BU 2021-22: Albie's Great Adventure

[buoldtimer]

As long as I've followed BU hockey, I can't recall seeing a BU team play as if they were afraid of the opposing team. Until tonight.

From the first UConn possession in the BU d-zone, it was apparent how this game would be played.

This game was the polar opposite of the 1997 NCAA SF game vs. Michigan.

This would've been a far different team with JP or DQ coaching.

Half serious, half snide here, was Luke Tuch injured early in the game, was he benched? I didn't notice him. Aside from faceoffs, O'Brien's presence was pretty much negligible.

How can you have three d-men the size of Vlasic, McCarthy and Webber and be so soft?

Again, over the past four seasons, the one consistent characteristic of Albie's teams is that they've been easy to play against.

 

[chickod]

Again, over the past four seasons, the one consistent characteristic of Albie's teams is that they've been easy to play against.

Never quite thought of it in those terms, but that exactly sums it up. The sense I got watching tonight after about two minutes was that UConn felt the game was theirs for the taking, and they did just that. No fear, just "this is ours." In the words of the late Herb Brooks, "This, is OUR time. Now go out there and take it!"

 

[Terrier86]

Continue to be surprised by BU's lack of success with the talent they have. It is not just this year but other years as well. These kids have elite talent when compared to many other HE teams, like Uconn.

Disagree. BU does not have elite talent. Look at the HE all-conference teams - no Terriers on the first team and then just a sprinkling of guys getting second team, etc. From week 1, my main concern was goal scoring and it was consistently the problem against the middle and top HE teams (they sort of feasted on the lowest tier teams). I think if this team had played any of the top-10 metal of the sport (i.e. the western teams), it would have been really ugly.

There is a lack of stars on the blue line, too. There are a couple of good ones, but no great ones.

Goaltending was the strength of the team.

Not gonna go far with the reality of this roster and that's what happened down the stretch when they met up with a motivated BC and a strong defensive and goaltending minded UConn on their home ice.

Bottom line - this was really a pedestrian BU team.

 

[Rover]

So if Albie can't recruit, motivate, or gameplan...why exactly is he here again?

 

[DLG]

Albie may be a very nice guy but he is not a good coach! AD needs to put his big boy pants on and do a much better job than he did four years ago!

Maybe the problem starts with the AD- He made the hire--

 

[J.D.]

I know it doesn't mean much but this BU team was picked to win the league. This was thought of as Albie's year until it wasn't.

Pandolfo has to be the guy, no? Made no sense to leave the Bruins unless that was his goal. Is that who you want? What if DQ wants back in?

 

[Jofa]

I wouldn’t call BU talent pedestrian in relation to HE. They didn’t have the high end first teamers but good forward depth more then in most recent years. Enough on d too with a better than average goalie on most nights. Leaman picked them preseason as the top team. They were expected to be a top team in the league so no excuses for AOC.

 

[Lemonade]

So now we see if the coach
is gone and if any players leave. On top of that will any players leave if Albie stays? Lot to sort out and it needs to be done quick with transfer portal.

 

[Terrier86]

I wouldn’t call BU talent pedestrian in relation to HE. They didn’t have the high end first teamers but good forward depth more then in most recent years. Enough on d too with a better than average goalie on most nights. Leaman picked them preseason as the top team. They were expected to be a top team in the league so no excuses for AOC.

I think HE talent levels are pretty far below the more powerful western teams. So with BU not standing out against the HE talent levels, yes, I think they're pretty pedestrian on a national level.

 

[Bomber]

Stunning? Were you surprised?

They were 14-2-1 since Thanksgiving going into the last game of the year. Yes, shocking.

And I meant I hope that party on Friday night in Maine was worth it, because playing that Saturday game hung-over cost them the season. Inexcusably.

 

[brassbonanza]

Maybe the problem starts with the AD- He made the hire--

Completely untrue. Bob Brown made the final call on the hire.

And, as far as I understand, he continues to be the ultimate decision maker on who the head coach is. Drew Marrochello does not have unilateral authority to fire Albie, not renew his contract, or hire a new head coach.

That said, BU must move on from Albie. No short-term "prove it" deals - Albie cannot lead this program to success, period. His contract is up after this year, they can respectfully not renew it so they won't have to "fire" him. Whatever needs to occur - he cannot be behind the bench this fall.

Who replaces him?
Most realistic option - Jay and make a hard run at Joe Pereira.

 

[Jofa]

I put BC in the same category as BU in relation to their failures this year. BC had enough with top line, Helleson, St Ivany, Warren, Nesterenko and those grad transfers not to lose almost 20 games (in a weak conference). Their record was worse but essentially the two programs had the same season. Whether York is starting to fail is open for discussion by the BC folks but you can’t compare that to the current prognosis of AOC which is inability to lead.

 

[chickod]

Pandolfo has to be the guy, no? Made no sense to leave the Bruins unless that was his goal. Is that who you want? What if DQ wants back in?

Interesting question...One would think so...why would you leave the NHL to come back to college to be an assistant? Of course, maybe there were family or other issues. The NHL "life" is not easy with all the travel, etc. But here's my answer anyway (and maybe it's not very helpful). Has he been an ACTUAL head coach? (and, parenthetically, what the heck is an "Associate Head Coach" - we hear that term a lot lately...makes no sense to me...I had a 50/50 partner in business and it's the WORSE possible situation, because NEITHER has ultimate authority and nothing gets decided - unless "Associate" means "Assistant" - which it doesn't - "Associate" implies "partner" according to the dictionary - it's also the reason Belichick quit the Jets after one day).

I'll tell you what I WOULD like...for us to get away from this "It has to be an alumnus" mentality. We are severely limiting ourselves by placing that restriction (real or perceived) on the position. "What if DQ wants back in?" That's a tough one. Will his heart be in it after his stint in the NHL? Almost seems anti-climatic, and if he would be doing it as a "fall back," no thanks. I'm feeling the same consternation that they have expressed for years on the UNH thread. I'd like to see someone grow a pair and think outside the box a little.

 

[Lemonade]

This team lacked high end talent up front - when you needed a goal we didn’t have anyone ever step up regularly. Where was that beanpot championship team effort against Maine and in the playoffs against UConn? At some point you also have to hold the players accountable too. We all know the coaching was subpar but the player effort was too.

 

[Terrier86]

If Albie is let go and Jay was not brought in on a promise to take the reins next, then I think we HAVE to look outside the program. Other than Mike Sullivan, there's not another BU guy that I'd want - and that's not going to happen as he's certainly a top tier NHL coach.

 

[J.D.]

If you're looking outside the program i would check in on Mike Hastings and Eric Lang to see if either guy is ready for a new challenge. Casey Jones at Clarkson is another guy I thought of if BC were to ever go outside the family.

 

[defkit]

Lots to unravel, but first some tactical answers (I was at the game).

- Tuch: Yes, he got injured from what I saw. In an early shift, he was clearly laboring to get to the bench. Then during a couple stoppages he came out and did a couple loops. Then he eventually left the ice during another stoppage. So it sounds like he suffered a lower body injury.

- Stevens penalty: his first penalty was I think roughing, which came right after an interference call on another Terrier. It was one of those "skating along the blue line to stay on side, but run into a defender who falls" plays. Stevens sort of got in someone's face at the end of the play and he and a Husky went off with matching roughing calls. His second penalty was a face-off violation. You get one warning and then the second violation is a penalty. I didn't see the warning, might have been for taking to long to line up (Skoog got those warnings all night), and then he likely false started on the draw. AS soon as it happened all the Huskies on the ice raised there arms to be sure the linesman remembered that a penalty had been earned.

 

[defkit]

Other thoughts:
- BU struggled for the first 10 minutes but I thought the middle part of the game was relatively even. Then BU finally turned it on for the last 10 minutes, but too little too late. There were some major frustrations. McCarthy appeared to have vaseline on his blade for the last 5 minutes - how many mishandles did he have? Then there were three stupid offsides. On two of them, both players were watching each other but a lack of communication led to the offsides. Then the third was Cockerill in the third period - he had a ton of speed coming through the neutral zone, but then cut across before he reached the blue line and there was no way his linemate could hold up.

- Commesso played an outstanding game, other than a few risky puck-handling plays.

- UConn is a talented well-coached team. Kondelik is an absolute beast. I wouldn't shock me to see them win two games next weekend.

- BU's talent level is not average, or at least not supposed to be. I haven't checked the rosters but I am pretty sure they are still in the top 2 or 3 in terms of NHL draft picks. So for me, good roster, picked to finish 2nd in there league, finishing 5th and not even making the garden means this was a failure of a season. I loved the run they went on, and the Beanpot was awesome, but this team underachieved. So I am in favor of a coaching change. I'm sure it wouldn't work out this way, but if Albie wanted to go back to handling recruiting, I would be good with that. He did a good job in that role.

- As far as who to replace him with - I'm fine with giving Pandolfo a shot if that was sort of the expectation when he left the Bruins (whether now or in the future). But as others have pointed out, he has never been a head coach, and he certainly doesn't increase the level of intensity - I mean has there been a quieter player that had his level of success at BU?

- I could be wrong but I think ColinWilsonFan is usually right when it comes to player movement. I think if there is a coaching change, almost everyone comes back (other than guys who may be told they won't see much ice time). I worry more about what happens if Albie gets a new contract. Until this team went on their run, there was a lot of chatter of dissatisfaction in the program, especially around player development. I don't know how much the turnaround helped, but this "losing 3 in 4" ending can't help the cause for Albie. So I wonder who leaves if he comes back. It will be interesting to see who of the drafted Juniors come back (especially on d) since there is that whole free-agent situation.

- I agree there are no gamebreakers at forward. The teams strength up front was balance. Any out of JOB, Skoog, Brown, Cockerill, Mastro could have big night. And the 4th line won the Beanpot for us. I know Jeremy Wilmer is having a great year, maybe he will help. But it doesn't look like Kaplan is a top-6 player. Maybe Quinn Hutson?

 

[J.D.]

Picked to WIN the league

 

[Lemonade]

Picked to WIN the league

They weren’t that far off from wining the league. Parity rules in hockey East. Add in transfer portal free agency college hockey and expect more parity than ever.