UNH- How Far West Do We Go?

[TheGrouchyCat]

Turns out it was a creative Bill Fitch moment while coaching the NBA expansion Cavs during the '70's, after he apparently tired of answering questions about his team's propensity for coming close but not quite closing the deal on a string of losses. Fitch would go on to coach the '81 Celtics to the Larry O'Brien trophy, and Larry Bird was a big fan. Here is a link to some of his other most notable moments when faced with a live mic (historically a Fitch strength):

https://graciousquotes.com/bill-fitch/


It's either the start of Souza's "charm offensive 2.0" and/or the incestuous HEA alumni association rushing to his aid in a time of distress. Totally obnoxious, and something neither Corbett nor Lenihan would dare to say in a group of informed UNH fans. Doing so on a shared HEA broadcast which they would do from a position of cloaked neutrality is both disingenuous and patronizing. I always thought Corbett was a good guy. Not so sure now, seems like he's carrying water for a BU

program that's been enjoying piling up the points at UNH's expense over the last decade or so. In English football parlance ... Bernie and his bobo can go do one.

Interesting that the fans lost the power and influence of The Friends of UNH Hockey, but the UNH Alumni Association and the HEA whisper network default to supporting the status quo and a functionally incompetent coach in MS7.

I'm curious if UNH Hockey is nothing more than a pawn of tax payer funded bureaucrats pursuing job security and pensions.

 

[FlagUp17]

Some of us still look back fondly at the years when only the top 8 HEA teams made the postseason. Any postseason that automatically includes all competing teams renders the regular season as mostly meaningless. And feeds my derision for the Make-Believe Phony Baloney Everyone Gets A Medal (MBPBEGAM) so-called first round of the HEA "playoffs". And the quarterfinals was a best-of-3 series hosted in its entirety by the top seeded (1-4) teams. Bring that back, please.

I knew what some letters in the acronym stood for, but not all of them, so thanks for filling in the blanks! And also (in a precious post) sharing the info on Fitch.

Just think if HEA still utilized this format, UNH would have only made the playoffs TWICE in Souzas 7+ seasons at the helm (8th place finish in his first year 2018-2019, and 6th place in 2023-2024). Perhaps not making the playoffs so frequently would have led to a different decision when it came to the 3 year extension handed out in 2024? Certainly the optics look different…

I also enjoyed the 3 game series to reach the garden. Lots of great hockey played in those series, including some OT thrillers (we’ve discussed the PU series in 14-15 recently).

Still… there’s probably more money in having more teams in the show. Just ask MLB, NFL, NBA, etc. on the benefits of expanded playoffs.

 

[FlagUp17]

Turns out it was a creative Bill Fitch moment while coaching the NBA expansion Cavs during the '70's, after he apparently tired of answering questions about his team's propensity for coming close but not quite closing the deal on a string of losses. Fitch would go on to coach the '81 Celtics to the Larry O'Brien trophy, and Larry Bird was a big fan. Here is a link to some of his other most notable moments when faced with a live mic (historically a Fitch strength):

https://graciousquotes.com/bill-fitch/


It's either the start of Souza's "charm offensive 2.0" and/or the incestuous HEA alumni association rushing to his aid in a time of distress. Totally obnoxious, and something neither Corbett nor Lenihan would dare to say in a group of informed UNH fans. Doing so on a shared HEA broadcast which they would do from a position of cloaked neutrality is both disingenuous and patronizing. I always thought Corbett was a good guy. Not so sure now, seems like he's carrying water for a BU program that's been enjoying piling up the points at UNH's expense over the last decade or so. In English football parlance ... Bernie and his bobo can go do one.

It begins to make me wonder… the fact they even brought it up, you wonder if “talks” are intensifying around the potential future of Souza? Could these guys have inside knowledge that people in the UNH admin are starting to thinking about pulling the plug on the Souza experiment?

Perhaps I’m looking to much into this, and they’re just basing their knowledge on the vocal “fire Souza” chants the student section has led for a few games, or comments across different social media platforms calling for Souzas removal. Or heck, maybe they look at this forum and read our general discontent!

Would be curious to hear from others if they’ve heard anything from within the athletic department or admin.

Either way… again I think it is a bit insulting to call out another teams fanbase. How would they feel if they were 2-20 in their last 20+ games in Durham? Probably not too good I presume…

 

[Chuck Murray]

Finally ... it's never a good sign when your players start conducting meetings among themselves which exclude the coach(es).

Sometimes there's a brief bounce-back (see Friday's 4-1 win over BU), but it's rarely (if ever) sustainable. And MS7 has to know that ...

 

[Will]

If I remember correctly 6-11 play the first round - so 6 hosts 11, 7 hosts 10 etc. etc. 1-5 get a bye.

2nd round it does not re-seed (I believe?) so I believe 4 hosts 5, 3 hosts winner of 6v11 etc. etc.

Not 100% sure on the re-seeding or not. Someone else can probably speak to that better than I can.

Wonder how they would change things up if we ever went back to 12 teams since the departure of ND. Wonder if Holy Cross would ever think of joining, as the women’s team is already in HEA? I would selfishly love this as I live closer to Worcester and it would be great to get to an away game each year!

They do re-seed for the second round: https://www.hockeyeastonline.com/men/hockey-east-tournament/index.php

Would also like an even number of teams in the league, but not sure if HEA thinks HC’s rink is up to par. They certainly have a pretty good fanbase at least. When they played Bentley for the AHA championship last year, tickets sold out in less than two minutes

 

[Snively65]

They do re-seed for the second round: https://www.hockeyeastonline.com/men/hockey-east-tournament/index.php

Would also like an even number of teams in the league, but not sure if HEA thinks HC’s rink is up to par. They certainly have a pretty good fanbase at least. When they played Bentley for the AHA championship last year, tickets sold out in less than two minutes

I had a ticket for a seat at the AHA finals game at Hart Rink, but we did not arrive early enough to claims our seats so were part of the additional 800 standing (only 1290 seats). Obviously, the Holy Cross fire marshal looked the other way on that one. Game should have been played at the DCU, which I am sure Holy Cross could arrange should they join HEA.

Have it on good authority that when Bentley built their beautiful on-campus rink (capacity about 2200) a few years ago they were hoping that Quinnipiac would join HEA so that Bentley could replace them in the ECAC. Apparently Bentley has no interest in becoming the HEA cellar dweller.

Watch your back for breaking Potluck’s
curfew for posting, Will.