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UNH Men’s Hockey 22-23: the start of something new, or more of the same?

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Chuck Murray said:
I guess my point in comparing guys like Coach Herrion and MS7 is that there has to be some sort of context in measuring success. Herrion is still the greatest coach in Drexel (D-1) history, and largely thanks to a future NBA depth player named Malik Rose, they qualified for a string of NCAA Tourney appearances in the mid-'90's. Rose left, the program slowly slid from its America East auto-bid status, and a couple of moves later on down the road, Herrion popped up at UNH, and to no small fanfare BTW.

UNH gets its man: Herrion (seacoastonline.com)

Arkansas assistant was Drexel, East Carolina coach (espn.com)

Drexel's Bill Herrion now frontrunner for Rutgers job | AP News

E. Carolina Hires Herrion As Coach | AP News

Herrion attended Merrimack, and coached under Mike Jarvis at BU and GWU. As a head coach, he's found a niche in running three programs with literally zero history of success before he got there (Drexel, East Carolina and now UNH) and has done a passable (ECU) to decent (UNH) to very good (Drexel) jobs at getting these nowhere programs to somewhat overachieve. Herrion isn't going to be a HOF coach anytime soon, but he's carved a successful career out of slightly (but consistently) making modest improvements with the programs he's walked into. And if you talk to people in that universe who know what they're talking about, the sense you get is that he's a respected guy who has never embarrassed any of his employers. UNH Hoops still may not be world-beaters (hardly), but save for a couple of years in the '90's when Gib Chapman recruited two generational NH-born talents (Scott Drapeau and Matt Alosa) to transfer in from UMass and Providence, respectively, he's done the most with the least. And even when Chapman had those guys at their UNH heights, it was Herrion's Drexel (with Rose) who beat them in the AE semifinals.

Modest as his accomplishments have been, Herrion is a professional coach with a positive resume, and unanimous respect in his little corner of the world. He has not inflicted damage upon UNH Hoops; rather, he has slightly improved the program's respectability, and probably has his job basically as the caretaker of this nondescript mediocre program for as long as he wants it, and can manage to keep it respectably mediocre.

Compare that to MS7, who has taken a downward-trending D-1 school with a prior recent history of playing in big games regionally in their conference, and even nationally, and accelerated that downward trend. There was no list of prior accomplishments as an (assistant) coach with two nondescript programs, and the only respect he enjoys outside of Durham is of the crony variety. His inability to coach at this level has hurt the program, and while I know 'Watcher comes down hard on Coach Umile for being the driving force behind this disaster, in the end, Blue Skies fell for it, AND MS7 was a willing participant. It wasn't the old-style scoreboard ... it isn't the so-called outdated off-ice facilities ... and it won't be the size of the ice sheet that caused this catastrophic downfall of the program.

It's lack of competency. Herrion has it; MS7 doesn't. End of.
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Thanks for the education Chuck!
 
Upcoming cupcakes, yum, yum, yum!

U Massy Wassy, on five-game losah streak, ripe for the pickin’ on 18 November

Holy Cross Crusaders, 2-8-1, mired in Atlantic Hockey 10th place, ahead of only 52th PWR Bentley, tied for 48th PWR with UNH, on 26 November

Looking back, Army now 58th, Clarkson 40th, and St Lawrence 37th in PWR.
 
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Snively65 said:
Upcoming cupcakes, yum, yum, yum!

U Massy Wassy, on five-game losah streak, ripe for the pickin’ on 18 November

Holy Cross Crusaders, 2-8-1, mired in Atlantic Hockey 10th place, ahead of only 52th PWR Bentley, tied for 48th PWR with UNH, on 26 November

Looking back, Army now 58th, Clarkson 40th, and St Lawrence 37th in PWR.
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Beware of desperate, currently ranked #16 "cupcakes".
 
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Darius said:
Beware of desperate "cupcakes".
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Yup...they are the worst kind of cupcake...

HR's prediction: UMassy Wassy 6 UNH 0 (seems kind of extreme; am going by the wins they do have...should be interesting. Noted on the roster they have a Makar and that UNH link/player Morrow who's a decent defender. No DelGaizo's or the one and only Bobby Trivingo. Regardless, will be out for HE points for sure so guess we'll see.
 
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Snively65 said:
Upcoming cupcakes, yum, yum, yum!

U Massy Wassy, on five-game losah streak, ripe for the pickin’ on 18 November

Holy Cross Crusaders, 2-8-1, mired in Atlantic Hockey 10th place, ahead of only 52th PWR Bentley, tied for 48th PWR with UNH, on 26 November

Looking back, Army now 58th, Clarkson 40th, and St Lawrence 37th in PWR.
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Fifty-Twoth, Snives?!? For our dearest, most cherished Bentley??? Future accountants' heads are exploding this morning on the campus at the corner of Beaver and Forest, grappling with this new numerical concept ... ;-)

Anyway ... quick commentary on last night's NCAA tourney game across the street, as the good guys advanced to the Round of 32 with a 2-1 win against their Big East visitors, with all the scoring coming in the game's opening 12 or so minutes. UNH went out to a quick two goal lead before the match was 10 minutes old, went to sleep momentarily in conceding a header from the visitors, and then pretty much controlled the very feisty match through to its conclusion without any further scoring. UNH almost restored its two goal lead at 15 minutes when the SH 'keeper made a diving save from a diving header, but that was probably the last of the clear-cut scoring chances for the night. UNH dominated possession over the final 60+ minutes of play and were deserved winners. I'd give the game ball to UNH junior center back Moise Bombito, who presumably has stepped in from last year's bicycle kick specialist, Bridger Hanson, and organized UNH at the back while being composed in possession, and with a wide range of coverage. UNH looked by miles to be the better-coached team, easily moving the ball up and down the pitch for the most part, and rarely getting stretched by the opposition.

Two weird quirks last night ... one, yes, there was some snow (flurries) that arrived at halftime and lingered through most of the second half, but no accumulation. The second was UNH's Rory O'Driscoll, one of the team's designated corner kick takers, hit the crossbar twice (once per half) during his corners. That's a fun party trick to try during training for sure, and it's probably something you see maybe once a year if you watch or play a lot of soccer ... but twice in the same game, same player, that was off the charts. SH's 'keeper struggled all night with aerial balls into his area, and spilled what turned out to be the game-winner, so you can see why O'Driscoll may have felt empowered to play balls closer to what is usually a 'keeper's "safe" area, i.e. the inner six yard box, as opposed to aiming for the margins, which is more conventional since it requires a 'keeper to cover WAY more ground. UNH also pounded the SH area with lots of long throw-ins, which I'm not sure whether that's part of their usual tactics OR targeted to capitalize on the 'keeper's weaknesses.

So it's on to FIU this weekend for the Round of 32 game, against an opponent they've beaten already this season. I'm betting on Coach Genius Hubbard (right, 'Ref?) to get the 'Cats into the Round of 16 with another 2-1 win. Cheers!!
 
Chuck Murray said:
So it's on to FIU this weekend for the Round of 32 game, against an opponent they've beaten already this season. I'm betting on Coach Genius Hubbard (right, 'Ref?) to get the 'Cats into the Round of 16 with another 2-1 win. Cheers!!
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Advancing to the round of 16 would put the 'cats back in what has become their well earned "regular" position, that of a top 20 team. The Miami temperature will be 40 - 50 degrees warmer than Durham, a definite but by no means insurmountable advantage for FIU. Go 'cats!!!
 
What do we expect from FIU - UNH pumped them earlier in the season (at home) with a three-goal second half. UNH opened the year 2-3-0 and has since gone 13-1-0. The Wildcats surrender very few goals (or even shots on goal), while FIU tends to play some shootouts - including one 6-4 contest...

Seems like a game UNH should win, but FIU is the seeded club...?
 
Just when you get a little glimmer of hope after a well played first period with an aggressive style a play to find out it was just a reboot of Punked. Know it’s not ideal to make a change in season but for my sanity it’s time. Find it embarrassing to bring people to the games. Once again no matter in game coaching, no emotion, no talking to the refs during the game. Just the same old robot Sousa that has not elevated this team one inch during the season , only regression. Sorry to say it’s time to move on. I don’t care at this point how we got here just care how we get out of it. In my my life I have followed a lot of bad teams but don’t think I have ever said during a year it’s time for a coaching change until now. This team is lost with no leadership to find its way. There is not to loss at this point it really is rock bottom
 
Nifty16 said:
Just when you get a little glimmer of hope after a well played first period with an aggressive style a play to find out it was just a reboot of Punked. Know it’s not ideal to make a change in season but for my sanity it’s time. Find it embarrassing to bring people to the games. Once again no matter in game coaching, no emotion, no talking to the refs during the game. Just the same old robot Sousa that has not elevated this team one inch during the season , only regression. Sorry to say it’s time to move on. I don’t care at this point how we got here just care how we get out of it. In my my life I have followed a lot of bad teams but don’t think I have ever said during a year it’s time for a coaching change until now. This team is lost with no leadership to find its way. There is not to loss at this point it really is rock bottom
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Unfortunately I have to agree Nifty. Souza shows no emotion on the bench, rarely questions the officials, and makes no in game adjustments (at least none that work). Time to part ways and let Stewie take over for the remainder of the year. What the hell do they have to lose with that move? The time for change is now, this is an embarrassment!
 
You know, I have walked out of a lot the building following a lot of losses and you hear people grumbling about what could have been. I overhear a lot of discussions on that walk back to the car... Tonight the tone of pretty much every person talking was that of defeat. "I give up" "I don't enjoy this anymore" "Until something seriously changes I think I'm done" All of these were heard and all from different people. If the fans are this defeated, imagine the feeling inside that locker room after every game. The jig is up, it's time to lop of the head and let the body figure out how to survive. I was very much on board with sticking it out for the rest of the season but what do we have to lose by letting Stewart/Giuliano run the ship for the rest of the season?
 
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Sadly it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how the Minutemen came out in the second and we could not respond to it. Lots of scrambles around their net in the third; a post or maybe even two..but doesn't hide the bare facts couldn't put together a full 60. UMass breaks a 5 game losing streak and we add to ours. I am sooo depressed for the team at this point...really I am not that uptight about winning its not a usual thing anyway but enough is...enough.

On another note, wishing you all a great Thanksgiving and see you around the 'Whitt. Won't make the trip to Holy Cross (in the past I would have moved heaven and earth) but just not going to make the drive from the North Country to Worcester given our plans...enjoy the time with your families..oh, and good luck Soccer 'Cats!!

Ps thought my 6-0 was alittle far fetched but since there were six total goals scored between the two teams, I win. haha
 
deltabravo62 said:
You know, I have walked out of a lot the building following a lot of losses and you hear people grumbling about what could have been. I overhear a lot of discussions on that walk back to the car... Tonight the tone of pretty much every person talking was that of defeat. "I give up" "I don't enjoy this anymore" "Until something seriously changes I think I'm done" All of these were heard and all from different people. If the fans are this defeated, imagine the feeling inside that locker room after every game. The jig is up, it's time to lop of the head and let the body figure out how to survive. I was very much on board with sticking it out for the rest of the season but what do we have to lose by letting Stewart/Giuliano run the ship for the rest of the season?
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Its like you heard my conversation on the way out. If things don’t change will seriously think about not renewing my season tickets next year. Why waste my time on team that doesn’t show any chance of improvement. Have seen more than enough to know that Sousa will not change.
 
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