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UNH Offseason Contract Edition.

TheGrouchyCat said:
Thank you for validating my thesis regarding McCloskey. So much talent came out of the bush leagues of BC and the was due to the ridiculous work of McCloskey and the connections he had out west for under scouted talent. Colin Hemmingway immediately comes to mind.
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Lanny Gare too, probably Sean Matile (after his one year in limbo, but he was from out there) plus maybe Ty Conklin (Alaska), then throw in Nathan Martz, Matty "Eyechart" Dzieduszycki, Chad Onufrechuk, probably Preston Callander, Tyson Teplitsky, Justin Aikins and the "bust" that was Travis Bunga. McCloskey's recruiting fingerprints are all over all four of the Umile Frozen Four teams, and his back-to-back HEA champions.

And for all this, Blue Skies and top UNH admin made him walk the plank over a ridiculously exaggerated "incident". It's almost like the Curse of Bobby Layne on the Detroit Lions, so the good news is only 50+ years more 'til it lifts lol ...
 
Potluck said:
I'm a bit surprised by the ferocity of the disagreement with my facilities post. 16 year olds (which is the age of top recruits when they often commit) are visual. College hockey players spend far more time at the facility on non game days, so the locker room, lounge, weight room and nutritional areas are where they spend a ton of time. Just google the locker facilities at the other hockey east schools and you'll see UNH is still in the the 1990s. Compare UNH facilities with UMass, BU. Lowell, BC, Providence and then check the HE standings the past 10 years....

Sean Collins picked UNH over BU when BU was still in Walter Brown Arena. Krog picked UNH over Michigan State right when the Whit opened. Mowers, Nolan and Bogie picked UNH over Michigan among many others right when the Whit was newly built and state of the art. Those types of players rarely even visit UNH anymore. Umile's stories about playing in Snively in the 70s likely had nothing to do with their decision, just like Souza's story about meeting his wife at UNH likely means nothing to recruits.

If the programs aren't putting big money into the facilities, the lack of funding almost certainly carries over the coaching salaries and recruiting budgets. You don't think parents and advisors are quick to notice and note it to the recruit?
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Chuck covered most of your post, PL, except for why Sean Collins came to UNH, which was to join Steve Saviano, his best buddy since childhood in Reading. Either the HC or one of his two assistants was brilliant in recruiting undersized Saviano for the 2000/01 season when he was not needed other than to entice Collins to join him the next year. The 2000/01 team was loaded at the forward position with the Haydar bros, Gare, C. Hemingway, Busch, Swain, Abbot, Ficek, Martz, Prudden, and Rogers, so Saviano was lucky to get into 16 games on the fourth line. That all changed with the arrival of Sean Collins the next season, and Saviano developed into a top six forward.

Not to nitpick on the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 teams and in-game coaching, but those two teams should have made the FF also to make it six straight. The recruiting by Lassondre and McCloskey was as good as for any Div 1 team in the country during those years.
 
Actually the first big recruit from “out west” was Jeff Levy. Kullen was proud of that get. The next one was Eric Flinton. The Whit opened in 1995. It was announced with great fanfare several years previously - at the latest 1992 but maybe 91.

The Nolan, Bogie. Woodman, Murray, class was called “one of the best in UNH history” by UNH sports information and was absolutely attributed to the construction of the Whit. The buildings color drawings were a key part of recruiting. Btw, UNH used it to land Heinke as an alleged blue chip transfer from Providence and the following year another alleged blue chip Todd Hall from a scholarship scandal plagued Boston College. Heinke and Hall were two very blue chip recruits coming out of prep.

The building changed everything from the moment it was announced. Nolan and Bogie were two of the top recruits in all of college hockey. Walsh nearly lost his mind when Maine lost Nolan to UNH. Trust me.

Looking ahead, the next ten years of unh hockey by and large will come down the construction of the $18 million renovation. It won’t have anywhere near the iimpact of the Whit but recruiting will noticeably improve. I am not close to the program anymore. Is it fully funded? When will the actual construction begin?
 
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JB said:
I was late starting. I was convinced that the AD's move with basketball indicated she didn't have HUBS (head up butt syndrome). I was apparently wrong... contract terms will say how wrong.
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Things must be slow in the engineering world, JB is all over the place now.
 
I am fine with MS7 not holding post-season press conferences if he is focused on maximizing use of the portal to improve his team for the upcoming season(s). Looks like an upgrade of the goalie position to me.
 
Snively65 said:
I am fine with MS7 not holding post-season press conferences if he is focused on maximizing use of the portal to improve his team for the upcoming season(s). Looks like an upgrade of the goalie position to me.
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Just one post season would be nice but too late now.
But glad we have a 'tender lined up...
 
Potluck said:
... The Whit opened in 1995. It was announced with great fanfare several years previously - at the latest 1992 but maybe 91.

The Nolan, Bogie. Woodman, Murray, class was called “one of the best in UNH history” by UNH sports information and was absolutely attributed to the construction of the Whit. The buildings color drawings were a key part of recruiting. Btw, UNH used it to land Heinke as an alleged blue chip transfer from Providence and the following year another alleged blue chip Todd Hall from a scholarship scandal plagued Boston College. Heinke and Hall were two very blue chip recruits coming out of prep.

The building changed everything from the moment it was announced. Nolan and Bogie were two of the top recruits in all of college hockey. Walsh nearly lost his mind when Maine lost Nolan to UNH. Trust me.

Looking ahead, the next ten years of unh hockey by and large will come down the construction of the $18 million renovation. It won’t have anywhere near the impact of the Whit but recruiting will noticeably improve. I am not close to the program anymore. Is it fully funded? When will the actual construction begin?
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So your argument was 16 year old's need to "see it" and the Whitt is why we got Bogie, Nolan, Mowers, and Krog. When noted they all committed when the building was at best a dream/hole in the ground. You come back that it was announced with "great fanfare" in 1992.

OK so TDL's investment in UNH hockey was announced with "great fanfare" last August. There are amazing renderings of what the spaces will be like, so the prospects can "see it". (I have had to listen to "Key Auto Group Complex" for an entire season and apparently now there is a neon sign.) Let's see the commitments since August are just 3, George McCaffrey, Jayden Connors, Ryan Grout. None of those pop like Bogie or Nolan those early recruits that arrived on the announcement of a new building.

If it isn't clear, I think coaching and recruiting win games, facilities are nice and help just a little.

Maine - 4 years ago .250%, 3 years ago .273%, 2 years ago .486, this past year .649%. In January Maine announced $80M from the Harold Alfond Foundation to the athletics department. Not all that money goes to hockey however, "including a 13,000 square-foot addition to the Shawn Walsh Center which will include renovated strength and conditioning facilities, new film room, recovery rooms, team offices, expanded locker rooms, team lounges, and a 4,900-square-foot expansion to Alfond Arena"

So wait Maine moved from really bad to 3rd in Hockey East, made it to Boston, made it to the NCAAs without the upgraded facilities. All in Ben Barr's 3rd season at the helm. Sounds like somebody who doesn't use substandard facilities as an excuse.
 
'Watcher just had a great informative post up on the recruiting process of Mark Mowers, and how literally nothing was mentioned by Mowers to the interviewer (Fosters) on the upcoming new building. Hope he's just editing ...
 
Snively65 said:
I am fine with MS7 not holding post-season press conferences if he is focused on maximizing use of the portal to improve his team for the upcoming season(s). Looks like an upgrade of the goalie position to me.
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Maximizing the use of the portal AND better communication to your fanbase are not mutually exclusive concepts.

Having said that ... the new kid looks like a Whale (j/k) of an acquisition, and should resolve the UNH goalie position for the next two seasons, and in many ways echoes the unheralded Hellsten addition at this time last season. If Mucinex is indeed headed down to UConn with Luce, the portal already is arguably a net plus for UNH, even if it ended right now. Goalie upgraded, discarded goalie "bust" signing with a league rival, and otherwise opening up roster slots/scholarship money to accelerate Sadowski (I'm hoping) and perhaps another helpful portal addition or two. Assuming Jenson and Hellsten are both back - no word on Reid, but I'm assuming he's leaving at this point - despite my frequent criticism of MS7 these last few seasons, this is starting to actually feel like some positive momentum towards getting back to consistent winning hockey.

Finish up the offseason strong, land a few high-profile recruits for future classes, and this might really start to cook ...
 
Bob Kullen's first (1991) and last recruiting class (1992) allowed UNH to move from last place to the 1992 NCAAs (back when it was 12 teams). While Umile got his sort of recruits from Boston and the old GBL areas, Serino got them Boguniecki in 1993 to start the real wave, and McCloskey was able to take that narrative of an upward trajectory for the program and sell it to top Canadian kids, all before any improvements to the Whit were in the offing.

Boguniecki, who grew up in West Haven, Conn., was a highly touted recruit coming out of Westminster Academy, where he accumulated 59-64-123 totals in two seasons. He selected UNH, in part, because of the coaching staff. He said Boston University and Maine were among the schools that recruited him heavily. "I could have gone anywhere," he said. "I wanted to stay in the East so my parents could come watch me play. What sold me was Coach (Chris) Serino. He'd come to my hockey games, my lacrosse games, my football games _ he was at them all. I meshed well with Coach (Dick) Umile. We hit it off from the first visit. It was a real love-hate relationship, but we seemed to think alike
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Nolan, a 5-10, 175-pound center from Springfield, Mass., and Larochelle, a 6-1, 180-pound goaltender, selected UNH after visiting the campus last weekend. Nolan is considered the prize jewel of UNH’s recruiting class. A creative playmaker and scorer, the Avon Old Farms forward was among the top recruits in the country. He visited Maine, Boston College and St. Lawrence and was also being recruited by Michigan, Michigan State and Providence.
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“I love the coaches,” Nolan said of the UNH staff. “The coaches were just great plus I love the campus. I want to get my degree and help the team win a national championship,” he added. “They’re striving to get better and better every day. I think they’re working toward and striving toward a national championship. I think we can do it in a couple of year.” Nolan is hoping to be an impact player. “I can’t wait to get up there,” he said. Nolan scored 29 goals and dished out 24 assists last season for Avon. As a sophomore, he scored 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists). His older sister, Amy, is a senior at UNH.
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One of the highest scorers in the United States Hockey League has given the University of New Hampshire a verbal commitment, the Democrat has learned. Adding talent to an already strong recruiting class is Mark Mowers, a speedy 5'11 170 pound forward currently skating for the Dubuque (Iowa) Fighting Saints. Mowers, 19, selected UNH after visiting Minnesota-Duluth, Providence, North Dakota and Bowling Green. "I guess I just felt very comfortable (at UNH)," Mowers said Monday from his Whitesboro, NY home. I felt real comfortable with the players and the coaches." "I could see myself being at the university for four years," he added. "I felt right at home. They're going to be a good team down the road and I want to be a part of it."
Mowers has led Dubuque to a 16-6-1 record. In 22 games, he has scored 29 goals and added 14 assists for 43 points to rank third in the USHL scoring race. He has scored a point in every game he has played this season, breaking the team record of 19. "I guess I'm just blossoming at the right time," Mowers said. Mowers was at Snively arena on Dec. 4 to watch UNH defeat the University of Massachusetts at Lowell 3-1. He said he was so impressed by his visit that he nearly canceled scheduled visits to Minnesota Duluth and north Dakota. "I felt like making my decision then. I could have made my decision right then," he said. He said he visited Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota out of courtesy, to see what else was "out there" but he said his decision to accept UNH's scholarship offer was an easy one. "I've had so many sleepless nights thinking about it," he said of the recruiting process. "It's just crazy. There are just so many things going though your mind. I'm sleeping good now. I have no doubts about my decision," Mowers continued.
During the 1992-93 season, Mowers compiled 31-38-69 totals for Saginaw of the North American Junior Hockey League. He finished fourth among NAJHL's scorers in 39 games. Mowers said he was especially impressed by UNH's coaching staff and the support the community and students give the team during his visit to the Durham campus. "The atmosphere was just great," he said. "Bowling Green had a lot of fans (at the game he saw there) but it seemed the crowd (at UNH) got so much more involved in the game." Mowers was recruited by assistant coach Brian McCloskey. He said he felt comfortable around McCloskey, assistant coach Jim Tororella, and head coach Dick Umile. "I fell in love with Coach Umile,” he said. "He seems like a great guy to play for."
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Derek Beker in Nov. 1994 was the first to mention the new arena.
 
Stumbled over this item when trying to dredge up some early Internet accounts of the new arena's early days ...

Crimson Finds Acres of Ice in New Towse Arena | Sports | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)

... other than being a terribly-constructed article, it's interesting that the first impressions the "refurbished" arena left with the writer were that it was very bright, and very big. Nothing about state of the art, and SO impressive that it fooled the writer into thinking the new arena was just a renovation/refurbishment of the old one. I guess the writer also was thrown off by the presence of the prehistoric old Snively scoreboard lol ...
 
Felger said:
The Great White Whale
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Felgie, the days where I pondered a long-form summer story about Dick Umile starring as "Captain Ahab" in his career-long quest for the Great White Whale are (thankfully) about as dead and buried as the whaling industry in New Beffa/Fall Rivah. Of course, that comparison only worked while Umile was maniacally focused on getting the big prize. I didn't get that impression for at least the final half-decade of his UNH career, and I've never gotten that impression of the current UNH HC ... until maybe when he realized the form of his first 4 1/2 seasons in charge was gonna earn him a pink slip, and started working harder. I just hope MS7 realizes that journey is only now just starting, and him and his staff are all gonna have to work even harder (and smarter) to progress further, and he doesn't just shift into neutral, thinking 6th place is good enough, 'cuz sixth place did just happen to be barely good enough to get him another chance. I really do hope he is (much) smarter than that ...
 
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