UNH Hockey 2023 Off Season Thread Turn and Face the Strange

[Felger]

https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcon...xt=tnh_archive

Page 1 has UNH student charged with Murder, so eventful.

Thanks for finding and posting that 'Watcher. A trip down memory lane that includes two articles and a column about the face mask incident.

Loved the part about Emile Francis calling Scotty Whitelaw.

Loved the part about Sean Coady playing the victim even more.

[Chuck Murray]

Quick note to clarify: CHDA (College Hockey Dark Ages) is something that was coined by another USCHO poster whose name I cannot recall, but the term fit back then, and IMO it still fits now.

Exactly when the CHDA begins/ends is up for interpretation. Usually, the older the poster, the earlier the line of demarcation. For me, it's 1979 since that was my senior year of high school, and my first ever UNH in-person game ('79 ECAC Finals, win over Dartmouth), after which followed Herb Brooks' Miracle on Ice shortly thereafter, when I became a college hockey regular. For older UNH fans, I've seen the line set as far back as the roof and Snively Arena, and some of my contemporaries (maybe including 'Watcher?) have set it at the '84/'85 birth of Hockey East. There's a strong argument that CHDA ended the second USCHO and the Age of the Internet arrived in earnest, the latter of which occurred roughly when the 'Cats moved from Lively Snively to The Whitt. For 'Ref, it's probably set at around the time Kevin Goumas matriculated at UNH (j/k 'Ref). All depends on your POV, I'd say.

In all seriousness, though ... it's a shame college hockey in general (and UNH specifically) have done so little to preserve their histories and some of the biggest games of all time on audio and/or video. The fact that the legendary C-H-C 3-on-3 goal at Snively splurge is still available to us is a minor miracle, but having said that, there's hardly any access to full-length games. Try finding Bogie's GWG in the last-ever game at Snively, much less the full game tape (7-6 UNH in double OT), which is coming up on its 30th anniversary next March (boy does that make me feel old!). And the Bogie goal was a clip NESN played to death for a few years as part of regular game promos!

If Commish Nigel wanted to do something positive for the history of his league, he'd hire a couple of energetic old-timers (holding hand up) and a small crew of young tech geeks to plumb the depths of archival materials available to the various schools/programs, broadcast partners, and surviving coaches/their staffs to locate, clean up and preserve this stuff before it's all too late (which sadly may already be the case in many settings). To not try is to not care ...

[Chuck Murray]

All the way back to 2010, stuff like this should not be so difficult to track down easily on-line ...

[NCAA watcher]

The dark ages are always 10 years before you became aware of something.
I first started following UNH hockey when TV 11 broadcast 79 senior night. Was NHL fan but really started when I wrote for student paper 83-87 (you have four years on me Chuck). If anyone had told me about UNH or college hockey in 72 I would have thought it was the dark ages.
Now I lead in recalling events from 83 without thinking that was 40 years ago, or the equivalent of an old guy telling me about 1943 in 1983.

In the end, we're all myopic about what is relevant: do your best in the present and embrace the future rather than living in the past.

This is your moment, and every single minute you spend
Tryna hold on to it, 'cause you may never get it again
So while you're in it, try to get as much **** as you can
And when your run is over, just admit when it's at its end
'Cause I'm at the end of my wits with half the **** that gets in

[Darius]

https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcon...xt=tnh_archive

Page 1 has UNH student charged with Murder, so eventful.

Ahh.. Senior year. People threatening to jump from Stoke was kind of a thing. Rumor was someone did it in '75 - '76. Steve Martino (Siel article) was living on my floor in Stoke two years prior when our RA threatened to jump after his girlfriend broke up with him. We encouraged him through his locked door, but he didn't do it. Times were different and we were awful. In fairness, we were pretty sure he wasn't going to jump, but still... Bobby Francis was in my Finance class. Really nice guy, a gentleman. Sean Coady...

Years later I became entwined with the Siel family. Not entirely, but mostly a negative experience that reinforced my opinion that Barney was guilty.

[Snively65]

Ahh.. Senior year. People threatening to jump from Stoke was kind of a thing. Rumor was someone did it in '75 - '76. Steve Martino (Siel article) was living on my floor in Stoke two years prior when our RA threatened to jump after his girlfriend broke up with him. We encouraged him through his locked door, but he didn't do it. Times were different and we were awful. In fairness, we were pretty sure he wasn't going to jump, but still... Bobby Francis was in my Finance class. Really nice guy, a gentleman. Sean Coady...

Years later I became entwined with the Siel family. Not entirely, but mostly a negative experience that reinforced my opinion that Barney was guilty.

You tried to talk him into jumping? Really? So, you were the opposite of Frank Costanza’s lawyer, “the Guy in the Cape” (Larry David), who saved Noreen from jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge?

[Chuck Murray]

Gotta give credit to UNH where it's due ... in Kevin Landrigan's weekly Sunday politics column in the Union Leader, he pointed out that a survey of over 55,000 college students by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) where out of approx. 250 colleges and universities, UNH finished as the 3rd most tolerant of free speech issues. Dartmouth finished at 240th most tolerant (in the Bottom Ten or least tolerant), and everyone favorite Ivy - Harvard - finished dead last with an overall "abysmal" rating. Check out where your alma mater finished:

https://rankings.thefire.org/rank

Word of caution - the overall data and commentary doesn't paint a rosy picture for on-campus conservatism anywhere, so the old standard of "if you're under 30 and not liberal you have no heart, if you're over 40 and not conservative, you have no brain" appears to be still in play, but there are a fair few surprises, including Ivy League Brown finishing at #69 with an "Average" finding, with all the rest of the Ivies in the lowest quartile. From a Hockey East perspective, Boston College (229) was a shocker in the wrong direction, down with the elitist Ivies, with UConn not too far ahead (220), while NU (198), UVM (182), BU (152), UMaine (141) and UMass (132) all finished at varying degrees of below average (UML may have been rolled into UMA's data, while Merrimack and Providence were not included). Ditto Bentley, Snives - whatta shame, eh??

Anyway ... it really was nice to see UNH way up there, in a good way. Kudos to the departing Dean Dean. ;-)

Last bit, which I'd hoped to get to earlier this week, but couldn't find the time ... 31 years ago last week, my all-time baseball hero Gary Carter (RIP) finished his HOF career in Montreal with Les Expos, doubling in the winning run with a well-placed liner just beyond the reach of long-time 'Spos teammate Andre Dawson in RF to beat the Cubs, with Larry Walker scoring the winning run. Harry Caray pours out his tributes to The Kid, who preceded both Dawson and Walker into the BB HoF. I make no apologies for this non-UNH Hockey content; enjoy!!

[NCAA watcher]

Carter died of brain cancer at age 57, same as Tim Wakefield. Sad connection.

[Chuck Murray]

Carter died of brain cancer at age 57, same as Tim Wakefield. Sad connection.

Yes, sad news this weekend. IIRC Wakefield's wife is also suffering from brain cancer now. Terrible development.

45 minute documentary on "The Kid" narrated mostly by his daughter Kimmy, a catcher herself at Florida State ...

[Snively65]

Gotta give credit to UNH where it's due ... in Kevin Landrigan's weekly Sunday politics column in the Union Leader, he pointed out that a survey of over 55,000 college students by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) where out of approx. 250 colleges and universities, UNH finished as the 3rd most tolerant of free speech issues. Dartmouth finished at 240th most tolerant (in the Bottom Ten or least tolerant), and everyone favorite Ivy - Harvard - finished dead last with an overall "abysmal" rating. Check out where your alma mater finished:

https://rankings.thefire.org/rank

Word of caution - the overall data and commentary doesn't paint a rosy picture for on-campus conservatism anywhere, so the old standard of "if you're under 30 and not liberal you have no heart, if you're over 40 and not conservative, you have no brain" appears to be still in play, but there are a fair few surprises, including Ivy League Brown finishing at #69 with an "Average" finding, with all the rest of the Ivies in the lowest quartile. From a Hockey East perspective, Boston College (229) was a shocker in the wrong direction, down with the elitist Ivies, with UConn not too far ahead (220), while NU (198), UVM (182), BU (152), UMaine (141) and UMass (132) all finished at varying degrees of below average (UML may have been rolled into UMA's data, while Merrimack and Providence were not included). Ditto Bentley, Snives - whatta shame, eh??

Anyway ... it really was nice to see UNH way up there, in a good way. Kudos to the departing Dean Dean. ;-)
!!

Free speech always has been alive and well at UNH. Just google “Riot Act, UNH Magazine, Spring 1970” to read a 40-year retrospective on the Field House visit by three of the Chicago Seven on Tuesday evening, 5 May 1970, one day after four students were killed by National Guard troops at Kent State and a week after Nixon ordered U.S. troops into Cambodia during the Vietnam War. John McConnell was UNH Pres, William Loeb III was MUL publisher, Wally Peterson was NH Gov, Warren Rudman was NH AG, and Mark Wefers was UNH student government president. Heady times.

If Bentley students were part of the survey, I am sure that Bentley would be ranked right up there with UNH, as during my time there we had a continuous flow of far-right speakers on campus supported through an endowment by the Raytheon Corporation.

Just to keep this post related to college hockey, BU plays in Bentley’s on-campus rink for the first time this coming Saturday night. Maybe Bentley will rough up BU enough to give the Wildcats (aka Sabertooth Tigers) a chance at the Whitt the following weekend.

[Felger]

Free speech always has been alive and well at UNH. Just google “Riot Act, UNH Magazine, Spring 1970” to read a 40-year retrospective on the Field House visit by three of the Chicago Seven on Tuesday evening, 5 May 1970, one day after four students were killed by National Guard troops at Kent State and a week after Nixon ordered U.S. troops into Cambodia during the Vietnam War. John McConnell was UNH Pres, William Loeb III was MUL publisher, Wally Peterson was NH Gov, Warren Rudman was NH AG, and Mark Wefers was UNH student government president. Heady times.

If Bentley students were part of the survey, I am sure that Bentley would be ranked right up there with UNH, as during my time there we had a continuous flow of far-right speakers on campus supported through an endowment by the Raytheon Corporation.

Just to keep this post related to college hockey, BU plays in Bentley’s on-campus rink for the first time this coming Saturday night. Maybe Bentley will rough up BU enough to give the Wildcats (aka Sabertooth Tigers) a chance at the Whitt the following weekend.

Trivia question, Snively - Who was the UNH President after McConnell and where did he go after leaving UNH?

[Snively65]

Trivia question, Snively - Who was the UNH President after McConnell and where did he go after leaving UNH?

Great question. Thomas Bonner arrived from Univ Cincinnati where he had been VP/Provost and served as 12th president of UNH from 1971 to 1974 and then was president at Union College from 1974 to 1978 before becoming present at Wayne State from 1978 to 1982.

Back atcha, did Wayne State have a Div 1 Men’s ice hockey team, and if so, during what years and in what conference did they play?

[Felger]

Great question. Thomas Bonner arrived from Univ Cincinnati where he had been VP/Provost and served as 12th president of UNH from 1971 to 1974 and then was president at Union College from 1974 to 1978 before becoming present at Wayne State from 1978 to 1982.

Back atcha, did Wayne State have a Div 1 Men’s ice hockey team, and if so, during what years and in what conference did they play?

Pretty sure that Wayne State played in the CHA, but I'm not sure of what years.

The story goes that when Bonner announced to a faculty gathering that he was leaving for Union, one member said "Well, now you'll be a real Union leader."

[Scott]

Pretty sure that Wayne State played in the CHA, but I'm not sure of what years.

The story goes that when Bonner announced to a faculty gathering that he was leaving for Union, one member said "Well, now you'll be a real Union leader."

Wayne St. was a CHA team from 1999-2008. From the USCHO archives:

https://www.uscho.com/stats/history/...key/2020-2021/

[HockeyRef]

Heading to the TD to see the brothers vanRiemsdyk play..JvR on the second line TvR second D pair.