... but to diverge slightly from the broken record (old timer LP reference) fire everyone now theme of this thread: who should be more more surprised and disappointed this morning: UNH or UMO fans?
Easy question with two answers, actually ... our UMaine-iac friends will be surprised their team lost, and disappointed they did not at least get a chance to play against the 3 seed with a trip to the HE Semis on the line. They lost to the hands-down worst team in the league - remember, UVM may have beaten UNH 3 in a row this season, but they still finished comfortably last - and they will have thought a road game against the three seed would have been great entertainment. Remember, when things are going good, no one travels like UNH and UMaine fans. Whereas UNH fans cannot be surprised to have lost to Providence, and there's a fair amount of us who aren't too disappointed, since a win or two (while fun) would have been further fodder for the "Keep MS7 & extend him" camp (that would be Mrs. MS7 and the Stewart and Guiliano families).
But once the sting wears off in the Downeast, our UMaine-iac pals get to look back at this season with honest-to-goodness optimism, as they've clearly bottomed out and are now heading back in the right direction (hint to AD Rich - that would mean UP the standings), with a coach who is following suit with his prior recruiting successes, and building back the Black Bears to past glories. In fact, Coach Barr is Making UMaine Great Again (choke on that, rufus you commie bast!d). He may never quite reach the heights of Walshy, but that's only because nothing is better than the first time. And Barr will use last night's loss as rocket fuel for next year's team to motivate them any time they might get complacent, and I would be willing to bet UMaine is one of the four teams that get to Boston this time next year. Sadly, UNH is unlikely to be there to meet them ... and the longer UNH Admin dawdles with pulling the plug on the Great Umile Experiment, the longer it will be before we can again see UNH and UMaine fans, wall to wall, packing out the Garden like the old days.
This time, two years ago, our departed pal Blue Skies knew that UMaine was likely to move on from Red Gendron, whose contract was running out at the end of that season. He was a lame duck before he was a dead duck (pardon the pun), and if Blue Skies had the cojones and vision to axe Souza and hire Barr right then and there, that could have been us with the exciting progress and knocking on the door of playing in the real important games. It wasn't (and isn't). Instead, to compound the indignity, the putz extended Souza.
I expect more disappointing inactivity from AD Rich this Spring. She should have been waiting for the bus back from Providence to return last night, with instructions for MS7 to report back to her office the following morning (today) and discuss terms of his early severance, pack up his stuff, and say goodbye to his guys one last time. Then brought in Guiliano, thank him for his services, and show him the door too. Had Stewart in right after, and name him interim coach, making no promises other than a chance to interview with his new boss for his old job. Stew can be tasked with keeping the volunteer goalie coach apprised on the process that follows. Let him also continue to liaise with next season's recruits, with the idea that he should be back (let's say 70-30 in favor of at least a "bridge year") to see if the new guy finds value in keeping Stewart longer. And bring on the national search.
'Watcher, you good with that? Oh, and one more thing. At least one of us on here (I'll volunteer, I'm sure others would too) would be part of whatever blue-ribbon committee gets set up. There has to be a strict "No Umile policy" (sorry Coach, you got your one chance, and blew it). Bob Norton would be welcome. Gordie Clark, Ralph Cox, Rod Langway, Marc Hubbard even ... and you'd have to give an interview to Coach McCloskey, if for no other reason than to publicly acknowledge just how poorly he was treated by the prior regime. Ditto Borek, but also invite anyone and everyone from across the hockey universe to apply.
To paraphrase from
The Godfather (not
Da Godfaddah) ... this time, we settle all UNH family business, once and for all.
, but to diverge slightly from the broken record (old timer LP reference) fire everyone now theme of this thread: who should be more more surprised and disappointed this morning: UNH or UMO fans?
