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Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

J.D. said:
No idea what this means
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It is a long story. Dennehy played for York, was Cahoon's asst for years. Cahoon is very close obviously with Parker, on and on. Hockey East is the ultimate good old boys coaching network. There is a reason why MD got the job in the firts place and why the HC's of several schools backed off on the "demand a new rink or else" talk.

MC has always been disfunctional in how they do things, even MD's hiring had a huge splitting result on alumni. They hired the coach before the AD, which is unheard of. By hiring MD over 3 or 4 ex MC players, half the alum, incluidng the two who could have built a new rink walked and have never come back.

It always has been a soap opera over there. TO MD's credit he stays above it and only focusses on what he can control
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Long time Merrimack fan here, been a blue line club member since it was called the Warrior Club, and it was in the gym and in the racquet ball court.

I have never been a BC fan and dislike a lot of the BC fans, but I'm so sick of sitting around here and watching some of the Merrimack fans making these absurd comments.

Merrimack is a small catholic college founded only a little over a half century ago. We do not have a big alumni base and it is hard to raise funds. We play in a decent rink (better than MDC, but certainly nothing great). It is great to see some of the best teams in college hockey come in each year, but please, go to Alfond, Whittemore, Gutterson, Matthews when they have a good year. Those are intimidating places to play. Last year was the first year in a while that there were good crowds for about 4-5 games and there was a good amount of MC fans. Until last year, most of the times, UNH and Maine fans outnumbered the MC fans 5-1 at our home games.

Coach D is doing a great job. Let's be happy that we have a better team and continue to support them without making all sorts of outlandish comments because guess what, it's laughable. BC and BU fans can make outlandish comments because they have national championships to back up their comments with.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

irishfan85 said:
Long time Merrimack fan here, been a blue line club member since it was called the Warrior Club, and it was in the gym and in the racquet ball court.

I have never been a BC fan and dislike a lot of the BC fans, but I'm so sick of sitting around here and watching some of the Merrimack fans making these absurd comments.

Merrimack is a small catholic college founded only a little over a half century ago. We do not have a big alumni base and it is hard to raise funds. We play in a decent rink (better than MDC, but certainly nothing great). It is great to see some of the best teams in college hockey come in each year, but please, go to Alfond, Whittemore, Gutterson, Matthews when they have a good year. Those are intimidating places to play. Last year was the first year in a while that there were good crowds for about 4-5 games and there was a good amount of MC fans. Until last year, most of the times, UNH and Maine fans outnumbered the MC fans 5-1 at our home games.

Coach D is doing a great job. Let's be happy that we have a better team and continue to support them without making all sorts of outlandish comments because guess what, it's laughable. BC and BU fans can make outlandish comments because they have national championships to back up their comments with.
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i am not sure i see where BU and BC fans made outlandish comments but as an outsider i agree that your coach is doing a great job and living in the Merrimack Valley a few minutes down the street from MC i have followed the program for most of the 10 years i've lived here and i believe this is the highest point the program has been and it seems to also be pointing in the right direction . You are building a foundation for a continued difficult climb up the HE ladder
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

In my mind, on paper, they are a 5th or 6th place team. Other than BC and Maine who are my #1/#2 to start, there are questions for the rest of the league right down to the bottom. It's going to be another weak year in general for the league as a whole.

If they can complete two things this year, they will get home ice.

a. Stay out of the box
b. Win more on the road

Sure, they have the offense to do some damage but leading the league in PIM at 618 overall and 433 min in the league has to improve if they are to take the next step. Spending an average of 16 minutes of a game in the box is far too much. Merrimack played a lot better on the road last year, but still came away empty more times than naught.

Cannata is the final piece of the puzzle. He should (in my mind) get the chance to be the workhorse and bona-fide #1 some say he can be. IMHO, I can't say that I'm sold on him yet. However, I rather be in that position than the River Hawks in net (which scares the *bleep* out of me) and is the main reason for the very low and even "wait until 2011-12" expectation at my end of Rte. 133.

I'm very interered in Merrimack's season as I think UMA let one of the best young coaches in the country too soon. Dennehy has done a superb job in getting the talent back to a competative level and, in some ways, winning. Merrimack will never have a following or status like BC/BU, however, they are rapidly becoming a decent team.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

sterlippo1 said:
i am not sure i see where BU and BC fans made outlandish comments but as an outsider i agree that your coach is doing a great job and living in the Merrimack Valley a few minutes down the street from MC i have followed the program for most of the 10 years i've lived here and i believe this is the highest point the program has been and it seems to also be pointing in the right direction . You are building a foundation for a continued difficult climb up the HE ladder
Click to expand...

I didn't mean they have made outlandish statements here, but in general, every fan base has at least a few obnoxious folks. My point was that BC and BU fans can make absurd comments because they have something to back that up with and less people are going to laugh. MC has far less to back statements up with. We won a D2 NC and made one D1 Tourney advancing past the first round and has hosted one HE play-off series and advanced to the Garden just once.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Hokydad said:
It is a long story. Dennehy played for York, was Cahoon's asst for years. Cahoon is very close obviously with Parker, on and on. Hockey East is the ultimate good old boys coaching network. There is a reason why MD got the job in the firts place and why the HC's of several schools backed off on the "demand a new rink or else" talk.

MC has always been disfunctional in how they do things, even MD's hiring had a huge splitting result on alumni. They hired the coach before the AD, which is unheard of. By hiring MD over 3 or 4 ex MC players, half the alum, incluidng the two who could have built a new rink walked and have never come back.

It always has been a soap opera over there. TO MD's credit he stays above it and only focusses on what he can control
Click to expand...
Lots of speculation in this post. Why not just stick to the facts?

Here's a fact... Mark Dennehy played at BC from 1987-1991. He never played for Jerry York at BC.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Salvo1017 said:
But let's get back to Mack Hockey. I'm getting excited to see Collins play...combination of him, Barton and Da Costa is going be colorful to say the least. Anyone know when the annual "Blue vs Gold" game is scheduled..(if it's scheduled yet)?
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I rarely see this player's name mentioned in any MC threads, but the one frosh last season that impressed me as much as any was Brodhag. That kid's a player.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

FiveHole12 said:
I rarely see this player's name mentioned in any MC threads, but the one frosh last season that impressed me as much as any was Brodhag. That kid's a player.
Click to expand...

Brandon is a hell of a player, I look forward to seeing him develop as well.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

FiveHole12 said:
I rarely see this player's name mentioned in any MC threads, but the one frosh last season that impressed me as much as any was Brodhag. That kid's a player.
Click to expand...
Good call FiveHole...Brodhag scored a number of big goals for Merrimack last year, it was really fun to watch him play. His offensive game plan is very easy: go to the net, clean up the loose pucks. Dennehy mentioned in postgame podcasts that Merrimack recruited him for that very purpose. Brodhag was tough as nails last year, because he took a number of chops, hacks and shoves in front of the net - but he produced as a rookie.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Hokydad said:
one problem. Those seats are a small section and most are not sold.

The vast majority are still bleachers...
Click to expand...

The bleachers are being removed. There will be seat backs on the entire home side at the beginning of the season. The bleachers on the visitors side will be replaced with seat backs during the winter break. There are some new bleachers being installed at one end of the ice as a new student section.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

What made the BC fans dislike Mike Machnik so much? As a newer follower of the boards, I've heard it had to do with the Eaves incident? Not trying to flame at all, just curious. It must be more than just he disagreed with your views on the incident.

Emotions ran high at the time, but I can't imagine anyone in their right mind still believes it was anything but an accidental hockey play. I know there are lots of players who make a living being an instigator (not saying that's Eaves), but even the baddest of the bad NHL tough guys don't usually wish personal harm on an opponent.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Another player I'd like to see more of is Simon Demers...that kid has a canon of a slap shot
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

irishfan85 said:
Emotions ran high at the time, but I can't imagine anyone in their right mind still believes it was anything but an accidental hockey play.
Click to expand...

You would have been surprised at the number of idiots/a-holes on here at the time that happened. I bet there are still some knuckledraggers out there who feel differently...
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Gainzo said:
According to simple mathematics that means that a single game ticket would cost $25. I understand that Merrimack needs to pay for the renovations but charging $20 for a season ticket and $25 for a single game ticket is not cool.
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I believe it would be $20.00 at the door and $15.00 for a season ticket holder.

If a season ticket costs $240.00 for 16 games, that would be $15.00 per game ($240/16= $15). If your savings is $80.00, that's a $5.00 savings per game ($80/16= $5 per game).
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Carmine Scarpaglia said:
Let's give the Merrimack administration a pat on the back for at least getting one thing right... kicking Mike Machnik to the curb.
Click to expand...
I believe Mike Machnik is involved with the program again. He did their radio broadcasts last season.
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Salvo1017 said:
Another player I'd like to see more of is Simon Demers...that kid has a canon of a slap shot
Click to expand...

Demers TOI will be an interesting decision this year. If you take a look at the breakdown:

Seniors
D Adam Ross
D Fraser Allan

Juniors
D Karl Stollery
D Simon Demers

Sophomores
D Kyle Bigos

Freshman
D Jordan Heywood
D Brendan Ellis
D Tom McCarthy

In my eyes, Ross, Allan, Stollery and Bigos are already ahead of him on the depth chart. His playing time will be dictated by what Heywood, Ellis and McCarthy show in early practices and games. If he can prove himself in practices and game action, he could see an increased role this year, especially in situations that put his shot to good use (i.e. PP).
 
Re: Merrimack Offseason thread - preseason rank 10th again? I think not

Seeing him on the point on the PP might be an interesting idea
 
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