UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

[C-H-C]

Max Gildon's younger bro made the US Developemtn under 17 team. Not as skilled as his older bro, he figures more to be a complementary forward on the team, though being on the team says he is highly regarded.

Excerpts from Neutral Zone's most recent scouting report:
"He's got the size and the power element to his game but he also has soft hands and sharp hockey sense... He needs to play with a little more pace in order to have success playing against USHL competition next year, but he has the body, the skill and the head to be pro down the road. One of the top rated uncommitted forwards in the country"

 

[Dan]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Brother is best player on this year's U18 team, and headed to Michigan.
http://www.usahockeyntdp.com/news_article/show/589104?referrer_id=666974

I bet they have a a big inside track. Father (former Toronto NHL GM) was on Providence team 85-89 and played under Umile and Borek.

Haha - Quinn Hughes is phenomenal and was excellent at the U18's. Watching this weekend, I was constantly thinking - THAT is the type of D-Man UNH is missing. How nice to learn he is another legacy heading elsewhere...

Speaking of how far UNH hockey programs have fallen - the 1992 US Women's World Championship team had SIX Wildcats on the team, including Hughes' mother Ellen Weinberg (also Davidson, Bye, Coyne, Merz and Whitten)...

 

[C-H-C]

Haha - Quinn Hughes is phenomenal and was excellent at the U18's. Watching this weekend, I was constantly thinking - THAT is the type of D-Man UNH is missing. How nice to learn he is another legacy heading elsewhere...

Speaking of how far UNH hockey programs have fallen - the 1992 US Women's World Championship team had SIX Wildcats on the team, including Hughes' mother Ellen Weinberg (also Davidson, Bye, Coyne, Merz and Whitten)...

The Hughes brothers have 3 "legacy" connections: Father-Providence, Mother-UNH, Uncle-Boston College

 

[NCAA watcher]

Haha - Quinn Hughes is phenomenal and was excellent at the U18's. Watching this weekend, I was constantly thinking - THAT is the type of D-Man UNH is missing. How nice to learn he is another legacy heading elsewhere....

I had seen us linked to him back in 2015, and was wondering how we might be in the running.
http://www.thescoutingnews.com/index.php/article/show/59848

I never knew of the UNH connection.

 

[C-H-C]

I had seen us linked to him back in 2015, and was wondering how we might be in the running.
http://www.thescoutingnews.com/index.php/article/show/59848

I never knew of the UNH connection.

Ellen Weinberg-Hughes was a senior on the UNH Women's hockey team when Coach Stewart was a freshman.

 

[QUAlum2004]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Mark Divver‏ @MarkDivver

UNH gets commit from Jackson Pierson, '99 F from Culver Academy

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=312316

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Excerpt from Neutral Zone scouting reports on newest Commit Jackson Pierson:

Jackson Pierson (Culver, 5’9/155, 9/10/99) – Pierson played a crafty, puck possession game here. He’s quick and is able to access all of his tools at full speed or in fast pace situations. Given that his game is flashy, slippery and slick handed; he doesn’t always get the credit for the hockey sense he has but he created a lot of offense here out of broken plays or off the rush that showed his mind for the game.

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

At the USA Hockey 18U National Championships earlier this month, Jackson Pierson & Culver Academy advanced to the semifinals. They lost to UNH Commit Ryan Verrier & Mid-Fairfield, who went on to win the National Championship.
Pierson lead Culver Academy with 2 goals and 4 assists in 4 games.

Culver Military Academy (Culver, Indiana) 18U team finished 2016-17 season ranked #5 in the country. Jackson Pierson was their leading scorer with 28 goals, 34 assists in 36 games.

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Sounds like another good get.

 

[deltabravo62]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Looks like we are stocking the shelves nicely these last few months.

 

[HockeyRef]

Sounds like another good get.

It's always nice to see/read various twitter comments that like this player and use the terms like "good get" HR approves too!!

 

[HockeyRef]

At the USA Hockey 18U National Championships earlier this month, Jackson Pierson & Culver Academy advanced to the semifinals. They lost to UNH Commit Ryan Verrier & Mid-Fairfield, who went on to win the National Championship.
Pierson lead Culver Academy with 2 goals and 4 assists in 4 games.

Culver Military Academy (Culver, Indiana) 18U team finished 2016-17 season ranked #5 in the country. Jackson Pierson was their leading scorer with 28 goals, 34 assists in 36 games.

Looking forward to the interview!!!!

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Chris Dilks says Max Gildon improved his NHL Draft prospects at the IIHF 18U World Championships:

"If there was one US player that really helped himself in this tournament it was defenseman Max Gildon, who scored 4-2-6, including a hat trick against the Czech Republic. Gildon has always had all the physical abilities to be a first round pick, but never quite had the mental side, especially against better competition like he saw against college teams. He showed the ability to use his talents well here. He was probably a 2nd/3rd round guy before the tournament, and this pushed him more towards the second round."

 

[HockeyRef]

Chris Dilks says Max Gildon improved his NHL Draft prospects at the IIHF 18U World Championships:

"If there was one US player that really helped himself in this tournament it was defenseman Max Gildon, who scored 4-2-6, including a hat trick against the Czech Republic. Gildon has always had all the physical abilities to be a first round pick, but never quite had the mental side, especially against better competition like he saw against college teams. He showed the ability to use his talents well here. He was probably a 2nd/3rd round guy before the tournament, and this pushed him more towards the second round."

Also made the All Star team at the Worlds if that hasn't been already mentioned! Will be watching the draft to see how high he goes...

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

To the recruiting gurus among you on here, a question seeking your insight:

Can we chalk all of these recent recruits up to Souza, or are any of them Stewart's recruits?

Do any of you have any insight into how the work is being split between the two?

Is Stewart doing the initial groundwork, and is Souza coming in late to close the deal? Or is it all Souza?

Whatever the guys are doing, they seem to be on a roll as of late.

And you gotta think it will get even easier to sell UNH once the Anchor's Aweigh ...

 

[C-H-C]

To the recruiting gurus among you on here, a question seeking your insight:

Can we chalk all of these recent recruits up to Souza, or are any of them Stewart's recruits?

Do any of you have any insight into how the work is being split between the two?

Is Stewart doing the initial groundwork, and is Souza coming in late to close the deal? Or is it all Souza?

Whatever the guys are doing, they seem to be on a roll as of late.

And you gotta think it will get even easier to sell UNH once the Anchor's Aweigh ...

As acknowledged in public remarks at the Annual Banquet, Stewart and Souza spend many hours recruiting on the road and on the phone. During the season, Stewart was on the road somewhat more than Souza - there were several games with just Souza and Umile behind the bench.

My guess is Souza and Stewart don't make an offer unless they both have established a relationship with the player and his family and agree the player meets a specific set of needs and criteria. The players who have committed over the last 2 years did so with the expectation they'd eventually be playing for head coach Souza. That's not to downplay Stewart's role as either recruiter or offensive coach.

I strongly suspect Souza will cut back on his on-the-road recruiting in 2018-19 but not to the extent that Coach Umile did when he became head coach.

All of these questions are interesting and I plan to interview Coach Stewart this summer to add to the information Coach Souza shared in last summer's interview.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

I strongly suspect Souza will cut back on his on-the-road recruiting in 2018-19 but not to the extent that Coach Umile did when he became head coach.

Understandable to the former, and (hopefully) promising on the latter. You gotta think there's a balance to be struck there, and it's been awhile since the UNH HC had any active presence out on the road.

All of these questions are interesting and I plan to interview Coach Stewart this summer to add to the information Coach Souza shared in last summer's interview.

Looking forward to it. As you may have noticed, Stewart's current role and (especially) his future with the program are two issues that have been a source of my curiosity for some time now.

I guess if you're compiling potential questions for the interview, I'd also be very interested in learning as to why the recruiting team was so silent during most of 2015/2016, before awakening with a vengeance lately? Not sure either guy is going to feel free to answer fully, but the suspicion has to be Coach Umile had held them back to some degree, with the final remnants of the Borek recruiting pipeline approaching matriculation? Was it simply a matter of as some of those commits decided to de-commit, that opened up more space to maneuver, or were some of those guys encouraged to find new schools, because they didn't fit with Coach Souza's new vision?

As always, I'm sure the recent recruits will include some hits and some misses, and one or two may never even make it here ... but it's most interesting to me to see how Souza will differ from the current administration with his approach to recruiting and program building. There's no question Umile's old approach bore fruit for an extended period of time many years ago, but it's gone pretty stale over the last decade plus, so the perceived changes on the recruiting front are exciting. Seeing how that will translate into these players coming into the program and progressing with their UNH careers will likely be what Coach Souza's success (or failure) will ultimately be based upon. And while it can be fun to speculate, debate and discuss in the interim, I'm admittedly impatient to see how this is all going to play out.

 

[NCAA watcher]

Whatever the guys are doing, they seem to be on a roll as of late.

I don't mean to pour cold water on the recent news, which is nice, but I would not put the "on a roll" label on it.
To me, "on a roll" means that UNH has positive buzz amoung top recruits who are seriously considering UNH. I would not say that, as I see only one blue chippah (Commessio).

I would restate "on a roll" as "stabilized/promising." Where we see progress is that UNH is getting a lot of good solid players. This is related to waiting longer for kids, and thus getting players who were not blue chippas at 16, but develop between ages 16 - 18. Pierson, Sweeney, Maass, and Verrier are "older" recruits. (Wazny and Crookshank at 17 years old were a bit younger). C-H-C cites Neutral Zone, and their rankings all have them below 4 stars, and the other schools after them are not the elite teams. You can pencil them in comfortably as 2nd/3rd liners, but wonder if they are top line difference makers.

Lots of good teams -- e.g., St.Lawrence, Lowell, -- make a good life out of waiting for those non-blue chippahs. And Souza seems to have a decent eye for those older players, judging from Maass. (And given how Pierson was reported, I assume Providence was after him.)

In turn, UNH is jumping less at the 16 year olds. So far that is only one, a blue chippah (Commessio). (My alarm in their first season was that UNH got absolutely no traction with any top players, and as a result, they jumped at totally unproven Green and Bahn at a much earlier age.... I wonder how much of that was choice).

It would be exciting to hear UNH getting a 16 year old you can dream on, but Souza seems not to follow that model. It was Borek's overexuberance with the 16 year that really bogged the team down. While this allowed him to get the 16 year old hotshots (Farabee, Ryczek, Laleggia, etc.) it also resulted in a host of 16 year old non-hotshots who never progressed as Borek projected (Aaron O'Neill, Cippolone, Esposito, Marks, Hill, Smith, Maller, Darcy, Thrush, Silengo).

To end on a positive, there are teams that are able to transition from stabilized into the "on the roll" category. Harvard struggled during much of Donato's stretch, until their "solid" recruiting got visible results, and they were able to translate that into going after the top kids. Given the long strech Souza has ahead of him, and UNH being well positioned as a school to resume that mantle, we can hope these are baby steps that will be part of that transition.

And ending on my usual Anchor's message, it's hard to judge the "momentum" when UNH doesn't yet have its top recruiter on staff. He'll be hired in April.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Fair enough, 'Watcher. I'm quite comfortable if Souza and his older (4 year) players approach gives us the second coming of Norm Bazin.

 

[Lemonade]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

I don't mean to pour cold water on the recent news, which is nice, but I would not put the "on a roll" label on it.
To me, "on a roll" means that UNH has positive buzz amoung top recruits who are seriously considering UNH. I would not say that, as I see only one blue chippah (Commessio).

I would restate "on a roll" as "stabilized/promising." Where we see progress is that UNH is getting a lot of good solid players. This is related to waiting longer for kids, and thus getting players who were not blue chippas at 16, but develop between ages 16 - 18. Pierson, Sweeney, Maass, and Verrier are "older" recruits. (Wazny and Crookshank at 17 years old were a bit younger). C-H-C cites Neutral Zone, and their rankings all have them below 4 stars, and the other schools after them are not the elite teams. You can pencil them in comfortably as 2nd/3rd liners, but wonder if they are top line difference makers.

Lots of good teams -- e.g., St.Lawrence, Lowell, -- make a good life out of waiting for those non-blue chippahs. And Souza seems to have a decent eye for those older players, judging from Maass. (And given how Pierson was reported, I assume Providence was after him.)

In turn, UNH is jumping less at the 16 year olds. So far that is only one, a blue chippah (Commessio). (My alarm in their first season was that UNH got absolutely no traction with any top players, and as a result, they jumped at totally unproven Green and Bahn at a much earlier age.... I wonder how much of that was choice).

It would be exciting to hear UNH getting a 16 year old you can dream on, but Souza seems not to follow that model. It was Borek's overexuberance with the 16 year that really bogged the team down. While this allowed him to get the 16 year old hotshots (Farabee, Ryczek, Laleggia, etc.) it also resulted in a host of 16 year old non-hotshots who never progressed as Borek projected (Aaron O'Neill, Marks, Hill, Smith, Maller, Darcy, Thrush, Silengo).

To end on a positive, there are teams that are able to transition from stabilized into the "on the roll" category. Harvard struggled during much of Donato's stretch, until their "solid" recruiting got visible results, and they were able to translate that into going after the top kids. Given the long strech Souza has ahead of him, and UNH being well positioned as a school to resume that mantle, we can hope these are baby steps that will be part of that transition.

And ending on my usual Anchor's message, it's hard to judge the "momentum" when UNH doesn't yet have its top recruiter on staff. He'll be hired in April.

Excellent post. I think Souza is starting to get some traction in recruiting now that he can recruit his guys rather than his/Umile guys. It will take a few years before Souza can put his stamp on the roster. I agree landing Commesso was a huge get and a true blue chip (and being a goalie the most important position) and hopefully will be a start of Souza getting more aggressive with the younger players. Either you wait and take late bloomers (like UmassLowell, Merrimack, etc) or you get aggressive and go out get the younger blue chips (like BU/BC does). Its risky but it grabbing the young blue chips also attracts more younger blue chips. I really love the Max Gildon get as well as I think he has tremendous upside. Most of the 01 blue chips have been recruited already so hopefully Souza/Stewart can land a few more 02's who will be there in 2020/2021 when Souzas recruiting classes have filled the roster. Recruiting is also marketing...a few years ago BU wasnt the hot spot - they got Eichel and then landed a few bigger names and now its the cool place to play. UNH has the tradition, the facilities and campus to become that hot spot again...its just a matter of getting out there and being aggressive.