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UNH Hockey 2023 Off Season Thread Turn and Face the Strange

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NCAA watcher said:
Great string of Daily Caller, Townhall.com and babylon bee content here.

How's about we stick to hockey, or at least non-fringe news providers?
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You surprise me, 'Watcher. Never saw you as one of the bubble-boys, allergic to narratives not dictated by DNC HQ. I know where you lean, but wasn't aware you were so all-in on the whole groupthink thing. Apologies.

I don't want to speak for the other folks who lean in the other direction (like me), but let me ask you this: You understand everyone is blanketed by the MSM's narratives on a daily basis, even if (like me) you're not looking for them, or particularly enamored of them. Don't you think that if your "non-fringe news providers" did a better job of covering the actual news - without bias - instead of picking and choosing winners, ignoring the stuff that doesn't fit the narrative, and subjecting everything to a partisan spin that's as easily recognizable as President Magoo's dementia ... then maybe these "non-fringe news providers" would have more credibility with those who lean in my direction?

If someone establishes a pattern of lying to you, and instead of admitting they're lying (or just plain wrong) when proven so ... do you give that person any credibility when they come at you the next time with some other fantastic thinking that just happens to slide in comfortably with the same old BS they tried to sell you on the last time???

Maybe you do, and if so, then you are an extraordinarily trusting person. Good for you. I'm not. If someone pees on my shoes and tells me it's raining, I'll call them for BS every time - even if it's someone on my "side". But as we speak, the evidence that "non-fringe news providers" have been trying to suppress since 2020 (and sooner) is mounting to the effect that President Magoo's drug-addled son has been the bag man for his family's "business" of shaking down friends and enemies of our country to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and the MSM and perma-DC have both been absolutely complicit in not only allowing it, but providing cover for it all.

When the "non-fringe news providers" start to rediscover their sense of curiosity, objectivity AND responsibility to ALL, then maybe I'll start to give them some credit. But if they insist on being DNC fanboys 99.99% of the time, then sorry, I'll stick with the "fringies" because while far short of perfect themselves, they give me access to lots of important information your "non-fringe news providers" seem curiously disinterested in.

Felgie, this is all your fault BTW by getting me started on the latest CAA wokeness.

I'm game for hockey talk whenever you guys are. This place wasn't exactly teeming with hockey chatter the last week or so, as I think we're all just waiting/hoping for MS7 the Thirteenth to open at our local drive-ins any day now ...
 
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My predictions by groupings (within that group, the top listing has my slightly stronger ranking).

1.BU
2.BC
3-4.Providence
U.Conn
5-6.Northeastern
U.Mass
7-9.Merrimack
Lowell
Maine
10-11.UNH
Vermont


Next Monday also opens the window for recruiting rising juniors in HS. The top pickings usually go to the teams with stronger reputations, with the lower ranked teams making more targeted offers. UNH continues to fall into the latter category, although last year, for the first time, UNH got two commitments, one from Sadowski, and the other from Tournas. Both are highly ranked, if not quite at the elite level, with Sadowski having the obvious UNH/Souza tie, and Tournas being a bit of an unproven kid playing Connecticut HS hockey, so UNH took an early chance with him.
Let's see how they fall this year.
 
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Whalers said:
Dont speed read - Vingegaard had an EPIC two days on the Tour. The time trial and the follow-up day, WOW!! To see Pogacar break and then admit it on the team radio, Vin was just stomping on his opponent and waiting for them to tap out. You could say Lance and "The Look" were similar but we all know what fueled that scenario. Maybe LeMond's Paris time trial ride to win against Fignon? The look on Fignon's face (and most of the french fans) was priceless.

With everything that has gone on in cycling over the years, you dont want to question, but you almost have to.
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Right? Epic Tour overall with many compelling story lines. It went from one the closest in years to one of the biggest blow outs in years in two stages. Gotta love Tadej's first word in the post race interview after he bonked: "F@#$ed". Speaking of interviews, Mohoric's was one of the best sports interviews of all time.

The question popped into my head too, but I think Jonas is clean. He seems too genuine and the sport has changed. Lance was beating riders who were being caught doping. At the time you knew he couldn't be clean. The similarity is Lance and Jonas were singularly focused on the Tour while Tadej wants to enter and win every race there is. Interestingly though Jonas is going to the Vuelta, likely because Jumbo Visma can win the triple and needs a new sponsor next year. The analysts mentioned that Jumbo gets the team organization nod over UAE and Cervelo is no doubt better equipment than Colnago.

I ended up mostly watching the world feed. I like the NBC coverage, all the on air talent and Phil is the voice of July, but the commercial breaks were too much for me. Also the world feed is more informative for veteran viewers and those with some cycling experience.

Vive Le Tour!
 
1 BU
2 BC
3 NE
4 UConn
5 PC
6 Me
7 MC
8 UMass
9 UML
10 UNH
11 UVM
As I have stated previously, we will be better this year but moving up will continue to be hard. Conmy is just so important (as a potential goal scorer) but they could be a fun team to watch. My fear is that instead of 2-1 overtime games we may be seeing 5-3 games.
 
After the Whistle said:
1 BU
2 BC
3 NE
4 UConn
5 PC
6 Me
7 MC
8 UMass
9 UML
10 UNH
11 UVM
As I have stated previously, we will be better this year but moving up will continue to be hard. Conmy is just so important (as a potential goal scorer) but they could be a fun team to watch. My fear is that instead of 2-1 overtime games we may be seeing 5-3 games.
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Agree with this prediction. I do think the heady start to the season and most of them home games will be a big challenge but they will surely 'learn' from it and could surprise. Gonna be a hard
pull to be 'champions of November' but you never know. I don't have big time expectations if I'm being completely honest. I'd rather set them lower and hope for the best. It's almost October, right??
 
Was just listening to a heated discussion elsewhere in whether or not Bergeron belongs on the Bruins' "Mount Rushmore" (simple answer is, not even close, but some folks don't "get" history - Orr, Bourque, Schmidt, Shore, Esposito, maybe even Bucyk and/or Neely ahead of Bergy?), but it made me think, who is on the "Mount Rushmore of UNH Hockey"?

Charlie Holt
Dick Umile (yup)
Jason Krog
Ralph Cox? Gordie Clark? Whoop Snively??

Leaving out two year guys like Langway, Miller and JvR, just because. I think the first two are solid, Krog (Hobey and FF Finals '99) the most prominent player, and the 4th slot could arguably be between at least a half-dozen candidates, if not more. I don't think we've done this before, so now seems a good time to thrash it out. Enjoy!!
 
Chuck Murray said:
Was just listening to a heated discussion elsewhere in whether or not Bergeron belongs on the Bruins' "Mount Rushmore" (simple answer is, not even close, but some folks don't "get" history - Orr, Bourque, Schmidt, Shore, Esposito, maybe even Bucyk and/or Neely ahead of Bergy?), but it made me think, who is on the "Mount Rushmore of UNH Hockey"?

Charlie Holt
Dick Umile (yup)
Jason Krog
Ralph Cox? Gordie Clark? Whoop Snively??

Leaving out two year guys like Langway, Miller and JvR, just because. I think the first two are solid, Krog (Hobey and FF Finals '99) the most prominent player, and the 4th slot could arguably be between at least a half-dozen candidates, if not more. I don't think we've done this before, so now seems a good time to thrash it out. Enjoy!!
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Fun idea Chuck!

Ok so I don't have the fan longevity...but I'd put TyK on that prestigious list! (Though I'm biased just thinking of 4 year guys as you seem to think that's important :-) of course I am sure in the vast ocean of UNH superstars there are others just as/ more deserving!

Wouldn't mind seeing different scenarios/years for this not necessarily "all time"..

Ps As to Bergie...hes a first ballot HOF player and deserves to have his OWN mountain...God Bless Saint Patrice!!
 
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Mt Rushmore's are annoying because four is too few to have a real encompassing of a program's greatness. A couple of weeks back, something - I don't even remember what - inspired me to think about an all-time UNH Hockey team. And since its already written down I'll share it here. I didn't want to get into eras I did not experience or players I did not watch; due to age my fandom/awareness began during the Bob Kullen transition - so I will only consider Wildcats from that point forward (15 F, 8 D, 3 G)...

--

JVR - Krog - Haydar (UNH's best NHL goal-scorer with two of the best playmakers in program history)
Bekar - Mowers - Boguniecki (A combined 226 career goals over 11 seasons - Bekar in '99 the program's big what if?)
Nicklaus - Kelleher - Poturalski (Remember what TK & AP did for Dan Correale, a middling offensive player? Nicklaus, the '98 what if, might score 75 goals on their wing...)
Collins - Gare - C. Hemingway (Teammates for the 2023 run; Collins didn't have the elite sidekicks as an upperclassman and could have been even better statistically)
Nolan - Amodeo - Flanagan (Swapping Nolan into Mitrovic's place on one of the most underrated lines in program history - one which keyed the early 90's rise)

Missed the cut: Mitrovic (the biggest omission) - Micflikier - Poole - Callander - Radja - Fornataro - Winnik - Sislo - Goumas - Thompson - B. Hemingway - Downing - Saviano - Butler - Souza - Winnes - Flinton

Muir - Stafford (A big NHL/Int'l defender & the best puck rusher in recent UNH history, IMO)
TVR - Pesce (A standout pair in college and still establishing themselves in the NHL)
Fillipowicz - O'Brien (The best pair on the best team in program history)
Dean - T. Murray (Another big defender with NHL pedigree and a steady, quiet presence with play making ability to round out the corp)

Missed the cut: Gildon (probably should be on this team by talent, and likely is if he plays in a better era of UNH Hockey) - Kessel - Hall - Mounsey - Teplitsky - Yandle - Cleland - Flaishans - Knodel - Schmidtke - Russell - Huard*

Conklin (Easily...)
Regan (Dominant for some great teams)
Desmith (Lifted some so-so teams to NCAA Tournament success and had good numbers - edges the others because of his limited supporting casts)

Missed the cut: Ayers, Matile, Levy

--

Great forwards to choose from. Awesome goaltending. Defense a less standout group (and harder to parse) that could use a Rod Langway type but he's out of my range...

So, where am I wrong?




* Only one active player gets consideration in the missed cut category. Telling.
 
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Dan said:
Mt Rushmore's are annoying because four is too few to have a real encompassing of a program's greatness. A couple of weeks back, something - I don't even remember what - inspired me to think about an all-time UNH Hockey team. And since its already written down I'll share it here. I didn't want to get into eras I did not experience or players I did not watch; due to age my fandom/awareness began during the Bob Kullen transition - so I will only consider Wildcats from that point forward (15 F, 8 D, 3 G)...

--

JVR - Krog - Haydar (UNH's best NHL goal-scorer with two of the best playmakers in program history)
Bekar - Mowers - Boguniecki (A combined 226 career goals over 11 seasons - Bekar in '99 the program's big what if?)
Nicklaus - Kelleher - Poturalski (Remember what TK & AP did for Dan Correale, a middling offensive player? Nicklaus, the '98 what if, might score 75 goals on their wing...)
Collins - Gare - C. Hemingway (Teammates for the 2023 run; Collins didn't have the elite sidekicks as an upperclassman and could have been even better statistically)
Nolan - Amodeo - Flanagan (Swapping Nolan into Mitrovic's place on one of the most underrated lines in program history - one which keyed the early 90's rise)

Missed the cut: Mitrovic (the biggest omission) - Micflikier - Poole - Callander - Radja - Fornataro - Winnik - Sislo - Goumas - Thompson - B. Hemingway - Downing - Saviano - Butler - Souza - Winnes - Flinton

Muir - Stafford (A big NHL/Int'l defender & the best puck rusher in recent UNH history, IMO)
TVR - Pesce (A standout pair in college and still establishing themselves in the NHL)
Fillipowicz - O'Brien (The best pair on the best team in program history)
Dean - T. Murray (Another big defender with NHL pedigree and a steady, quiet presence with play making ability to round out the corp)

Missed the cut: Gildon (probably should be on this team by talent, and likely is if he plays in a better era of UNH Hockey) - Kessel - Hall - Mounsey - Teplitsky - Yandle - Cleland - Flaishans - Knodel - Schmidtke - Russell - Huard*

Conklin (Easily...)
Regan (Dominant for some great teams)
Desmith (Lifted some so-so teams to NCAA Tournament success and had good numbers - edges the others because of his limited supporting casts)

Missed the cut: Ayers, Matile, Levy

--

Great forwards to choose from. Awesome goaltending. Defense a less standout group (and harder to parse) that could use a Rod Langway type but he's out of my range...

So, where am I wrong?


* Only one active player gets consideration in the missed cut category. Telling.
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Great post, and an exhaustive list of most of the players in my era as well (started just a little sooner than you). I've bolded the points where I'm in agreement, and bolded the players I would have chosen. From goalie on out ... I would put Ayers in front of Regan, if only because with Ayers you have the guy who won both of UNH's tourney titles, whereas Regan was very good by the numbers, but I can't recall any specific big game where he belongs with Conklin OR Ayers, and I give DeSmith the nod over Regan for your "supporting cast" comparison.

You definitely hit the nail on the head in pointing out the disparity between the depth and quality of forwards over defensemen. As we were all living through some of Coach Umile's better late-stage teams, I've often wondered if he had guys like TvR, Pesce, Kessel and Knodel as a group with some of the years he had "the goods" up front, we wouldn't still be in search of an NCAA title. Those guys were big, moved the puck and could provide some much needed secondary scoring. FWIW, I would flip for a Gildon/Hall pairing on the backline (Hall admittedly partly for his rarity of transferring out of BC in the midst of L'Affaire "Count" Cedorchuck but who was a darned good two way player who was part of teams that formed the bridge between the Snively and Whittemore eras). Half of the overall defenders you mentioned - as much as I loved 'em when they were playing - really don't belong on any all-time lists (Mounsey, Russell, Schmidtke, Flashians) but that's admittedly quibbling.

Forwards ... what a great reminder of what we had, and what we no longer have. All in all, we agree on 80-90% of the players, and differences are minor. I'd pop in Saviano in place of Gare, mostly because the former was notable for big game performances (a rarity in the program) and Gare was slightly better stats-wise, but (unfairly) is probably remember a lot for missing the end of the '03 postseason. And as an admirer of Mitrovic, I pop him in place of JvR (you guys know my thoughts) and move some of the other guys further up the depth chart - possibly even Joe Flanagan up to the second group, and Mowers up to the first line? In another shocker, I'm more convinced by your argument in favor of Poturalski than JvR so I leave him there with Kelleher. Mitrovic on that line would have been dynamite.

The fact that I included the two most prominent coaches on my "traditional" four-person Mount Rushmore just reflects the reality of importance of coaching/leadership in the program building that's SO important in the college game. If you're doing a BC "Mount Rushmore" how do you not include Jerry York? BU and Jack Parker/Jack Kelley? Lowell and Normie? Providence and Lamoriello? UMaine and Walshy, and maybe even Harold Alfond?? But if we carve out the coaching piece, and I had to go with four players only, mine would be Krog, Ralph Cox, Mark Mowers (really tough call over Bogey and several others) and Rod Langway (despite being the proverbial two year guy, he was THAT good).

Looking forward to many more responses, including 'Watcher, and Snives' dive into the UNH CHDA (College Hockey Dark Ages) slant. Days like this, we really miss Greg Ambrose and many others like him who've fallen off our radar. And we are collectively poorer for lack of their insights.
 
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Chuck Murray said:
Great post, and an exhaustive list of most of the players in my era as well (started just a little sooner than you). I've bolded the points where I'm in agreement, and bolded the players I would have chosen. From goalie on out ... I would put Ayers in front of Regan, if only because with Ayers you have the guy who won both of UNH's tourney titles, whereas Regan was very good by the numbers, but I can't recall any specific big game where he belongs with Conklin OR Ayers, and I give DeSmith the nod over Regan for your "supporting cast" comparison.

You definitely hit the nail on the head in pointing out the disparity between the depth and quality of forwards over defensemen. As we were all living through some of Coach Umile's better late-stage teams, I've often wondered if he had guys like TvR, Pesce, Kessel and Knodel as a group with some of the years he had "the goods" up front, we wouldn't still be in search of an NCAA title. Those guys were big, moved the puck and could provide some much needed secondary scoring. FWIW, I would flip for a Gildon/Hall pairing on the backline (Hall admittedly partly for his rarity of transferring out of BC in the midst of L'Affaire "Count" Cedorchuck but who was a darned good two way player who was part of teams that formed the bridge between the Snively and Whittemore eras). Half of the overall defenders you mentioned - as much as I loved 'em when they were playing - really don't belong on any all-time lists (Mounsey, Russell, Schmidtke, Flashians) but that's admittedly quibbling.

Forwards ... what a great reminder of what we had, and what we no longer have. All in all, we agree on 80-90% of the players, and differences are minor. I'd pop in Saviano in place of Gare, mostly because the former was notable for big game performances (a rarity in the program) and Gare was slightly better stats-wise, but (unfairly) is probably remember a lot for missing the end of the '03 postseason. And as an admirer of Mitrovic, I pop him in place of JvR (you guys know my thoughts) and move some of the other guys further up the depth chart - possibly even Joe Flanagan up to the second group, and Mowers up to the first line? In another shocker, I'm more convinced by your argument in favor of Poturalski than JvR so I leave him there with Kelleher. Mitrovic on that line would have been dynamite.

The fact that I included the two most prominent coaches on my "traditional" four-person Mount Rushmore just reflects the reality of importance of coaching/leadership in the program building that's SO important in the college game. If you're doing a BC "Mount Rushmore" how do you not include Jerry York? BU and Jack Parker/Jack Kelley? Lowell and Normie? Providence and Lamoriello? UMaine and Walshy, and maybe even Harold Alfond?? But if we carve out the coaching piece, and I had to go with four players only, mine would be Krog, Ralph Cox, Mark Mowers (really tough call over Bogey and several others) and Rod Langway (despite being the proverbial two year guy, he was THAT good).

Looking forward to many more responses, including 'Watcher, and Snives' dive into the UNH CHDA (College Hockey Dark Ages) slant. Days like this, we really miss Greg Ambrose and many others like him who've fallen off our radar. And we are collectively poorer for lack of their insights.
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At this stage in the game I’ll take a couple of non human “biologics” to get UNH over the hump and an NC
 
With our offseason hockey discussion apparently on pause ... time to circle back to the real world and a previous discussion about the objectivity of "Non-Fringe News Providers", in light of one such NFNP (CNN) taking a direct hit in its credibility this week from a GOP congressman, who had the intestinal fortitude to portray the NFNP's propaganda presenter as having a "base" to the left of his own base. To save you folks a few minutes of UFO-related talk - something NFNP's until recently used to mock a certain Tucker Carlson for doing well ahead of them - go to the midway point of the attached video and watch the NFNP's contorted attempt to protect the Magoo Crime Syndicate:

gv072623dAPR-800x0.jpg
 
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