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

[NCAA watcher]

Chip in the old Keith Yandle and Ryan Bourque and Joel Farabee

 

[Snively65]

Chip in the old Keith Yandle and Ryan Bourque and Joel Farabee

At least Keith also rejected Maine before setting the NHL record last year of 989 straight games played before Phil Kessel passed him earlier this season. Flyers draft pick Farabee could have been our next JvR had he not spurned us for BU, albeit a one and done there. Ryan Bourque, meh.

 

[NCAA watcher]

At least Keith also rejected Maine ...

Technically, both rejected him smiley

Ryan Bourque, meh.

Bourque made it to the show (a thank you game by the Rangers), which is more than can be said for Eruzione. He was a career minor leaguer, didn't accomplish anything notable.

 

[Snively65]

Technically, both rejected him smiley



Bourque made it to the show (a thank you game by the Rangers), which is more than can be said for Eruzione. He was a career minor leaguer, didn't accomplish anything notable.

Oh, that’s right, Keith’s grades were not what the two Admissions Offices wanted to see. Should have applied to BC or BU.

 

[Felger]

Technically, both rejected him smiley



Bourque made it to the show (a thank you game by the Rangers), which is more than can be said for Eruzione. He was a career minor leaguer, didn't accomplish anything notable.

I have always felt that Mike Eruzione is to American sports what Barry Williams is to American television.

 

[HockeyRef]

Tyler Muszelik gets HE Rookie of the week for his 1-0 SO v Maine.

As per Watchung Tim Stutzle today you can see what kind of player he is though they managed to contain him well. Great skater and intuitive in his playmaking. Will be interesting to see how he pans out over time as you brought up today Chuck (eclipsing JvR)

 

[Snively65]

Tyler Muszelik gets HE Rookie of the week for his 1-0 SO v Maine.

As per Watchung Tim Stutzle today you can see what kind of player he is though they managed to contain him well. Great skater and intuitive in his playmaking. Will be interesting to see how he pans out over time as you brought up today Chuck (eclipsing JvR)

Stutzle will be irrelevant in UNH player history in the NHL because he never showed up at the Whitt. Forward to watch will be Foegele, blueliners to watch will be Pesce and TvR, and goalie to watch will be CDS.

 

[After the Whistle]

While grades might have been the public face put on Keith Y. not coming, my memory was he was part of some bad behavior in prep school.
On another note, Eric E. Success at Mercyhearst is almost unbelievable. This years numbers are 10 points better than his UNH totals. Yes it isAtlantic Hockey but could it be ice time and line played on?
Also in that class was a fan favorite Jackson P. Off to ND for a fifth year. One goal and 8 assists through 31 games. What happened there?

 

[HockeyRef]

Stutzle will be irrelevant in UNH player history in the NHL because he never showed up at the Whitt. Forward to watch will be Foegele, blueliners to watch will be Pesce and TvR, and goalie to watch will be CDS.

well exactly...he's in the 'might have been' category with Farabee as has been mentioned. Still was curious about his ability and was glad to catch him play yesterday. Bruins easily took care of the Sens but some fans around me said they looked 'tired' after their road trip fwiw dept.

Interesting comments in the Union Leader around the proposed rennos at the 'Whitt! As this unfolds you can bet this will become (and IMHO) a relevant recruiting point..even bigger than the 'tron ha! Coach Souza's comments:

“I think you got a firsthand experience of what our facility, our fan base is like over the weekend,” Souza said after UNH’s scoreless tie with rival Maine last Saturday — the second of two sellout overtime home games against the Black Bears. “But we’ve fallen behind our competitors in what we have to offer our student-athletes in the back of the house, so to speak. For me, it’s about recruitment, retention and development. In order to do those things, we need to make the necessary upgrades and I’m just so grateful for Gov. Sununu’s willingness to help us.”

Ps...this prob doesn't belong here but its pretty cool that my alma mater PSC (now of course, PSU) is having a killer year, from their twitter...since our game at Yukon is early in the day might just have to travel up 93 to catch them in action! Goooo Panthers!!

We finish the regular season with some impressive numbers, and hope to build on these when playoffs come to PSU this weekend. We’re on a 17-game win streak (longest in the nation), 4th in the nation in win%, 2nd in PP%, 3rd in g/game, and ranked 6th in the country in PairWise

 

[Snively65]

While grades might have been the public face put on Keith Y. not coming, my memory was he was part of some bad behavior in prep school.
On another note, Eric E. Success at Mercyhearst is almost unbelievable. This years numbers are 10 points better than his UNH totals. Yes it isAtlantic Hockey but could it be ice time and line played on?
Also in that class was a fan favorite Jackson P. Off to ND for a fifth year. One goal and 8 assists through 31 games. What happened there?

Yup, Eric Esposito apparently needed a different environment, although Mercyhurst (in AHA 8th place) may have had something to do with his breakout Covid/grad season. And compared to Kohei Sato’s Covid/grad year numbers (5G+7A=12pts) at Bentley last season, Esposito’s numbers this year look all the more impressive.

If you compare Jackson Pierson’s numbers (31G+57A=88pts) over four years with BvR’s numbers (20G+44A=64pts) over three years at UNH, maybe both of them should have stayed at UNH for another year. BvR’s numbers (2G+4A=6pts) during his senior year at Northeastern were not impressive, to say the least. I was also surprised to see that Drew Bavaro bolted after two years on Bentley’s first D pair (11G+28A=39pts) for Notre Dame this year (4G+10A=14pts), but strategically Bavaro’s move may still pan out. Jakov Novak, Bentley’s only NHL draft pick ever, left after three years to play the past two seasons with Northeastern where he has been impactful.

The portal without a year off redshirting (remembering our PEA would-be star who left for Yale, and then came back, over a six-year span) sure has changed the college hockey landscape. But, I still like that UNH picked up Ryan Black for his Covid year after four years at Div 3 Babson, which I think has been a cool story.

 

[Chuck Murray]

On another note, Eric E. Success at Mercyhearst is almost unbelievable. This years numbers are 10 points better than his UNH totals. Yes it is Atlantic Hockey but could it be ice time and line played on?

Also in that class was a fan favorite Jackson P. Off to ND for a fifth year. One goal and 8 assists through 31 games. What happened there?

It IS Atlantic Hockey vs. Hockey East, simple as that. For all the kudos Ryan Black has received at UNH this season, after spending his career at D-3 Babson, it's important to note that his scoring is down 67% (39 pts. to 13 pts.) in more games at UNH, and his plus/minus has gone from a +28 to a -8. Moral of the story, in my mind ... in many cases, AHA isn't all that much better than a souped up, glorified D-3 league.

Probably a more pronounced "Esposito" comparison a generation ago was the case of Travis Banga (BUN-ga) who was recruited by McCloskey for UNH as the latest British Columbian superstar, but really never cracked the UNH line-up, and never even scored a goal. Eventually he transferred to New England College (D-3) in Henniker, and finally lit it up a la Esposito (and then some), and went on to 7 years of double digit scoring in the low minors.

Looking at Pierson, I guess what I take from that is, he was a big fish in a little pond (UNH) and now he's JAF in a bigger pond, probably getting fourth line minutes and posting fourth line numbers for a real honest-to-goodness D-1 Head Coach who has actually won important things in his career. NICC (f/k/a Notre Dame) isn't a big deal in their current league, and he's the "Indiana kid" who decided to fulfill some dream of sorts to play closer to home, maybe? The reality is, he's probably no more/less important to Coach Jackson's program than Black is to Souza's program, or BvR was to Madigan's program (he too dropped from 10 goals to 2 goals when he left UNH). In short, they're all just shiny new toys to play with for a bit, and while it's nice to have these extras on hand, you're always going to err in favor of the kids you recruited on the four-year plan.

The transfer portal has been around for a bit now, and based on what we've seen at UNH, I'm not sure it's been the earth-shaking development some of us thought it might be when it was first introduced. And now that this fifth-year aberration is in the process of playing itself out in the next year or two (?), it's probably just going to re-inforce the importance of your traditional recruiting to the overall success of your program.

 

[After the Whistle]

Chuck a few thoughts on your response. Travis transferred to a D3 school. He did in fact do very well but I can’t believe that it was on par with Ryan Black’s Babson team. But who knows?
I believe that Jackson was a first line center at ND, at least at the start of the year. Can’t say for how many games. And sure I get the childhood dream of playing there. Still doesn’t fully explain the lack of points (u less he fell to the 4th line as you indicate.
My big difference of opinion is Ryan Blacks importance to Souza’s team. I think he may be Souza’s best utility player. While great on the third line he has and can play up from there.
He brings energy to many situations and has been significant n the PK. The scoring is the result of playing for a D3 team that won and could score and a D1 that has struggled with scoring. If you had been there, I believe you would have seen his value. Realize this is all option so whatever.

 

[HockeyRef]

Chuck a few thoughts on your response. Travis transferred to a D3 school. He did in fact do very well but I can’t believe that it was on par with Ryan Black’s Babson team. But who knows?
I believe that Jackson was a first line center at ND, at least at the start of the year. Can’t say for how many games. And sure I get the childhood dream of playing there. Still doesn’t fully explain the lack of points (u less he fell to the 4th line as you indicate.
My big difference of opinion is Ryan Blacks importance to Souza’s team. I think he may be Souza’s best utility player. While great on the third line he has and can play up from there.
He brings energy to many situations and has been significant n the PK. The scoring is the result of playing for a D3 team that won and could score and a D1 that has struggled with scoring. If you had been there, I believe you would have seen his value. Realize this is all option so whatever.

Ryan Black, although he hasn't put up huge numbers, has done an outstanding job if you ask me. Seeing him play as much as I have, he brings energy to the game and where else are we going to get those points from outside of the 'usual suspects' LeClerc (whom I'm not sure has scored in awhile?) Devlin, Stevenson, Dunlap and most recently, Carfagna. A great utility player that is for sure. He IS important to Coach Souza's program and he's said as much. I wish Ryan had more time with us I think his plans are to move along as he's in an accelerated program at the Paul School earning his MBA in one year. (his words at the most recent player/fan gig). I would guess (?) that UNH at least right here, right now... has been pleasantly surprised by his contributions perhaps? I think, no, I know, this player has exceeded the 'expectations' one might expect coming from D3...I suspect there's some bias here perhaps?? (D3 player can't play D1) At any rate, he'll be battling with his brother this weekend for the Yukon re-match in Storrs!

And yeah, IMHO FWIW dept!

 

[Chuck Murray]

I think you guys kind of made my point for me ... and to take nothing away from Ryan Black, but he IS (as described above) a "utility" player who brings energy (and flexibility) to the bottom six more than anything else. He probably feels a lot better about what he's been able to accomplish for UNH than BvR and Pierson feel about their 5th year experiences away from Durham. But it's hard to build a program around kids who are only going to be around for a year. Doubly so if they're not high-scoring impact players (i.e. Eichel). Kudos to Black for earning his keep, and kudos to MS7 for finding Black a role, but he's still a bottom six forward on a 9th place team. It's a nice story, but ... perspective.

 

[HockeyRef]

I think you guys kind of made my point for me ... and to take nothing away from Ryan Black, but he IS (as described above) a "utility" player who brings energy (and flexibility) to the bottom six more than anything else. He probably feels a lot better about what he's been able to accomplish for UNH than BvR and Pierson feel about their 5th year experiences away from Durham. But it's hard to build a program around kids who are only going to be around for a year. Doubly so if they're not high-scoring impact players (i.e. Eichel). Kudos to Black for earning his keep, and kudos to MS7 for finding Black a role, but he's still a bottom six forward on a 9th place team. It's a nice story, but ... perspective.

Your point (s) are well taken here. Considering the fact that depth has sorely been lacking for oh, so many years..which is going to hopefully be something we can actually entertain (?) in the next 2 seasons going forward depending on player recruitment/development...it's a start. Don't know if you saw the WMUR story on the 'Cats last night but found it funny that they interviewed...Ryan Black in addition to MS7/Capt. Clutch.

 

[Snively65]

Ralph Cox scored 127 goals and 116 assists for 243 points in four years with the Cats, 1975/76-1978/79.

Mike Eruzione scored 92 goals and 116 assists for 208 points in four years with the Terriors, 1973/74-1976/77.

Ralph Cox turns 66 years old next Monday the 27th, 43 years and five days after the day that perhaps the greatest hockey line ever was spoken: “Great moments are born from great opportunity, and that is what you have here tonight, boys.”

As we all know, Cox was one of the last two guys cut from the final 1980 Olympic men’s hockey team, while Eruzione scored the winning goal against the Soviets in the semi-finals at Lake Placid 43 years ago today.

 

[Whalers]

while Eruzione scored the winning goal against the Soviets in the semi-finals at Lake Placid 43 years ago today.

I remember that day so clearly. I had a youth hockey game so wasnt watching the game it live, but I did notice that everyone in the stands was watching the US/CCCP game on their phones. There were 83 text messages waiting on my phone when we got back to the locker room, which I ignored because I dvr'd the game and planned to watch it, or at least get it On-Demand.

Oh wait. The only thing that ocurred as described above was my youth game taking place. I am not ancient, but the reality was - Only over the air TV and didnt even have a VCR. Cable didnt come for another 18 months. Want to call someone from the rink? Drop a dime for local, or call collect if it was long distance. I believe that they did replay the game later that day or the next so we were able to see, but with all of the "Snow" from the over the air TV, seeing the puck was more of a mystery.

Anyone else have recollections of watching the game?

 

[ClOuD 9]

Interesting comments in the Union Leader around the proposed rennos at the 'Whitt! As this unfolds you can bet this will become (and IMHO) a relevant recruiting point..even bigger than the 'tron ha! Coach Souza's comments:

“I think you got a firsthand experience of what our facility, our fan base is like over the weekend,” Souza said after UNH’s scoreless tie with rival Maine last Saturday — the second of two sellout overtime home games against the Black Bears.

Can't wait to play Vermont on a Thursday in front of 2,000 people to close out the regular season ;-)

Re: renovations - very much need back of house additions to keep up with the Joneses.
For fan amenities I can't think of too much more other than the sound system (which I believe someone said a few pages back is in the works) and some acoustic paneling in the rafters.
Would like to see them do something with the covered over scoreboard down the far endzone - either convert it to an LED screen (arguably not even needed with the jumbotron) or take it down, imo.

 

[Darius]

Audio Enhancements Coming to Whittemore Center:

https://unhwildcats.com/news/2023/2/22/WhittAudio.aspx

 

[Snively65]

Cats 3-6-1 at XL/Freitas the last 10 games, 2-2-0 the last four, with three of those going to OT.