UNH- How Far West Do We Go?

[UNHSince1969]

Go back and look at Souza's recruiting on Heisenberg for the 2018 and 2019 seasons and you'll get the picture why UNH is still very bad. Those two years set the program back ten years JMHO.

And this way before then. Borek, no?

2007 and 2008
The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team was penalized by the NCAA for recruiting violations in the years 2007 and 2008. The NCAA imposed two years of probation and several recruiting restrictions due to the sending of 923 impermissible e-mail messages to 30 prospective student-athletes during those seasons.

 

[Chuck Murray]

And this way before then. Borek, no?

2007 and 2008
The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team was penalized by the NCAA for recruiting violations in the years 2007 and 2008. The NCAA imposed two years of probation and several recruiting restrictions due to the sending of 923 impermissible e-mail messages to 30 prospective student-athletes during those seasons.

Relevance??? UNH was still putting NCAA tourney level teams on the ice well past this self-reported slap on the wrist offense.

I do not doubt for a second, however, that Blue Skies used this event as the basis for not ever letting Scotty B replace Umile.

 

[JB]

Relevance??? UNH was still putting NCAA tourney level teams on the ice well past this self-reported slap on the wrist offense.

I do not doubt for a second, however, that Blue Skies used this event as the basis for not ever letting Scotty B replace Umile.

It is also unfortunate because it was not "legal" at the time and was basically allowed by the time UNH's probation was over (I don't remember all the exact timing).

Also - maybe just maybe there was an impact - 30 out of all those potential recruits

2006 - violation (Fr and So. in high school)
2007 - .692 winning % - NCAAs (probation)
2008 - .697 winning % - NCAAs (probation)
2009 - .592 winning % - NCAAs (maybe recruits)
2010 - .551 winning % - NCAAs (maybe recruits)
2011 - .641 winning % - NCAAs
2013 - .603 winning % - NCAAs
2014 - .549 winning % - lost recruits likely to have graduated
2015 - .500 winning % - lost recruits likely to have graduated - Borek leaves at end of contract (I seem to recall some recruits moving on when Borek left)

Looking at the record the only impact was likely what Chuck notes, Blue Skies used this event as the basis for not ever letting Scotty B replace Umile.

The gap in recruiting arrived with MS7, he couldn't hit on the Grasso's, Kelleher's, Thompson's, Bulter's etc. that had been keeping UNH up in the standings.

 

[JB]

I think if you looked at each Hockey East team's recruits over the past several years, you'll see that the potential at UNH has been VERY limited. The coach can coach sub-standard Hockey East recruits all he wants but it all comes out in the wash.

Well look you guys need to pick - I see Potluck and 2013 liked this remark. Yet these are the 2 that get so up in arms about criticizing the athletes (again I see better ingredients than the sum of the parts on the ice). This is a nice way of saying Souza has crap athletes to work with, you can't blame Souza.

Look the coach gets to find the ingredients (recruit) and cook the meal (coach the team, put a systems in place, put a product on the ice). The buck stops at his desk. It may not be fair and that is the job.

I know I am going to hear all the excuses about facilities. As always, yup, UNH's facilities are not the best. At the same time they certainly aren't the worst. The performance of this team is not commensurate with the facilities, if UNH was living 4-7 year in year out maybe there is an argument. Placing 9th, 10th, 10th, 5th, 10th, currently 10th makes this nothing but an excuse for a bad coach.

 

[HockeyRef]

But everything was roughly the same for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 teams, mediocre scoring by the forwards, experienced depth on the blue line, and the same coaching staff. The only substantial difference was in the net. I still think that coaching is a major problem, but the 2023/24 team still looks like the aberration to me. I think that Hellsten really was that good to cover up coaching deficiencies. I think that we have a good goalie this season, but he is not good enough to cover up coaching deficiencies AND SUB-mediocre scoring by the forwards AND a less an experienced blue line.

 

[JB]

Go back and look at Souza's recruiting on Heisenberg for the 2018 and 2019 seasons and you'll get the picture why UNH is still very bad. Those two years set the program back ten years JMHO.

I think looking back MS7 was supposed to be able to hit the ground running, be the recruiter and set himself up for taking over as coach. Looking at the results, I don't think he knew what he was doing. Maybe it was not putting in the effort, but if you don't know what you are doing and learning as you go lots of effort tends to go to waste.

Unfortunately Umile was never the recruiting guy that was McCloskey and then Borek (along with Lassonde, Serino, even back to Coady). McCloskey always said if he could get the kid to campus Umile was an amazing closer with the kids and parents. Hidden in that statement is Umile probably wasn't doing much of the road work, unlike say York who was a famous recruiting rink rat all the way to the end.

Bring in MS7 into that environment and having MS7 needing more work as a talent evaluator / recruiter wasn't a good fit. Didn't set MS7 or the program up for success. The question I have is, did MS7 over sell himself, or were the questions never asked. How much of an paisan, in the family job was it?

 

[FlagUp17]

Not to change the conversation (it is a great conversation, and warrants more discussion) but there are 6 points on the table this weekend. Certainly a tough assignment with the top dogs in Providence… BUT this may play to our advantage so late in the season.

Fri: UNH 1 PC 4
Sat: UNH 2 PC 1

Now you’re probably thinking I’m a bit crazy for predicting a win. You may not be wrong! But…let me explain:

Providence can capture the #1 seed in HockeyEast this weekend with a win tomorrow (I believe they hold the tiebreaker over BC?) I imagine they come out guns ‘ablazin tomorrow and grab a fairly easy win. With the top seed in hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to play some younger/bench guys Saturday, and try and rest some of their top guys. They’re currently 6th in NPI, so I imagine they are fairly safe in that boat as well.

Who knows, maybe they celebrate a bit too hard Friday night and come out a bit slow on Saturday. UNH did play PC pretty well for about 45 minutes a few weeks ago… so they do have the capability of playing up to them. UNH did steal one from UMA last Saturday, they just need to block 20+ shots again.

Stranger things have happened, and maybe I’m a bit too much of an optimist. In all reality though, if we have any hope for a home first round game, we need to get some points this weekend. Preferably at least 3.

Just like most of UNHs recent games, I imagine we get a good sense of how things will go within the first 4-6 minutes of the 1st period.

Gotta put it all on the table now during crunch time! Let’s go!