UNH Men's Hockey 2022 Off Season Thread- Goodbye Lake Whitt!

[Dan]

If the opportunity arises, Blashill should be the one to make the decision UNH is not (or is) a fit - not UNH. That's all. Actually trying is the quickest way to above average!

[Chuck Murray]

If the opportunity arises, Blashill should be the one to make the decision UNH is not (or is) a fit - not UNH. That's all. Actually trying is the quickest way to above average!

Couldn't agree more. Maybe Blashill stays with DRW in a different capacity? Maybe he waits to see if other local options open up (UM or MSU)? Or just maybe, a shot at a transformational job outside his current "bubble" would be compelling for a guy who's made pretty decent money for the last 6-7 seasons now? He's been among the lowest-paid NHL head coaches during his time in charge, but he's still gonna have a decent amount socked away, where finances aren't going to be an issue forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do. I can't imagine Blashill would be a shoe-in at Lansing or Ann Arbor regardless, so if I'm the new UNH AD and the opportunity opens up (as it likely will) to make a run at Blashill, that would be a great message to the D-1 college hockey world that UNH means business with its rebuild, even if Blashill said "no". There's literally nothing to lose in making the pitch, and pretty much everything to gain.

Or Commish Nigel can be the easy choice, and we can extend MS7 or chase DU's new unproven coach.

[Gibber]

So, I got this in On Friday, it's simply spectacular! (37"x27")




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[Robert Balin]

In the transfer portal, soI am assuming he'll not be back.

Hello Watcher, can you tell me what happened to David Sacco? i can't find anything on him did he stop playing hockey all together? thanks for the imput.

[NCAA watcher]

I believe he did, though I do not know the backstory why.

[ClOuD 9]

Josh Norris (Oxford/Michigan), on the power play, and Mathieu Joseph scored 1 minute 11 seconds apart early in the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie.
Joseph added another goal later in the period, before Lucas Raymond scored his second goal of the game cutting Ottawa's lead to 4-2.
Joseph completed his third-period hat trick (and 11th goal) with an empty-net goal, making it 5-2.
At that point, the "Fire Blashill" chant became noticeable from the sparse crowd that remained at Little Caesars Arena.

Wings fans chant 'Fire Blashill' after falling 5-2 to Senators - The Detroit News
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...rs/7242957001/

[Chuck Murray]

Wings fans chant 'Fire Blashill' after falling 5-2 to Senators - The Detroit News
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...rs/7242957001/

I think they play the Senators again tonight, followed by a game with the B's.

A few posts ago, IIRC I said there was a 75-80% chance he's not going to return next season. I think that forecast has gone upwards of 90% at this point. If true, the only thing that keeps him unavailable for the next UNH AD is getting offered a high paying front office job in Detroit. And while that's possible, Yzerman already has a lot of his old playing buddies in situ, so he would have to either replace one of those guys OR invent a new job for Blashill. Again, 50-50 at best.

Hockey Operations | Detroit Red Wings (nhl.com)

Before I go too negative on Blashill, I just feel the need to point out that he's the walking talking advert for the Peter Principle with North American hockey coaching. It's not an exaggeration to say he's been successful at every stop, every level in his career, with the exception of this one. Heck, even with this "failure", one could determine that after a generation of excellent drafting and acquisitions, Yzerman's predecessor (Kenny Holland - like Blashill, another former goalie BTW) eventually ran out of luck, and the hole he put the organization in ended up SO deep that even a competent NHL coach (Blashill?) couldn't turn things around quickly enough. The "plan" ultimately ended up being an effort to stitch the last vestiges of the great DRW Cup era dynasty (Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall) onto the guys emerging from their AHL farm club. But the older guys ran out of juice, and the younger guys turned out to be good but not good enough. More on that later.

But this is a UNH thread and not a DRW thread, so rather than focus on why I think Yzerman has no choice this time but to give Blashill his walking papers, or why it's increasingly unlikely he's going to ask him to stay on in Detroit ... I want to remind the readers why this guy who's being boo'ed in Motown could be a transformational figure in Durham. Dan can speak better than anyone as to his success as an assistant at D-1 Miami, which in turn led to his short successful stint as HC/GM with the Indiana Ice in the USHL (Clark Cup winners), followed by a year at Western Michigan which got his program into the tourney, and got him named USCHO Coach of the Year, and put him on the DRW radar. He left there after a year, and after assisting the NHL team, spent a 3 year gig running Grand Rapids in the AHL, where they won a Calder Cup and he won COTY the next year after that. He was working with prospects like Nyquist, Tatar, DeKeyser, Mrazek, Sheahan and Glendenning, guys who are still in the NHL, but who turned out to be somewhat less than what was needed to carry him as HC when he too finally arrived at the NHL level with them.

FWIW Blashill's younger brother coaches HS hockey in Michigan, and has coached as a college assistant as well, so maybe an approach to the "Brothers Blashill" by the new UNH AD would really put a compelling offer out there for someone who knows what needs to be done to have success at virtually every level of hockey (except for the NHL).

Or Commish Nigel can simply extend MS7. We'll see soon enough ...

[HockeyRef]

FWIW dept...John Evans committed to RPI. Glad he's found a spot. Who's replacing him on our roster? As well as Ardanaz? Maybe I missed it...

[HockeyRef]

Congratulations to Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who finished his career yesterday. Duke has already named Jon Scheyer to the top position. Scheyer, started coaching four years ago as an assistant for U.Rhode Island, staying there for two years for a sub-500 team, followed by two years at Vanderbilt as it tried to get into the top half of the SEC.

Oh wait, let me check the notes. Nope, wrong sheet. Turns out Scheyer actually contributed to teams in the top 10 nationally, including a National Title team.

That was a great game last night...oh, those two free throws. Bball can be cruel like that. I didn't really follow his career that much but obviously, what a coach. Sure did get a lot of flack on Twitter about the loss? Whatever. A legend to be sure.

[NCAA watcher]

FWIW dept...John Evans committed to RPI. Glad he's found a spot. Who's replacing him on our roster? As well as Ardanaz? Maybe I missed it...

Good for him. Was wondering where he might end up. I was a big fan of his game even though it plateaued below where I expected. I'll be interested to see if he ends up being good or whether he can return to the elite level I saw in his game.
I would not be surprised to see his close friend, Ardanaz, follow. Ardanaz is academically strong, and so bumping up to RPI would be a good academic spot.

Edit: There it is,

Nicolas Ardanaz
@NickArdanaz
Proud and excited to announce my commitment to play Division 1 hockey at RPI. I’d like to thank my family, friends, coaches and
@BCHLWarriors
for helping me get to this point. #HailToThee
@RPI_Hockey

[HockeyRef]

Good for him. Was wondering where he might end up. I was a big fan of his game even though it plateaued below where I expected. I'll be interested to see if he ends up being good or whether he can return to the elite level I saw in his game.
I would not be surprised to see his close friend, Ardanaz, follow. Ardanaz is academically strong, and so bumping up to RPI would be a good academic spot.

Edit: There it is,

Would you just look at that? Good call on that one 'Watcher. Now just waiting to see where Jackson Pierson lands, and, just who will come in and fill those spots in OUR roster.

[sezenack]

RPI fan here. Just curious, when did the two of them de-commit from you guys? And was it UNH pulling their offers or them choosing to do it?

[Scott]

RPI fan here. Just curious, when did the two of them de-commit from you guys? And was it UNH pulling their offers or them choosing to do it?

Just speculating....I'm sure 'Watcher or others have more reliable info....but if history is repeating itself, the UNH coaches may have asked both Evans and Ardanaz to defer to 2023-24. Same thing happened several years ago when the UNH coaching staff asked UNH committ Mike Vecchione to defer a year. Vecchione de-committed to UNH, committed to Union, and well.....you guys know the rest of the story.

[sezenack]

Just speculating....I'm sure 'Watcher or others have more reliable info....but if history is repeating itself, the UNH coaches may have asked both Evans and Ardanaz to defer to 2023-24. Same thing happened several years ago when the UNH coaching staff asked UNH committ Mike Vecchione to defer a year. Vecchione de-committed to UNH, committed to Union, and well.....you guys know the rest of the story.

Yeah this seems most likely from what I know, but wanted to get the perspective from you guys. Thanks!

[HockeyRef]

Just speculating....I'm sure 'Watcher or others have more reliable info....but if history is repeating itself, the UNH coaches may have asked both Evans and Ardanaz to defer to 2023-24. Same thing happened several years ago when the UNH coaching staff asked UNH committ Mike Vecchione to defer a year. Vecchione de-committed to UNH, committed to Union, and well.....you guys know the rest of the story.

I had just started my UNH fandom when all of this went down (Vecchione). I'd like to think that this time around things will have been for the better for the two players as well as for UNH. It's easy to look at the past and shake your head (and I agree, that was a big mistake given how it all turned out?). Trying to be eternally optimistic that we will have incoming players to take their place that will find UNH to be a great fit. I hope Evans/Ardanaz find great success at RPI; reading their board I see they (RPI) have challenges of their own. And like us, they want to become relevant and successful. I hope that this is a positive catalyst for that for all. I mean, what's the alternative?!?