UNH Hockey Off Season Thread 2026

[FlagUp17]

I tend to agree with you and I thought it was an interesting topic for mid July.

It will be interesting to see if it works, I am not sure with a trip to the Frozen 4, name of Penn State and B10 Hockey they needed an elevated profile. At the same time I can see Gadowsky getting annoyed loosing recruiting battles to Michigan and wanting to try and change that game.

As to Penn State winning. They need a style tweak. I love watching them play and it is terrifyingly beautiful hockey. BUT... when the refs put the whistles away in a playoff format the D can clamp down and you need to have enough on your back end to win the games. In 24-25 BU, (WMU or DU would have) clamped down on PSU and UMD did it last year.

I also wonder how much of an influence their FF run had on McKenna’s decision to head to Happy Valley. To my recollection he did not commit until last summer (so after their playoff success). If they bowed out earlier in the playoffs, does he choose to go elsewhere? Perhaps Michigan or another BIG10 school? I’m not sure what others were throwing his way regarding NIL, and if Penn State was simply the highest bidder.

Perhaps he thought he was the missing piece to get Penn State over the top, and he would lead them to a title in one year and go down as one of the best skaters ever at Penn State, almost akin to what Carmelo Anthony did for hoops in his one year at Syracuse.

It did not come to pass. We will see what kind of impact he has at the NHL level beginning in a couple of months…