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UNH- How Far West Do We Go?

Snively65 said:
Rube Bjorkman, you say, Whalers?

Reuben Eugene Bjorkman is alive and apparently well at age 96 in Warroad, Minnesota, where he retired almost 50 years ago after a so-so head coaching career at U North Dakota (1968/69-1977/78, 146-186-11, one trip to the WCHA East finals in 1970/71). He was a more successful head coach during his one year at RPI in 1963/64 and four years at UNH from 1964/65 to 1967/68 (40-14-0 last two years after UNH moved up to ECAC from ECAC-2). Having grown up in Durham, I got to watch Rube put UNH on the college hockey map, his last three years in the newly constructed Snively Arena, by superb recruiting.

Rube’s recruits included Steve Drapeau, Brad Houston (scored the first goal in Snively Arena), Dave Savage (Durham townie, one of the answers to my quiz question a few pages back), Dave O’Connor, Dave Hagerman (goalie from Plymouth, NH, HRef, who rented an apartment with his spouse from my parents), Dude Thorn, Joe Bartlett, Bill Noble, the William Rothwell cousins (same first names), Colin Sutherland, Bob MacCarthy (we took intro history together), Colin Clark (made 70 saves in one game), Rick Metzger (another goalie, where there was incredible depth), Bob Brandt, Rich David, Dick Walsh, Mickey Goulet, Graham Bruder (still lives in Dover), Dave Sheen, Mike Ontkean (of the movie Slap Shot fame), Pete Stoutenberg (R.I.P., married a beautiful ORHS classmate), Bob Grant (another Durham townie), besides setting the table for Charlie Holt by adding Louis Frigon and Mike McShane (one of all-time winningest college coaches at Norwich University) for the 1968/69 season, who both played with Dick Umile and Guy Smith the following year.

In 1968, Rube won New England Hockey Coach of the Year. Then, in 1997, Rube won the John “Snooks” Kelly Founders Award granted by the American Hockey Coaches Association. Besides a Wikipedia page (the HockeyDB site messes up his time frame at UNH by a year), there are three interview videos with Rube (about 20 minutes each, or an hour total) created about this time last year from his retirement home in Warroad, Minnesota. So, maybe Rube is not walking through our coaching door again at UNH, but I think that he was the key guy in the development of men’s hockey at UNH during the modern era.
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Snives, I love this history info, sincerely, thank you for sharing. We need to know where we have been to see where we are going. Learn from history (ECAC 2nd Div) and move on to better things (Hockey East). Dont repeat history by thinking small.

My Rube reference was a take on the famous Rick Pitino quote when he took over the Celtics - "Larry Bird isn't wasnt walking thru that door". Good to know that he is still with us. I can honestly say I wish MS7 is still around at 96, though hopefully he isn't the UNH coach chasing the NRN. :-)
 
PS: Trivia Question - When Rube jumpstarted the UNH program, how big was the new jumbotron high above Snively? Many a tale of the recruits sitting mesmerized as they viewed it thru the chain link fencing above the boards mumbling "where do I sign my NIL". And who donated the money to purchase it?

Answer - An 18" Philco B/W cabinet model. Local teen Giuseppe DiLorenzo had just sold his first used car, a rusting '41 Plymouth, and used 23 cents of the proceeds to purchase 3 vacuum tubes to refurb the Philco, that had sat broken and dust covered in the basement of New Hampshire Hall.

And now you know. How is that for circular history?
 
Chuck Murray said:
You're friendless, you're clueless, and you're gutless. Quite the combo. That's no way to go through life, pal ...
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You're the one going through life with that haircut, Buford.
Chuck Murray said:
potty has blown it by his oafish, narcissistic conduct on these boards.
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Only to Buford, Meathead, Elwood and Emily The Flunky - the know nothing blowhards that require the discipline. It's truly beautiful to see how they can dish it out like the cowards and morons they are to the coaches and players, who can't post here, but can't take any heat when it's thrown at them. The irony is delicious. They think this is a club where they run the show. Alas, they are losers.
 
emily422 said:
I’ll happily name my sources when you agree to meet in person. But you won’t because one, you don’t even go to games and two, you’re a coward who will continue to sit behind his anonymous account.

“Those of us”… I don’t think anyone on this board wants to be grouped in with you 🤣
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Emily the Flunky, you know nothing useful about the program. You're a creep that publicly humiliates college hockey players, who can't post on this site, by posting personal attacks based on unsupported innuendo. And they you whine about being a victim when it's you're turn to get slapped around. So who's the coward?
 
Potluck said:
Emily the Flunky, you know nothing useful about the program. You're a creep that publicly humiliates college hockey players, who can't post on this site, by posting personal attacks based on unsupported innuendo. And they you whine about being a victim when it's you're turn to get slapped around. So who's the coward?
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Slapped around?? 🤦‍♀️
 
Potluck said:
You're the one going through life with that haircut, Buford.

Only to Buford, Meathead, Elwood and Emily The Flunky - the know nothing blowhards that require the discipline. It's truly beautiful to see how they can dish it out like the cowards and morons they are to the coaches and players, who can't post here, but can't take any heat when it's thrown at them. The irony is delicious. They think this is a club where they run the show. Alas, they are losers.
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Discipline? Maybe if we knew who you were and your motive to be there other than to be a complete douche we could have a real conversation. You sound like a scorned lover being on the outside. Coward? I sat with coach for 2 hours and discussed the displeasure with the team and how STHs are discouraged. I would meet with him again and ask the same questions.
 
Potluck said:
Emily the Flunky, you know nothing useful about the program. You're a creep that publicly humiliates college hockey players, who can't post on this site, by posting personal attacks based on unsupported innuendo. And they you whine about being a victim when it's you're turn to get slapped around. So who's the coward?
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Congrats Em, you've earned your own derisory nickname from d!psh!t. You are now among exclusive company, rarefied air, etc. Kudos.

And totally entering the world of 4-D irony is our protagonist, warming up for its big coming out party lol 🤪
 
Potluck said:
Emily the Flunky, you know nothing useful about the program. You're a creep that publicly humiliates college hockey players, who can't post on this site, by posting personal attacks based on unsupported innuendo. And they you whine about being a victim when it's you're turn to get slapped around. So who's the coward?
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I quite literally could not feel any less threatened or attacked by you 🤣 heading down to the game tomorrow with my comped tickets. Will you be there? To see your lover aka coach Souza get slapped around by Scotty b?
 
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