HockeyRef
Well-known member
Man I sure hope so. Too bad about football but they had a great season. Almost thought of going out to Union but, nope, too long a drive.
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UNH Men’s Hockey 22-23: the start of something new, or more of the same?
- Thread starter d.gerry
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Man I sure hope so. Too bad about football but they had a great season. Almost thought of going out to Union but, nope, too long a drive.
d.gerry
Five for Fighting
Last time I took the trip to Union, the always entertaining Eric Boguniecki was on the ice.
Yeah typed it wrong. Probably numb the horrendous hockey. Saw Brian Murphy(Head of Officials) but he was talking to someone. Wanted to ask if they reviewed lasts night awful major call
HockeyRef
Well-known member
We went the start of the 14/15 season; Union had won the NC opener for both teams. That was the debut of Adam Clark as the goal tender and wasn't long before DT took over yada yada yada. Always wondered if Clark would have been the lead if he had not hurt himself at that Merrimack game. Water under the proverbial dam. As everyone knows Union has struggled to reclaim their stride/coaching change/ Not sure what they are like at this point, checks notes, is 5-8-1 so thinking we'll match up better with them than ASU. ASU has some guys who can score with the BU transfer Mastrosimone leading the way with 18 points.
Not that this is going to matter much, but at least we didn't get blown out today and my score predicts were way off. From what I could see BU wasn't playing that great tonight but, they put together a decent enough effort to win. Their back up did a great job this weekend...(although tonight it didn't seem like we gave him that much to worry about...Commesso picked a good weekend to be sick).
RossiRules
Registered User
You don't pick up points against non conf teams they don't mean anything. They do screw you in the pairwise if you lose or tie against sub par low ranked programs
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Not sure UNH needs to worry about the pairwise...but we'd love to ruin someone else's day...IF we get the chance that is!
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
It would require that high level of entertainment to get me to even think about going to Schenectady voluntarily.
d.gerry
Five for Fighting
Believe it or not, we drove there and back in the same night. Well actually about 2:30 in the morning when we finally arrived back home.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
I think you've hit on a few of the key differentiators, chickod. And I think it's important to note that US Soccer is WAY more developed nowadays than it was just a generation ago. The roots of the sport are much more deeply embedded in the US, the amount of skilled and knowledgeable coaching available to kids is FAR beyond what existed when my eldest was playing as a pre-teen (she still plays as a 30-ish mother and English teacher in a local HS). MLS is actually a real live competitive league these days, and it's expanded - profitably - way beyond the initial footprint, and the support is at the lower levels of semi-pro feeder clubs/leagues. Just as a simple issue, MLS supports hundreds of domestic players at a reasonably high level, and allows the cream of the crop to be poached by the bigger clubs in the bigger leagues in Europe and beyond.
There has been progress made, but expectations also need to be realistic. I mean, how long has it taken for other large countries to compete on a level with the US (NBA) in basketball? The US has been in the ice hockey business for a long time now, and even though there have been moments of excellence, it's been in a much shallower field of competition, and the US still lags behind the likes of Canada, Russia and Sweden, if not arguably others. Making it to the knockout round in a World Cup is nothing to sneeze at.
But yeah, as nicely as soccer has grown (and continues to grow) in the US, it's still well behind a lot of other sports who are competing for the best athletes, and have a head start culturally over here of decades if not a century. You point out the size of the backs, and that's accurate. The US National Team still does quite a bit of business by looking at players who have a split heritage, and can walk into a competitive role on our team here as opposed to (say) Germany or Italy or some other global soccer powerhouse. Kids who grow up in the US, the best athletes get paid the most money in football, or hoops ... those same kids in Amsterdam, well, you work hard and dream of playing/training with Ajax, which holds the key to the money tree in their corner of the universe.
The younger US generations now have easy access to watching the best soccer leagues in the world, and that's probably the best development I've seen in the last decade. Media coverage is slowly gaining, but still behind the Big Four sports here. You'll know the US has cracked it with soccer when someday you have the Felger & Mazz-type talk shows dealing with the sport regularly, and not just every four years, here & there.
As an aside ... one of the things I've always said to new players is, if you don't like to run (a lot), this may not be the sport for you. There is nothing easy about running on-and-off for the better part of an hour-plus, covering an acre of land mass. And the games get longer, and the pitch gets bigger as you get older and better. A lot of that running does not get rewarded. And scoring a goal in soccer is one of the hardest things you can do as a player. To excel in the sport - as in any sport - requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. And the competition pool is the deepest and most challenging in the world, without question (thanks British Empire!).
Thanks to Title IX in the US, the Women's National Team experienced a boom well in advance of the Men's team, and that was because women did not have football or baseball/softball as paying sports options as players. So the most athletic US women not committed to Olympics track and field events play basketball or soccer, with hockey a distant 3rd. The rest of the world did not have Title IX, so the US Women had been dominant in soccer for a long time, but now the rest of the world is starting to catch up to THEM. Which is an interesting reversal of roles, and points the relative "lagging" of the US Men's Team most likely to societal issues.
When I was a kid, soccer teams in HS were hardly a given, and club-level support was extremely thin. The NASL played a shortened season with foreign cast-offs, lower league players and over-the-hill stars (see Pele, Beckenbauer, Chinaglia, etc.), and the media barely blinked as a curiosity factor. Now you have a real league that employs US players, and MLS clubs (and USL clubs) are actually profitable, and the media is providing WAY more coverage than in the past. The USMNT has more truly home-grown players than ever before. It will take time, and there will be setbacks (heck, Germany and Mexico, among others, were out before the knockout rounds). I'll probably not make it long enough to see the Men win, but with the competition in North America next time, and with a very good young team coming through, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the US make it to the WC Semifinals in 2026. And THAT would be off the hook exciting. JMHO.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Given the choice of an overnight stay in or near Schenectady, I can't say I blame you in the least ... ;-)
You tend to get this type of praise from opposing announcers - and fans if you check the BU thread - when you're not a threat. UNH got swept on the weekend by a combined score of 9-3 (or 4.5-1.5 per game). BU was never in any danger; why wouldn't they heap praise on the opponent that hustled...
I'd imagine the betting value would lay with ASU & Union. They're 'middle of the road' teams - UNH is presently far behind 'middle of the road'...
I wouldn't put much stock in ASU being 1-3-0 in its last four against national #1 & #2. They need wins and UNH presents a wonderful opportunity to get right, regardless of travel. Union is 6-8-1 overall, but 5-1-0 at home.
An 11th place finish in HEA is a given. I am referring to points in the PWR, facetiously, as it would be great to get under 50th.
Maybe UNH should have hired Eric Boguniecki as head coach? After 10 years as assistant coach with AHA Bridgeport Sound Tigers (now Islanders), he is apparently now a scout for the Phoenix Coyotes.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
I'd definitely have him on a short list for an interview. Never lacked in confidence or self-belief, that's for sure. If Bogie ever had head coaching dreams, he's gotta know that he's tapped out (for the foreseeable future) at the pro level, now that he's reduced to a scouting role. Settling in for at least a few years at the old alma mater would be a tempting and attractive proposition, one would think. I'd think he'd make a very good salesman, and the AHL coaching background should give him a solid instructional/developmental background.
Maybe we should spend the next few days compiling the rest of the "short list" and help out our brand-new AD?
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
I don't know Chuck, I almost think that prior UNH connections should be disqualifying. I was encouraged that Dan's list didn't have many. This was posted on the Wisconsin thread (many similar thoughts about our respective situations over there) and I kind of feel this way:
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NCAA watcher
Registered User
It was the only conference in Souza's 12 year coaching career in which a team coached by him either as an assistant or as HC has ever finished above .500 (2013-14, 18-14-4 for U.Conn)
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UNH need a lot of things to become relevant again. The rink is older and there is no dedicated hockey workout facility. That won’t compete in todays highly competitive recruiting wars. Top players want top end facilities to help advance them to the next level. UNH doesn’t have that.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
And quite honestly I find this kind of thing highly patronizing. Id almost rather they say " these arent the Wildcats of old"....at least thats honest. The fact that they can skate with these teams and kill penalties etc is all at this time we can hope for. Also finding good stuff around individual players I mean...that is where we are...
Lots of people seem to be happy with their effort...which is great but until they can (and its more if) win some games they are going to continue to be patronized in this way. Lest we forget this is D1 NCAA hockey not Oyster River JV....
Personally...this is getting exhausting but....I am in it regardless. But am 100% behind a coaching change the sooner the better.
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