Nick Papagiorgio
Holding court
Re: Boston College Season 2014 - 2015 Thread: PART I
I'm kind of pleasantly surprised that the knee jerk reactions were put on hold last night from the BC crowd. Now that we could all sleep on it, let's take a step back, recap what's been happening lately with this program and maybe look ahead. This was at face value a meaningless game in November and if any program can point to the fact that October through February is fairly meaningless it's BC (as long as you win your fair share to get yourself in the NCAAs, which should be shooting fish in a barrel for a program like BC). But really the result last night is a symptom of bigger issues.
Since the 2012 title, we've had numerous red flags popping up like crazy and some big changes to the program and other programs. Last night's loss was undoubtedly the worst loss in the history of this hockey program. Not necessarily in order:
-Jerry had his eye problems. His eye is ok now supposedly. But he doesn't seem to be the same.
-Blasted by Union in the first round. A rare first round loss and a beating at that. AWFUL team that year.
-Cav left. Uh oh.
-Mike Ayers comes in. How do we feel about him? Good hire? Bad hire?
-Logue retires.
-Marty McInnis joins the staff.
-Parker retires and BU hires Quinn. Uh oh the party is over
-Loss to Holy Cross.
-Another loss to Union (semi-blasted).
-Milano douchie.
-Loss to Uconn.
In the previous 10+ years we saw almost no changes. Paluch left and was replaced by Brown and things just kept rolling. Parker was still there running his program into the ground. Everything was great.
In the midst of all of this, we saw bizarre personnel decisions. Recruit Sullivan from another school, cut him so you can put Linell on defense. What? Put Linell on a line with JG and promptly ruin the 2013 season and the 2013 Hobey for JG. Keeping Spiro locked up. Hesitating to insert Doherty in a similar fashion to Spiro. Richardson being stuck in the stands. But... Straight plays. Sit plays. Linell plays. To many of us, it would seem superior players were/are struggling to get ice time while certain guys play almost every game. I'm not knocking the kids, I just don't believe the best players were put out there. The lineups for the past 2+ seasons were... I don't know how to even accurately describe it. Infuriating.
Recruiting. For two recruiting cycles the staff brought in Linell, Spiro, Straight, Sit, Smith, Silk, McMullen at forward and got a last minute gift of a lifetime in Johnny Gaudreau. Gift. Of. A. Lifetime. Again, not honking on the kids, they are probably legitimately doing their best. I like them (I know you parents get antsy). But this is not what BC hockey recruiting should look like. Keep in mind this was before Quinn showed up at BU and started destroying York. And Cav was still around to recruit these classes. Is there a legitimate explanation for this? One player, fine. Two, ok. Two entire classes will basically set you back 4 years until you can graduate them all. We're just getting underway in Year 3. Keep that in mind. Still a long way to get out of this hole and HOPE the busts stop and the recruiting is on target for future classes. In the meantime that is a huge window of opportunity for other programs (hi BU) to flip everything.
Future: How do we feel about this coaching staff right now? How long does JY have left? Brown's future as HC? Cav coming back? How do we feel about the development of players? Future recruiting? Will Fitzgerald stop taking critical penalties? Is Cangelosi going to be a bust? Is the Golden Age of BC hockey over? (hint: the answer is yes)
Reality: Fix the PP and BC is probably back to being a good team and with some luck can do some damage. Not going to be NC caliber for a while IMO. Just need some time to get through this now that the table is set this way.
I'm kind of pleasantly surprised that the knee jerk reactions were put on hold last night from the BC crowd. Now that we could all sleep on it, let's take a step back, recap what's been happening lately with this program and maybe look ahead. This was at face value a meaningless game in November and if any program can point to the fact that October through February is fairly meaningless it's BC (as long as you win your fair share to get yourself in the NCAAs, which should be shooting fish in a barrel for a program like BC). But really the result last night is a symptom of bigger issues.
Since the 2012 title, we've had numerous red flags popping up like crazy and some big changes to the program and other programs. Last night's loss was undoubtedly the worst loss in the history of this hockey program. Not necessarily in order:
-Jerry had his eye problems. His eye is ok now supposedly. But he doesn't seem to be the same.
-Blasted by Union in the first round. A rare first round loss and a beating at that. AWFUL team that year.
-Cav left. Uh oh.
-Mike Ayers comes in. How do we feel about him? Good hire? Bad hire?
-Logue retires.
-Marty McInnis joins the staff.
-Parker retires and BU hires Quinn. Uh oh the party is over
-Loss to Holy Cross.
-Another loss to Union (semi-blasted).
-Milano douchie.
-Loss to Uconn.
In the previous 10+ years we saw almost no changes. Paluch left and was replaced by Brown and things just kept rolling. Parker was still there running his program into the ground. Everything was great.
In the midst of all of this, we saw bizarre personnel decisions. Recruit Sullivan from another school, cut him so you can put Linell on defense. What? Put Linell on a line with JG and promptly ruin the 2013 season and the 2013 Hobey for JG. Keeping Spiro locked up. Hesitating to insert Doherty in a similar fashion to Spiro. Richardson being stuck in the stands. But... Straight plays. Sit plays. Linell plays. To many of us, it would seem superior players were/are struggling to get ice time while certain guys play almost every game. I'm not knocking the kids, I just don't believe the best players were put out there. The lineups for the past 2+ seasons were... I don't know how to even accurately describe it. Infuriating.
Recruiting. For two recruiting cycles the staff brought in Linell, Spiro, Straight, Sit, Smith, Silk, McMullen at forward and got a last minute gift of a lifetime in Johnny Gaudreau. Gift. Of. A. Lifetime. Again, not honking on the kids, they are probably legitimately doing their best. I like them (I know you parents get antsy). But this is not what BC hockey recruiting should look like. Keep in mind this was before Quinn showed up at BU and started destroying York. And Cav was still around to recruit these classes. Is there a legitimate explanation for this? One player, fine. Two, ok. Two entire classes will basically set you back 4 years until you can graduate them all. We're just getting underway in Year 3. Keep that in mind. Still a long way to get out of this hole and HOPE the busts stop and the recruiting is on target for future classes. In the meantime that is a huge window of opportunity for other programs (hi BU) to flip everything.
Future: How do we feel about this coaching staff right now? How long does JY have left? Brown's future as HC? Cav coming back? How do we feel about the development of players? Future recruiting? Will Fitzgerald stop taking critical penalties? Is Cangelosi going to be a bust? Is the Golden Age of BC hockey over? (hint: the answer is yes)
Reality: Fix the PP and BC is probably back to being a good team and with some luck can do some damage. Not going to be NC caliber for a while IMO. Just need some time to get through this now that the table is set this way.
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