Re: Providence - 2009-10 What is in the glass?
Merrimack has not had a winning record in 21 year history of Hockey East. Backed into playoffs by tying the last placed team at home.
That is false. Had Merrimack not gained a point in that game they would have finished with 25, tied with Vermont for the 8th spot. However, MC holds the tiebreaker against the Cats, so they still would have been in. The last game against PC affected the matchups, but but not eligibility because Vermont did not finish above 25 points and NU did not reach 25 points because of BU sweeping. If MC had lost they would have "backed in" because then they would have needed BU (or NU) to sweep in order to get in. A split for those two and a loss in MC's last game would have tied everybody at 26, and MC would have lost tiebreakers with both teams. That still would only have placed them 8th-- they wouldn't have been out unless Vermont got more than 26 points. So even if UVM had gotten one more point in their final weekend, MC STILL would have made the playoffs because they have the tiebreaker over UVM.
In other words, MC did not "back in" to the playoffs this year. That phrase is reserved for situations where the team does not control its own destiny. MC went into the final weekend in control of their playoff destiny, and 3 points out of 4 was enough to clinch in the last game. They didn't get a win, but they didn't need it.
Had a losing record again this year. New coach has been there 5 years and has never been to playoffs, just now while under 500 again. got smoked 7-1 by BC a week+ ago.
Actually it was 7-0. 7-1 was the score of the Northeastern game two days prior, and BC had also beaten Umass by a score of 7-1 back in February, and Maine 6-1 back in January, and UVM 7-1 back in November. Of course, that's what happens when a team scores the most goals in league play-- in this case, Boston College.
That doesn't excuse MC not showing up against the Eagles, but BC is clearly a team that can score and has blown several teams out this season.
Has a grand total of 2 playoff wins in last 20+/- years. Has a 14 game hockey east play off losing streak
You might as well quote the complete record: they have a grand total of three Hockey East playoff victories. They took the '98 series 2 games to 1 and advanced to the semis, where BC beat them, and they took one game against BC at Conte in 1990, their first year in the league, winning 6-3 behind Andy Heinze's natural hat trick while playing against his younger brother and future Boston Bruin, Steve Heinze (of the famous H-E-M line).
Before that they won three ECAC division 2 championships in a row and upset Northeastern in the NCAA quarters in 1988.
their fans are pumped and positive. almost zero negative posts over last few years on here
what kool aid are they sipping>??????
shame on them for having fun
If you ask me, quite a few of them are sipping kool-aid and have been for many, many years. Failure to recognize early enough many flaws and failings have kept the program from advancing, in part, although the greater part was simply a lack of resources and a lack of good fortune. Right now they are getting a bit more of each. How far it will carry them, I can't say, but frankly I do not think the performance of late quite justifies some of the bravado I've seen. Having said that, I certainly wouldn't want the team to fall victim to "happy to be here" syndrome, and hopefully they won't. I think the impact players on this team are young enough not to know that they aren't expected to do well in the playoffs. They played BU pretty even at Agganis, and since those games have learned to win on the road. We'll see.
Regarding PC, I completely sympathize with those who are hitting the panic button. PC is the only other school of comparable size in the league to Merrimack, and their enrollment is about double MC's. If MC were to start regularly performing better in the league than Providence, I think they'd be nuts down there not to take a serious look at their entire approach to the program. PC's hockey program, at its height, was a good deal better than Merrimack's ever was-- but that's about as far in the past now as Merrimack's glory days in Division II, and about as relevant.
If PC were to finish below Merrimack, out of the playoffs, and lose the season series against the Warriors next season, I think the administrators at Providence would be insane not to look at what they are getting for their investment in that program, and look at either stepping it up in order to be more competitive, or deciding that what they are paying isn't worth it so they can merely say that they are competing in the country's premier collegiate hockey league.
Because this year, the league was not nearly that premier, and by the numbers, Providence was by far the worst team in it. So in a down year, in a year where every playoff team from spots #4 to #8 were only a game over or a game under .500, PC was the first team eliminated from contention. There's nothing to have fun with there, and for the first time since Merrimack joined Hockey East I feel worse for the fans of another team than I do for myself-- because while the Warriors didn't take everything that was on offer on the table this year, they are into the playoffs and did just about as well as five other teams. Nobody swept them. I can feel for PC's fans because the numbers show just how little there is positive to take from this year's season-- just like there have been many, many Merrimack seasons in Hockey East when there has been little to nothing positive for fans to go on. That doesn't stop people from looking-- some will always see whatever good there is, no matter how little there is, and some people will invent a little if they can't find any.
I've never been like that, and I can't find it in myself to condemn fans of another program because they aren't like that, either. I'm not sure why you should, or why anyone else should. Nobody likes fairweather fans, that's for sure. That doesn't justify swigging out of an empty cup and calling it kool-aid.
