Yeah but...it's a hard place to play. (just echoing the very words I've heard on reasons why we don't always get a W there....ha!) That said, Lawlor is/can be a challenging place to play though UNH has won there many, many times ...and lost a few heartbreakers 2016 first round HE tourney come to mind...anyone remember that mess at the end???
UNH doesn't have the excuse about Lawlor being "so small" anymore, so next weekend needs to be a win. Simples.
'Ref, you mention the '16 HEA MBPGEGAM "playoffs", where Merrimack hosted UNH in a best of three. I'm pretty sure those were the last road postseason games for UNH that I've traveled to - at least the first two games - I used to work about 10 minutes away, so Game One was an easy take, and I had a rare Saturday night off from my coaching duties, so I also caught Game Two. I didn't go to Game Three, 'cuz I was disgusted with the lack of compete level from a few of the 'Cats towards the end of Game Two. That was the end of Danny Tirone's soph season, and while that season was statistically his worst at UNH, he pretty much stood on his head in that series to keep UNH in it, right to the end. But as soon as Merrimack scored the OT winner in Game Two, I knew in my heart what was coming in Game Three. Sadly, that feeling proved to be accurate.
That was the year of the infamous "Senior First Line/Checking Line" experiment, so I was already pretty torqued with a lot of things Coach Umile was (and wasn't) doing by that point. For current context, it was also Year One of the "MS7 Three Year Plan". I thought Dennehy coached circles around UNH, both tactically and motivationally, so I couldn't even be angry at the 'Mac - they SO clearly wanted it more. It was really a personal turning point for me, almost a point of diminishing returns as a UNH fan, and reflecting back, I'm not sure I've ever been entirely back on board like I had been in the old days since. It's not that I don't want to be ... and I did not make my "all in" pronouncement this season lightly, either. After all, this is still a UNH team with a winning record, and as a result, that's the best we can say it's been here for almost a decade. LOW bar.
A strong February could make a difference, but February has been the month where many a past UNH season has gone to die; if the UConn and UVM losses in late January are gonna be foreshadowing, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. There is a lot of built-up "scar tissue" if you are a UNH fan that goes back at least to the years when the 'Cats were perennial NCAA participants ... and I know there are still many UNH fans out there (not just Snives and Dale) who've been on this crazy ride for longer than I have, but I'm sure
anyone who's been on board long enough to remember quality postseason chances (and 'Ref, you absolutely qualify) is fighting this battle from varying degrees of experience.
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As an aside to Coach Souza ... despite my casual repeated "MS7" references, I know Coach is a real person, and just like his predecessor, they take on these high profile jobs knowing there is pressure to perform and produce, and the fruits of consistent victory can be very sweet. Coach Umile made a very lucrative career out of the work he and his assistants performed for UNH for the better part of a full generation, and that is entirely deserved. That his professional CV lacks just the one exclamation point entry may be frustrating - for us as fans sure, but even more so for someone that competitively wired like he was at his peak - but takes nothing away from what he did. Likewise, Coach Souza walked into his current job with eyes wide open - or at least he should have, no excuses if he didn't - and he understands that when things haven't gone as well as he'd hoped, then there are consequences. He will know that once BS+ retired a couple of years ago, his safety net was never going to be there now as it had been in the past. No one will need to have written him a map after Coach Herrion was not renewed. I'm sure this is an incredibly stressful time for the Souza household, with lots of uncertainty hovering over results of the next 30+ days. There likely have been many sleepless nights already, and there likely will be several more to come. I don't envy the professional stress you're going through. It's the ugly underside of the "risk/reward" tradeoff, but since the events surrounding Coach Herrion last March, I want to think Coach Souza has been quietly yet diligently making contingency plans for Plan B this Spring, and maybe as a result, the stress level at
Chez Souza is not quite so bad?
In the end, maybe the ultimate irony is that with a decision that needs to be made while considering what's best for UNH Men's Hockey for the next decade (plus?), it will be the decidedly non-
paisan AD Rich who needs to channel her inner Don Corleone, and in making her decision on possibly renewing/extending Coach Souza, she'll need to make sure her decision is "nothing personal, strictly business". If she is convinced that Coach Souza has turned a corner with this program, and the results from this point on this season reinforce that, then that should guide her decision. Likewise, if she is convinced he is NOT the person to carry the program forward into a more successful future, then it's all over, and we move on quickly. If she is unconvinced either way - and I'm not sure what circumstances might be to produce that outcome - then she'll basically need to do some advanced intelligence work on who may or may not be available and receptive to taking the UNH job. If the right candidate(s) are not available, then maybe a one year extension is in order to see (1) if Coach Souza's improvement (so far anyway) this year is a mirage or a real emerging positive trend, and (2) in hopes that the quality of potential replacements next Spring ('25) is better?
Simple in some ways, potentially complicated in others. Although I've been a committed pessimist in recent years, I honestly think the chance of Coach Souza being back in charge for the 2024/2025 season is about 50-50, so the "game" is definitely in the balance. Likewise, assuming he returns, I think the chance of a one year extension is probably 50%, two years is 30%, and three (or more?!?) years is likely only 20%.
Just for craps & giggles, I'll update these projections after every weekend from here on out. But in doing so, I'm just doing this in the interests of prompting discussion and "entertainment" (as it used to say on the back of those "pick NFL 4 games against the spread for 10 points" cards of pre-Internet yesteryear), and not to make sport of what really turns into a very human saga, where hopefully business logic carries the day ...
