UNH 2024/2025 Goldberg Edition

[Robert Balin]

A bit of recruiting news. Luca Primerio who was to come in 2025 is now crossed of the Heisenburg list. Kind of strange CHC just did a story on him on his blog last week. He had 40 points in 43 games in the BCHL is 20 years old. I thought he has really improved and is a big kid. At the moment in my opinion UNH's best 3 recruits aren't being brought in till 2026. Ryan Grout, Geno Carcone. Carcone has 38 points in 48 games in the USHL is a good playmaker. And finally Nico Tournas.Even though playing in the NAHL Tournas is a skilled big body that can score goals. 2-3 years ago was one of the last players cut from the USNDPT 17 and under team. UNH needs goal scorers and Souza should gamble and bring him in early. Incoming QMJHL recruit Sam Oliver has 46 goals in in 55 games and leads the league. Have a good weekend.

 

[Scott]

A bit of recruiting news. Luca Primerio who was to come in 2025 is now crossed of the Heisenburg list. Kind of strange CHC just did a story on him on his blog last week. He had 40 points in 43 games in the BCHL is 20 years old. I thought he has really improved and is a big kid. At the moment in my opinion UNH's best 3 recruits aren't being brought in till 2026. Ryan Grout, Geno Carcone. Carcone has 38 points in 48 games in the USHL is a good playmaker. And finally Nico Tournas.Even though playing in the NAHL Tournas is a skilled big body that can score goals. 2-3 years ago was one of the last players cut from the USNDPT 17 and under team. UNH needs goal scorers and Souza should gamble and bring him in early. Incoming QMJHL recruit Sam Oliver has 46 goals in in 55 games and leads the league. Have a good weekend.

If Souza is still dipping in to the Umile Play Book and deferring recruits "for one more year" and those recruits decide to change their mind about coming to Durham, then he should be fired immediately.

Those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (See Vecchione, Mike and LaLeggia, Joey)

 

[bakchk20]

If Souza is still dipping in to the Umile Play Book and deferring recruits "for one more year" and those recruits decide to change their mind about coming to Durham, then he should be fired immediately.

Those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (See Vecchione, Mike and LaLeggia, Joey)

Oh it's a long list...

Chris Bourque (F) – de-commits May 2009.
Cam Reid (F) – de-commits Aug 2009
Matt White (F) – de-commits ?? 2010
David Kolamatis - de-commits 2006? 2007?
Tim Stutzle - de-commmits Sept 2019
Johnny Gaudreau - if you believe the stories...
Others...?

How about we just wipe out the bottom of the roster and build it back with more CHL, portal and even some D-3 kids? Going to need 26 scholarships to do that effectively.

 

[Dan]

If Primerano has decommitted it presents an opportunity to add an older, more immediately impactful CHLer. How about Alex Carr’s teammate in the Q…

Antonin Verreault - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Antonin Verreault, 2004-07-28 Mirabel, QC, CAN Canada. Most recently in the QMJHL with Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Robert Balin]

If Primerano has decommitted it presents an opportunity to add an older, more immediately impactful CHLer. How about Alex Carr’s teammate in the Q…

Antonin Verreault - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Antonin Verreault, 2004-07-28 Mirabel, QC, CAN Canada. Most recently in the QMJHL with Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

That would be real nice.

 

[Potluck]

I disagree with this notion. The Hockey team is a revenue source and should be treated as such. It starts with coaching. Coaching should be a 24/7 job. I do not see the commitment here.

Hockey is a small revenue sport. Yes, it’s revenue but small numbers

 

[norbert]

At this point none of the 83 pages matter. Let’s all focus on Whale and nothing serious being wrong.

 

[UNHHockey16]

Scary moment at the BC game. Prayers to Whale and hope for a speedy recovery!

 

[BC/HE]

Scary moment at the BC game. Prayers to Whale and hope for a speedy recovery!

BC is praying for him as well. Appears he took a shot to the neck when his own player fell backwards on top of him then his head flipped. I do believe he did move his head once afterwards but that could be either good news and precautionary or bad news if it should not have moved.

 

[Snively65]

BC is praying for him as well. Appears he took a shot to the neck when his own player fell backwards on top of him then his head flipped. I do believe he did move his head once afterwards but that could be either good news and precautionary or bad news if it should not have moved.

NESN crew just said that Whale could move his extremities as he was carted off the ice on the way to the hospital.

I thought that Gasseau’s slew foot was a dirty and dangerous play.

 

[amkirby10]

Saw the clip online, I hope Jared Whale is alright. Scary sight.

 

[norbert]

At this point none of the 83 pages matter. Let’s all focus on Whale and nothing serious being

 

[BC/HE]

NESN crew just said that Whale could move his extremities as he was carted off the ice on the way to the hospital.

I thought that Gasseau’s slew foot was a dirty and dangerous play.

That's a good sign if it was more than just the head move I saw. Agree that Gasseau deserved a Game Misconduct on top of the major but I believe he will only miss tomorrow's game upon review as he took a slash immediately prior. BC will probably be without 3 of their top 6 forwards and their top PK man as well tomorrow night. The game is ripe for UNH's taking.

Edit: Should clarify that we are talking about two different incidents here. For one who didn't see the plays they may think they are related.

 

[Sparkee]

UNH got a good recruit.

Jacob Newcombe(Cape Breton(QMJHL)), 4/27/04, LW, NZ 4.0, 6’0″, 200 lbs, big net front presence, hard nosed, physical checker, balanced edges, slick stick, tough to defend, quick hands, special teamer, wins puck battles, physical, plays heavy

https://youtu.be/dwXcgArG-vQ?si=PtWUJKSf8LxhRCxl
https://youtu.be/ZdmEEV_5rVU?si=-V9lG6YE8cgfNrrN

He fought battle with cancer to return to hockey. So he’s someone that has already been through a battle and is someone you want to see do well. Would have liked to see him in a Maine jersey, so you got a good one I think.

 

[Snively65]

That's a good sign if it was more than just the head move I saw. Agree that Gasseau deserved a Game Misconduct on top of the major but I believe he will only miss tomorrow's game upon review as he took a slash immediately prior. BC will probably be without 3 of their top 6 forwards and their top PK man as well tomorrow night. The game is ripe for UNH's taking.

Edit: Should clarify that we are talking about two different incidents here. For one who didn't see the plays they may think they are related.

Ha, ha, ha, best sandbagging that I have read all year.

Yes, two different plays. I was impressed that DiMatteo kept UNH in the game as long as he did in the third as he had not seen any game time in almost two months, I think. UNH really needed to even up the score on their 5-minute PP.

 

[HockeyRef]

Hoping and praying Jared is ok..said he could move his extremities as he was being taken off the ice. Scary moments...
No comment otherwise just care about his welfare. Anyone with updates please post.

Edit: saw a post that he is doing well and will maybe come home after tests are complete in Boston (Brighams)...so glad to hear!

 

[Chuck Murray]

I find it odd that so many here fail or choose not to acknowledge that the hockey program is a example of a much larger UNH problem - underfunding. UNH and NH for that matter have long prided themselves on doing more with less (i.e. frugality, Yankee ingenuity, blah blah....) The University currently has an admissions acceptance rate of 88%, which is a joke frankly. There's a systemic problem that is destroying the integrity of the University.

Most industries over time become more efficient. The cost of no doing so is bankruptcy. Public education and government have no need to improve efficiency and performance unless the public demands it AND is willing to pay for better productivity. The University is slipping. Obviously, it will never completely fail but it can consistently fall short of achieving its mission, which is to provide the opportunity for a student to obtain a strong education at a much lower cost than private colleges. NH really is not serious about higher education. I'll leave it to the residents of NH to discuss grammar and HS educations.

The fact that the NH citizens and legislature don't insist on better performance and provide the funding AND school management IS the problem. Little Michael Souza, the not so motivated coach of a poorly funded hockey team, is nothing more than an example and product of the problem. Firing him does very little, although it likely is necessary. The sugar high of a new coach in time will be swallowed up by the larger problem that is the way NH residents and politicians view higher public education.

NH has long chided Massachusetts as being a bastion of crazy liberalism in defending itself against accusations of frugality, cheapness, lack of innovation, etc... The reality is that over time well funded communities run by intelligent, forward thinking people thrive. I dare say Massachusetts innovation/business employs many (most) of the residents of southern NH with six figure incomes. The underfunded communities run by, well, mediocre people proud of being cheap simply stay the same, which in the real world means fall behind. Underfunded communities run by intelligent people tend to hang on and occasionally perform fine. But they always swim upstream. UNH and NH in general have too many mediocre people in positions of influence running an underfunded enterprise.

... and yet "underfunded" UNH Men's Hockey not so long ago had a 20+ year run of winning hockey, where Coach Umile took multiple teams to the cusp of a D-1 title, all while managing to get a state-of-the-art arena (at the time) that was the envy of most of Hockey East built along the way. Oh, and Coach Umile was doing pretty well himself, as the long-term highest paid State of NH employee, plus a fair amount of side source income generated as a result of his program's consistent bankable success.

If Blue Skies was "in it to win it", he would have jumped on hiring Ben Barr at the first possible opportunity. He didn't. And so here we are.

The rest of your rant is so stereotypical, and really not worth the argument (I'll go there if we need to though), but I will simply point out that "over time, well-funded communities run by intelligent, forward-thinking people thrive" is something you might want to revisit with 90% of the Massachusetts population outside the Route 495 arc. Not to mention how much the largesse generated over many generations (by politicians named Kennedy) of Federal tax subsidies played a part in lifting Boston from its mid-20th century malaise and mediocrity, to where they went for a few decades after that. But those things need not be permanent nor sustainable, all you need to look at is places like both Buffalo and Detroit, which were FAR ahead of Boston for long stretches of the last century. Looking at the crew currently running the "Commonwealth" (try saying that term west of Worcester without being derided) and its two biggest cities, their future is in dire jeopardy ...

----------------------------

Finally ... hoping to hear good news on Jared Whale after tonight's scary scenes down in Chestnut Hill ... not saying anyone did anything wrong, but if you've been watching HEA and D-1 hockey for awhile, I don't think you could escape flashbacks (not comparisons) to Joe Exter and his injury on the same ice surface, what, 20 years ago now?

Assuming we could be seeing a lot of DiMatteo (sp?) in goal down the stretch, didn't look at all out of place IMO. Almost makes you wonder why he's been so sparingly used ... but that's probably a conversation best left for another day.

 

[walrus]

Hope Jared is ok. Only read about it but sounds scary.

 

[TheGrouchyCat]

... and yet "underfunded" UNH Men's Hockey not so long ago had a 20+ year run of winning hockey, where Coach Umile took multiple teams to the cusp of a D-1 title, all while managing to get a state-of-the-art arena (at the time) that was the envy of most of Hockey East built along the way. Oh, and Coach Umile was doing pretty well himself, as the long-term highest paid State of NH employee, plus a fair amount of side source income generated as a result of his program's consistent bankable success.

If Blue Skies was "in it to win it", he would have jumped on hiring Ben Barr at the first possible opportunity. He didn't. And so here we are.

The rest of your rant is so stereotypical, and really not worth the argument (I'll go there if we need to though), but I will simply point out that "over time, well-funded communities run by intelligent, forward-thinking people thrive" is something you might want to revisit with 90% of the Massachusetts population outside the Route 495 arc. Not to mention how much the largesse generated over many generations (by politicians named Kennedy) of Federal tax subsidies played a part in lifting Boston from its mid-20th century malaise and mediocrity, to where they went for a few decades after that. But those things need not be permanent nor sustainable, all you need to look at is places like both Buffalo and Detroit, which were FAR ahead of Boston for long stretches of the last century. Looking at the crew currently running the "Commonwealth" (try saying that term west of Worcester without being derided) and its two biggest cities, their future is in dire jeopardy ...

----------------------------

Finally ... hoping to hear good news on Jared Whale after tonight's scary scenes down in Chestnut Hill ... not saying anyone did anything wrong, but if you've been watching HEA and D-1 hockey for awhile, I don't think you could escape flashbacks (not comparisons) to Joe Exter and his injury on the same ice surface, what, 20 years ago now?

Assuming we could be seeing a lot of DiMatteo (sp?) in goal down the stretch, didn't look at all out of place IMO. Almost makes you wonder why he's been so sparingly used ... but that's probably a conversation best left for another day.

Mrs. Grouch and I immediately started discussing the Exter Eaves collision watching everything unfold on the ice. Scary, indeed

 

[bakchk20]

If Primerano has decommitted it presents an opportunity to add an older, more immediately impactful CHLer. How about Alex Carr’s teammate in the Q…

Antonin Verreault - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Antonin Verreault, 2004-07-28 Mirabel, QC, CAN Canada. Most recently in the QMJHL with Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Newcomb may not quite be Verreault but he's not too far off.

Keep mining the CHL! Dump underperforming prospects which, for probably every team, is the natural fallout of bringing the CHL players into the mix.

Same for low end roster dwellers; cut them, let them jump to the portal or D-3. This team needs a massive overhaul. Act desperate, Mike, because you are. Feelings will get hurt. TFB...