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

[Darius]

Wildcats v Friar playoff history from the HE website:No. 7 Providence (14-13-7/9-9-6 HE) will welcome No. 10 New Hampshire (11-20-3/6-15-3 HE) on Wednesday night. UNH holds a 14-7-0 mark over the Friars in Hockey East Tournament play, although the two have not met since 2015. During the 2022-23 season, they skated to a 1-1-1 mark, with Providence holding an edge with a shootout victory on Oct. 28. The Wildcats boast a record of 7-3-2 since the calendar flipped to 2023, including a six-game unbeaten streak in February. [The Friars have never lost an Opening Round game in tournament history (3-0). Bwahaha...wouldn't it be fun to change that history? Hey, a girl can dream!?!

Also hard to believe. Apparently I need to be more attentive.

 

[HockeyRef]

Hard to believe that PC, Vlae, Union, and a few others have banners. :-(

...And considering Vlae, and PC were 15th in Pairwise in their respective bids for the banner...UNH was 7th in 2013 (we lost to UML 2-0 in our last Regional; Grayson Downing/Kevin Goumas injured and did not play in that game) and 18th in 13-14 was our last 'best' showing. (we did not make Regionals that year as we lost in the HE title game to UML 4 zip) And the rest...is history.

 

[Snively65]

Instead of the excitement of letting 9-11 play for the right to a one-and-done game, how about having the bottom one or two teams be relegated to the Atlantic Hockey Conference, and the top 2 Atlantic teams move up?

UNH and Vermont, you're playing in the AHA next year, RIT and AIC, you're the new Hockey East teams for 2023-24.

Maybe substitute Holy Cross for AIC?

 

[Chuck Murray]

Maybe substitute Holy Cross for AIC?

On further reflection on the "relegation" option ... why not ship out the three (3) teams that don't "qualify" for anything but MBPBEGAM round hockey in HEA? UVM, UNH and UMass, in that order as things finished this season? Or set up an an-anything-but MBPB play-in game between #8 and #9 finishers, at the home of #8, and play a one-and-done HEA Tourney qualifier for the winner, and Ticket #3 to the AHA for the loser?

On the other end of the spectrum ... it's my understanding that the bottom two of the 10 AHA finishers DNQ for the tourney quarterfinals. Good. So award the three "promotion" slots to the two tourney Finalists (automatic promotion), and then have what would otherwise be one of those consolation-type format games - semifinal losers - face off right before their Tourney championship game for Promotion Slot #3.

Games (and results) should have consequences. And if it means UNH has to get a wake-up call with a year or two in AHA to start running their Men's Hockey program the way it should be run, then so be it.

-----------------------

BTW as predicted, this year, the UMaine Black Bears under Coach Ben Barr are already up to #6 in the league, and a .500 team overall W-L-T and on goals scored/goals allowed. This is the team that the genius coaches who make up the HEA Coaches' Preseason Poll picked to finish 11th - LAST - in Hockey East again this year. I told you on this thread that this wasn't happening. FWIW, you think Coach Carvel is feeling a little exposed, seeing his program plummeting back to their pre-Barr norm, not unlike Union?? Only Coach Leaman at Providence hasn't felt the sting of Barr's departure to the extent the other two have. But he hasn't won anything important recently either, has he?

2022-2023 Hockey East Men’s Preseason Poll - SB Nation College Hockey (sbncollegehockey.com)

Please understand though, I'm not ripping on Coach Carvel. He was smart enough to hire Barr, which puts him ahead of everyone else in the league. They made the most of it while he was on board, and probably cemented his job in Amherst for the long run. Something certain folks from Durham should have considered at some point along the way.

-----------------------

And finally, good luck to Coach Herrion and the Hoops 'Cats as they travel to Lowell tomorrow for the AE Tourney semis. Lowell apparently is a perfect 16-0 at home this season, so it will be an enormous challenge, but Herrion deserves a ton of credit for making UNH Basketball relevant, just as his colleague Coach Hubbard has done with Soccer in recent years.

 

[Chuck Murray]

So as we now bring the regular season to a close, and look at what's ahead ... here were my thoughts from a month ago (2/5/23) on how the rest of this season should play out for Coach Souza and his UNH future ...

I'm not a fan of tanking myself, and to be clear, I'm not saying the UNH players are tanking OR should be tanking. Certainly Coach Souza has a vested interest in not tanking, as he's coaching for his future D-1 HC career at this point. To date, he hasn't accomplished a single thing, and if he doesn't accomplish something quickly, he's probably never going to get another chance at it. There is urgency there, and if he's been able to motivate his players to collect some W's by passing that urgency further down the line, then good for him. That's the fool's gold part of the equation, winning a few meaningless late RS games to (temporarily?) pull his team out of the basement.

MS7's pathway to real "success" is a very narrow one, and it probably involves a "respectable" RS finish that sees them eke into the 8th slot (one above the MBPBEGAM home ice cutoff line), and then emerge from the gauntlet that involves a winnable MBPBEGAM round, then somehow pull off an upset in the REAL league quarterfinals round - probably against either BU or Northeastern - and remind his program and its fans of a place known as the Boston Garden, which used to be a regular feature of the UNH program's seasons. And with the way the league has been, top to bottom, you somehow get to Boston with some momentum, anything goes. But getting there is crucial.

That of course ensures MS7 gets to coach the final year of his contract. UNH should NOT extend him for anything short of an HEA title/auto NCAA berth (at large ain't happening anyway). The strong finish MUST lead to an improved performance out on the recruiting front, and your graduating class (mediocrity incarnate) MUST be replaced by higher quality recruits, all of whom have the potential to skate on the top two lines/pairings by the time they are juniors (at the latest). You build on the momentum of a strong 2023 finish with a good start to next season, continue to parlay that momentum into better results, better recruits, etc. and suddenly you've demonstrated that maybe just maybe, you are the man to continue the job, and are deserving of an honest-to-goodness contract extension on the basis of actual merit.

Otherwise ... MS7 wins a few more meaningless games in the last six RS games against UConn, UMaine and UVM (and let's be honest, those are ALL winnable games, for varying reasons - UConn not playing for much at this point, and UMaine and UVM just aren't that good), but bows out of the post-season before Boston. No real momentum to take into the next season, no publicity bump from a strong postseason finish, and you're suddenly a "lame duck" HC where no one (besides your returning players) - and I mean your fans, and potentially more importantly your would-be recruiting targets - have any reason to expect the next year(s) to be any different than all the others where you've accomplished zip. Self-fulfilling prophecy in the end. But we have to wait longer, and the UNH program slips further into D-1 irrelevance, where it now resides.

There's a strong chance that UNH's recent "revitalization" has probably averted the "nuclear option" of firing MS7 and his staff a year early, which (unless there is a full-blown turnaround as outlined above, lurking below the surface) likely only serves to delay the timeline to a return to real relevancy by at least a year. Knowing what we've seen for the past 5-8 years, I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that I've seen enough, and losing a few meaningless games down the stretch (IF it gets us to the restart point) isn't tearing my heart out like it used to.

So maybe not "tanking" but for sure I'm under-enthusiastic about the overall value of some of these recent W's vis a vis the long-term interest in seeing the program return to national relevance.

And of course, if/when we do get to the restart, then it becomes incumbent on the AD to make the right hire(s) ...

There's another post out there somewhere where I've set a risk/reward system for UNH/Souza from here on out, and I'll try to dig it out in the next day or two. But I'll repeat one of the basic conclusions - if UNH doesn't win two games this week, and end up in Boston on St. Patrick's Day weekend, then there should be zero consideration of any extension, and we can look at next season wit MS7 in full "lame duck" mode.

 

[JB]

OK so the whole beating a team 3 times in 1 season has been worming into my head for what 3 weeks now...

I believe it does come from the NFL where teams in the same division play twice and if both are good enough to make the playoffs and get back to play each other there is a third game. Logic says if you are meeting in the playoffs both are good teams (unlike UNH and UVM at hockey both suck) and so it is tough to win the third time. Except there is reality since the 1970 NFL merger this has happened 24 times with the team going for the 3rd win 16-8 playoff match-ups including 2 in this last playoffs (San Fran and Philly).

It is absolutely really stupid coach speak, particularly in a league where you can play each other 3 times in the regular season. It gives the team an excuse to loose to Uconn when you had gone 2-0 so far because getting to 3-0 is hard, or to loose to UVM because we are 0-2 so it is going to be tough on UVM to win the 3rd game. This snowballs when you are up 2-0 after the first and so we can stop skating because the win is inevitable. For reference UVM played 4 hockey east teams 3 times this year so far with 3 of those 4 series going 3-0/0-3. Of the 11 Hockey East teams only 3 didn't have a 3-0/0-3 series this year. With UVM going to Maine does Maine need to look out because if 3 times in one year is hard, 4 must be damn near impossible...

you may now return to your regularly scheduled UNH programming ... will they win or mercifully end this season...

P.S. extending Souza was insanity (thanks Marty), is insanity (take note AD Rich) and that means it will be done before the end of March as long as they don't make the NCAAs (they wont) in which case before the end of April....

 

[HockeyRef]

OK so the whole beating a team 3 times in 1 season has been worming into my head for what 3 weeks now...

I believe it does come from the NFL where teams in the same division play twice and if both are good enough to make the playoffs and get back to play each other there is a third game. Logic says if you are meeting in the playoffs both are good teams (unlike UNH and UVM at hockey both suck) and so it is tough to win the third time. Except there is reality since the 1970 NFL merger this has happened 24 times with the team going for the 3rd win 16-8 playoff match-ups including 2 in this last playoffs (San Fran and Philly).

It is absolutely really stupid coach speak, particularly in a league where you can play each other 3 times in the regular season. It gives the team an excuse to loose to Uconn when you had gone 2-0 so far because getting to 3-0 is hard, or to loose to UVM because we are 0-2 so it is going to be tough on UVM to win the 3rd game. This snowballs when you are up 2-0 after the first and so we can stop skating because the win is inevitable. For reference UVM played 4 hockey east teams 3 times this year so far with 3 of those 4 series going 3-0/0-3. Of the 11 Hockey East teams only 3 didn't have a 3-0/0-3 series this year. With UVM going to Maine does Maine need to look out because if 3 times in one year is hard, 4 must be damn near impossible...

you may now return to your regularly scheduled UNH programming ... will they win or mercifully end this season...

P.S. extending Souza was insanity (thanks Marty), is insanity (take note AD Rich) and that means it will be done before the end of March as long as they don't make the NCAAs (they wont) in which case before the end of April....

well sorry I put this into play with my post about the 3 times thing, but also glad to hear it brought out some convo about it! Yeah, and we STILL LOST TO UVM. So much for stupid sports cliches! Not sure what you mean in your 'ps'..."it will be done"...do you mean that AD Rich will give MS7 the boot in March? One thing that might give her a 'nudge' is what happens after they lose (and I am traveling to PC just to give myself one more night of misery as I am obviously either a glutton for punishment OR I have too much time on my retired hands at the moment haha) will key players bolt for the portal? Not sure how that all works...If that DOES happen, you can bet I'll be firing up yet another email expressing my sheer bewilderment about how many more years can UNH squander their fans support....but for now, I'll cool my heels (which I never wear).

even if the 'Cats beat PC they will most likely run straight into BU which I doubt, is going to lose to them since they beat UNH twice haha, to use our sports cliche...

 

[JB]

well sorry I put this into play with my post about the 3 times thing, but also glad to hear it brought out some convo about it! Yeah, and we STILL LOST TO UVM. So much for stupid sports cliches! Not sure what you mean in your 'ps'..."it will be done"...do you mean that AD Rich will give MS7 the boot in March? One thing that might give her a 'nudge' is what happens after they lose (and I am traveling to PC just to give myself one more night of misery as I am obviously either a glutton for punishment OR I have too much time on my retired hands at the moment haha) will key players bolt for the portal? Not sure how that all works...If that DOES happen, you can bet I'll be firing up yet another email expressing my sheer bewilderment about how many more years can UNH squander their fans support....but for now, I'll cool my heels (which I never wear).

even if the 'Cats beat PC they will most likely run straight into BU which I doubt, is going to lose to them since they beat UNH twice haha, to use our sports cliche...

it will be done = UNH is stupid enough to extend Souza for no reason that makes any sense.

Somebody will say "well having a lame duck coach will hurt recruiting" or something equally stupid... yes and I don't believe UNH will ever buy out a coach so it will become some level of recurring insanity where Souza basically always has 2 years left on the contract based on an infinite series of 1 year extensions.

I have been a fan since the 70's (some of my earliest childhood memories are in Snively), I can remember the mid 80's - shudder and getting hammered in the interlocking schedule, now expect the team to suck and don't believe the administration has a clue how to fix it... so they are dumb enough to renew the coach whose only claim to fame is consistently bad performance

15-16 10th place
16-17 10th place
17-18 11th place
18-19 8th place
19-20 9th place
20-21 10th place
21-22 9th place
22-23 10th place

A line from the NFL that I do believe "you are what your record say you are" Bill Parcells

If that is your record as coach in a 11 team league - you are a bad coach

 

[HockeyRef]

it will be done = UNH is stupid enough to extend Souza for no reason that makes any sense.

Somebody will say "well having a lame duck coach will hurt recruiting" or something equally stupid... yes and I don't believe UNH will ever buy out a coach so it will become some level of recurring insanity where Souza basically always has 2 years left on the contract based on an infinite series of 1 year extensions.

I have been a fan since the 70's (some of my earliest childhood memories are in Snively), I can remember the mid 80's - shudder and getting hammered in the interlocking schedule, now expect the team to suck and don't believe the administration has a clue how to fix it... so they are dumb enough to renew the coach whose only claim to fame is consistently bad performance

15-16 10th place
16-17 10th place
17-18 11th place
18-19 8th place
19-20 9th place
20-21 10th place
21-22 9th place
22-23 10th place

A line from the NFL that I do believe "you are what your record say you are" Bill Parcells

If that is your record as coach in a 11 team league - you are a bad coach

Its pretty basic: UNH will extend Souza because that is what they have always done. Always. Chuck is lauding ? the basketball coach and actually putting him in with Coach Hubbard...I do not follow either sport that well but I have to disagree the two are not the same..but, he (Herrion) is a good example of just how UNH operates. And, I hope the bball team continues to win and I'll be pulling for them for sure. He is obviously a long standing fixture at Lundholm and I hope he finds the success he's worked for.

Of course, the UNH basketball team doesn't come close to making revenue that the hockey team should, or does, or, worse, DID. That is being lost on the powers that be and now that some funds are available to 'fix' the 'Whitt that will solve allllll the issues. I agree that work has to be done and I welcome it..if and when, that ever happens.

Some good news is that its out on Twitter via UNH journo Andrew Gardner that Nikolai Jensen will be in the lineup Wed v PC...go 'Cats! ALSO...he reports that our attendance isn't too shabby:

A strong showing for the Wildcat faithful this year: Out of 62 Division 1 teams @UNHMHOCKEY
finished 13th in the country in home attendance this year (76,767). This figure is the 2nd most in Hockey East and 2nd most of any school in New England

 

[JB]

0.569
0.432
0.446
0.417
0.661
0.311
0.250

Hmmm... what is this series of numbers....

0.458
0.500
0.326
0.426
0.313

vs this series

 

[Snively65]

0.569
0.432
0.446
0.417
0.661
0.311
0.250

Hmmm... what is this series of numbers....

0.458
0.500
0.326
0.426
0.313

vs this series

Umileator’s win percentages vs MS7’s win percentages by year, most recent at bottom in each string?

 

[Snively65]

On further reflection on the "relegation" option ... why not ship out the three (3) teams that don't "qualify" for anything but MBPBEGAM round hockey in HEA? UVM, UNH and UMass, in that order as things finished this season? Or set up an an-anything-but MBPB play-in game between #8 and #9 finishers, at the home of #8, and play a one-and-done HEA Tourney qualifier for the winner, and Ticket #3 to the AHA for the loser?

On the other end of the spectrum ... it's my understanding that the bottom two of the 10 AHA finishers DNQ for the tourney quarterfinals. Good. So award the three "promotion" slots to the two tourney Finalists (automatic promotion), and then have what would otherwise be one of those consolation-type format games - semifinal losers - face off right before their Tourney championship game for Promotion Slot #3.

Games (and results) should have consequences. And if it means UNH has to get a wake-up call with a year or two in AHA to start running their Men's Hockey program the way it should be run, then so be it.

-----------------------

BTW as predicted, this year, the UMaine Black Bears under Coach Ben Barr are already up to #6 in the league, and a .500 team overall W-L-T and on goals scored/goals allowed. This is the team that the genius coaches who make up the HEA Coaches' Preseason Poll picked to finish 11th - LAST - in Hockey East again this year. I told you on this thread that this wasn't happening. FWIW, you think Coach Carvel is feeling a little exposed, seeing his program plummeting back to their pre-Barr norm, not unlike Union?? Only Coach Leaman at Providence hasn't felt the sting of Barr's departure to the extent the other two have. But he hasn't won anything important recently either, has he?

2022-2023 Hockey East Men’s Preseason Poll - SB Nation College Hockey (sbncollegehockey.com)

Please understand though, I'm not ripping on Coach Carvel. He was smart enough to hire Barr, which puts him ahead of everyone else in the league. They made the most of it while he was on board, and probably cemented his job in Amherst for the long run. Something certain folks from Durham should have considered at some point along the way.

-----------------------

And finally, good luck to Coach Herrion and the Hoops 'Cats as they travel to Lowell tomorrow for the AE Tourney semis. Lowell apparently is a perfect 16-0 at home this season, so it will be an enormous challenge, but Herrion deserves a ton of credit for making UNH Basketball relevant, just as his colleague Coach Hubbard has done with Soccer in recent years.

You may be incorrectly assuming that the AHA would welcome the HEA deadbeat bottom feeders into their conference.

 

[Chuck Murray]

You may be incorrectly assuming that the AHA would welcome the HEA deadbeat bottom feeders into their conference.

I know you're kidding Snives, but it would be interesting to see if any of the AHA hotshots could stave off instant relegation for a year or two, and likewise if any of the HEA slummers struggle to get out of the AAA league for promotion back. Just check out how many Premier League teams in recent years have come from the lower rungs of English football, and have taken up residency at the top tier, while former PL teams struggle to come to terms with the demotion. Not to mention how it would change the recruiting dynamic for both the promoted and relegated programs.

In the end, good play and good coaching is rewarded, and long term mediocrity is harshly punished.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Its pretty basic: UNH will extend Souza because that is what they have always done. Always. Chuck is lauding ? the basketball coach and actually putting him in with Coach Hubbard...I do not follow either sport that well but I have to disagree the two are not the same..but, he (Herrion) is a good example of just how UNH operates. And, I hope the bball team continues to win and I'll be pulling for them for sure. He is obviously a long standing fixture at Lundholm and I hope he finds the success he's worked for.

Of course, the UNH basketball team doesn't come close to making revenue that the hockey team should, or does, or, worse, DID. That is being lost on the powers that be and now that some funds are available to 'fix' the 'Whitt that will solve allllll the issues. I agree that work has to be done and I welcome it..if and when, that ever happens.

I'm not sure I'm totally fawning over Coach Herrion's near term success, and certainly not to the level of Coach Hubbard. Both have coached their respective programs with low historical success, and Hubbard has taken Soccer to levels comparable to Football under MacDonnell - annual qualifier for the NCAA's, but not quite top tier (with Soccer being D-1 and Football a notch below). Herrion and Hoops aren't even close to that. But Hoops has been a laughingstock for a long, long time at UNH - the last time they mattered was almost 30 years ago, when a team loaded with local NH talent advanced this far (or thereabouts) two seasons in a row. So Herrion came into a situation that was more dire than anything else on campus. Soccer may not have been an NCAA qualifier pre-Hubbard, but they weren't Hoops dire. They were just underpublicized.

Having said all that ... if you look at the other schools in NH ... even if they're at lower NCAA levels, the simple fact that you are a basketball program in NH does NOT doom your program to irrelevance. Just because UNH and Dartmouth have been long-term hopeless doesn't mean SNHU and St. A's and the others can't win (and some often do win). UNH has just historically been a hockey school, so more focus/resources goes in their direction. There's no reason why the Hoops equivalent of Coach Hubbard might not show up someday and string together a few winning seasons, win a trophy or two even, and become the next "bright shiny thing". And there's no reason that program couldn't move back across the street and start filling more seats than they ever dreamed possible at Lundholm. Sports fans love a winner. And if that happened, then Hoops would be right there at the top of the revenue pyramid, unless Hockey gets its act together again, someday.

A rising tide lifts all boats. So with Soccer the competitive kings on campus, Football showing signs of returning to past glories, and the Hoops program showing signs of life, this is all good.

Let's see how this week's game(s) turn out for Hockey. If we don't see Boston (again), hopefully the new AD understands that the Groundhog Day existence of Hockey needs someone else's attention to turn things around. There is an opportunity ... BC is no longer Coach York, BU is no longer Coach Parker, and UMass Amherst is no longer Coach Barr's recruiting beneficiary. UMaine is going to be a huge factor going forward, and if UNH does not answer soon AND loudly, then it's going to be another painful decade of mediocrity looking up at the Black Bears. Getting back to the top tier of HEA would be magic. So it's time to make some magic happen, starting now ...

 

[HockeyRef]

I'm not sure I'm totally fawning over Coach Herrion's near term success, and certainly not to the level of Coach Hubbard. Both have coached their respective programs with low historical success, and Hubbard has taken Soccer to levels comparable to Football under MacDonnell - annual qualifier for the NCAA's, but not quite top tier (with Soccer being D-1 and Football a notch below). Herrion and Hoops aren't even close to that. But Hoops has been a laughingstock for a long, long time at UNH - the last time they mattered was almost 30 years ago, when a team loaded with local NH talent advanced this far (or thereabouts) two seasons in a row. So Herrion came into a situation that was more dire than anything else on campus. Soccer may not have been an NCAA qualifier pre-Hubbard, but they weren't Hoops dire. They were just underpublicized.

Having said all that ... if you look at the other schools in NH ... even if they're at lower NCAA levels, the simple fact that you are a basketball program in NH does NOT doom your program to irrelevance. Just because UNH and Dartmouth have been long-term hopeless doesn't mean SNHU and St. A's and the others can't win (and some often do win). UNH has just historically been a hockey school, so more focus/resources goes in their direction. There's no reason why the Hoops equivalent of Coach Hubbard might not show up someday and string together a few winning seasons, win a trophy or two even, and become the next "bright shiny thing". And there's no reason that program couldn't move back across the street and start filling more seats than they ever dreamed possible at Lundholm. Sports fans love a winner. And if that happened, then Hoops would be right there at the top of the revenue pyramid, unless Hockey gets its act together again, someday.

A rising tide lifts all boats. So with Soccer the competitive kings on campus, Football showing signs of returning to past glories, and the Hoops program showing signs of life, this is all good.

Let's see how this week's game(s) turn out for Hockey. If we don't see Boston (again), hopefully the new AD understands that the Groundhog Day existence of Hockey needs someone else's attention to turn things around. There is an opportunity ... BC is no longer Coach York, BU is no longer Coach Parker, and UMass Amherst is no longer Coach Barr's recruiting beneficiary. UMaine is going to be a huge factor going forward, and if UNH does not answer soon AND loudly, then it's going to be another painful decade of mediocrity looking up at the Black Bears. Getting back to the top tier of HEA would be magic. So it's time to make some magic happen, starting now ...

Points well taken and agree its a good thing when other teams come up in the success rank. And I do hope mens hoops has continued success I know I'll be checking out the game as I used to be a bigger.hoop fan.

Agree about your UMaine points. Indeed It would be incredible to see TD Garden again...with the 'Cats in it.

 

[Snively65]

I know you're kidding Snives, but it would be interesting to see if any of the AHA hotshots could stave off instant relegation for a year or two, and likewise if any of the HEA slummers struggle to get out of the AAA league for promotion back. Just check out how many Premier League teams in recent years have come from the lower rungs of English football, and have taken up residency at the top tier, while former PL teams struggle to come to terms with the demotion. Not to mention how it would change the recruiting dynamic for both the promoted and relegated programs.

In the end, good play and good coaching is rewarded, and long term mediocrity is harshly punished.

Not kidding entirely. Ever since NICC left HEA (good riddance!), we have been entertaining the possibility of acquiring a replacement 12th team with possible candidates from the AHA (Bentley? Holy Cross? Sacred Heart?), which would leave the AHA with an unbalanced number of teams. And now you are proposing to dump our deadbeat teams on them? Not so sure that the AHA would be too enthralled with that plan, especially on a “rental” two-year basis.

 

[Nifty16]

If Wisconsin can do it why can’t we?

 

[Chuck Murray]

Not kidding entirely. Ever since NICC left HEA (good riddance!), we have been entertaining the possibility of acquiring a replacement 12th team with possible candidates from the AHA (Bentley? Holy Cross? Sacred Heart?), which would leave the AHA with an unbalanced number of teams. And now you are proposing to dump our deadbeat teams on them? Not so sure that the AHA would be too enthralled with that plan, especially on a “rental” two-year basis.

Conceptually - and nodding quickly to the idea that we're still far deeper into "The Land of Make Believe" on this idea than even my beloved "NH Beanpot" idea - there are flaws, no doubt. From the schools' perspectives, I'm guessing the idea would be attractive to certain New England AHA programs, whereas for other AHA schools they'd rather be "promoted" into the ECAC or Big Ten, which would complicate things exponentially. Individually, though, many of the schools (certainly most of their coaches, and some of the AD's) would give an arm and a leg for the additional exposure they'd gain from playing regularly against bigger schools in bigger arenas/markets. Certain others might be more ambivalent.

But when you say "not sure the AHA would be happy about it" ... if we're talking about the guy running the league out of his Winthrop basement, I'm not sure the schools would really care too much what he thought, IF his posture was to preserve his position at the expense of their growth. And Commish Nigel ... well, unless someone at NCAA level were to come in and force this on him, I don't see him or any of his schools biting.

Make no mistake, though ... for fans of college hockey, this promotion/relegation scheme would be a great development. The idea of watching Luce shedding real tears in front of 500 fans at his Ice Palace or whatever, while Merrimack staves off relegation, as Luce contemplates a future of trips to Buffalo and Erie and West Point ... delicious!!!

 

[Snively65]

If Wisconsin can do it why can’t we?

Really amazing to me that Wisco is moving on from Tony Granato as their HC Here are a few stats: 100 G + 120 A = 220 points in four years with Badgers, 1983/84-1986/87; 14 seasons in NHL with 248 G + 244 A = 492 points; 14 years coaching in NHL, with four as HC; and most recently seven seasons as Badgers HC, including two winning seasons in 2016/17 and 2020/21, but 104-129-16 overall and two bad seasons in 2021/22 and 2022/23. Compare with MS7?

 

[JB]

Really amazing to me that Wisco is moving on from Tony Granato as their HC Here are a few stats: 100 G + 120 A = 220 points in four years with Badgers, 1983/84-1986/87; 14 seasons in NHL with 248 G + 244 A = 492 points; 14 years coaching in NHL, with four as HC; and most recently seven seasons as Badgers HC, including two winning seasons in 2016/17 and 2020/21, but 104-129-16 overall and two bad seasons in 2021/22 and 2022/23. Compare with MS7?

AND WE HAVE AN ANSWER

Tony Granato (from Hockeydb so this years record .250 is a little off... still being updated)

0.569
0.432
0.446
0.417
0.661
0.311
0.250

Hmmm... what is this series of numbers....


Mike Souza (from Hockeydb so this years record .313 is a little off... still being updated)

0.458
0.500
0.326
0.426
0.313

vs this series