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

Whalers said:
NCAA Watcher, thank you for posting that stat list. I was scanning the numbers and something remarkable jumped out that lets me know UNH will be just fine. The trend brings into clear focus how the continual upgrades of the Whitt brings solid results and keeps the on ice product at a high level. I am firmly in the camp that high end talent is overrated and one only needs flashy, shiny objects to attract it. Since 2010 at the Whitt - New paint scheme inside, spectacular LED lights, Rt 93 road sign update to the UNH logo and then the all important high def center ice scoreboard in Sept 2015 - LOOK AT THOSE RESULTS, scoring jumped 10%!! (Oh wait, seems it also helped the opposition improve 11%, what the??).

The dearth of scoring the last 3 years is clearly tied to the luster of the scoreboard wearing off without another upgrade close behind. Remember, that shiny brightness landed us Gildon and Maas after lengthy recruiting battles, what was their second choice school? As soon as the new refrigeration system is in place (worth half a stride), the rink width is shrunk 10% (high end skill and speed several feet closer to scoring already) and the uniqueness of the lower seat configurations are realized, Snively level scoring and Frozen Fours will return quickly. Maybe we will even get "tired of Winning."

Is there an auto fill sarcasm emoji on this site?
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Early in this post the sarcasm was so thick I was worried you were about to attempt a serious point.

It really is "all about the groceries". UNH started back on Sean Coady's recruiting and peaked on McCloskey's recruiting. It is all about the way you sell what you have. Other than North Dakota nobody has a palace to play in.

I recently recruited a MIT PhD to my research team. An absolutely amazing talent, that my company had/has no business getting, over big names like SpaceX. I sold him on the truth and the promise that I was building a world class research team in a 140+ year old company and he was my first pick to help me. I sold him on a vision of the future we would build not what I had at that time. It wasn't quick recruitment identified early and took the time. I checked myself constantly to make sure I wasn't wasting my time.

Maybe the UNH staff needs to think about their methods...
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

It looked like BC was gonna runaway with it after the quick 2-0 start. BC definitely missed some great chances to extend the lead throughout the game but good job by UNH not totally falling apart after the slow start.
 
HockeyRef said:
Seriously...I do not see why it's such a big deal we got a decent arena presence with a scoreboard that is better than the light bright crap they had when I started to follow. I don't adhere to the 'we had to do this to recruit better players' mumbo jumbo, but, I maintain it's laughable this wasn't an upgrade the 'Whitt desperately needed. I get it that things like that aren't the sharp, shiny objects that bring a players to a school to play. But, really? Let's just put a chain link fence up around the ice when we do the renovations to the ice while we are at it. Let's take down the vid board and put a monkey in charge of the score board at center ice; they can hold up numbers all through the game. Oh, and rip out the bathrooms and install some out houses while we're at it. I too am all done with the excuses about why we can't recruit the next Eichel or Krog while I'm at it. Even a place with the history of Matthews arena recognized it was time to do something (although I'm not overly thrilled with that huge vid board there, but, I don't play their bills and it doesn't detract from the experience of going there for this hockey enthusiast). You know what NU did to be where they are today? They created a culture of winning.

Despite "their tired, old dump of a building".... (which NU fans, I think is a iconic, wonderful place to watch a game) UNH has to do the same; it takes a vision, the player who buy into that, and have the ability to execute. I'm hoping this is what is happening albeit slow going at the moment as far as the wins/loss column goes. It didn't happen overnight for Jim Madigan and it's not going to happen overnight for Mike Souza. When I first started following we played NU in the qtrs.; took 3 games to beat them and that was our last, really decent season (2014). Look where NU went after that. HE titles, bean pots, trips to the FF and I know they did it with the players they recruited and a goal for excellence. You can't get there with cool amenities; its a vision and a total sell job about why you should play for us. I'm obviously not a recruiting expert like some on this board are but I like what I see coming in. AND I like the development of some of current players.

Tonight our Seniors will be honored. We are 1 point away from elimination. I hope they are able to do what's needed but have accepted the fate of not moving forward. It's hard and down right disappointing, but, I applaud the efforts of Captain Anthony Wyse, Liam Blackburn, Justin Fregona, Joe Lazzaro, and Matt Dawson. Thank you for your hard work over these past 4 seasons. May nothing but great things follow you.
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+1

UNH has the facilities, the campus, the fans and the cache to be successful. JMHO
 
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J.D. said:
It looked like BC was gonna runaway with it after the quick 2-0 start. BC definitely missed some great chances to extend the lead throughout the game but good job by UNH not totally falling apart after the slow start.
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It's crazy how a lot is still in play in terms of seeding. We'll know before the game if UNH is still in the hunt. If they are I like their chances a lot more tonight! We shall see.
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

HockeyRef said:
Wishing the best to our women's team as well; hopefully they advance to the HE finals; it has to be a long time for them to make it to that game; for us, 2014. Anyhoo....Go 'Cats!!!!
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10 years since the women last played in the league tournament semi-final.

Tell me if this sounds familiar: coach who comes close to winning a national title on a few occasions but ultimately falls short has four straight sub .500 seasons (actually 3.5 in this instance), is replaced by a coach from an 'also-ran' program whose record was ~.500 or below, athletic department disbands the Friends group, attendance which was once amongst the best in the country falls drastically, and the fan base and culture of the program are dismantled.

And that's without addressing the elephant in the room... ;)
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

In Saratoga Springs at conference where I am watching Isles--Canes on TV before heading back to afternoon session. I did not realize that Pesce's should injury had ended his season. TvR and Foegele still getting lots of ice time. Injuries to UNH alums got me thinking that UNH team was for most part injury-free this season, especially when compared to NU of late.
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Greg Ambrose said:
A year or so ago I had a conversation with Dan here about those late aught teams and how they could have provided UNH a bounce in recruiting for the next several years. In 2008 UNH was a number one seed in Colorado Springs. They figured to have an easy path if they could get by Notre Dame but . . . Next year, at the Verizon they had the luckiest NCAA champion in Frozen Four history on the ropes but let a FF appearance, and possible championship, fritter away. Then there was 2010. What would the 20teens have looked like if UNH had gone to three straight FF and had won one of them? UNH historians always focus on 1999 in Anaheim, but these three regional losses, two in the finals, were as big a gut punch.
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The ones that got away for me will always be '02 and '03.
2002 Frozen Four semi: 2-1 lead after the first, gave it away in the 2nd, completely collapsed in the 3rd.
2003 is what could have been had Lanny Gare not gone down a few weeks earlier. We arguably overachieved to beat Cornell and even make it to the final, never mind hang in with Minnesota for two periods
<a href=https://www.espn.com/ncaa/news/2003/0411/1537821.html>https://www.espn.com/ncaa/news/2003/0411/1537821.html</a>

The knock-on effect to recruiting had we won those games you mention is a very interesting what if though.
 
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Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

e.cat said:
+1

UNH has the facilities, the campus, the fans and the cache to be successful. JMHO
Click to expand...

They don't have the cache to be successful, at least right now. Cache is earned, it just doesn't just drop out of the sky. The hockey program has more or less sucked for the last ten years. Building, campus, jumbotron, whatever, doesn't make a bit of difference if the program is perceived as being a losing one. I've said this a zillion times, but in the mid eighties UNH was in the same predicament. Over a three year period they won something like 20 games and almost four times as many. There were a couple of years where the roster was full of guys who would have been a toss up to start on a D3 team. They turned it around with some savvy recruiting, getting some diamonds in the rough, guys who were second tier, and by 1992, they were in the NCAAs again. Now granted, the recruiting landscape is a hell of a lot different now that it was 30 years ago. But if you have capable recruiters who can sell what UNH has to offer and what the potential can be, you can turn things around. Brian McCloskey was a master salesman. He did the hard work, traversing pretty much all of North America looking for talent. It takes that kind of commitment but, of course, you need a special person who is willing to put in the long hours for really not much pay to get it done. Unfortunately, I honestly don't see much improvement in the UNH roster from one year to the next. They were better defending this year, I'll grant you that but, as many have said here (and the stats back it up) their ability to score is abysmal. I feel part of it is the failure of the coaching staff to put players in a position where they can succeed, particularly on the PP but, by and large, the problem is talent. We need more of it.
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

ClOuD 9 said:
The ones that got away for me will always be '02 and '03.
2002 Frozen Four semi: 2-1 lead after the first, gave it away in the 2nd, completely collapsed in the 3rd.
2003 is what could have been had Lanny Gare not gone down a few weeks earlier. We arguably overachieved to beat Cornell and even make it to the final, never mind hang in with Minnesota for two periods
<a href=https://www.espn.com/ncaa/news/2003/0411/1537821.html>https://www.espn.com/ncaa/news/2003/0411/1537821.html</a>

The knock-on effect to recruiting had we won those games you mention is a very interesting what if though.
Click to expand...

in 2002, we should have beaten Maine. But there was no way we were going to beat Minnesota in front of their home crowd of 21,000. To daunting a task. In 2003, Gare may have made a difference but the Thomas Vanek show was hard to stop. What I remember about that weekend is going to the second semifinal where Michigan had a lead on Minnesota and frittered it away. I believe that if UNH had played Michigan they would have won. If you had told me that weekend in Buffalo that we would never get back to the FF, now 17 years later, I wouldn't have believed you. It is staggering to see how precipitous the drop has been. It shouldn't have happened.
 
Greg Ambrose said:
in 2002, we should have beaten Maine. But there was no way we were going to beat Minnesota in front of their home crowd of 21,000. To daunting a task. In 2003, Gare may have made a difference but the Thomas Vanek show was hard to stop. What I remember about that weekend is going to the second semifinal where Michigan had a lead on Minnesota and frittered it away. I believe that if UNH had played Michigan they would have won. If you had told me that weekend in Buffalo that we would never get back to the FF, now 17 years later, I wouldn't have believed you. It is staggering to see how precipitous the drop has been. It shouldn't have happened.
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Agreed with this post and your earlier one about the three late aughts regionals, all of which would have been an easier path to a NC since 1999 than either 2002 or 2003, imho. I was so confident in 2010 that I already had my FF ticket in hand. And, I usually only go to FF's when UNH is there or the FF is in Boston. I really have not seen much of an uptick in recruiting with MS7. Moreover, player improvement once at UNH seems to remain mediocre, and sometimes backward, such as with Blackburn. Sigh.
 
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Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Greg Ambrose said:
They don't have the cache to be successful, at least right now. Cache is earned, it just doesn't just drop out of the sky. The hockey program has more or less sucked for the last ten years. Building, campus, jumbotron, whatever, doesn't make a bit of difference if the program is perceived as being a losing one. I've said this a zillion times, but in the mid eighties UNH was in the same predicament. Over a three year period they won something like 20 games and almost four times as many. There were a couple of years where the roster was full of guys who would have been a toss up to start on a D3 team. They turned it around with some savvy recruiting, getting some diamonds in the rough, guys who were second tier, and by 1992, they were in the NCAAs again. Now granted, the recruiting landscape is a hell of a lot different now that it was 30 years ago. But if you have capable recruiters who can sell what UNH has to offer and what the potential can be, you can turn things around. Brian McCloskey was a master salesman. He did the hard work, traversing pretty much all of North America looking for talent. It takes that kind of commitment but, of course, you need a special person who is willing to put in the long hours for really not much pay to get it done. Unfortunately, I honestly don't see much improvement in the UNH roster from one year to the next. They were better defending this year, I'll grant you that but, as many have said here (and the stats back it up) their ability to score is abysmal. I feel part of it is the failure of the coaching staff to put players in a position where they can succeed, particularly on the PP but, by and large, the problem is talent. We need more of it.
Click to expand...

Greatest recruiter in the program's history … and treated so well for his herculean efforts in the end. :mad:

Hard not to think the last bit of the program's fall hasn't in part been down to karma arising from that ...
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Snively65 said:
Arrgghh! See if Cats ever help out Terriors again. :-)
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Sorry. I have said this repeatedly on our thread. It's just my belief (and I will continue to harp on this until proven otherwise) that teams with high-end talent show up (well, BU anyway) when their backs are against the wall but seem to play almost "disinterested" otherwise. Once they clinched a playoff spot last night they went back to sleep today. And it's NOT a case that they "tanked" to avoid going to Orono. This is the way they have played all year, as losses to Sacred Heart UConn (2 in a row) and Merrimack prove. I think that teams with more grinders and older-aged players that AREN'T going to the NHL "bring it" almost every night and play with more intensity. Tonight was almost predictable.
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Well we are out but happy to be here supporting our Seniors!
 
Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

Imagine if they played all season with the intensity of that 2nd period.

Would have been more fun to watch regardless of record.
 
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Re: UNH Hockey: Where Do We Go From Here....

And, now more goals than each of the last three seasons, and in fewer games. Kudos especially to seniors Blackburn and Fregona.
 
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