UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

[snively]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

I was late arriving to this discussion but needed to add my memories of this great time in UNH Hockey history. I too attended UNH from 1973-1977. I recall that September of Dave Lumley's freshmen year. It was as early as the first weekend of school when several upperclassmen in the dorm decided to show this kid from Ontario what "cow tipping" was all about. I will give Lumley credit, he did not give up right away. I can not describe the look and smell of him covered in cow s_ _ t. Lumley was a great guy. Extremely friendly and like most of us at UNH at the time enjoed his cocktails. The first exhibition game rolls around and he urges a bunch of us from the dorm to come watch him play his first game. So as a freshmen it took few shifts before he jumped on the ice. We all watched in amazement has he made about three skating strides and laid a two hander to the head of an opposing team player with his stick. Game Misconduct!!!.. His debut lasted about 10 seconds. And we all thought he was a nice guy. he should have been arrested.

Awesome cowtipping story, Mark.

Lummer was "style". He had a flashy white car -- maybe a Pontiac Firebird? -- and its Ontario license plate was LUM14

 

[InsideHockey]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Mike Sislo, Bobby Butler, Phil DeSimone and Dick Umile speak on their game against Cornell on Friday. Video from Biz Jacobs.

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[snively]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

There were 2 others on their way back to Canada for break during the gas crisis. Warren Brown's car with extra gas in tanks on a a foggy night. A truck rear ended them setting car on fire. I think one of the others was Dave Bertolo?? He wore gloves under his gloves to protect his burnt hands from infection and skin break down for the rest of the season, burnt them putting out Brown.

Tragic and true.

The other player in the car that night was was another class act, Jim Harvie...

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

There are few coaches as classy as coach York. And to be honest, Other than UNH, there's no team I enjoy watching more than BC. The fans make it difficult to want them to win, but I love the way BC plays, the games against UNH are often some of the best, most clean, high flying games every year...

Not sure that I would agree with "most clean," especially when I consider the likes of Brooks Orpik, Brian Gionta, Patrick Eaves, and some other Eagles players in recent memory.

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Greetings from the Time Machine.
I just watched a replay of Gordie, Jamie and Cliff scoring three goals in 1 minute and 45 seconds against RPI in the 1974 ECAC playoffs! It was in the 2nd period with UNH behind 4-1 when both teams had two men in the penalty box resulting in a 3-on-3. Cox scored the first 2 and Gordie polished off the 3rd.
Many thanks to zoofer for providing me with the DVD. It was like being 21 again.

 

[DaveDan]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Greetings from the Time Machine.
I just watched a replay of Gordie, Jamie and Cliff scoring three goals in 1 minute and 45 seconds against RPI in the 1974 ECAC playoffs! It was in the 2nd period with UNH behind 4-1 when both teams had two men in the penalty box resulting in a 3-on-3. Cox scored the first 2 and Gordie polished off the 3rd.
Many thanks to zoofer for providing me with the DVD. It was like being 21 again.

A UNH classic and one of my first hockey memories. Cap Raeder had that hip/leg injury that limited his mobility as I recall. Is this up on YouTube by chance? Would love to see it. Given your USCHO nickname, I would have surmised this video was part of your gold collection, not a borrowed DVD.

And for the down-memory-lane at Snively: I recall the chain link around the rink before glass went up in 1977 I believe. Boy could you get on the goalies back then jeering though the chain link down a the far end ... though these I can say are not some of my "prouder" moments...

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

A UNH classic and one of my first hockey memories. Cap Raeder had that hip/leg injury that limited his mobility as I recall. Is this up on YouTube by chance? Would love to see it. Given your USCHO nickname, I would have surmised this video was part of your gold collection, not a borrowed DVD.

And for the down-memory-lane at Snively: I recall the chain link around the rink before glass went up in 1977 I believe. Boy could you get on the goalies back then jeering though the chain link down a the far end ... though these I can say are not some of my "prouder" moments...

I'll enlist the aid of my teenage son to help me get the clip on YouTube. The video captures everything that Snively Arena was famous for - raucous crowd, wall-to-wall fans behind the chain link, even a much thinner Bob Norton behind the bench.

 

[snively]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

I'll enlist the aid of my teenage son to help me get the clip on YouTube. The video captures everything that Snively Arena was famous for - raucous crowd, wall-to-wall fans behind the chain link, even a much thinner Bob Norton behind the bench.

That'd be fabulous if you could. If anyone knows of 105 seconds of better tic-tac-toe college hockey sniping by the same line, I'd sure like to see it.

On that chainlink mesh behind the nets: Joey Bertagna tells a great story about trying to make eyes at a very pretty UNH student behind Harvard's cage during a timeout... and the stream of blue language that was unleashed at him in reply.

Evidently she had the vocabulary and bile of a drunk, PO'd longshoreman. I'm proud of her.

 

[Kenny L Parker]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Cornell fan here. I've enjoyed this thread immensely. Thanks for the memories.

I agree with Carmine: it is a system, for better or for worse. They can be had by a quick team (see Bemidji game in NCAA last year), though they've added some offense this year.

 

[thecomicbookguy]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

On that chainlink mesh behind the nets: Joey Bertagna tells a great story about trying to make eyes at a very pretty UNH student behind Harvard's cage during a timeout... and the stream of blue language that was unleashed at him in reply.

Evidently she had the vocabulary and bile of a drunk, PO'd longshoreman. I'm proud of her.

If the bell/fish guy in the video posted a few weeks ago was my precursor, I'm pretty sure that woman was UNHhockey29's.

 

[Aerman]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Not sure that I would agree with "most clean," especially when I consider the likes of Brooks Orpik, Brian Gionta, Patrick Eaves, and some other Eagles players in recent memory.

How could you leave out Gerbe

 

[snively]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Cornell fan here. I've enjoyed this thread immensely. Thanks for the memories.

I agree with Carmine: it is a system, for better or for worse. They can be had by a quick team (see Bemidji game in NCAA last year), though they've added some offense this year.

Welcome aboard KLP -- we're quirky (and a few of us are a bit long in the tooth), but we're happy to have you here. Hoping for another great game on Friday.

FWIW, you guys beat us in Ithaca in the ECACs my senior year ('75) in another classic...

 

[snively]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

If the bell/fish guy in the video posted a few weeks ago was my precursor, I'm pretty sure that woman was UNHhockey29's.

That was a great video, no?

Brian Petrovek was in Harvard's nets until graduating in '77 and Joe B preceded him... so Bertagna's anecdote must date to about '73 or '74?

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

More hardware for Bobby Butler - the Walter Brown Award.

http://www.unhwildcats.com/sports/mice/2009-10/releases/20100323zinw5f

 

[UNHhockey29]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

If the bell/fish guy in the video posted a few weeks ago was my precursor, I'm pretty sure that woman was UNHhockey29's.

I didn't think I swore that bad during games. Maybe I do.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

More great (and one tragic) memories here. Warren Brown died on his way home to Ontario in December, 1973. UNH had beaten BC in overtime that night on a Gordie Clark goal at McHugh Forum. The ever generous Charlie Holt allowed the players to bring their cars down to Boston for that game so that they could get a head start home for the holidays. I believe the accident, (involving gas cans stored in the trunk) that Brown, Bertollo, and Harvie were involved in happened someplace out on the NY Thruway. Very tragic. UNH has given out the Warren Brown Award to the best defensive forward each year since then.

The chain link I remember well. My girlfriend (now wife of 35 years) and I used to stand at the far end where, at the time, the only clock in Snively was. When play stopped, you would have to run up the stands to see how much time was left in the game. Standing there you felt like you were in the game. You could hear all the players and the refs. When UNH was on a power play with Gordie Clark, John Gray and Guy Smith, you almost felt like you were the sixth man. Former Northeastern player Mike Sanford told me once that their coach, Fernie Flaman, told his players that when they played up at Snively, if any fans give them c**p, they had his permission to butt end them through the fence. Beautiful.

Snively was a great place, but if we were still playing there UNH Hockey would be in the dumps.

 

[snively]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

When UNH was on a power play with Gordie Clark, John Gray and Guy Smith, you almost felt like you were the sixth man. Former Northeastern player Mike Sanford told me once that their coach, Fernie Flaman, told his players that when they played up at Snively, if any fans give them c**p, they had his permission to butt end them through the fence. Beautiful.

Great anecdote about Flaman (no doubt some did), and nice to see the terrific John Gray and Guy Smith from just a smidgeon earlier remembered on this thread as well.

So you don't miss the arrow in the roof???

 

[DaveDan]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

More Memories:
77 thru 79 Artie Shaw manned the cow-bell and I am fairly certain he originated the "Winning Team / Losing Team" Cheer that lives on to this day, pre-dating the fish by a couple of years. I have lost touch with Art, he is/was an executive with Marriott Corp.

The college education was not needed to quickly learn not to hold on to the chain link with fingers....

Great to go to games and see the Traditions handed down and on....

 

[Kenny L Parker]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Welcome aboard KLP -- we're quirky (and a few of us are a bit long in the tooth), but we're happy to have you here. Hoping for another great game on Friday.

FWIW, you guys beat us in Ithaca in the ECACs my senior year ('75) in another classic...

Thanks, I'm glad to be here. Don't get to this site much anymore. Children will do that to ya! I saw an old thread just yesterday where some jackarse (Steve?) from BC was giving you the business. Glad you stuck it to the punk!

Seeing your note about a playoff game in the '70s reminds me somehow that I've read on this board how some within your fan base are content with the last 10+ years of UNH hockey and some ride the coach for not having delivered a national championship. I'm trying to figure out how I feel about the same question from the Cornell perspective. Some of our fans recognize that 1970 is forty years gone, and some don't. I started at Cornell during the lowest ebb of our program's hockey history; Schafer arrived during my undergraduate years and revived the program. There's no doubt that his tenure has been very, very successful (7 NCAA tourney wins, 5 league titles, a FF appearance, .630ish winning percentage) and yet I also lament the missed opportunities (the '02 and '03 losses to UNH in the NCAA, 2 ECAC finals losses to inferior Harvard teams, last year's NCAA loss to Bemidji State [no offense], preventing a return to the FF). Cornell has been a top 10 program for most of the last 15 years, but at the same time they've not been "top-tier". I'd really like them to get "over the hump" and win a national championship, and yet the realist in me knows that we are living in a latter-day Golden Age of Cornell hockey (and athletics in general).

Okay, end of that stream of consciousness!

 

[snively]

Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Thanks, I'm glad to be here. Don't get to this site much anymore. Children will do that to ya! I saw an old thread just yesterday where some jackarse (Steve?) from BC was giving you the business. Glad you stuck it to the punk!

Seeing your note about a playoff game in the '70s reminds me somehow that I've read on this board how some within your fan base are content with the last 10+ years of UNH hockey and some ride the coach for not having delivered a national championship. I'm trying to figure out how I feel about the same question from the Cornell perspective. Some of our fans recognize that 1970 is forty years gone, and some don't. I started at Cornell during the lowest ebb of our program's hockey history; Schafer arrived during my undergraduate years. There's not doubt that his tenure has been very, very successful (7 NCAA tourney wins, 5 league titles, a FF appearance, .630ish winning percentage) and yet I also lament the missed opportunities (the '02 and '03 losses to UNH in the NCAA, 2 ECAC finals losses to inferior Harvard teams, last year's loss to Bemidji State [no offense]). Cornell has been a top 10 program for most of the last 15 years, but at the same time they've not been "top-tier". I'd really like them to get "over the hump" and win a national championship, and yet the realist in me knows that we are living in a latter-day Golden Age of Cornell hockey (and athletics in general).

Okay, end of that stream of consciousness!

Interesting stuff, Kenny (and yes, agree about the children -- though mine are now both teens).

The national title issue is an odd one. Of course I'd like to win one (and we came within one OT goal of doing so against Maine), but I'm not sure my fondness for our program would change all that much even if we did. It's just one of those things... ask a Cubs fan -- or for that matter, one from Clarkson (who were a perennial power not all that long ago). Do they love 'em any less? The program's always been entertaining and clean, and I couldn't really ask much more than that from either Charlie Holt or Dick Umile.

As I said much earlier on this thread, one of my special memories from that '77 2OT game in The Garden was the huge contingent Cornell brought down from Ithaca for that weekend, and how thousands of them sang your alma mater (before the first OT?). Really haunting, moving stuff -- memories that don't leave you 33 years later.

Again, thanks for dropping in on this thread, and thanks for the kind words on the other stuff as well. Hoping for a great game on Friday. As one of the fans here (I think JB) so nicely put it, I'll be happy win or lose if we play the whole 60 minutes and are a tough out.

PS -- given that you came within a goal of winning the women's NCAA title in 3OTs, are the first Ivy team to make the Sweet Sixteen in hoops in 31 years (and still going strong), and took a second place in the NCAA wrestling NCAA finals, I'm not quite buying the "latter day Golden Age of athletics" -- sounds like a d***ed good month to me!