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BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

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Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

A program with five national titles, including one only five years ago has higher standards than that. If all you are hoping for is to return to the level you're talking about here, then you may as well be a UNH fan.

With the history and facilities that BU has combined with the fact that the hockey program is unquestionably the top dog in the athletic program, there is no reason why BU shouldn't be a perennial contender. Don't get me wrong, I hate BU as much the next BC fan, but there is no doubt that both the BC-BU rivalry and Hockey East as a whole are strengthened when both BC and BU are strong.
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

Friend_of_BU_Hockey said:
That class had solid 4-year players (except for Dan Cavanaugh leaving after Junior year). Part of 2 substandard years as Freshmen and Juniors, but also part of 2 25-win teams that were 1 win away from advancing to the FF. Don't think anyone in that class underachieved individually, but they certainly would've been bolstered by those 2 local products who went on to be important players on excellent Maine teams.

As I'm replying I find it odd that some of us were here years ago complaining about 25-win seasons where BU loses the must-win games and fall short of advancing to the FF. I just hope the program can return to that point in the next few years so that we have "better" things to complain about. ;-)
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Reading that last sentence produced an instant flashback to the '03 HE final vs. UNH when the only goal scored deflected off Whitney's skate. And then to the '02 team whose season ended with back-to-back 4-3 losses in the HE tourney and NCAA regionals to Maine (with All-HEs Dimitrakos and Metcalf).

Mike Pandolfo from the '98 recruit class may have improved more from freshman to senior than anyone else in recent years (except Gilroy). Boyle helped him make huge strides in his skating to become a dangerous forward and a 109 point career scorer.
 
Nick Papagiorgio said:
I think worth mentioning is the drop-off in Massachusetts talent to some degree, as CM just went downhill fast and was a big feeder program for BU. Mass dried up for BU while York struck gold in New York with Reasoner, Farkas, Gionta, and Orpik. That helped get things moving to put local Massachusetts kids onto BC like Mottau, Bellefeuille, and Allen.

That will change things in a hurry. And it did.
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Gerbe NY too ?
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

Some questions to ponder...

Would Parker have gotten different (better) results out of this year's team?

If Parker had retired following the 2009 title (and Quinn took over then), where do you think the program would be today?
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

buoldtimer said:
The next year there was a small class (Heron, Degerman, Lacouture), but Lacouture wasn't academically "orientated".
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I believe you're forgetting a somewhat-decent defenseman, from that class. I think his name was named Poti.
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

Boston22 said:
I believe you're forgetting a somewhat-decent defenseman, from that class. I think his name was named Poti.
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That class was Degerman, Bobby Hanson, Heron, Lacouture, Poti and Greg Quebec. Lacouture and Poti were considered the elite recruits in that class. Heron accelerated HS and didn't even turn 18 until after his Freshman year.

Quebec had promise, but after the severe ankle injury he suffered his Sophomore year, he was never the same. By their Senior year both Quebec and Hanson were 4th liners, although Degerman and Heron played a significant role in the relative success of that team on a line centered by Dan Cavanaugh (who made the US WJC team that year w/ John Sabo and Rick DiPietro).
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

Friend_of_BU_Hockey said:
Some questions to ponder...

Would Parker have gotten different (better) results out of this year's team?

If Parker had retired following the 2009 title (and Quinn took over then), where do you think the program would be today?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure anyone wants to answer the first question but I'll bite. I suspect that Parker would have gotten better results this year. Not because Quinn isn't / won't be a great coach, but because more because you wouldn't have any of the possible transition issues (adjustments to new staff? new systems? would Gill, Priv x 2 be here? ) Either way though, this squad wasn't winning hockey east... but I think it is safe to say that based on everyones predictions, this team has underperformed. IIRC, most people were slotting BU somehwere in the 4th - 6th range this year in Hockey East. I know I certinaly was.

On the second question, the thing I wonder most about is the recuriting. To start with, Quinn seems to be a great recruiter, so I assume we would have had an improvement there. Beyond that, did the uncertintay about the program hurt recruiting efforts over the past two years. Jack was on record in the Joe Amersino interview a few years ago saying he thought he would retire before the end of his contract. I'm sure the first quesiton from each recruit was "How long is Jack going to be there, and who is the next coach that I'll be playing for?". If the answer to that was "we dont know and we dont know, but I'm sure BU will hire a good coach" then I would think the recuiting suffered from that alone.
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

Team may have been a little better this year as they would have played butt-boring hockey and stayed in their own end all game, hence a lot of 0-0 ties. ;)

Team would be much better off had Parker departed after 09 and Quinn took over. Not only would we have had better recruits, but I'm convinced we would have played a better style that some of these kids who took off would have enjoyed a lot more. Lastly, its unfair to say discipline would have been better, but it couldn't have been much worse than it has been over the last 5 years.

IMHO Coach missed a golden chance to ride off into the sunset.
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

Rover said:
Team may have been a little better this year as they would have played butt-boring hockey and stayed in their own end all game, hence a lot of 0-0 ties. ;)
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More boring than 1-12-2 since Thanksgiving? ;)

Rover said:
IMHO Coach missed a golden chance to ride off into the sunset.
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With hindsight being 20-20 this is very true. Problem is that he wasn't ready to retire at that point. As we later learned in his retirement announcement presser, the 2012 team was probably supposed to be that ride into the sunset… not likely a national championship, but certainly a "peak" year after a valley the two years before. This of course before the series of "unfortunate incidents" over that winter.
 
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Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

ericredaxe said:
With hindsight being 20-20 this is very true. Problem is that he wasn't ready to retire at that point. As we later learned in his retirement announcement presser, the 2012 team was probably supposed to be that ride into the sunset… not likely a national championship, but certainly a "peak" year after a valley the two years before. This of course before the series of "unfortunate incidents" over that winter.
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Going into the winter break, before the Trivino incident, that team was beginning to fire on all cylinders. The dismantling of Maine (tournament team that year too) up in Orono was something to be seen. Could've easily been 9-1 had it not been for us hitting three or four posts.
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

Some of this talk sounds like the Celtics fans after the Len Bias tragedy. Sounds like a bunch of ifs, ands, and buts. If only Travis didn't get hurt and Brenden Walsh stayed out of trouble. Really? I find it hard to believe that events of almost 20 years ago have any impact on this eight win season. I don't know what the problem is and this is an interesting discussion but I think we need to focus on events post 2009.
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

just think, if mark mowers doesn't score that shorthanded OT goal, BU would still be dominating today!!!
 
Jacques Joubert said:
Some of this talk sounds like the Celtics fans after the Len Bias tragedy. Sounds like a bunch of ifs, ands, and buts. If only Travis didn't get hurt and Brenden Walsh stayed out of trouble. Really? I find it hard to believe that events of almost 20 years ago have any impact on this eight win season. I don't know what the problem is and this is an interesting discussion but I think we need to focus on events post 2009.
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I agree. Ridiculous to say that what happened in 1997 has an impact on today.

Where did the team go that was 7-6-1 through thanksgiving. What happened to those guys?
 
Re: BU 2013-14 (Part II): Crash before the Phoenix

What I want to understand is why do many of the BU players get worse? Coyle, Grezlyck, Rodrigues, O'Regan...all seem to get worse...at least to my eye. I thought Myron looked great his first few games at BU and then got benched and disappeared. I really don't understand what system these kids are asked to play but they often come in as high recruits, look great, and then fade away. Coyle looked unstoppable his first half of a season and then seemed to give up. Clearly he can still play at a high level so what's the problem?? He's not the only example either. I even thought Bonino was a world beater his first two years and then didn't do much his third. To be fair some guys do seem to get better, Alex Chiasson comes to mind but it seems more of these kids regress until they go pro.
 
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mookie1995 said:
so anyone besides jofa gonna BOOOOOOO him on the 28th for leaving this mess?!?!?


:D
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Haha thank you I wear that comment like a badge of honor . I didn't like the man before it was popular to question him. I started getting sick of him when OReagan's father, Jerry August and George Klapes were on the team then came the talent John Cullen,Scott Young and Mr. Quinn. !
 
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Rover said:
IMHO Coach missed a golden chance to ride off into the sunset.
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Bingo who wouldn't do that at his age perfect time . But as I got killed for saying that was the bad news of winning a NC, second thing I thought about after enjoying the moment was he bought himself 5 more years . The NC was " bittersweet " just like Joe Biden said about 9-11.
 
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