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

[Snively65]

Nothing worse than losing to Luce Cannon, yet again, right, Chuck? If next year's Puddycat recruiting class does not turn up anyone who can put the puck in the net, I think that it might be time for Souza to pack his bags. Puddy's PP remains pitiful overall, despite going 1 for 3 tonight. None of our forwards ever get even close to the net, for the odd tip or garbage goal, although I admit that Sato sometimes speeds across in front of the net with nothing to show for it. And, our D allowed the Fuskies to crash the net the entire game. Had not Robinson made some tough saves in tight, the score could have been at least 5-1. But, hey, at least we took 3 points from Maine, so maybe we will not come in eleventh this year. Mac and PC are booked for our only two free weekends, so unless we can make up some of those games mid-week, we are going to be short several games, even if a bunch of us lose the 12.5 games over/under contest. Final HEA placement will be by percentage won-loss records, I think.

[Chuck Murray]

Nothing worse than losing to Luce Cannon, yet again, right, Chuck?

If I'm being 100% honest, I'd say UConn looked WAY better coached than UNH did last night.

Not encouraging.

[HockeyRef]

Any idea where Kelleher is today? I think I saw him go down the tunnel yesterday? Small ice for the 'Cats today...but the UConn difficulties continue...

[Dan]

Bearing in mind this is a tread water year, with Evans and Ardanaz impact kids who are not yet in the system. This freshman class is decent filler, but not a "move the program" sort, so this was always a development year, not a "lets see what we have" year.

1. Lack of moving defenseman. Eriksson is the only D with puck skills. Maass is a #4 complement, and has some good compoents, but isn't paired with someone he can complement. Forced into a top 2 role and doesn't move the puck quickly enough. He's a good shooter on the PP, but the perimeter passing (Grasso, Pierson) is too slow. The only real prospect for filling that is Reid, so his development is key.

2. Ward is the # 2 forward. Besides him and Crookshank, and after him, Kelleher, nobody seems capable of creating. You have a bunch of kids who seem neutral - but more crash bang, not "he'll be something speacial. The freshman line of Gendron, Richels seems to have potential but will take a good amount of time to have an impact.

3. A couple of really weak kids that are my whipping boys, and I will not name them because I'm trying to be fair and not just see confirmation bias, but I just see negative to weak plays from them consistently.


They have decent enough talent to be competitive for bottom 8 of the league, but need some better leaps from the players. Even talented frosh need about 10-16 games, so no judging the freshman class, or the ones you need to grow for 2021-22 (Richels, Cararelli, Reid). Havnt seen any pops from those frosh, so am really looking more toward 21-22 for moving the program from 6-9 in the league to middle tier.

I agree with everything you're saying generally speaking - however, Grasso is a fifth-year senior, Kelleher is in his fourth year and Pierson is a junior. A lot of UNH's key forward are older and should be more dangerous/productive based on age alone - more trouble scoring today, I see...

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Interesting WJC article with a familiar name...

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2021/...-dont-remember

[Snively65]

I agree with everything you're saying generally speaking - however, Grasso is a fifth-year senior, Kelleher is in his fourth year and Pierson is a junior. A lot of UNH's key forward are older and should be more dangerous/productive based on age alone - more trouble scoring today, I see...

Except none of these three have developed into goal scorers, with Pierson and Kelleher not improving at all over their first seasons, and Grasso dramatically regressing since his first season. When I see trends like these, I suspect bad coaching.

[Chuck Murray]

Going to OT, tied 1-1, Pierson tied it up in the 3rd period. Robinson in goal again for UNH.

[wildcatdc]

Except none of these three have developed into goal scorers, with Pierson and Kelleher not improving at all over their first seasons, and Grasso dramatically regressing since his first season. When I see trends like these, I suspect bad coaching.

I’ll take Pierson’s play today, though. N of 1.

[Chuck Murray]

UNH goes on the PP one minute into OT ... Pierson scores, UNH splits the series, now at 2W-2L-1T

[Dan]

Except none of these three have developed into goal scorers, with Pierson and Kelleher not improving at all over their first seasons, and Grasso dramatically regressing since his first season. When I see trends like these, I suspect bad coaching.

Grasso clearly benefitted from playing on a very good PP unit his freshman year - and alongside a gifted playmaker in Tyler Kelleher. He's never really been that kind of scorer. It makes him, IMO, a very interesting candidate to transfer somewhere for one final season at the college level. He should be able to wrap up a masters and, if he can play on the wing for an elite talent, make a difference on an NCAA Tournament team...

Pierson and Kelleher are playmaker first types, without that 'pure' goal scoring ability - neither has an elite shot. Watcher is right, they needed to surrounded these three with top players to maximize their talents and contributions. They're complimentary pieces, not lead chips - that said, they've all hovered around 20-25 points the past three seasons and they should be able to contribute a 30-point pace this season with their growing experience and age advantage. They haven't done that to date. I'm not expecting miracles, just improvement...

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That said, Pierson scored twice today and UNH comes back to steal a win - I'll take it. Robinson has been great so far this season...

[Snively65]

Going to OT, tied 1-1, Pierson tied it up in the 3rd period. Robinson in goal again for UNH.

And, he got the game winner in OT; he must have read my post before his tying goal in the third. :-)

Not that I am complaining about a W, but what about that nearly full minute of 5-3 PP for Puddycats late in the third?

[HockeyRef]

Well there you go 'Cats...2 for Pierson we'll take it. Darn long ride home when you lose down there! Rest up 'Cats and maybe sneak in a make up game?

[HockeyRef]

Well there you go 'Cats...2 for Pierson we'll take it. Darn long ride home when you lose down there! Rest up 'Cats and maybe sneak in a make up game?

....and, what a pass from Crookshank on the game winnah!

[ClOuD 9]

Men beat UConn in OT in the regular season, UNH president sends a tweet calling it a "big day" for UNH athletics.
This is a program that used to be a perennial contender and had never lost to UConn until a few years ago...

[Drew S.]

Men beat UConn in OT in the regular season, UNH president sends a tweet calling it a "big day" for UNH athletics.
This is a program that used to be a perennial contender and had never lost to UConn until a few years ago...

Pretty sure UNH women’s basketball beat Maine today, would guess that is what he was referring to.

[NCAA watcher]

If I'm being 100% honest, I'd say UConn looked WAY better coached than UNH did last night.

Not encouraging.

Sometimes coaching is about having the talent to go 2 on 4, beat a guy on the outside with speed and stickhandling to draw others to you and leave the other guy free for a shot.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1345515052124827648