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UNH Offseason Contract Edition.

After the Whistle said:
Chuck, great response. But you may have missed my point that as good as this year might be, we are in for a bog pay back with no easy answers.
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No, I definitely picked up on your concerns, ATW ... there's gonna be a lot of departing talent over the next year or so, and it appears MS7 is betting heavily on this year's team to surpass what they accomplished last season, and really get this tugboat called UNH Hockey turned around. If he can change the narrative surrounding him and his program around on a dime over two seasons, that alone could open up a lot of doors that have been closed to him and his program for several years now. And filling those slots with more talented (albeit less experienced) players may extend the narrative beyond the "flash in the pan" questions he may now be facing - not unlike the same questions I'm sure his "mentor" Luce is now facing down in Storrs, after they flirted briefly with being the "next big thing" in HEA, before falling back to their usual selves last season.

IF MS7 is truly serious about running a consistently winning program at UNH, he's gonna have to work harder AND smarter than the rest of his competitors than he has been up to this point. Harder and smarter than driving down to Causeway Street once/twice a winter to play grab-a$$ on the air with his golf buddies Jack and Brick, and schmoozing with TDL and the new AD f/k/a Sugar-Britches. For once, it's not hard to see a winning team in the immediate offing, with the net influx of talent at UNH and the maturing process of a returning winning team last season. Allowing a little bit of time to think long-range isn't as crazy as it used to be.

He has the next 12 months to figure out what season-after-next is gonna look like. That's a LOT of time to find solutions to a lot of problems, and a lot of the open slots you are rightly concerned about. But if MS7 has a plan now, and a message, and is not afraid to work even harder, nothing that far out is insurmountable.

Besides, TDL's promised investment in the Key-Whitt-Towse complex will be underway by then, so there will be even less viable excuses to be offered if the team and its Richly-rewarded coaching staff can't pull it off.

For now, I'm trying to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of rooting for a winning UNH Hockey program.

As for the years that follow next season ... what, me worry???

shopping
 
Chuck Murray said:
LOL the only thing I can see MS7 scouting during such a cruise is the quickest shortcut to a bar for happy hour.

ATW, I'm guessing this upcoming D group would be maybe a step or two behind the 2013/2014 blueliners led by TvR, Knodel, Pesce, Agosta, Cleland and Maller/Quast. The year before that with Hardowa was probably not too far behind. Arguably had any of the UNH FF teams of the Umile Era had the blueline quality and depth of the 2014 team, there might actually be some ultimate hardware on display at The Whitt.
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I mostly agree with this take, although the 2001/02 and 2002/03 FF teams had good depth on the blue line, if not any future NHLers like Pesce and TvR. The following eight players were on both teams: Garrett Stafford (although he missed the first semester of the 2003/03 season for academic reasons), Tim Horst, Mike Lubesnick (whose family apparently led the funding effort to install a Jumbotron at the Whitt, which I was for before I was against), Tyler Scott, Tyson Teplitsky, Kevin Truelson, Mick Mounsey, and Matt Hoppe (although he played mostly on the fourth forward line in 2002/03). Robbie Barker also provided some toughness on the blue line during his senior year in 2001/02, and Brian Yandle was in his first year for 2002/03. Although none of these blue liners was much of a regular scoring threat, they were all competent in lugging the puck out of the defensive zone and all played solid D in front of Matt Carney and Mike Ayers in 2001/02 and Mike Ayers in 2002/03, at least until they got to the FF in St Paul.

The 1997/98 and 1998/99 FF teams also had good depth on the blue line, with Jaime Filipowicz, Steve O’Brien, Christian Bragnalo, Eric Lind, Dan Enders, Mark White, and Sean Austin playing on both teams, with the addition of senior Erik Johnson on the 1997/98 team. But, like the latter two FF teams, these earlier FF teams were led by high-scoring forwards that we are unlikely ever to see again. Teams can go a long way with outstanding forwards and goaltending, but I agree that some offensive contributions from the blue line are probably required to win it all.
 
Snively65 said:
I mostly agree with this take, although the 2001/02 and 2002/03 FF teams had good depth on the blue line, if not any future NHLers like Pesce and TvR. The following eight players were on both teams: Garrett Stafford (although he missed the first semester of the 2003/03 season for academic reasons), Tim Horst, Mike Lubesnick (whose family apparently led the funding effort to install a Jumbotron at the Whitt, which I was for before I was against), Tyler Scott, Tyson Teplitsky, Kevin Truelson, Mick Mounsey, and Matt Hoppe (although he played mostly on the fourth forward line in 2002/03). Robbie Barker also provided some toughness on the blue line during his senior year in 2001/02, and Brian Yandle was in his first year for 2002/03. Although none of these blue liners was much of a regular scoring threat, they were all competent in lugging the puck out of the defensive zone and all played solid D in front of Matt Carney and Mike Ayers in 2001/02 and Mike Ayers in 2002/03, at least until they got to the FF in St Paul.

The 1997/98 and 1998/99 FF teams also had good depth on the blue line, with Jaime Filipowicz, Steve O'Brien, Christian Bragnalo, Eric Lind, Dan Enders, Mark White, and Sean Austin playing on both teams, with the addition of senior Erik Johnson on the 1997/98 team. But, like the latter two FF teams, these earlier FF teams were led by high-scoring forwards that we are unlikely ever to see again. Teams can go a long way with outstanding forwards and goaltending, but I agree that some offensive contributions from the blue line are probably required to win it all.
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I think you've confused Mike Lubesnick for Mike Borisenok before, Snives. It's the goofy (Slavic?) spellings.

Pretty sure it was the Borisenoks who were behind the funding push for the Jumbotron. Dad cashed out on his startup company at around that time, and slid some of his dough to our prior AD "Bob The Builder" Blue Skies. Say what you will about Blue Skies, but he really had a knack for hitting up the right folks for money to fund his projects. From Walt Borisenok to the football-lovin' librarian (and probably through nurturing TDL), BS could smell a rich mark a mile away.

See Walter S. Borisenok (Fortitech) at Startup Grind Capital Region NY
 
Chuck Murray said:
I think you've confused Mike Lubesnick for Mike Borisenok before, Snives. It's the goofy (Slavic?) spellings.

Pretty sure it was the Borisenoks who were behind the funding push for the Jumbotron. Dad cashed out on his startup company at around that time, and slid some of his dough to our prior AD "Bob The Builder" Blue Skies. Say what you will about Blue Skies, but he really had a knack for hitting up the right folks for money to fund his projects. From Walt Borisenok to the football-lovin' librarian (and probably through nurturing TDL), BS could smell a rich mark a mile away.

See Walter S. Borisenok (Fortitech) at Startup Grind Capital Region NY
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Yes, indeed, I did confuse the two Mike’s, who did not even play the same position.

Good to see Warren Foegele’s team even up their series tonight.
 
Snively65 said:
Yes, indeed, I did confuse the two Mike’s, who did not even play the same position.

Good to see Warren Foegele’s team even up their series tonight.
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The spotty defensive play of Lubes back in the day, I swear, was the cause of the ever expanding bald spot. Lord, did he give me shakes with his lazy skating and his adherence to a pirate LARPING, stick waving defensive style.
 
After the Whistle said:
I am sure that the6 do not. I guess I was hoping that Jason Krog and col might have European leads.
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Certainly one avenue. The smart play would be to leverage the network of Lavins and start poaching members of the Latvian World Championship team and other undiscovered talent in the region.
 
TheGrouchyCat said:
Certainly one avenue. The smart play would be to leverage the network of Lavins and start poaching members of the Latvian World Championship team and other undiscovered talent in the region.
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Exactly! Did you feel that perhaps he either was cut or injured. I couldn’t find him on the roster and I watched parts of a couple games and he didn’t seem to be playing. Still a Great idea for Marty or any other connections from our international guys. Start a path and you may get a road.
 
Saint-Jerome, Quebec, eh? Would be interesting to get some relevant commentary from the long-missing Jacques “Rabbit” Porriveau.
 
Snively65 said:
Saint-Jerome, Quebec, eh? Would be interesting to get some relevant commentary from the long-missing Jacques “Rabbit” Porriveau.
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Oh Snives ... dear friend Snives ... are you so blind?? Conjuring comparisons to the rarely-clueless Michael Corleone, who sussed out countless complicated plots for his demise, yet missed an obvious one close to home ...
 
NCAA watcher said:
McEniry
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Wow 'watcher, bravo ... I was gonna guess Joe Charlebois, a few years after McEniry (whose name and existence I'd pretty much forgotten), but he was born and raised in Potsdam NY, so "close but no cigar" there.

Linda, great question, but let me take slight liberties. Since "Quebecois" tends to be a reference for French Canadians from Quebec, and since I vaguely recall McEniry was an Anglophone (after all, he did SO much media work in his time at UNH lol ) ... who would then have been the most recent previous Francophone Quebecois to play for UNH? I don't know the answer, but I'm willing to bet either you or 'watcher knows ...
 
At the other end of our Div 1 history, Rube Bjorkman recruited several Quebecois players to UNH in the late 1960s, with five who played on the 1968/69 team: Graham Bruder, Rich David, Mickey Goulet, Loui Frigon, and Al Catto.
 
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