+ years. RIP Bobby.

[Darius]

Optimism grows at UNH as hockey season approaches:
https://tnhdigital.com/2020/10/02/op...on-approaches/

[Chuck Murray]

Thanks for sharing, Darius. Nice to know MS7 and his players are preparing to play.

However, I disagree that there's any "leadership" being shown at league level, which in reality is driven by a collection of AD's. If there WAS leadership, there would be communication coming from Hockey East to its fans, and direction from HEA to its member schools. Instead, the member schools are dawdling around, and waiting for some brave soul(s) running the so-called "Winter" (indoor) sports somewhere, to step out and say they're planning to play - how much, where, when, etc.

I don't see any "leadership" here at all. All I see is a game of "Follow the Leader" waiting to break out ... if/when an honest-to-goodness LEADER is the first to step forward. JMHO.

[Darius]

Billerica’s Miller made mark in NHL:
https://www.sentinelandenterprise.co...e-mark-in-nhl/

[Chuck Murray]

Looking at that vintage B's photo of a helmetless Bobby Miller in Darius' latest link ... it's hard not to compare Miller's physical appearance (AND to some degree, his playing style) with that of the fictional "Ned Braden" character, played ironically by UNH grad Mike Ontkean in Slapshot. Of course, in the movie, much sport was made of the fact that Ned Braden was a rare college grad stuck in the low minors, and held the goon hockey he was surrounded by in low esteem. Miller's PIM numbers in Boston definitely were more at the Marcotte/Sheppard end of the spectrum than they were to the O'Reilly/Wensink/Jonathan crowd.

I'm guessing that Grapes had somewhat more patience with the blossoming youngster (Miller) than "Reg Dunlop" apparently had with a relatively young but already cynical Braden.

It's on subjects like Miller's passing where we're badly missing our usual old-timers on here ...

[Whalers]

2.27 Points per game for 2 seasons. To put in perspective, he almost out scores the UNH teams from the past many seasons by himself.

If memory serves me correctly, color commentator extraordinaire Bob Norton once said there were 3 college hockey players who showed up and were just on another level, Brian Leetch, Paul Kariya and Bob Miller. Couldn't find the quote online, but this was on one of the NESN Hockey East telecasts back in the 80's. There was the story I heard from the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck where there was a huge bar fight and he and his Dad were arrested, but not sure how they were involved. I think Greg would have some more insight into this bit of history.

[Drew S.]

Thanks for sharing, Darius. Nice to know MS7 and his players are preparing to play.

However, I disagree that there's any "leadership" being shown at league level, which in reality is driven by a collection of AD's. If there WAS leadership, there would be communication coming from Hockey East to its fans, and direction from HEA to its member schools. Instead, the member schools are dawdling around, and waiting for some brave soul(s) running the so-called "Winter" (indoor) sports somewhere, to step out and say they're planning to play - how much, where, when, etc.

I don't see any "leadership" here at all. All I see is a game of "Follow the Leader" waiting to break out ... if/when an honest-to-goodness LEADER is the first to step forward. JMHO.

Totally agree with this, Chuck. We’ve known for a few months now how things would look for the winter and don’t really see any point in waiting. I think the best thing to do would be for Hockey East to have its own season and playoffs and not even bother with trying to have an NCAA tournament.

Its a shame this happened right when Maine and UNH were starting to find their way again.

[HockeyRef]

Extending my sympathies to those of you who were fortunate enough to be Bobby Miller fans; read up on him and he must've been so exciting to watch. Tip of the cap to him...Like all am anxiously waiting (Helplessly Hoping ...CSN ref) that there will be a hockey season. Also just watched Tim Stutzle get selected #3 in the NHL Draft and if you saw it, how cool was that Alex Trebeck making the announcement Best wishes Tim... Hope you are all well...and that our paths cross sooner than later -HR

Ps..the loss of Eddie VanHalen is sad. Saw the band in '81 at the launch of the Fair Warning album. Killer. Genius with a 'thundering Stratocaster'. RIP

[Felger]

Thanks for sharing, Darius. Nice to know MS7 and his players are preparing to play.

However, I disagree that there's any "leadership" being shown at league level, which in reality is driven by a collection of AD's. If there WAS leadership, there would be communication coming from Hockey East to its fans, and direction from HEA to its member schools. Instead, the member schools are dawdling around, and waiting for some brave soul(s) running the so-called "Winter" (indoor) sports somewhere, to step out and say they're planning to play - how much, where, when, etc.

I don't see any "leadership" here at all. All I see is a game of "Follow the Leader" waiting to break out ... if/when an honest-to-goodness LEADER is the first to step forward. JMHO.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ne...g-For-Nov-.php

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ne...-Division-.php

https://caasports.com/news/2020/9/29...21-season.aspx

[Dan]

Also just watched Tim Stutzle get selected #3 in the NHL Draft and if you saw it, how cool was that Alex Trebeck making the announcement Best wishes Tim...

Commesso goes in the 2nd Round, #46 overall, to Chicago. Could have been a nice week for UNH Hockey...

[C-H-C]

Luke Reid - 6th Round, 166th overall by Nashville Predators
Filip Engaras - 6th Round, 169th overall by Edmonton Oilers

[Scott]

Did anyone else see this article? Huge windfall for UMaine athletics, courtesy of the Alfond Foundation:

https://goblackbears.com/news/2020/1...oundation.aspx

I'm guessing Alfond Arena will be receiving the first overhaul.

[Chuck Murray]

Ps..the loss of Eddie VanHalen is sad. Saw the band in '81 at the launch of the Fair Warning album. Killer. Genius with a 'thundering Stratocaster'. RIP

Welcome back, HR!! Yes, the loss of EvH hit me a little bit, too. Maybe I didn't hold him in quite as high esteem as you, as I always felt the quality of his output steadily declined as his career played out. He's certainly not alone in that. But I can still tell you where I was though when I first heard the debut Van Halen album (watching a HS soccer game from the stands before our football practice began), and it was mind-blowing to hear what he was doing. It was a year after the debut Boston album which was groundbreaking in its sonic clarity, but the first Van Halen album matched that same kind of cutting edge clarity, plus with EvH's original technique, which pretty much launched a myriad of imitators throughout the decade that followed.

I loved the first three albums, I think David Lee Roth spoiled a lot of what followed ... and although I was a huge Sammy Hagar fan when he was with Montrose and a solo act, I never really bought into the "Van Hagar" years. But in fairness, the debut Van Halen album set the bar SO high, it was always going to be a tough thing for the band to match.

And that was 100% down to the sheer musical genius of EvH. Just like Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Beck and Blackmore before him, you always knew when you were listening to an EvH solo. Another musical genius has left the stage far too early ...