Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

[northeastern]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

on the positive side.. no silly penalties taken tail end of the season. the beanpot gm also comes to mind (refs let some go in that one, both ways..still, was fun to watch a fairly clean up & down gm).
again, we did well on the penalty front down the stretch. great discipline shown. keep that up!

 

[Happy Husky Victory!]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

I'm guessing the the BOZO didn't make an appearance at the Banquet?

 

[TheRevengeance]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

NU_Husky, was there any Ferriero presence last night? I know Cody/parents went last year, so that probably tells us what terms they're on and whether Nathan will be back.

 

[Huskies01]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

What would you guys like to see improve.

Keep Roy, Szmatula, Benning, ZAR. Replace everyone else.

 

[SkinsFan09]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

Keep Roy, Szmatula, Benning, ZAR. Replace everyone else.

You cannot have All-Americans at every position.

 

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

NU_Husky, was there any Ferriero presence last night? I know Cody/parents went last year, so that probably tells us what terms they're on and whether Nathan will be back.

Both Ferriero jerseys were hung with the players' in the background, but that's about it. They honored/mentioned Cody when discussing the seniors, but it was a real awkward announcement and silence that followed his name, and they quickly moved on. Neither Nathan or Cody were at the banquet. I'd infer then that Nathan has left the program.

HHV: Roby was not there. Madigan said he intended to be, but got caught up in "air traffic." I didn't believe it when I heard it, still don't believe it now.

 

[Huskies01]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

You cannot have All-Americans at every position.

Very true. which is why I am willing to keep role players like ZAR and Benning on the squad.

Everyone else can be replaced with role players who can actually play roles if not be be better then that, for example be a steady contributor.

 

[Tilldog40]

Very true. which is why I am willing to keep role players like ZAR and Benning on the squad.

Everyone else can be replaced with role players who can actually play roles if not be be better then that, for example be a steady contributor.

I like our team. Sounds like you don't. Great bunch of guys.

 

[Huskies01]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

I like our team. Sounds like you don't. Great bunch of guys.

I do not know them personally. Never have claimed to. Glad to hear they are all quality individuals. Now someone make them quality hockey players!

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

HHV: Roby was not there. Madigan said he intended to be, but got caught up in "air traffic." I didn't believe it when I heard it, still don't believe it now.

The HA wasn't there last year, or the year before, and certainly not the year before that (Cro's last). In fact, I can't recall his ever attending the banquet unless he showed up at the one that was inadvertently scheduled on Passover, which I and and many others missed.

 

[northeastern]

Aren't ADs supposed to be unbiased?.. he is very blatant. Least try to attend one of these.. you might just like where program is headed, PR!

 

[Bad knees]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

The problem stems from what you just stated
Plus if this program is not to be considered as it is
The red headed step child of Boston than things must change. 1st we average per capacity one of the lowest fan base around but if you see the bean pot you would never ever think that. I will garauntee you if NU fans packed the joint this team will be electric teams feed off the fans with that said and done the AD must come up with something to being them in there are no excuses we have a team now now they need to fill the old and beautiful barn

 

[Split-N]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

...if NU fans packed the joint this team will be electric. Teams feed off the fans...they need to fill the old and beautiful barn

You raise a great point. Hockey is an emotional game and teams do feed off crowds that are big, loud, and involved. But Matthews is not the only barn that has been seeing declining attendance over the past few years: I watched a number of televised UNH games against quality opponents where the number of empty seats was embarrassing. Agganis was a morgue (not surprising since the team that plays there played like it was on an embalming slab--until the last weekend of the season). Empty seats have also been turning up at places that have always been automatic sellouts, like Michigan, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. Notre Dame had some embarrassingly small crowds at its shiny new barn this year.

Personally, I'm far removed from the "younger demographic" but cultural changes seem to be going on within that group that don't bode well for attendance at sports events. For starters, big screen high def TVs are common in today's tricked-out dorm rooms. So why should you leave your warm, cushy dorm room on a cold, blustery night to go to a hockey game, especially when you get the live stream for free? The stream aside, there are just so many more things available to fill a student's time: There's seemingly endless entertainment on Netflix, and let's not underestimate the power of Xbox/PS-4. Beyond that, sports events just don't seem to be as appealing to college kids as they have been in the past. A lot of them just don't have the patience and attention span to sit through two-plus hours at a hockey or hoops game.

The Beanpot final is different. It's a one-time event that has a certain "cool" factor associated with it and the herd mentality sets in. If all of your friends are going, you want to go too. It's the only hockey game of the year for many of the kids in the stands. Now if NU could ever win the thing, it might be able to leverage the excitement into better attendance for the rest of the year but....

Anyway, an interesting topic worth some discussion that maybe can help us get through the boring summer. It would be very interesting to hear from some of the younger posters.

 

[TheRevengeance]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

It would be very interesting to hear from some of the younger posters.

I feel like nobody who posts here is the right person to ask, since we're the ones who would be at the games anyway if we're on USCHO in the offseason. But my two cents is that I'd absolutely love for there to be more people. My favorite expeiences at Northeastern through two years have been the Beanpot games, and it's not too hard to figure out why. I have a friend in Florida who turned on Huskies Radio during the last few minutes of the Patrick Brown miracle and the only comment I got was "Holy **** you guys are loud."

As for how to get attendance up, a pretty easy way of getting a full house for at least one more game a year is to stop playing BU on Spring break. That game should be a packed house, even more so than the BC games have been lately, if it's held on a normal weekend.

Second, I do think the advertising and general hype is terrible. In February Northeastern had a top ten hockey team, and if I wasn't a fan I'd have no way of knowing it. Just the same old white, blown over "hockey game tonight" signs that don't do anything useful or mention anything about our team or our opponent. A late February series with perenial top flight program Maine where both teams are ranked and fighting for a Hockey East bye should not draw the abysmal crowds we had that weekend, but there's no advertising it, plus I'm sure a lot of people decided to go to one game and go out the other night. Those games drew less than Dalhousie and UAH did in October.

Third, I don't think the in game atmosphere is what it could be. I don't really know what to do about that though since I wasn't here when it was better. Over the course of my two years I've slowly but surely migrated into hanging with the DogHouse leadership group during games, not because I had much desire to lead myself, but because it seemed like anywhere else I went half the people around me would be sitting on their hands and killing the atmosphere and desire to be loud. Maybe you could argue (as some did in the season thread) that some of the chants need to be changed to be easier to pick up on, I'll admit it took me pretty much a year of listenting from afar to figure out what the hell they were spelling for "bukk...," but even things as obvious and "Let's Go Huskies" don't always get picked up for some annoying reason.

 

[Huskies01]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

2014-15 Captains:

C Dax Lauwers
C Adam Reid
A Torin Snyderman
A Clay Witt

I have been thinking about these guys being named captains. Outside of Witt, I find it interesting that they went with two guys who are marginal division 1 players at best in Snyderman and Lauwers, and then Reid who in three years has not been able to break into the top 2 lines and has really been a guy without line mates who play his style his entire career here.

So I am guessing they are going with the proverbial "hard working" guys? But does anyone else wonder why #15 did not get a letter? Maybe the staff is sending him a message that the on ice tantrums and the not giving 100% every shift, and not back checking wont carry the day anymore? Maybe they do not want to give letters to guys anymore who may bolt at the end of the next season? Same for #19 too?

Nowhere is it written that the best players get letters. I just find it interesting that the guys who did, are guys who could be easily replaced in the lineup and no one would blink a eye. Guys who are not on the ice when the game is on the line.

 

[AllHailNortheastern]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

So why should you leave your warm, cushy dorm room on a cold, blustery night to go to a hockey game, especially when you get the live stream for free?
......
Anyway, an interesting topic worth some discussion that maybe can help us get through the boring summer. It would be very interesting to hear from some of the younger posters.

I like to think I still count as a younger poster - but I know that at least while I was a student the live stream wasn't something that was promoted. I doubt we're losing potential game goers because of the goNU streaming offering.

I can't really understand why there isn't as much of a student presence at the games now. I know that I chose to go to NU because it was such a hockey centric school, so the promotions were never what got me to go - I would have been there anyway. Not sure how much plastering still happens in the dorms about games but they used to be specific and also everywhere, maybe that's stopped or maybe it's just no longer effective marketing for the newer classes.

 

[TheRevengeance]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

Not sure how much plastering still happens in the dorms about games but they used to be specific and also everywhere,.

I feel like they get 2-3 posters a year up. One in September with the home schedule on it, one with the Homecoming weekend schedule around that time, and one other random weekend a poster will pop up with the game date and time. There's nothing up that would convince someone that wasn't already planning on going that there's something going on. The biggest advertising tools they use are all-white signs that stick in the ground and say Hockey Game Tomorrow/Hockey Game Tonight in black text and nothing else, which can commonly be found blown over in the grass 3-4 days into the next school week.

 

[AllHailNortheastern]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

Wow it seems they really cut back - there were posters almost every week updated with our ranking and opponent ranking when I was still living on campus until 2010. Could be something they should look into again. I see how people wouldn't realize how well we are doing as the season rolls on.

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

I've been following this team for a long, long time and I can tell you that the Hockey attendance this year was, without a doubt, the worst I have ever seen for a team with a winning record.

Split-N suggested that there might be a cultural change. I think he may have a part of the answer. As the U. has become more selective (1400+ mean SAT scores this year? Give me a break!!) The attendance at Hoops and Hockey games has languished. Do our newer students have different priorities? Are they studying on Friday and Saturday nights?

bu and UNH have the excuse that their ticket prices are 30% higher than ours and that they charge their students for their seats (albeit at a "student" rate). OTOH we hold up to 2000 tickets per game to GIVE to our students FOR FREE. I know all students pay an "Athletics Fee", but so do the students at the other schools, in one way or another. I must say, it was great fun to watch the bu fanboys whining about their program on these boards. It was much less fun losing two games to them at the end of the regular season.

I used to pay $69 per year for GoNUxtreme and I was happy to do it, considering how I can't make games on weeknights. Then, a couple of years ago, the management wouldn't take my money any longer. They insisted on giving it to me and to anyone, including fans of the opposing teams, FOR FREE! Did the whiz who runs marketing or the Hockey Assassin expect that this would stimulate ticket sales???

Even I would have thought twice about making the hike from West Campus to the Arena on one of the frigid and windy evenings that we enjoyed this past winter! If I was a student (or just a fan) at one of the other HEA schools in this area, I would have thought thrice about driving into Boston, paying $20 for parking and then buying tickets when I could curl up with a six-pack (or three) in my dorm room, or "man cave", with my buddies and get a better view of the game in HD with replays.

As for the Athletics Department: I have never seen so many employees on the payroll. Many have narrowly defined titles that makke me wonder how their jobs are really full-time, as I can't imagine that there is much for them to do in the May to July period. We have 12 people listed in Marketing or Communications. What marketing do these people do? We have marketing experts, with advanced degrees and experience, a.k.a. professors in D'Amore-McKim. Do we make use of their skills in any way? I doubt it, because our marketing folks earned a big, fat F from me based on the fans who came dressed as empty seats this winter. In the real world, marketing executives are ranked on the basis of carefully measured results. Good thing these people don't work in that real world!

That's enough for now. I toil in the real world and I have real work to do.

 

[retsap71]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2014 Offseason: Resurrection's Over....Now What?

I've been following this team for a long, long time and I can tell you that the Hockey attendance this year was, without a doubt, the worst I have ever seen for a team with a winning record.

Split-N suggested that there might be a cultural change. I think he may have a part of the answer. As the U. has become more selective (1400+ mean SAT scores this year? Give me a break!!) The attendance at Hoops and Hockey games has languished. Do our newer students have different priorities? Are they studying on Friday and Saturday nights?

bu and UNH have the excuse that their ticket prices are 30% higher than ours and that they charge their students for their seats (albeit at a "student" rate). OTOH we hold up to 2000 tickets per game to GIVE to our students FOR FREE. I know all students pay an "Athletics Fee", but so do the students at the other schools, in one way or another. I must say, it was great fun to watch the bu fanboys whining about their program on these boards. It was much less fun losing two games to them at the end of the regular season.

I used to pay $69 per year for GoNUxtreme and I was happy to do it, considering how I can't make games on weeknights. Then, a couple of years ago, the management wouldn't take my money any longer. They insisted on giving it to me and to anyone, including fans of the opposing teams, FOR FREE! Did the whiz who runs marketing or the Hockey Assassin expect that this would stimulate ticket sales???

Even I would have thought twice about making the hike from West Campus to the Arena on one of the frigid and windy evenings that we enjoyed this past winter! If I was a student (or just a fan) at one of the other HEA schools in this area, I would have thought thrice about driving into Boston, paying $20 for parking and then buying tickets when I could curl up with a six-pack (or three) in my dorm room, or "man cave", with my buddies and get a better view of the game in HD with replays.

As for the Athletics Department: I have never seen so many employees on the payroll. Many have narrowly defined titles that makke me wonder how their jobs are really full-time, as I can't imagine that there is much for them to do in the May to July period. We have 12 people listed in Marketing or Communications. What marketing do these people do? We have marketing experts, with advanced degrees and experience, a.k.a. professors in D'Amore-McKim. Do we make use of their skills in any way? I doubt it, because our marketing folks earned a big, fat F from me based on the fans who came dressed as empty seats this winter. In the real world, marketing executives are ranked on the basis of carefully measured results. Good thing these people don't work in that real world!

That's enough for now. I toil in the real world and I have real work to do.

NU athletics has always been run horribly, and will continue to be.