UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

I nominate e.cat to be our next STH manager!

Seconded!!!!

 

[e.cat]

I nominate e.cat to be our next STH manager!

Sure, as long as I don't have to do TPS reports!

https://youtu.be/jsLUidiYm0w

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

The UNH hockey tickets are printed and on a bus or truck to UNH today. You can pick them up at the Whit anytime they are open in the next week. You can pick them up on Saturday 10/27 as they will have tables in the foyer by the ticket office for the Vermont game. I wish it was better news. They are not mailing to season ticket holders as it was too short a window. They said there was a setback due to the ticket manager's promotion at another school with better wages and benefits. They are trying to find a replacement and maybe someone on the board might be interested.

Why am I not shocked when I read reports like this. My wife and I were season ticket holders for over 25 years. We gave them up two years ago because we were getting less interested in driving the hour from Lynn to Durham to sit down and watch what we and everybody else was seeing. Instead we partnered with a good friend who offered his two extra ST to us anytime we wanted to go to a game. A reasonable solution that allowed us to take in as many games as we felt like going to.

The larger point is that this latest ST fiasco is just another in a long line over many decades where the administration at UNH has thumbed their nose at their customers. It would take a while to enumerate all the fiascos and incidents of tone deafness but suffice to say that, when we decided to not renew our tickets two years ago, no one from the ticket office of the athletic department ever reached out to us and urge us to renew or to ask why we weren't. I know selling UNH Hockey is a tough sell these days but, if you don't make the effort to promote your product in these times, why should anybody care. Just a poorly run outfit and, I might add, it has always been that way going back to the seventies.

 

[Snively65]

Why am I not shocked when I read reports like this. My wife and I were season ticket holders for over 25 years. We gave them up two years ago because we were getting less interested in driving the hour from Lynn to Durham to sit down and watch what we and everybody else was seeing. Instead we partnered with a good friend who offered his two extra ST to us anytime we wanted to go to a game. A reasonable solution that allowed us to take in as many games as we felt like going to.

The larger point is that this latest ST fiasco is just another in a long line over many decades where the administration at UNH has thumbed their nose at their customers. It would take a while to enumerate all the fiascos and incidents of tone deafness but suffice to say that, when we decided to not renew our tickets two years ago, no one from the ticket office of the athletic department ever reached out to us and urge us to renew or to ask why we weren't. I know selling UNH Hockey is a tough sell these days but, if you don't make the effort to promote your product in these times, why should anybody care. Just a poorly run outfit and, I might add, it has always been that way going back to the seventies.

So, I gather from your post that you are not interested in becoming the next UNH hockey STH manager, Greg?

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

And one other thing - Souza probably leaned over mid-game and whispered in the ear of more players this past weekend than Umile did all last season, maybe even the last *two* seasons combined. It just wasn't his style, but it's clear that Souza intends to teach in the moment (as I've long witnessed and admired coach York doing for so long at BC), a change that I think in the long run will prove to be one if his most important culture shifts to the program moving forward ...

In some ways I'm going to miss seeing Dick Umile stand back there behind the bench fuming all by himself, one arm using the back dasher as an armrest, and not talking to players or other coaches in the midst of another meltdown.

That being said, IDK what Pirate Jerry is whispering to the kids on the BC bench anymore. It doesn't seem to be as effective as it used to be.

 

[After the Whistle]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Well, from my perspective I would hope that every player who "gives it their all" (and there are many on the current roster) would have more than 'nothing' to show for their efforts! I attended both games this past weekend in person at Colgate, and as others have pointed out, there was a lot to like despite the disappointing pair of 1-2 losses. Both of our young goalkeepers made some outstanding saves that kept the game(s) within reach, and as a group I thought our freshman skaters accounted for themselves quite admirably. Since Umile was loath to give much responsibility to his freshman classes, I wanted to see if coach Souza would buck that trend and let his newcomers do more than dip their toes/skates in the shallow end when the game was already decided. I couldn't have been happier to see nearly all the newest 'Cats skating regular shifts in all circumstances, full strength, PP and PK, and from my seat behind the bench they fit right in. I thought both of our F defensemen (MacKinnon and Verrier) more than held their own against yes, not an especially loaded Raider squad, but one that pressed 'em hard all night. I was curious to see if Pierson, fresh off his CMA team in Indiana, was up to the challenge of competing against, older, bigger, stronger opponents and sure enough, he potted the 'Cats only goal on Friday night, lasering in a rebound PP goal to open the scoring. Of the upperclassmen, Miller stood out to me, working hard in the dirty areas on offense (especially in the slot, where he was mugged time and again) and Vela seems to have fully embraced the 'C' on his sweater, as he could frequently be seen chatting up the officials at breaks and skating hard, 'tho too often to little effect. Perhaps others have noted this already, but Souza's decision to sit Boyd on Saturday was the absolute right thing to do, and a move I doubt Umile would have made under similar circumstances. He had a brutal game on Friday, making numerous mental errors that frequently led to Grade A Colgate chances. But I'll cut him some slack by noting that nearly all of his mistakes were of the 'commission' variety, trying so hard to make a play that when it didn't go as he'd hoped the results were nearly disastrous (leaving his feet to lunge for the puck at the Blue Line to keep it in, but missing, leading to a Colgate odd man rush the other way; pivoting off his man at the post to chase a loose puck behind the net that soon ended up the stick of the guy he just left, etc.). I can tolerate that kind of over eagerness (if poor, but correctable, decision-making) far more than mistakes of 'omission' resulting from timid play. Souza seems to be saying that each/every player will be held accountable for his game day play; if the mistakes are numerous and avoidable, well, let's work on it in practice and we'll get you back in the lineup when you're up to speed with the game plan. Upperclassmen in particular always seemed to get the benefit of the doubt under Umile, so I'm heartened to see that Souza won't automatically be giving them the same deference as Umile did - good for him. If there's a true competition all week - regardless of when you first set foot in Durham - to see who'll earn a spot in the lineup, that's all for the good. And one other thing - Souza probably leaned over mid-game and whispered in the ear of more players this past weekend than Umile did all last season, maybe even the last *two* seasons combined. It just wasn't his style, but it's clear that Souza intends to teach in the moment (as I've long witnessed and admired coach York doing for so long at BC), a change that I think in the long run will prove to be one if his most important culture shifts to the program moving forward ...

jeteye, just love this post. You have clearly articulated what many feel. Particularly love the part of MS whispering to players. DU has not talked (positively) to players in several years yet is always portrayed as such a beloved character. As noted in a later post re. JY, perhaps it isn't as effective as it once was but I can tell you that 96% of us want to feel that we mater and nothing gets someone involved or curbs their enthusiasm more that a little feedback.

 

[Scott]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

In some ways I'm going to miss seeing Dick Umile stand back there behind the bench fuming all by himself, one arm using the back dasher as an armrest, and not talking to players or other coaches in the midst of another meltdown.

That being said, IDK what Pirate Jerry is whispering to the kids on the BC bench anymore. It doesn't seem to be as effective as it used to be.

Hmm...I sense some "disenchantment" at The Heights.....

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Hmm...I sense some "disenchantment" at The Heights.....

Function of age. Jerry is 73 now. BC still competes because they still get great players, just not as many of them. Love the legacy he has created but time to step aside. I’m of the opinion that, if not for circumstances BU could not ignore, Parker would still be behind the bench there.

And a request. If a BC or BU fan responds, please no whataboutism references to UNH or any other school. Stick to the subject at hand.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

So, I gather from your post that you are not interested in becoming the next UNH hockey STH manager, Greg?

As one who is luxuriating in retirement, I’d have to say no. But I will say this. The school desperately needs to hire someone who really knows sales and marketing. Maybe they could recruit some students at the Paul School to advise them because how they run things now is just awful and always has been.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

I don't know. My junior year in high school my football team went 2-7. Senior year we went 8-1 and won the state championship! It's all about the "groceries" as Ref alluded to.

I don't know, either. My point about UNH isn't about a single-season turnaround, it's that when a team/program has been in the dumps for an extended period of time, and no one in the program knows any better, it's hard to turn the mentality of that group around overnight. Maybe your HS football team was wracked with injuries the previous season, or benefited from a big group of talented underclassmen coming of age that year. Or maybe there was a coaching change?

I'm pretty sure exactly no one out there is saying that UNH's "groceries" this season are anything beyond standard grade, if that. Add a good chunk of the same coaching staff (sans Umile/plus Guiliano), and a player who lit it up as a frosh who missed most of last year (Grasso), and arguably benefited from playing on the PP with a top notch player who's no longer here … yeah, anything can happen, but the new "chef" is going to have to work largely with the same ingredients that landed the team in the cellar last season, and couldn't win a paltry 40 games over the last 3 seasons combined, with a dash of average "groceries" at best. And it's going to be tough for the new chef to upgrade the quality of his groceries until he can prove himself to be a top-notch chef by conjuring up something pretty special with standard grade groceries. That's why this year is all about Souza.

Just extending the Law of Suckiness (!) further … the UNH ticket office/marketing department has by all accounts on here been underperforming at their jobs for close to 50 years now (right, Greg?). Crappy service and a bad attitude to their customers is just part of the DNA over there. It's been passed down for decades, and what is tolerated from their employees trickles down from the upper reaches of the department. The phrase "We've got to protect our phony baloney jobs!" seems to fit here. And does it really come as a surprise that the second someone over there reaches the level of competence … they're off to another job with another program that pays them better? Between a rotating door for the top folks, and probably a lot of entrenched and under-motivated long-timers CandyCrushing their days away until retirement, that situation also seems long-term doomed.

But lucky us, we have a guy with over 40 big ones under his belt to fix this up in a jiffy …

 

[Dan]

Nazarian is dressed tonight.

Warm-up Lines..

Nazarian - Vela - Esposito
BVR - Blackburn - Grasso
Crookshank - Pierson - Kelleher
Sacco - Miller - MacAdams
Fregona

Wyse - Maass
Gildon - MacKinnon
Verrier - Boyd

---

Robinson in net. Tonight is a dream for fans of the color versus color uniforms. UNH in blue and CC in their awesom yellow jerseys (their other two options are garbage).

So much for hiding the scoring lines. CC matches their third line with UNH's 'first' to start the game.

World Arena is still awful. CCs on-campus rink can't come soon enough...

---

In other HE news - sure to miss the playoffs UMass moves to 3-0 after hammering #1 Ohio State, 6-3...

 

[Dan]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

UNH takes two careless goalie interference penalties in the first 3.5 minutes, but kills both including a real nifty bit of possession by Grasso...

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Penalty city tonight...what's the take on the first Dan or anyone else watching/out there?

 

[Dan]

CC scores on their third PP - a Grant Cruikshank (who was dangling around as a FA this summer after decommitting from Bucky and would look good in blue) knuckle puck from the point that slipped under Robinson's glove. Probably one he would like back. Hard to blame him though as he has already made 3-4 real good stops. Including one on a point blank attempt off of a two-on-one and another after a clearing pass hit a skate riccocheted to the slot and was played back to the doorstep...

End of one shots favor CC 14-8. Tigers carried much of the play early before UNH pushed back 2/3 of the way thru. Nazarian had the best chance coming from behind the net. Gildon thought he had a labeled wristlets but LeClerc got the glove on it...

UNH looks out of synch much of the period, missing on passes and getting wires crossed - even with some time and shots let they didn't look all that dangerous. They did hit a post on the first shift, but a goal would have been negated by the first goalie interference. They took four penalties - three completely unnecessary and one, MacKinnon's which led to the CC goal, was a real curious call...

Gildon is the best player on the ice again - looks like all the smooth and none of the turnovers this year. He made one play where a pass hit him in the skate at the blue line and appeared to be a pending gift for a CC forechecker - but Gildon grabbed it and heel dragged while spinning away and catching his stride to break out all in one motion. But he took an awful penalty late to negate a would be PP...

 

[chickod]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Function of age. Jerry is 73 now. BC still competes because they still get great players, just not as many of them. Love the legacy he has created but time to step aside. I’m of the opinion that, if not for circumstances BU could not ignore, Parker would still be behind the bench there.

And a request. If a BC or BU fan responds, please no whataboutism references to UNH or any other school. Stick to the subject at hand.

I don't believe he would. There was growing discontent among the fan base. Winning in 2009 "bought" him more time, but the end was in sight. Regarding BC, I can't comment except to say that from the outside it appears to be a very similar situation. At some point you lose that slight "edge" and it becomes more difficult to communicate with the players.

 

[Krog Pond]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Careless UNH penalties story of 1st period. CC applied most of the pressure early. UNH had success towards middle of first period. Robinson made a welcomed stop on a 2-1 opportunity. ‘Cats need to get more quality shots on net. Most are missing net or getting deflected/blocked prior to getting in the vacinity of Leclerc. Great view from the upper deck! 0 student presence inside the Broadmoor but decent crowd energy for a 1/2 empty building. CC cant get a rink on campus fast enough. On to the 2nd period!

 

[Dan]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Gildon wrists one through a screen to tie the score at 1. First career point for MacKinnon on the secondary assist. Kelleher also assists...

Crookshank jumped on a loose puck and nearly scored on the back-hand on the preceding play. His shot ran up the boards to MacKinnon.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Gildon wrists one through a screen to tie the score at 1. First career point for MacKinnon on the secondary assist. Kelleher also assists...

Attaboy Max!!

 

[Krog Pond]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

Much better second period for UNH. UNH has ton of traffic in front of Leclerc on Gildon’s wrister. UNH was fortunate early in the period to surrvive a couple odd man rushes that either missed the net or fell apart on their own.

 

[Dan]

Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity

UNH outshoots CC 13-4 in the second period and in some ways was much better and in someways worse. They really possessed the puck that period, but they spent way to much time on the outside, seemingly comtent to glide and throw pucks on net. They didn't really start skating until after the Gildon goal. That was their best five minutes of the night by far.

Early in the period they turned the puck over a lot - including 2-3 times on their second PP - leading to a few dangerous counter attack chances by CC.

They need to keep playing the speed game, keeping their feet moving and getting to the net in the third. They looked like a completely different team when they did this...

Souza is definitely not a roll four lines coach - a la Umile. He's definitely relying on his first nine forwards and top two pairs.

A curious decision on UNHs second PP to start with the second unit. They struggled and eventually got hemmed in their own end for a while. By the time the first unit got on the ice - a unit stacked with UNHs best five skill guys (Gildon, Nazarian, Kelleher, Grasso and Pierson) - there were only 18 seconds left...

---

Crookshank and Pierson looked much better than period. Crookshank is quick and smart. Pierson is really shifty and much stronger than you'd think given his age and size. The question is how much can they as FR contribute right away. UNH will need them to catch up as quickly as some of the other FR classes around the country have...