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UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

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Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

I hate this as much as everyone else, but the currently-constituted UNH Wildcats in the playoffs have become an enormous joke, and the legend grows every year, and there are at least fifteen teams' fanbases that are laughing at us, thinking that if we just cut our losses and hired a mercenary that we'd be very tough to beat.

But instead we stand pat and when the playoffs come we all try to manage our anxiety and get through it. It sucks. It really does. I'm tired of it. I don't fear dropping to 32nd in the RPI or becoming irrelevant, as the "grass isn't always greener on the other side" crowd does. If that's what happens, it happens, ces't la vie. I'll ante up. I want a change now, and I'll be happy to put my money where my (big) mouth is on this issue. I am just tired of the whole song and dance. How can anyone not be tired of it at this point? Umile is the greatest coach in school history, but let's roll the dice on someone else. Come on. Let's step up to the plate and get it done. Now.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Snively65 said:
My guess is that UNH may squeak into a regional against Wisco or Miami. When was the last time that a big four conference RS winner did not get to the NCAAs?
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Agree.. as a matter of fact the first scenario I ran on the PWR Predictor had UNH as a three seed
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

pgv said:
Yep...the first scenario I ran was all the favorites winning...UNH was 12th
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WOW YOUR RIGHT , I PUT IN RIT LOSING , AND GOT THEM TO 10TH, SCARY. IN FACT I CHANGED A FEW SCENARIOS AND HAD BU BEATING UVM IN FINALS AND THEY ENDED UP 8TH. NOT THAT I THINK THAT WILL HAPPEN ..
 
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Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

pgv said:
Yep...the first scenario I ran was all the favorites winning...UNH was 12th
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I ran it with a UW win over DU in the WCHA Final 5 and we came out tied for 11th, I think that may be the best we can hope for. :rolleyes:
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

IrishWildcat said:
I ran it with a UW win over DU in the WCHA Final 5 and we came out tied for 11th, I think that may be the best we can hope for. :rolleyes:
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NO I RAN IT WITH UVM MEATING BU IN FINALE , WITH BU WINNING AND GOT 8TH .. I ALSO RAN MOST OF FAVORITES WINNING AND GOT 10TH , ALSO SHOWED rit LOSING AND IT GOT EVEN BETTER,
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Snively65 said:
My guess is that UNH may squeak into a regional against Wisco or Miami. When was the last time that a big four conference RS winner did not get to the NCAAs?
Click to expand...

I believe it was one of Lucias first couple of CC teams, 1994 maybe?

I have run a number of predictors with different scenarios and I think there are a ton of ways UNH still makes it. I would imagine there would be quite a few where they'd come up just short as well. At least you have something at stake...
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

UNH1982 - turn off the Caps Lock.

I have no idea how a team this flawed won the Regular Season. They may work hard, but they make some awful decisions, and I don't think it can all be laid at the feet of the coaches, or credited to the trap.

UNH got some decent shots in the third/OT, but I don't think they got their stick on a single offensive zone rebound the entire game. Any time there was an offensive chance where the play continued, the puck ended up on a UVM player's stick.

Carmine Scarpaglia said:
I don't want to pile on, I'd have preferred UNH won tonight... but... Are you kidding me? No one wants to play UNH in the NCAAs? I would think it's the opposite.
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Yeah, it sounds like if UNH makes the tourney, they'll be a low 3/high 4 seed (I'm thinking 11-14), meaning they'd play someone in the 3-6 range. I gotta think any of the top 6 teams in the country would be licking their chops to draw UNH in the first round. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that teams that look like they're going to be in that range are actively hoping things break right for UNH to squeak into the tourney.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

I know this is going to end up being a bad post, but it's crap I feel needs to be said in light of tonight's game against UVM.

First off, this has been one of the most enjoyable UNH teams I've ever seen play, and it's a shame that it comes down to scoreboard-watching to see whether we make NCAA's or not. We are not be the most talented team in the country, but we have played like it. We've taken Miami and BC to the brink..so we CAN do it.

On the flip side, we've also gotten smoked by Bucky, lost to RPI, and lost (on home ice) to a UVM team which so heavily relied on trap defense it makes me nauseous just thinking about this weekend's series.

It hurts so much right now thinking about what this team COULD HAVE done. How close they've come, hell...tonight was the best example, we could have scored 4 goals in that overtime period if the puck bounced the other way.

But I guess that's how life is sometimes. You're so close, and you wish you could reach out with your stick to knock in a sure thing...but it's just out of reach. Then someone else takes it away from you, and there nothing you can do but watch in horror/anger/shock/sadness as he scores on a fluke chance. It's not right when that happens, in hockey or in life, but it's what makes us...as fans and as people...a little stronger and a lot wiser for the future.

But enough philosophizing. It sucks what happened to this team, it sucks that now we'll be blamed for breaking the PWR Predictor trying to figure out how we get into the NCAA's. ;)

Tomorrow, we've all gotta get up, go to work, and move on with life. Because there's always another game.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

thecomicbookguy said:
I gotta think any of the top 6 teams in the country would be licking their chops to draw UNH in the first round. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that teams that look like they're going to be in that range are actively hoping things break right for UNH to squeak into the tourney.
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Absolutely right. When UNH is favored, they lose by three goals in the tourney. A Wisco-UNH or Miami-UNH matchup has 9-2 loss written all over it.

Chuck Murray was as right as anyone in the history of this board has been when he said that 2002-2003 were the "good old days" for UNH. God, he was incredibly prescient, and I hate him for it. ;) :)
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

thecomicbookguy said:
I have no idea how a team this flawed won the Regular Season.
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Well, they had more points than the 2nd place team.

Seriously though, this league is terribly mediocre this year. 3-10 was terribly mediocre. They all beat each other up and BC just fell short by 1 pt.

The scary thing about going into that 3rd period magic all the time in the RS for UNH this season is that you just know you can't sustain that and it will be expected and won't happen in the playoffs.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Carmine Scarpaglia said:
Well, they had more points than the 2nd place team.

Seriously though, this league is terribly mediocre this year. 3-10 was terribly mediocre. They all beat each other up and BC just fell short by 1 pt.
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My question was concerning how that happened, and yeah, I guess it was more the fact that the rest of the league was so even.

The scary thing about going into that 3rd period magic all the time in the RS for UNH this season is that you just know you can't sustain that and it will be expected and won't happen in the playoffs.
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We were discussing that earlier in this thread, and it really showed yesterday. Just needed one goal to tie, couldn't get it done. And then tonight, one goal would have won it, couldn't do it.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

IrishWildcat said:
I know this is going to end up being a bad post, but it's crap I feel needs to be said in light of tonight's game against UVM.

First off, this has been one of the most enjoyable UNH teams I've ever seen play, and it's a shame that it comes down to scoreboard-watching to see whether we make NCAA's or not. We are not be the most talented team in the country, but we have played like it. We've taken Miami and BC to the brink..so we CAN do it.

On the flip side, we've also gotten smoked by Bucky, lost to RPI, and lost (on home ice) to a UVM team which so heavily relied on trap defense it makes me nauseous just thinking about this weekend's series.

It hurts so much right now thinking about what this team COULD HAVE done. How close they've come, hell...tonight was the best example, we could have scored 4 goals in that overtime period if the puck bounced the other way.

But I guess that's how life is sometimes. You're so close, and you wish you could reach out with your stick to knock in a sure thing...but it's just out of reach. Then someone else takes it away from you, and there nothing you can do but watch in horror/anger/shock/sadness as he scores on a fluke chance. It's not right when that happens, in hockey or in life, but it's what makes us...as fans and as people...a little stronger and a lot wiser for the future.

But enough philosophizing. It sucks what happened to this team, it sucks that now we'll be blamed for breaking the PWR Predictor trying to figure out how we get into the NCAA's. ;)

Tomorrow, we've all gotta get up, go to work, and move on with life. Because there's always another game.
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Guys...RELAX!!! You are GOING to the NCAAs. You won't drop below 13th and unless there are MORE than three "out of the top 16" teams that win their conference tournaments, you are all set. I know my credibility is at risk admitting that I'm a BU fan who was at the Frozen Four last year, but scoring goes down in the post-season. UNH has traditionally relied on a wide-open, high-scoring style, and, let's say, hasn't regarded defense as a high priority. Then they get into a game against a team like Vermont that can shut them down and they start to tighten up the longer the game goes, because they're not scoring at will like they are used to. The same thing happened to us last year. We were scoring goals in record numbers, but started to struggle in the post-season. You can win Hockey East with offense, but you win national championships with defense. I also think it does no good to play in an Olympic size rink when NONE of the other rinks in post-season are. It's like what used to happen to the Red Sox, when they could never win consistently away from Fenway. I hope you win a couple and get to the Frozen Four, because, #1, it's good for the league, and #2, I really DO like UNH (except when you play us). Many folks in my family went there. I also admire your fan base...we are two miles from the Garden and can't get half as many fans there as UNH and Maine. So, good luck!
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

chickod said:
Guys...RELAX!!! You are GOING to the NCAAs. You won't drop below 13th and unless there are MORE than three "out of the top 16" teams that win their conference tournaments, you are all set.
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This season, I wouldn't call that a given.

Also, I'm not upset simply because they couldn't score, but because they just looked BAD. I saw almost every postseason game BU played last year (from game 3 of the HE quarters through the NC), and they never looked like UNH did these past two nights. Couldn't beat the trap, and lots of mental errors eventually did them in.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Thanks to the 2009-2010 UNH men's hockey team for an exciting and gratifying season. I can't be disappointed with a team that worked so hard and never gave up all season long and this evening. Best of luck to Bobby Butler, Brian Foster, Nick Krates and Peter LeBlanc in whatever career you choose. If you get to play some more college hockey this season then great. If not, it's been a fun ride.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

thecomicbookguy said:
This season, I wouldn't call that a given.

Also, I'm not upset simply because they couldn't score, but because they just looked BAD. I saw almost every postseason game BU played last year (from game 3 of the HE quarters through the NC), and they never looked like UNH did these past two nights. Couldn't beat the trap, and lots of mental errors eventually did them in.
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Understood, but there are THREE players from that team in the NHL (Wilson, Gilroy and Yip) and a fourth (McCarthy) who has been up and down. We have the same stuff down here. "Fire Parker" and "he should have quit after last year." The fact is, we won last year, but it was 14 years since the last one and 17 years since the one before that. You can "scheme" all you want, but in the end you have to have guys that can put the puck in the net. It's like the Bruins last year; they had the league's best record, but once the playoffs started and the intensity and the defense was r cheted up, they couldn't score. BU has that type of team this year. I'd love to see them win Hockey East (and now with this draw, they have a better chance), but when I look at a BU/BC final, I can't see them winning. I'm not saying you should be "happy," just trying to point out that it's VERY tough to go all the way in hockey. Coaching makes a difference, but if you look at the teams that have won, they have superstars - period. Gilroy and Wilson, Gerbe, Abdelkader, Turco, etc and on and on...
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

Thanks for the encouragement, Chickod. Actually, I would rather see UNH as a 3rd or 4th seed in Worcester or Albany than a 2nd seed anywhere. This season is not over by a long shot. Umile has two weeks to draw up some plans for breaking the trap.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats - '10 Playoff Edition

From my perch here as a BU fan, this has to be the last straw with Umile. Understood about how this UNH team maybe overachieved, but c'mon. This is going to be as good a chance as any to make a change, because if he keeps hanging around but they go deeper into the tournament its going to be that much harder to get rid of him. Think FSU would have liked to have sent Bowden packing 5 years ago in hindsight, instead of watching rival Florida dominate? I'm a firm believer in the concept that nobody gets coach for life rights anymore. Seems to me he's a helluva recruiter, but when it comes game time forget about it.
 
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