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

[Chuck Murray]

What has really changed to improve the hockey program since 2003?

My point exactly.

* Quality of players in the program has fallen off
* Quality of coaching (yes) and recruiting have both fallen off
* UNH AD/admin has done nothing to improve the on-ice product
* Admin HAS intervened too often to undercut the "fan experience"
* Not surprisingly, student AND non-student interest have both fallen off
* Home ice advantage has disappeared, now "Let's change the ice size"
* Whittemore Center is almost 20 years older, and very much looking it

But we do have a state of the art scoreboard AND ribbon board, so that's a plus ...

[HockeyRef]

Whoa so many injuries...Maass, Kelleher, MacAdams, Crookshank, Gendron. Ty in goal as expected.

[Scott]

Whoa so many injuries...Maass, Kelleher, MacAdams, Crookshank, Gendron. Ty in goal as expected.

Yes, on paper that would indeed spell doom for the 'Cats...but they had great chance to win last night with the same team on the ice as today (and they're losing 6-3 as I write this, and three more PPG's for the Huskies).

Forget the over/under for games played this season....what are the odds that Souza is given his walking papers when UNH is eliminanted in the HE playoffs in March? I say 50-50.

EDIT: 8-3 final. Yikes. In the last three games, two NHL-drafted goalies have given up 21 goals, an average of 7 per game. Sorry, but at this point, someone needs to be fired......

[Chuck Murray]

Yes, on paper that would indeed spell doom for the 'Cats...but they had great chance to win last night with the same team on the ice as today (and they're losing 6-3 as I write this, and three more PPG's for the Huskies).

Forget the over/under for games played this season....what are the odds that Souza is given his walking papers when UNH is eliminanted in the HE playoffs in March? I say 50-50.

EDIT: 8-3 final. Yikes. In the last three games, two NHL-drafted goalies have given up 21 goals, an average of 7 per game. Sorry, but at this point, someone needs to be fired......

I guess we know now why Taylor hasn't been playing. Holy crap ... what a horrendous week.

Looking at the injury list ... it raises some questions, but I'll leave that alone right now ...

[HockeyRef]

Yes, on paper that would indeed spell doom for the 'Cats...but they had great chance to win last night with the same team on the ice as today (and they're losing 6-3 as I write this, and three more PPG's for the Huskies).

Forget the over/under for games played this season....what are the odds that Souza is given his walking papers when UNH is eliminanted in the HE playoffs in March? I say 50-50.

EDIT: 8-3 final. Yikes. In the last three games, two NHL-drafted goalies have given up 21 goals, an average of 7 per game. Sorry, but at this point, someone needs to be fired......

Not to get off on a anti Souza thing, but, we all know he's not going anywhere, regardless of UNH's record. Just my POV and, EDIT: I don't mean to imply that he should. Didn't realize last night was Ty Taylor's only second full game since he won up at Dartmouth; could that be true? Team is hurting, obviously, and this year is not a good one to judge much (I guess?). But they sure seem lost out there....sigh.

[Snively65]

Not to get off on a anti Souza thing, but, we all know he's not going anywhere, regardless of UNH's record. Just my POV and, EDIT: I don't mean to imply that he should. Didn't realize last night was Ty Taylor's only second full game since he won up at Dartmouth; could that be true? Team is hurting, obviously, and this year is not a good one to judge much (I guess?). But they sure seem lost out there....sigh.

I agree, for the most part college hockey head coaches leave when they feel like it.

Scoring goals has been a problem for several years now, and the Cats even lost the SOG and FOW yesterday, But, the defense is reaching new all-time lows.

[NCAA watcher]

UNH is 6 for 12 on PK the last three games.

While we're killing time to next weekend, let's have a poll of the Souza five and a half years since he was hired by Scarano and Umile from U.Conn in 2015.
Question 1: UNH's tradition of elite Mass kids like Kelleher, Butler, Moses, Thompson, Pollastrone, Collins, Saviano, Souza, Bognuicki, Tom Nolan, Eric Nickulas. Who is the best New england recruit of the Souza era? I'm thinking Wyse has it by a long amount, but who is number 2? J.P. Turner????

New England recruits are in red.

Question 2: Who is the best recruit of the Souza era? I think Gildon by a long shot, but Crookshank is probably #2.

7/10/2015	1	Matthew	Dawson
11/14/2015	1	Eric	MacAdams
1/23/2016	1	Corson	Green
2/24/2016	1	Anthony	Wyse
2/28/2016	1	Joe	Sacco
3/26/2016	1	Lucas	Bahn
4/11/2016	1	Angus	Crookshank
5/3/2016	1	James	Miller
9/8/2016	1	Ryan	Verrier
12/1/2016	1	Marek	Wazny
12/4/2016	1	Drew	Commesso
1/12/2017	1	Benton	Maass
2/25/2017	1	Max	Gildon
4/4/2017	1	Kohei	Sato
4/13/2017	1	Connor	Sweeney
4/25/2017	1	Jackson	Pierson
10/26/2017	1	Chase	Stevenson
12/20/2017	1	Nolan	McElhaney
12/31/2017	1	Tim	Stutzle
2/8/2018	1	Ty	Taylor
2/20/2018	1	Zack	Jones
5/14/2018	1	Filip	Engaras
5/14/2018	1	Will	MacKinnon
5/22/2018	1	Aidan	Curran
6/21/2018	1	Drew	Hickey
8/8/2018	2	David	Sacco
9/14/2018	1	Liam	Devlin
10/15/2018	1	Will	Margel
11/20/2018	1	Nick	Ardanaz
12/9/2018	1	Kalle	Eriksson
1/10/2019	1	Morgan	Winters
2/9/2019	1	Robert	Cronin
3/15/2019	1	J.P.	Turner
3/23/2019	1	Jack	Ring
3/23/2019	1	Nick	Ring
3/30/2019	1	Cy	Leclerc
4/9/2019	1	Lucas	Herrmann
4/12/2019	1	Nick	Cafarelli
5/4/2019	1	Robby	Griffin
5/14/2019	1	Alex	Gagne
6/10/2019	1	Carsen	Richels
8/14/2019	1	Joe	Hankinson
9/27/2019	1	Timo	Bakos
1/8/2020	1	Damien	Carfagna
1/11/2020	1	Luke	Reid
2/23/2020	1	Joe	Nagle
2/23/2020	1	Cade	Penney
3/4/2020	1	Cam	Gendron
3/4/2020	1	Nikolai	Jenson
3/28/2020	1	John	Evans
4/1/2020	1	Jed	Baliotti
4/9/2020	1	Jeremy	Forman
8/3/2020	1	Brendan	Fitzgerald

[Chuck Murray]

You can arguably put together a superior team of decommits from 'Watcher's list than the kids who actually came. Stutzle and Commesso would obviously head up that list ... throw in Farrabee and Foegele from the end days of the Umile Era, and you've got a pretty good start on things, to say the least. Even Baby van Riemsdyk found a way to escape MS7 at the end of his run.

It seems like MS7 and his guys arguably know where to look ... but something is going wrong between the romance and the long-term commitment thing. Inability to win enough at this level to encourage kids to keep those commitments (Commesso) and/or not enough coaching bona fides to suggest a recruited player will sufficiently progress while spending time in the program?

Robinson seems to have progressed ... Gildon did not regress during his UNH years.

Is there a longer list of players who have stagnated? I hope that's not the "word on the street" ...

[NCAA watcher]

I think we can all agree that Scarano and Umile put Souza in an incredible uphill battle. The first four years of non-recruiting show that.

He's had some upticks the past year, with Ardanaz and Evans, and transfer Ward, and second tier good players Carfagna and Gagne. That is a solid base, but they have a bunch of third tier guys cluttering the pipeline, and they are not lacking for such players. For upper tier programs, those mistakes get decommitted, sadly. You could probably eliminate 5 recruits and leave room for upper tier kids, if you can build to them. Unfortunately, UNH has only a couple of top tier kids, and so sputters into "this will be a tough year post Gildon" to "this will be a tough offensive year post Crookshank" to "this will be a tough goalie year after Robinson graduates." The lack of depth from 2015 to 2018 is plain. Until they get critical mass, they're treading water in the bottom four of HE.

My post about New England kids was brought about by how utterly non-competitive they've been in the region. Each year that the recruiting period opens up, Northeastern, Providence, BC and BU snap up the top 8 kids.

Gone is the thought that UNH could get an immediate jump start by finally replacing Umile. It's going to be a slow move up the ranks. I guess we have to wait to see whether they do it, or whether they end up like Scarano's other successful hire, the women's 8 year plan, "progressing" from 10 wins to 11 wins to 13 wins to peaking the rebuild at 18 wins and the playoffs last year, now back to 3-8-2 rebuilding.

Witt, who inherited a team that won nine games overall (including four in Hockey East) in the 2013-14 season, has the UNH women's hockey program on an upward swing. That trend is reflected in the win column as she guided the Wildcats to 10 wins in her inaugural campaign of 2014-15, followed by 11 in 2015-16, 14 the next two seasons and 18 wins in the 2019-20 season. In six seasons with the 'Cats, she has a 80-113-23 overall record with one Hockey East semifinal appearance and five appearances in the quarterfinals.

[Snively65]

You can arguably put together a superior team of decommits from 'Watcher's list than the kids who actually came. Stutzle and Commesso would obviously head up that list ... throw in Farrabee and Foegele from the end days of the Umile Era, and you've got a pretty good start on things, to say the least. Even Baby van Riemsdyk found a way to escape MS7 at the end of his run.

It seems like MS7 and his guys arguably know where to look ... but something is going wrong between the romance and the long-term commitment thing. Inability to win enough at this level to encourage kids to keep those commitments (Commesso) and/or not enough coaching bona fides to suggest a recruited player will sufficiently progress while spending time in the program?

Robinson seems to have progressed ... Gildon did not regress during his UNH years.

Is there a longer list of players who have stagnated? I hope that's not the "word on the street" ...

And, what did BvR's transfer to NU net him? After a college career worst 6 points (2 G 4 A) in 33 games at NU, he now has two games under his skates with the Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL), albeit with a goal and an assist so far.

I made the case a few pages back that stagnation if not regression has been the de rigueur for many players at UNH for the past decade. I, too, hope that this trend is not the "word on the street....." but it is difficult not to notice.

[ClOuD 9]

I think we can all agree that Scarano and Umile put Souza in an incredible uphill battle. The first four years of non-recruiting show that.

He's had some upticks the past year, with Ardanaz and Evans, and transfer Ward, and second tier good players Carfagna and Gagne. That is a solid base, but they have a bunch of third tier guys cluttering the pipeline, and they are not lacking for such players. For upper tier programs, those mistakes get decommitted, sadly. You could probably eliminate 5 recruits and leave room for upper tier kids, if you can build to them. Unfortunately, UNH has only a couple of top tier kids, and so sputters into "this will be a tough year post Gildon" to "this will be a tough offensive year post Crookshank" to "this will be a tough goalie year after Robinson graduates." The lack of depth from 2015 to 2018 is plain. Until they get critical mass, they're treading water in the bottom four of HE.

My post about New England kids was brought about by how utterly non-competitive they've been in the region. Each year that the recruiting period opens up, Northeastern, Providence, BC and BU snap up the top 8 kids.

From the introductory press conference:
“Mike is a master recruiter and evaluates talent very well,” said Umile.
https://www.uscho.com/2018/03/14/wit...ildcats-coach/

[Chuck Murray]

From the introductory press conference:
“Mike is a master recruiter and evaluates talent very well,” said Umile.
https://www.uscho.com/2018/03/14/wit...ildcats-coach/

It's one thing to spot and evaluate talent ... it's another thing entirely to convince them you can do something to help advance their career down the line by coming to play for your program.

I suspect, therein lies the rub ...

[Scott]

It's very simple. Does the school want a winning culture or they happy with competing with the Merrimack's and Vermont's of the world and once in a while snag a few of 2nd tier players? UMass was apparently tired of being perennial cellar-dwellers and it only took Greg Carvel a couple of seasons to convert them from a doormat team to a national powerhouse. It can be done, if the school is committed to doing so.

Now I'm not comparing Carvel to Souza....hardly. But I really question the administration's commitment to bringing a winning tradition to UNH hockey with the past six years of coaching succession. Yes, it's likely true that Souza is not going anywhere, and that's fine if he's happy and the administration is happy. Money talks, and I guess we won't see any changes until Whitt revenue continues to dry up in the post-pandemic future.

[HockeyRef]

It's very simple. Does the school want a winning culture or they happy with competing with the Merrimack's and Vermont's of the world and once in a while snag a few of 2nd tier players? UMass was apparently tired of being perennial cellar-dwellers and it only took Greg Carvel a couple of seasons to convert them from a doormat team to a national powerhouse. It can be done, if the school is committed to doing so.

Now I'm not comparing Carvel to Souza....hardly. But I really question the administration's commitment to bringing a winning tradition to UNH hockey with the past six years of coaching succession. Yes, it's likely true that Souza is not going anywhere, and that's fine if he's happy and the administration is happy. Money talks, and I guess we won't see any changes until Whitt revenue continues to dry up in the post-pandemic future.

Lest we forget, wasn't Carvel successful at SLU before the wheels started going off there? Snagging a Cale Makar sure doesn't hurt, but even then, he's got a talented bunch and I believe Makar's brother is on tap to be there as well. Dan has talked about how there is absolutely NO REASON/NO EXCUSES about why UNH hockey can't be successful. Guess we'll have to wait until they shrink the rink because that seems to be keeping these top tier players from coming? (eye roll) Hard to judge this season, am trying to be fair about this season given how blasted crazy it all is. Not going to matter much and I'm sure any result when all is said and done is going to be pinned on the pandemic. Guess all I'm looking for is some competitive hockey from them. Here's hoping we get guys back on the ice as NU awaits...

[Felger]

Here's hoping we get guys back on the ice as NU awaits...

Got Merrimack this weekend....good news for Ty Taylor