UNH Men's Hockey 2022 Off Season Thread- Goodbye Lake Whitt!

[Chuck Murray]

Here's an article in the Union Leader (was able to read without a paywall) about the rink shrink thing. Interesting actual quotes about how 'high profile defensemen commits didn't want to come to UNH because of the rink size". Anyway, if it's really going to help with recruiting, I guess that will remain to be seen and I hope it does pan out for everyone's sake.

EDIT: I see a pay wall shows up with this link, but here's the verbiage about commits (not saying that's NOT true and maybe there were players who didn't want to play for UNH because of the size of the ice)

Having a closer-to-NHL-size rink will benefit UNH in recruiting and better its chances to host an NCAA regional if the NCAA eventually moves back to using college sites for that round of the tournament, Scarano said.

The big sheet was a deterrent to some high-profile defensemen UNH tried to recruit over the years, Scarano said.

Scarano said the smaller width should also make for a better game, especially on the women's side. (HR's comment: the size of the ice was not a deterrent when we hosted the women's Frozen Four a few seasons back?? And, women can't skate that ice sheet?)

You beat me to this one today, HR (glad to see you reading the UL!). Funny thing is, I dismissed the "we missed out on recruit X" for the same reasons Dan outlined in detail already. I frankly overlooked Blue Skies' potentially sexist comments, because I'd stumbled onto a factoid in the article that runs counter to what one or two other posters have posted here recently, to wit:

Along with reducing the width of the ice, the $6 million renovations also include installing new glass, more forgiving NHL-style boards and a new sound system. The arena’s ice compressors were upgraded two years ago.

My recollection for justification of moving forward with the project was because (1) "we need to upgrade the ice compressors ASAP, and (2) while we're at it, let's do the rest of the "shrink-the-rink" project to "save on costs" of doing some work twice.

Turns out, the compressor work was apparently done 2 years ago?!? Talk about "burying the lede" ...

 

[NCAA watcher]

Dan is right. Because Souza's actual record was wafer thin, we were all parsing any clues to find a basis for the claim that he was a master recruiter. In that search, there were a couple of apologists who looked at Tage Thompson, an NHL first rounder, and Connor Mayer, a higher regarded Minnesotan, and tried to find the source of their commitment to U.Conn from their generic "I liked the coaches" quotes.

I was not forgetting the debate, just pointing out that at the time, and with the benefit of hindsight, the early U.Conn recruiting was pretty meh. I certainly picked up after Souza left, and they brought in last year's senior class of NHL picks like Firstov, Kondalek, the Islander second pick Ruslan something, the Russian defenseman, and Evans/Turnbull.
They now have clearly surpassed UNH, with Tverberg, Wood, an NHL first rounder, and even Jake Richards, a kid who has played well in the USHL. Must be nice to have a program on the rise.

It remains remarkable to me reading the 2015 hiring stories B.S. about how Souza was likely the top guy but he had to earn it - "if things go as expected...blah blah blah." Nine years later and he's never gotten better than an incomplete, a couple of C minus/D plus' and we're still waiting for accountability. The good news is we're at 328 days until the next HE bottom feeder play-in game, after which.....



edit: The debate was with Mr. Smith (UNH1932?)

We never did quite finish that discussion. Let's count Thompson, a first rounder, as his. The other "top players" were Masonius, who came to U.Conn from UNH after Souza left, and Letunov, who also fell into U.Conn's lap after Souza left. Leaving aside the seniors who Souza did not recruit (Pauly and Kirkland), and you're really left with defenseman Miles Gendron, an NHL pick who had a nice freshman year.

Is Mr. Smith referring to recruits who have not set foot on campus. Adam Karashuk, who is a good prospect in the USHL (better than his teammate Corson Green), but hardly a blue chippah. Is he counting Evan Wisocky, who is a pretty decent prospect, but had 5 points his rookie USHL season, sort of like Eric Esposito? Again, hardly a blue chippah. So, in actuality, he recruited one top player, and the other two came after he left. He has a couple decent prospects, but none that would warrant the conclusion "Mike Souza is a great recruiter as he essentially beat UNH out for 4 of the best players on the UConn team. I know some will give all the credit to Cavanaugh but they were not his recruits. They started beating us out for the top players that BC/BU/now Prov did not pursue wholeheartedly and Northeastern has beaten us out for some top players."

If you want to go back to his two years at Brown, there's nothing that screams "great recruiter."

Last thought. Bazin and Lowell have shown that the "late bloomer" lightly recruited player model can work. It is a very hard needle to thread, and lots of team have shown it doesnt work.
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Last edited by NCAA watcher; 09-11-2016, 10:11 AM.

 

[HockeyRef]

You beat me to this one today, HR (glad to see you reading the UL!). Funny thing is, I dismissed the "we missed out on recruit X" for the same reasons Dan outlined in detail already. I frankly overlooked Blue Skies' potentially sexist comments, because I'd stumbled onto a factoid in the article that runs counter to what one or two other posters have posted here recently, to wit:

Along with reducing the width of the ice, the $6 million renovations also include installing new glass, more forgiving NHL-style boards and a new sound system. The arena’s ice compressors were upgraded two years ago.

My recollection for justification of moving forward with the project was because (1) "we need to upgrade the ice compressors ASAP, and (2) while we're at it, let's do the rest of the "shrink-the-rink" project to "save on costs" of doing some work twice.

Turns out, the compressor work was apparently done 2 years ago?!? Talk about "burying the lede" ...

Actually, I don't read the UL....do you really think this bleeding heart of a liberal would read that paper?? Saw the article on Twitter and was surprised I could read it as there's normally a pay wall up. I used to read the seacoast/concordmonitor esp when my daughter was writing for them and still catch UNH hockey news on seacoastonline when there is some...sorry to get your hopes up And yes, make the game more fun to watch, especially for the women's program UGH.

ps..nice touch with the Holy Grail clip...never gets old!

 

[wildcatdc]

You beat me to this one today, HR (glad to see you reading the UL!). Funny thing is, I dismissed the "we missed out on recruit X" for the same reasons Dan outlined in detail already. I frankly overlooked Blue Skies' potentially sexist comments, because I'd stumbled onto a factoid in the article that runs counter to what one or two other posters have posted here recently, to wit:

Along with reducing the width of the ice, the $6 million renovations also include installing new glass, more forgiving NHL-style boards and a new sound system. The arena’s ice compressors were upgraded two years ago.

My recollection for justification of moving forward with the project was because (1) "we need to upgrade the ice compressors ASAP, and (2) while we're at it, let's do the rest of the "shrink-the-rink" project to "save on costs" of doing some work twice.

Turns out, the compressor work was apparently done 2 years ago?!? Talk about "burying the lede" ...

Compressors are not the issue being addressed with the rework of the ice-side plumbing.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Quick fun trip in the WIS Way-Back Machine for the following clip of a very recent interview with Mike Milbury. Go to 11:40 on the player for his recollection of the Count Cedorchuk Era and its aftermath, which of course led to the fateful hiring of Coach York.

Gives me goosebumps. Oh, for the good ol' days ...

Mike Milbury does not like Bruce Cassidy calling out players publicly - The Greg Hill Show - Omny.fm

 

[Robert Balin]

So.Will Margel (18-1-3-4)--------Sr.Harrison Blaisdell-(25-2-6-8)------So.Robert Cronin (30-7-5-12)
So.Liam Devlin-(34-9-7-16)-----Fr.Stiven Sardarian--(NA)-------------Fr.Kristap Skrastins (NA)
Fr.Cy Leclerc-(NA)----------------Sr.Chase Stevenson-(33-4-1-5)------Fr.John Evans (NA)
Fr.Jake Dunlap-(NA)--------------Fr.Morgan Winters-(NA)---------------Jr.Nick Cafarelli (15-3-4-7)
Jr.Carsen Richels-(13-0-0-0)-----Jr.Cam Gendron-(19-1-1-2)-----------So.Conor Lovett
So.Connor Sweeney-(22-0-0-0)--Sr.Joe Hankinson (1-0-0-0)


Sr.Kalle Eriksson-(32-0-12-12)----So.Colton Huard (28-6-10-16)
So.Alex Gagne-(33-1-7-8)---------Jr.Luke Reid 34-3-5-8)
Fr.Nick Ardanaz-(NA)---------------Fr.Damien Carfagna (NA)
Jr.Nikolai Jenson-(30-1-5-6)-------Fr.Cade Penney

Fr.Tyler Muszelik----------Sr.David Fessenden------------Jr.Jeremy Forman

I see Robert Mastrosimone from BU is in portal now, that would have been a nice get. In my opinion UNH jumped the gun in the portal and to pick up a kid that wasn't good enough that he had to play Div3 baffles me. Hopefully i'm proven wrong.

 

[NCAA watcher]

Go to 11:40 on the player for his recollection of the Count Cedorchuk Era and its aftermath, which of course led to the fateful hiring of Coach York.[/URL]

You mock Count Cedorchuk, but he was far ahead of his time. Today, all the big teams are praised for overpromising and overcommitting. The teams pick the ones they want at year end, and the rest de-commit and go elsewhere (Luke Reid, Max Gildon). Nowadays, being able to count to 18 is less important.

As for the portal, it takes two to tango. Coach Souza is entitled to remake the team as he wants for his swan song ninth season. It will be sad on August 1 when John Sadowski's kid and Shane Eiserman's brother and every other New England kid choses elsewhere, but maybe by next August 1 the New England kids will pay attention to UNH again. But after 8 years of being irrelevant, what's another year? (Although I had the same sense of a clear start when Umile neared his end, but we saw how Umile managed to extend his awfulness to destroy another decade after his end, so who knows)

 

[HockeyRef]

I see Robert Mastrosimone from BU is in portal now, that would have been a nice get. In my opinion UNH jumped the gun in the portal and to pick up a kid that wasn't good enough that he had to play Div3 baffles me. Hopefully i'm proven wrong.

oh my...that WOULD be a great get. well, you never know what / who is going to come your way. Will be interesting to see where he lands...

 

[Chuck Murray]

You mock Count Cedorchuk, but he was far ahead of his time. Today, all the big teams are praised for overpromising and overcommitting. The teams pick the ones they want at year end, and the rest de-commit and go elsewhere (Luke Reid, Max Gildon). Nowadays, being able to count to 18 is less important.

It's sad, sometimes it can be painful to be a visionary, being so far ahead of the conventional wisdom fostered by those mere mortals of his time. I'm sure BC will be putting up a plaque of his visionary visonariness any year now, probably on "Chuck a Puck" night at Conte, seems fitting ...

 

[teez]

39 points in 27 games last year. 9 GWGs as well.

Got my schools mixed up (Babson vs. Bentley) and now realizing these are D-III stats. Little less excited now, but we'll see.

 

[Dan]

Im not sure how much scholarship money was tied up in Black and DaVita's transfers to UNH - but I wouldn't imagine it would be much, and in the former's case I could see it being zero (or at least very minimal)...

Regardless, I can't see Mastrimone leaving an uncertain situation for another uncertain situation at UNH, and a situation further away from success during his short remaining tenure. Im on the Smilanic or bust train, even thought its a clear pipe dream scenario. Smilanic plus a Pierson return could change a lot for UNH - and those two plus Babbage would be the only good reason to defer Evans/Ardanaz.

Watcher is right, Souza can try to salvage his career as he sees fit, but punting on two young (worst case senario, solid) talents for a DIII forward and a low ceiling Ferris defender is hard to reconcile as an actual strategy.

 

[boblav1]

Jackson Pierson @JacksonPierson4
I’m so thankful for the University of New Hampshire and all of the friendships & memories made the last 4 years. Excited to be heading to South Bend next year.

 

[NCAA watcher]

Good for him. He greatly exceeded my expectations, and is a fine player. He'll love Notre Dame, which is in his home state, and a second to none education.

 

[HockeyRef]

Good for Jackson...glad he's going to be playing close to home, and for a top notch program. Best wishes!

 

[Felger]

Arizona State coming to Durham in early December.

 

[ClOuD 9]

Of the four FF losses during the Umile Era, I always thought that one was the only one where they didn't yak it up in the end. Sure, Conklin's lack of rebound control was an issue, but momentary lapses like that cost all kinds of teams in high pressure situations like that. It's not even close to comparable to the BU goalie who virtually threw the puck into his own net vs. PC.

The '98 no-show to Michigan seems to have gone under the radar in recent years, but that was a hint of what was to follow in the '02 semis collapse to UMaine in St. Paul, and then of course the '03 Finals collapse in the 3rd period that's flashing several of us back after last night's Finals outcome. The '99 team ended up without major hardware (other than the RS title) because of slow starts in the HE Finals (1-4) and in the FF Finals (0-2, almost 0-3), but they deserve credit for not folding up, forcing both of those games to OT before fate got them. At least for me, the '99 thing hurts least. JMHO.

Some context often forgotten is that we were without leading scorer Lanny Gare for the semi and final in 2003. We arguably overachieved to get past Cornell in Buffalo, never mind hang with Minnesota for two periods.

2002 was the worst of that era imo, a complete capitulation to a UMaine team we had beaten a few weeks prior for the Hockey East title.

 

[Darius]

Some context often forgotten is that we were without leading scorer Garrett Stafford for the semi and final in 2003. We arguably overachieved to get past Cornell in Buffalo, never mind hang with Minnesota for two periods.

2002 was the worst of that era imo, a complete capitulation to a UMaine team we had beaten a few weeks prior for the Hockey East title.

Fully agree except Lanny Gare.

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/2003/04/04/gare-is-likely-out-for/51279057007/

 

[HockeyRef]

Fully agree except Lanny Gare.

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story...r/51279057007/

So I looked Lanny up in hockeydb; he still plays! And whoa...145 total points while at the U? You guys saw some giants, that's for sure, I'm not worthy...(said in Waynes World voice)

 

[Dan]

Some context often forgotten is that we were without leading scorer Garrett Stafford for the semi and final in 2003. We arguably overachieved to get past Cornell in Buffalo, never mind hang with Minnesota for two periods.

2002 was the worst of that era imo, a complete capitulation to a UMaine team we had beaten a few weeks prior for the Hockey East title.

Losing Gare hurt immensely and that was a Cornell team with a great record, but they were so big and slow I would argue otherwise as to UNH and overachievement...

The real forgotten context is that Minny came to the Whitt earlier that year and UNH earned a 5-5 time and a 3-1 win. So the Wildcats were toe-to-toe with (and likely better than) the Gophers over the first eight periods plus and OT...

MN was great - but not a team that was, as history/recollection may suggest, a Goliath out of UNH’s league.

Losing Gare definitely cost UNH some legs in the third when momentum shifted quickly, but I would have been disappointed not to see that team beat Cornell. The top two teams were clear that year and a five minute third period sequence separated the two...

Gare did have two goals and three assists in the series with Minnesota earlier in the year. Game-tying goal on Friday and game-winning strike on Saturday...

FWIW, Gare was a legend on and off the ice!

"That's the way the team is preparing - that I'm not going to be in the lineup," Gare said Wednesday afternoon. "I'm sure you guys all saw Jeter rolling around on the ground. I'm a lot tougher than Jeter, obviously, but it's still sore.

Would agree 2002 was the worst - because that team was fantastic and that effort was an utter no show...

 

[ClOuD 9]

Fully agree except Lanny Gare.

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story...r/51279057007/

You're of course correct, time does funny things to the memory