You tried to talk him into jumping? Really? So, you were the opposite of Frank Costanza’s lawyer, “the Guy in the Cape” (Larry David), who saved Noreen from jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge?
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UNH Hockey 2023 Off Season Thread Turn and Face the Strange
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You tried to talk him into jumping? Really? So, you were the opposite of Frank Costanza’s lawyer, “the Guy in the Cape” (Larry David), who saved Noreen from jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge?
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Gotta give credit to UNH where it's due ... in Kevin Landrigan's weekly Sunday politics column in the Union Leader, he pointed out that a survey of over 55,000 college students by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) where out of approx. 250 colleges and universities, UNH finished as the 3rd most tolerant of free speech issues. Dartmouth finished at 240th most tolerant (in the Bottom Ten or least tolerant), and everyone favorite Ivy - Harvard - finished dead last with an overall "abysmal" rating. Check out where your alma mater finished:
https://rankings.thefire.org/rank
Word of caution - the overall data and commentary doesn't paint a rosy picture for on-campus conservatism anywhere, so the old standard of "if you're under 30 and not liberal you have no heart, if you're over 40 and not conservative, you have no brain" appears to be still in play, but there are a fair few surprises, including Ivy League Brown finishing at #69 with an "Average" finding, with all the rest of the Ivies in the lowest quartile. From a Hockey East perspective, Boston College (229) was a shocker in the wrong direction, down with the elitist Ivies, with UConn not too far ahead (220), while NU (198), UVM (182), BU (152), UMaine (141) and UMass (132) all finished at varying degrees of below average (UML may have been rolled into UMA's data, while Merrimack and Providence were not included). Ditto Bentley, Snives - whatta shame, eh??
Anyway ... it really was nice to see UNH way up there, in a good way. Kudos to the departing Dean Dean. ;-)
Last bit, which I'd hoped to get to earlier this week, but couldn't find the time ... 31 years ago last week, my all-time baseball hero Gary Carter (RIP) finished his HOF career in Montreal with Les Expos, doubling in the winning run with a well-placed liner just beyond the reach of long-time 'Spos teammate Andre Dawson in RF to beat the Cubs, with Larry Walker scoring the winning run. Harry Caray pours out his tributes to The Kid, who preceded both Dawson and Walker into the BB HoF. I make no apologies for this non-UNH Hockey content; enjoy!!
https://rankings.thefire.org/rank
Word of caution - the overall data and commentary doesn't paint a rosy picture for on-campus conservatism anywhere, so the old standard of "if you're under 30 and not liberal you have no heart, if you're over 40 and not conservative, you have no brain" appears to be still in play, but there are a fair few surprises, including Ivy League Brown finishing at #69 with an "Average" finding, with all the rest of the Ivies in the lowest quartile. From a Hockey East perspective, Boston College (229) was a shocker in the wrong direction, down with the elitist Ivies, with UConn not too far ahead (220), while NU (198), UVM (182), BU (152), UMaine (141) and UMass (132) all finished at varying degrees of below average (UML may have been rolled into UMA's data, while Merrimack and Providence were not included). Ditto Bentley, Snives - whatta shame, eh??
Anyway ... it really was nice to see UNH way up there, in a good way. Kudos to the departing Dean Dean. ;-)
Last bit, which I'd hoped to get to earlier this week, but couldn't find the time ... 31 years ago last week, my all-time baseball hero Gary Carter (RIP) finished his HOF career in Montreal with Les Expos, doubling in the winning run with a well-placed liner just beyond the reach of long-time 'Spos teammate Andre Dawson in RF to beat the Cubs, with Larry Walker scoring the winning run. Harry Caray pours out his tributes to The Kid, who preceded both Dawson and Walker into the BB HoF. I make no apologies for this non-UNH Hockey content; enjoy!!
NCAA watcher
Registered User
Carter died of brain cancer at age 57, same as Tim Wakefield. Sad connection.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Yes, sad news this weekend. IIRC Wakefield's wife is also suffering from brain cancer now. Terrible development.
45 minute documentary on "The Kid" narrated mostly by his daughter Kimmy, a catcher herself at Florida State ...
Free speech always has been alive and well at UNH. Just google “Riot Act, UNH Magazine, Spring 1970” to read a 40-year retrospective on the Field House visit by three of the Chicago Seven on Tuesday evening, 5 May 1970, one day after four students were killed by National Guard troops at Kent State and a week after Nixon ordered U.S. troops into Cambodia during the Vietnam War. John McConnell was UNH Pres, William Loeb III was MUL publisher, Wally Peterson was NH Gov, Warren Rudman was NH AG, and Mark Wefers was UNH student government president. Heady times.
If Bentley students were part of the survey, I am sure that Bentley would be ranked right up there with UNH, as during my time there we had a continuous flow of far-right speakers on campus supported through an endowment by the Raytheon Corporation.
Just to keep this post related to college hockey, BU plays in Bentley’s on-campus rink for the first time this coming Saturday night. Maybe Bentley will rough up BU enough to give the Wildcats (aka Sabertooth Tigers) a chance at the Whitt the following weekend.
Trivia question, Snively - Who was the UNH President after McConnell and where did he go after leaving UNH?
Great question. Thomas Bonner arrived from Univ Cincinnati where he had been VP/Provost and served as 12th president of UNH from 1971 to 1974 and then was president at Union College from 1974 to 1978 before becoming present at Wayne State from 1978 to 1982.
Back atcha, did Wayne State have a Div 1 Men’s ice hockey team, and if so, during what years and in what conference did they play?
Pretty sure that Wayne State played in the CHA, but I'm not sure of what years.
The story goes that when Bonner announced to a faculty gathering that he was leaving for Union, one member said "Well, now you'll be a real Union leader."
Wayne St. was a CHA team from 1999-2008. From the USCHO archives:
https://www.uscho.com/stats/history/wayne-state/mens-hockey/2020-2021/
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
... and BvR on the second crew of ice sweepers during breaks in play. The "perfect" UNH #2 experience ...
Crickets today out of Amesbury, Mass.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
JVr I thought looked decent out there...had the first.goal of the game (TvR on the ice for that). Had to leave before the OT. At least...they are still skating.
Maybe JvR will be a good fit on the Pastrnak-Zacha line. Been a long time since JvR has played on a top two line, maybe since UNH? He needs 54 games to tie Langway for all-time UNH NHL games, although Langway has an additional 56 WHA games, which would require JvR nearly two more full seasons to match.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
I don't pretend to be an expert (lol) at this stuff but I thought he fit in pretty well. As a whole, and of course, the sample size is terribly small at this point, I felt the Bruins will really miss Bergeron (obviously).
Will Marchand fit the bill as team captain? Was also great to see Milan 'looch' out there..crowd went nuts when he scored. Was impressed with Michigan's John Beecher; will be interesting to see if he makes the initial cut to start the season.
Ullmark didn't have the best game; couldn't stay past the 2nd as I mentioned but it was great to see the two vR's square off . BTW, I thought TvR looked pretty decent; he made alot of great passes and held his own. Kind of bummed Ovi wasn't there; he always makes things feisty!
ps without looking, didn't Sonny Milano play for the Beagles?
Preliminary NESN schedule released from HEA basement bunker in Amesbury, Mass., yesterday. First BU and second Q games at the Whitt listed, along with four others for our Cats.
Apparently no collegiate hockey for Sonny who went straight from U.S. National Team to a year with a couple of AHL teams before jumping up to the NHL with the Blue Jackets.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Did Marchand do something wrong to cede his spot as first line winger?? There's lots of reasons why JvR isn't a top six forward any longer (and when he was earlier in his career, it was usually with crappy Toronto teams). But he has become a survivor, and offers enough as a second unit PP guy to keep playing and cashing an NHL paycheck. B's will have bigger issues at center, where Zacha is NO way a first line center on a Cup contending team, and with his slot as 2nd line center vacated by his move up, there is no one qualified to replace that slot, either.
Monty is gonna have to earn his corn this season in the "coaching up" department, while Sweeney needs to get his head out from his nightmare of an offseason and start filling up some suddenly-gaping holes in their line-up.
In other news, former Chicago Bears All-World middle linebacker Dick Butkus passed away yesterday ...
Did Marchand do something wrong to cede his spot as first line winger?? There's lots of reasons why JvR isn't a top six forward any longer (and when he was earlier in his career, it was usually with crappy Toronto teams). But he has become a survivor, and offers enough as a second unit PP guy to keep playing and cashing an NHL paycheck. B's will have bigger issues at center, where Zacha is NO way a first line center on a Cup contending team, and with his slot as 2nd line center vacated by his move up, there is no one qualified to replace that slot, either.
Monty is gonna have to earn his corn this season in the "coaching up" department, while Sweeney needs to get his head out from his nightmare of an offseason and start filling up some suddenly-gaping holes in their line-up.
In other news, former Chicago Bears All-World middle linebacker Dick Butkus passed away yesterday ...
I predict that on opening night Marchand will be LW on first line with Coyle at center and either DeBrusk or Frederic on RW. Then JvR will be on second line with Zacha and Pastrnak. JvR = my UNH content for this about to be dead thread, thanks to Scott. Your thread had a nice run, HR.
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Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
I predict that on opening night Marchand will be LW on first line with Coyle at center and either DeBrusk or Frederic on RW. Then JvR will be on second line with Zacha and Pastrnak. JvR = my UNH content for this about to be dead thread, thanks to Scott. Your thread had a nice run, HR.
Sounds like we're not going to be here for much longer ... but Snives, if nothing else, your projections for the B's top two lines should frighten any sane B's fan. Coyle was gonna be a stretch as a 2nd line NHL center, but first line?? I don't think Coyle was ever even a first line center at BU (and if he was, it wasn't a great year for them). Frederic probably has a ceiling of a 3rd line wing, and it will be interesting to see how well Debrusk fares without Bergeron (HR is right - even as damaged goods late in his career, he is a HUGE loss). And I've said enough about JvR and his limitations, you folks will get to see those up close and personal for 70 or so games this year IF he's lucky with injuries.
Bruins are praying that last year's 2nd round pick Matt Poitras (Guelph OHL) is ready for prime time a year or two early, as he could fit in long term as a top six center. But he is young (19) and small by NHL standards (5'11" 170 lbs.) and while he's had an eye-opening preseason with the big team, he'll probably get a 9 game tryout in Boston to test whether he is ready for regular season NHL hockey, or will go back to juniors for one more year. IF he's ready, he could be the answer to a lot of Don Sweeney's prayers ... if not, at least there's some hope in an otherwise barren B's talent pipeline. Don't shoot the messenger, but the B's could go from their record-setting RS last season to fighting it out for a wild card playoff spot in the East. Depth of talent everywhere in their line-up has taken a major hit - even if Poitras sticks and fares well - with only the goalie position not impacted directly (although the fall-off of blue line talent and a retired Bergeron will indirectly impact them). And should McAvoy or Lindholm go down to injury for an extended period ... even a wild card slot could be in serious jeopardy.
Hard to believe, after the wagon that was last season ... but cut out Bergeron (1+C), Krejci (2C), middle six wingers Hall and Bertuzzi, Orlov (a potential top pair D) and some effective veteran role players on your bottom six forwards/bottom pair defense in Hathaway, Foligno, Nosek and Clifton, and replace them with over-the-hill vets like JvR, Lucic and Shattenkirk, that's not likely to paint a pretty picture. And with so much draft capital having already been dealt away in recent years, and a bottom-3 in the NHL farm system, an untimely injury to a key player (with young Poitras not quite ready for prime time yet) could spell the end of the road for Sweeney, and possibly even Cam Neely. I only hope that Monty is spared in such a circumstance, given the hard road he's traveled in recent seasons, but the B's are notoriously impatient with their HC's (mostly pre-Sweeney TBF) so he could be in danger too?
If that were to transpire, Jimmy Montgomery could be a candidate for the HC job opening in Durham next Spring ...
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