Portal Winners & Losers (so far)
Winners
(1) Mike "MS7" Souza - with his job on the line, and with the vultures (like myself) circling, MS7 has clearly emerged from the portal with some quality additions, and looks to have shed some underperforming dead weight from the bottom of the roster in the process. I don't think too many folks can legitimately argue the UNH roster is not stronger now than it was this past weekend. Anything further would be a happy bonus
(2) Emily the Flunky - this poster laid her intel on the line for the world to sit and judge this past weekend. The intel was confirmed to be highly accurate. Kudos!
(3) Tony "TDL" DiLorenzo - appears to have further backed his investments in the future of UNH Hockey beyond signage and behind the scenes upgrades
(4) potty - yes, the one and only, has seemingly gotten back onto his meds, and is starting to act and post like a normal human being. So far lol.
Losers
(1) Mike "MS7" Souza - having now created high(er) expectations for the program over the last 48+ hours, now the onus will be on him and his staff to produce the goods on the ice. Caution ... as someone else pointed out on here yesterday, the buzz last Spring was high from the CHL influx, and how did that turn out? Clearly, the MS7 team will be under the microscope for their ability to coach and develop this sudden influx of promising new UNH talents.
(2) Ben Barr (UMaine) - speechless about the high rate of turnover, and the quality contained therein. What's coming back to Orono now? Where is the Alfond money we heard about? Is Orono/Bangor that tough a sell on young talented adults? Or is Barr just a pr!ck to play for? Honestly don't know that answer
(3) College hockey fans of program continuity - looks like the days of four year (or close) players is largely a thing of the past, and roster turnover will be constant going forwards. Maybe I'm overstating this, but with each program on average sustaining 4 portal losses per, it's not catastrophic but it is significant.
Feel free to take your swings at these observations, or add your own to this or a separate list.