UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Away on vacation, just checking in during a down moment, and seeing the results … wow, the only thing worse than UNH continuing to find new and inventive ways to not win big games, is Northeastern finding a way to lose to UVM twice (anyone following things on the EHA thread, pop quiz - where did The Chancellor spend the weekend?). Crazy to think UNH is still alive, albeit by the slimmest of margins.

Couple of points:

(1) Playing for nothing other than "seeding" as your motivation is pretty abstract, and can be a tough sell in the room. If it wasn't BC and Coach York involved, I'd smell an opportunity for UNH. But it IS BC and Coach York …

(2) … so my expectations are low, because say what you will, but this isn't even "Champions of November" UNH, or Coach Umile's 'Cats from back in the day, when they might still find a way over an un(der)focused BC squad. Despite hopes that we still harbored only a mere month ago to the contrary, this is still a fragile program barely over a year out from an abysmal 12 month record during the calendar year 2018.

(3) It is to be expected that players will make mistakes. It is expected that players will learn from their mistakes. The more experienced the player, the more reasonable it is to expect players to learn from mistakes, and (importantly) not repeat them. And your leaders need to be the players who are the most trustworthy folks, who should be the ones least likely to repeat dumb mistakes at the worst possible time. I've kept my powder mostly dry on this year's captain, despite some uncaptain-like mistakes he's made along the way. That he's gone and done it again on Friday night, at a point in the game - no, in the season as a whole - when he needed to keep his head and play things out properly … well, that's inexcusable. And no apologies can be offered to make things right. I've roasted other captain selections in the past because they were hopelessly naïve, where it was far above the kids' station in life. Those were 100% on Coach Umile, either for making that selection, or for allowing the process to produce that person. That is NOT the case in this situation. 100% on the player.

This is a UNH team that turned out still to be flawed, and still to be learning. The record suggests they will post some modest advances with their record, and that's better than a sharp stick in the eye. But there was an opportunity here to push the boat out further, and due to a combination of factors, mostly arising from the program's recent past inability to even play in truly meaningful games, they turned out to be un(der)prepared to truly compete in the kind of games they've fallen short in down the stretch.

Even if by some bizarre twist of fate - and yes, Northeastern is truly in free-fall and that just dropped into UNH's lap, and *could* still bail them out next weekend - UNH "makes it", it will be a quick two-and-out the following weekend, so we're all coming to terms with the finality of this season coming up short of the HE Tourney. The only thing to be gained by UNH from this point forward is experience, and learning how competing down the stretch is a different animal to beating UMass in January or BC in November, or whenever. As fans, we know this now, and our speculation and our hopes have led to answers that are disappointing, but we know better where things stand.

Anyway … we can't blame it on officiating … we can't blame it on not having a Jumbotron … we're going to find out it has nothing to do with the size of the rink, or the quality of the weight room as well. At some point, you run out of excuses, and you just have to go out and perform, and MS7 and his guys are going to have to dig in and work even harder, and impose their collective wills to BOTH recruit better players AND help those players to improve while under their watch.

Season's grade for UNH: C-plus. Average, maybe unlucky a bit not to get a #6 or #7 seed with their record, but in the end, when they had their chance to push to those levels or even past them, they didn't have it in them. Sad, but you are what your record says you are.

JMHO.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Since I am not going to either of the BC games next weekend, I figured I would address a couple of season ending topics right now before they get too stale:
First, we can all kvetch about this play or that play over the last couple of weekends, but the bottom line is that UNH lost a game to Merrimack which was totally unacceptable and they threw away a total of three points to Maine and Lowell respectively because of ill advised penalties by their team captain. So much for senior leadership. But the overriding reason that UNH will not be in the playoffs this year is because of their dismal offense. They are unbelievably bad five on five, with almost no ability to create turnovers and turn them into odd man rushes. And they were almost as bad on the PP, seemingly content to pass the puck around endlessly, winding up taking one shot before the puck is cleared. Too much of that for my taste. If you don’t get pucks to the net, you are not going to score goals. It’s as simple as that. The coaching staff needs a complete retooling of their offensive mindset because what they are doing now just ain’t working.

Now onto the news about the rink. It is obvious to me the powers that be that make the decisions on what to do with the physical plant of the Whittemore Center have their heads up their you know what. I read the Fosters article where Scarano unintentionally revealed that he really doesn’t give a s*** about the hockey program. If he did, would he really consider a radical configuration of the ice surface without taking into consideration how the end product would affect the “fan experience?” He says further study needs to be undertaken. If what he says is more than corporate bs, I challenge him to create computer models which would show what the view of the ice surface would be in various locations of the arena. Based on what a friend of mind did last night, if the change is made, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people. Narrowing the ice surface will require moving the boards farther away from the seating area throughout the arena except behind the nets. This will, of course, move the field of play farther away from those in attendance. Those in the higher up rows will probably not be affected but, based on what I saw and was told last night, those who have seats in the first five or six rows better consider moving because your view of the play, particularly along the boards and in the corners, will be practically non-existent. It appears that downsizing the rink will effectively reduce the capacity by 600 or 700 seats in prime viewing areas. So much for paying attention to the fans.

Finally, at least for me, the change in the dimensions of the rink is just so unnecessary. The argument is that the larger sheet prevents UNH from attracting quality players and, therefore, prevents them from winning. This argument ignores the fact that there are several schools out west that have large sheets and despite this “disadvantage,” do quite well. And,,of course, it goes without saying that in the first 20 years that the Whit was open, UNH made the NCAA tournament 16 times, made the Frozen Four four times and won several Hockey East regular season and playoff championships. Back then there was apparently no problem with the size of the rink. Might it be because we had better players? Here’s a suggestion Marty. Instead of spending a million bucks or more to chop up the arena and, in the process, ruin the “fan experience” for hundreds, how about turning that money over to the hockey program so that they could increase their recruiting budget?

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Who wants into this over/under contest on 2.5 UNH goals this coming final regular season weekend? Why 2.5?

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Thread title suggestion for whoever shuts the lights off on this one in a week:
UNH offseason thread: goodbye Lake Whitt, hello Towse Pond

Winner.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

This is a UNH team that turned out still to be flawed, and still to be learning. The record suggests they will post some modest advances with their record, and that's better than a sharp stick in the eye. But there was an opportunity here to push the boat out further, and due to a combination of factors, mostly arising from the program's recent past inability to even play in truly meaningful games, they turned out to be un(der)prepared to truly compete in the kind of games they've fallen short in down the stretch.

It's a shame that the season looks like it will be over after next weekend since they really showed what they could do early on. Same mistakes as usual though down the stretch, untimely penalties, abysmal passing and there is your end result. Tonight was really reminiscent of the last two Umile years in just how sloppy the play was.

Yeah, this is gonna take longer than it seemed five weeks ago.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be unreasonable (to at least win one game), except that BC is most likely not going to go through the motions. There is lots of consternation over on the BC thread about NCAA match ups, so they are going to try to get as high as possible in the PWR (they are hoping at least top 4 so they can get a #1 seed). In short, don't expect a letdown from them because they have everything "sewn up." And that's not the way York plays it, anyway. He has them rolling at just the right time (as he always seems to), and they do NOT want to go into the playoffs on a down note.

BC is a wagon. 'cats might get smoked once or twice this weekend.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

I have never, did not this weekend and will NEVER root for ME. I did root against Providence.

GO UML for the top four home ice seed. Hope they play BU.

Wyse is becoming a caricature of himself. I feel for the kid.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

This is the type of short sighted decision that saves 4-5 million now, turns out awful and the costs 10-15 million to fix in the future when it’s the ‘newest’ reason they just can’t win recruiting battles....

You can just see it coming, right?

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Now onto the news about the rink. It is obvious to me the powers that be that make the decisions on what to do with the physical plant of the Whittemore Center have their heads up their you know what. I read the Fosters article where Scarano unintentionally revealed that he really doesn’t give a s*** about the hockey program. If he did, would he really consider a radical configuration of the ice surface without taking into consideration how the end product would affect the “fan experience?” He says further study needs to be undertaken. If what he says is more than corporate bs, I challenge him to create computer models which would show what the view of the ice surface would be in various locations of the arena. Based on what a friend of mind did last night, if the change is made, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people. Narrowing the ice surface will require moving the boards farther away from the seating area throughout the arena except behind the nets. This will, of course, move the field of play farther away from those in attendance. Those in the higher up rows will probably not be affected but, based on what I saw and was told last night, those who have seats in the first five or six rows better consider moving because your view of the play, particularly along the boards and in the corners, will be practically non-existent. It appears that downsizing the rink will effectively reduce the capacity by 600 or 700 seats in prime viewing areas. So much for paying attention to the fans.

The way they are doing this is top three all-time UNH annoyances for me along with the logo change/how it was handled (over it, but will never own anything with the new logo on it) and how WSBE was disappeared when the Paul school was born (not over it).

A thread or two back someone posted project document links. Computer modelling has been done. It turns out that the current sight lines are not optimal, however the effect is not that noticeable because the rink is 200 feet wide. There's lots of ice to see. Narrowing the rink will significantly alter the sight lines. They know this.

Also, in that article, President Dean's quotes were uncharacteristically uninformed:

“At the time that the rink was constructed, the thought was that college hockey was going to go to so-called Olympic sized ice, which I think is 100 feet across,” Dean said. “So now, when we do (the renovation), it’s being shrunk to 90 (feet), is my recollection.”

The downside for fans is that, after the new construction, the sight lines will be affected for those seated in the first few rows along the side boards, according to Dean.

“The sight lines to the rink are not going to be as good,” Dean said, “because the rink has shrunk and so what’s going on just next to the boards won’t be visible.

“I could never figure out why it was going to be so expensive to fix that, but it turned out the proposal was to basically bring in concrete and raise the level of every seat in the arena — which was an additional 4 to 5 million dollars — so the people could see over the boards which are now farther away from them. We decided not to do that.”

Troubling and why would he say the bold part? This is a seasoned, highly qualified professional who understands messaging. I have a theory, but it is full on WIS.

Finally, at least for me, the change in the dimensions of the rink is just so unnecessary. The argument is that the larger sheet prevents UNH from attracting quality players and, therefore, prevents them from winning. This argument ignores the fact that there are several schools out west that have large sheets and despite this “disadvantage,” do quite well. And,,of course, it goes without saying that in the first 20 years that the Whit was open, UNH made the NCAA tournament 16 times, made the Frozen Four four times and won several Hockey East regular season and playoff championships. Back then there was apparently no problem with the size of the rink. Might it be because we had better players? Here’s a suggestion Marty. Instead of spending a million bucks or more to chop up the arena and, in the process, ruin the “fan experience” for hundreds, how about turning that money over to the hockey program so that they could increase their recruiting budget?

I agree, but will admit it is a discussion from an "all things equal" mindset. However things are not equal. Given what it will do to the sight lines, the hit on our rep (we will be known for one of the worst arenas in the NCAA's) it should be a non-starter. Fix the ice, play on a 200' rink. You built it. Own it. Tradition, Pride, Excellence.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

I'm done posting now. See y’all in a week.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Who wants into this over/under contest on 2.5 UNH goals this coming final regular season weekend? Why 2.5?

Do tell. I'm thinking we get 3 this weekend. (goals that is, not points)

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

I'm done posting now. See y’all in a week.

It's always good to see you here!!! Your perspectives are fresh and honest...keep comin' back. Oh, I know you love the Tsongas and so do I, but found my most recent visit too loud; need ear plugs next time! Must be my age..sigh. I really hope the U considers the impact on the fans with this shrink the rink business. Can see all the little, unsupervised kids racing around the rink between periods (or the game). Everyone I know who sits close to the ice is already considering either moving...or not getting their STix renewed. Can't even imagine how the 'Whitt is going to look, but, visions of it already seem awful. What a shame...seems extremely short sighted. (no pun intended)

 

[acs64]

I'm not an engineer either but some engineer determined that acceptable hydraulic forces woud likley be exceeded to lower the concrete surface, given that the current concrete sub-structure is close to or already below the water table. As an engineer, does that make sense?

Yes, a high water table and/or high bedrock under the floor definitely complicates any consideration for lowering the ice surface. So I guess I can understand why they looked at raising all the seating instead. Doing the seat raising with concrete also would be expensive...... that 4 or 5 million dollar figure now seems reasonable. Keeping the ice configuration status quo looks like the best way to go. Any rock removal would have to be done by mechanical means or very light loading with explosives, if that’s possible. High water tables might result in constant pumping and a possible grout curtain to reduce uplift pressures, also pricey. Get a reputable contractor, like Cianbro , to give you some realistic cost estimates. Most designers/engineers cant do that very well.

 

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Also, in that article, President Dean's quotes were uncharacteristically uninformed:

“At the time that the rink was constructed, the thought was that college hockey was going to go to so-called Olympic sized ice, which I think is 100 feet across,” Dean said. “So now, when we do (the renovation), it’s being shrunk to 90 (feet), is my recollection.”


Troubling and why would he say the bold part? This is a seasoned, highly qualified professional who understands messaging. I have a theory, but it is full on WIS.

Seems like a guy with some common sense, trying to understand something that doesn't make sense, and being fed a line by Marty that this is what is holding us back. Without the background, Dean can't call bs on it. So Marty looks good and proactive to his boss by pointing to a systemic reason his record looks bad, and he can't succeed.

 

[bakchk20]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Yes, a high water table and/or high bedrock under the floor definitely complicates any consideration for lowering the ice surface. So I guess I can understand why they looked at raising all the seating instead. Doing the seat raising with concrete also would be expensive...... that 4 or 5 million dollar figure now seems reasonable. Keeping the ice configuration status quo looks like the best way to go. Any rock removal would have to be done by mechanical means or very light loading with explosives, if that’s possible. High water tables might result in constant pumping and a possible grout curtain to reduce uplift pressures, also pricey. Get a reputable contractor, like Cianbro , to give you some realistic cost estimates. Most designers/engineers cant do that very well.

All the intel on the project is posted on the UNH projects web portal, if you dig deep enough, no pun intended. I'm not going in there to read it again but my recollection is that rather than raise the seats, the concept was to pull (drag) the seats toward the new boards. The seasting system is modular, so another engineer believed this would be the best fix for maintaining existing sight-lines. The result - and again - going purely on 9 month old memory - is that the concourse would become ~5' wider.

Anyway, this is matter loaded with personal preference. Nobody in here has been in the coaches room, had conversations with UNH's coaching contemporaries, or been privy to conversations between recruits and their advisors in regard to player development; NHL v Oly sheet. We can all speculate on what they think and we are all free to believe what we want, but we have no clue how they came to the shrink decision. They (coaches) must believe there is a gain (even if small) to be had by "conforming", if you will. As we all know, they looked at doing this a decade or more ago.

On the pragmatic side, as observed here, the price tag is not whimsical - it's big $$. But the refrigeration system is toast and they have no way out of that one. Obviously, doing both elements at once makes total sense, whether you agree with shrinking or not. Hey -- side bene! -- as a former rink manager said to me last week, the energy costs will also shrink (a little).

I'm not going to do the research again, but if I recall, several other schools with Oly sheets are going thru the same process. It will be interesting to see, comparatively, what those arenas look like when finished; how they solve the problem.

So, me being one of the outliers on this topic, my personal peferences read like this:
1) I like the intensity of the narrower sheet. It takes a high skill-set to create and execute when the gaps are tighter. It also makes defending a bit easier.
2) I'm not a fan of sitting in the first several rows, anyplace, any time. The sightlines are always disrupted with glass and stanchions - no matter the rink - and flat. ((Note: I will, however, stand on the corner glass at Volpe - that's excellent seating) So in my view, UNH will be taking bad sightlines and making them worse. Stinks for the folks who like to be down close and I would hope that impacted STH have first dibs on a relo plan.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Seems like a guy with some common sense, trying to understand something that doesn't make sense, and being fed a line by Marty that this is what is holding us back. Without the background, Dean can't call bs on it. So Marty looks good and proactive to his boss by pointing to a systemic reason his record looks bad, and he can't succeed.

Well, that makes three of us (including Darius) who have the same read on the Dean/Scarano comments.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

All the intel on the project is posted on the UNH projects web portal, if you dig deep enough, no pun intended. I'm not going in there to read it again but my recollection is that rather than raise the seats, the concept was to pull (drag) the seats toward the new boards. The seasting system is modular, so another engineer believed this would be the best fix for maintaining existing sight-lines. The result - and again - going purely on 9 month old memory - is that the concourse would become ~5' wider.

Anyway, this is matter loaded with personal preference. Nobody in here has been in the coaches room, had conversations with UNH's coaching contemporaries, or been privy to conversations between recruits and their advisors in regard to player development; NHL v Oly sheet. We can all speculate on what they think and we are all free to believe what we want, but we have no clue how they came to the shrink decision. They (coaches) must believe there is a gain (even if small) to be had by "conforming", if you will. As we all know, they looked at doing this a decade or more ago.

On the pragmatic side, as observed here, the price tag is not whimsical - it's big $$. But the refrigeration system is toast and they have no way out of that one. Obviously, doing both elements at once makes total sense, whether you agree with shrinking or not. Hey -- side bene! -- as a former rink manager said to me last week, the energy costs will also shrink (a little).

I'm not going to do the research again, but if I recall, several other schools with Oly sheets are going thru the same process. It will be interesting to see, comparatively, what those arenas look like when finished; how they solve the problem.

So, me being one of the outliers on this topic, my personal peferences read like this:
1) I like the intensity of the narrower sheet. It takes a high skill-set to create and execute when the gaps are tighter. It also makes defending a bit easier.
2) I'm not a fan of sitting in the first several rows, anyplace, any time. The sightlines are always disrupted with glass and stanchions - no matter the rink - and flat. ((Note: I will, however, stand on the corner glass at Volpe - that's excellent seating) So in my view, UNH will be taking bad sightlines and making them worse. Stinks for the folks who like to be down close and I would hope that impacted STH have first dibs on a relo plan.

First, I’ve always liked sitting down near ice level. When I was a student, I stood in the corner at the scoreboard end of Snively. In those chain link days you could hear just about everything said on the ice and almost feel like you were part of the action when UNH was racing into the zone or setting up on a PP (back when UNH actually knew how to score on one). When I got season tickets at the Whit, they were fourth row, on the blue line, section 104. I was sitting right there when Ben Guite blasted Mark Mowers into the glass, knocking him unconscious. I could hear his teammate Tom Nolan, rushing over, saying “Mark, you okay, you okay” and waving frantically for the trainers to get on the ice. Being that close back in the glory days it was a wonder to watch the skills of those guys close up and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

As for the hockey end of things, I can guarantee you that those clamoring for a narrower sheet are doing so solely based on feel, anecdotal observations and certainly without hard statistical evidence. You say you like the narrower sheet where it takes a high skill set to create and execute and, I assume score. Hello! Scoring in college hockey is at an abysmal low right now and you’re an advocate of making it even more difficult to get on the board? Now I’m sure from the way you talk that you are some sort of hockey savant, but 90% of those attending a college game are not. If they attend an endless trail of games with 2-1, 1-0, 3-2 finals, with both teams unable to even create scoring chances, how often do you think they will come back? College hockey attendance is down almost everywhere. The reasons are myriad, but making it even more difficult to score is not going to help things. Hope you agree.

 

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

2nd lowest goal scoring in league play, just ahead of Vermont, and 9th place. Clearly the rink is the issue.
Hockey East Men - 2019-2020 Standings
Conference Only Overall
Pts GP W L T Win% GF- GA GP W L T Win% GF- GA
1 Boston College 32 22 16- 6- 0 .727 88- 44 32 23- 8- 1 .734 131- 67
2 Massachusetts 28 23 13- 8- 2 .609 68- 49 33 20-11- 2 .636 106- 67
3 UMass Lowell 27 23 11- 7- 5 .587 57- 59 33 17-10- 6 .606 87- 78
4 UConn 26 23 12- 9- 2 .565 70- 72 33 15-14- 4 .515 101-103
5 Maine 25 23 11- 9- 3 .543 55- 56 33 17-11- 5 .591 88- 75
6 Boston University 23 22 9- 8- 5 .523 65- 62 32 12-12- 8 .500 99- 96
Providence 23 23 10-10- 3 .500 70- 62 33 16-11- 6 .576 102- 77
8 Northeastern 21 22 10-11- 1 .477 64- 67 32 17-12- 3 .578 96- 88
9 New Hampshire 20 22 9-11- 2 .455 50- 64 32 15-14- 3 .516 87- 92
10 Merrimack 17 24 7-14- 3 .354 63- 77 34 9-22- 3 .309 85-123
11 Vermont 8 23 2-17- 4 .174 44- 82 33 5-22- 6 .242 59- 99

2018-19
8th place, 8th place in goals
2017-18
11th place, last in goals
2016-17
10th place, 4th!!!! in league scoring (9th in GA)
2015-16
10th place, 7th in goals

generally, the scoring skill has decreased since 2015, particularly after Tyler Kelleher/Poturalski graduated. The recruiting hole during the vaunted Marty Scarano "transition" from 2015-2018 is noticeable. So, Marty has to pass the buck to the bad old arena. I wonder if Jim Dean asks him about the Jumbotron, or if the librarian liked sitting rinkside.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

2nd lowest goal scoring in league play, just ahead of Vermont, and 9th place. Clearly the rink is the issue.
Hockey East Men - 2019-2020 Standings
Conference Only Overall
Pts GP W L T Win% GF- GA GP W L T Win% GF- GA
1 Boston College 32 22 16- 6- 0 .727 88- 44 32 23- 8- 1 .734 131- 67
2 Massachusetts 28 23 13- 8- 2 .609 68- 49 33 20-11- 2 .636 106- 67
3 UMass Lowell 27 23 11- 7- 5 .587 57- 59 33 17-10- 6 .606 87- 78
4 UConn 26 23 12- 9- 2 .565 70- 72 33 15-14- 4 .515 101-103
5 Maine 25 23 11- 9- 3 .543 55- 56 33 17-11- 5 .591 88- 75
6 Boston University 23 22 9- 8- 5 .523 65- 62 32 12-12- 8 .500 99- 96
Providence 23 23 10-10- 3 .500 70- 62 33 16-11- 6 .576 102- 77
8 Northeastern 21 22 10-11- 1 .477 64- 67 32 17-12- 3 .578 96- 88
9 New Hampshire 20 22 9-11- 2 .455 50- 64 32 15-14- 3 .516 87- 92
10 Merrimack 17 24 7-14- 3 .354 63- 77 34 9-22- 3 .309 85-123
11 Vermont 8 23 2-17- 4 .174 44- 82 33 5-22- 6 .242 59- 99

2018-19
8th place, 8th place in goals
2017-18
11th place, last in goals
2016-17
10th place, 4th!!!! in league scoring (9th in GA)
2015-16
10th place, 7th in goals

generally, the scoring skill has decreased since 2015, particularly after Tyler Kelleher/Poturalski graduated. The recruiting hole during the vaunted Marty Scarano "transition" from 2015-2018 is noticeable. So, Marty has to pass the buck to the bad old arena. I wonder if Jim Dean asks him about the Jumbotron, or if the librarian liked sitting rinkside.

As I said, it's the quality of the players, not the size of the ice surface. I'm telling you, if they actually do this, it's going to make the arena and the rink look like a joke and, if anything, be a detriment to recruiting. It is beyond incredulous how the UNH administration's view of the hockey program has changed in the last 30 years. To think, in 1992 the UNH Board of Trustees voted to float bonds to build a 6,000 seat state of the art arena, built to the specifications of the athletic department and coaching staff's desires. It opened to rave reviews in November, 1995, with full page spreads on how wonderful the arena would be, not only for the hockey program, but the Seacoast and New Hampshire economy in general. The arena sold out more often that not for the next 10-15 years as UNH found continued success with Hockey East championships and NCAA appearances. Then, somewhere around 2012, everything changed. Whatever the overall athletic budget was, more and more of it seemed to be spent on football, more and more of the fundraising including the bogus librarian epiphany. The FOH were kicked to the curb and now we have this foolish venture. I'm telling you again, it will make UNH the laughing stock of the league.

 

[Scarlet]

Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

With all your chatter about UNH potentially re-sizing the ice surface, was wondering if there was a reason you are all aware of as to why they made it that large in the first place.