UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

[Czarry]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Sonar... That's sensational... Wonder how I missed it 20 years ago. Had you thrown the line of Smith , Gray, and Clark in there somewhere... I'd print and frame it...!!!

 

[HockeyRef]

Well said, HockeyRef. I think the long-time "vets" appreciate the energy that the "newbies" bring to the table, especially when they can understand and tolerate some of the negativity residue that us old-timers may have built up over the years. I've probably taken more heat for the "negativity" thing than most over the years - and sometimes admittedly deserved - so I try to balance that with the naive hopefulness (is that a word even?) that things are bound to improve at some point. My kids and their fresh perspective have helped me with that as well. I may be adding more years to my personal calendar than I'd care to admit, but I can still remember vividly sitting in the old Garden watching UNH beat Dartmouth (Bobby Gould at 17:17 of the 3rd period!!) in the 1979 ECAC's for the first ever real piece of hardware. When I've gone to games with the kids over the years, I can see that same novelty and excitement all over again through their eyes. They have their favorite players ... they experience the highs and lows ... and so it goes.

Moral of the story ... if you're new to all of this, don't let others set your expectations for you. Enjoy it on your terms - not mine, not Greg's, not e-cat's or sonar's or C-H-C's or 'watcher's. As wonderful and all-knowing as we all like to think we are, we are all only fans of the program and fans of the sport - just like you. Maybe sometimes we will disagree with you, and sometimes i'm sure you will disagree with one or more of us. That's the lifeblood of this great forum. Embrace debate (sorry ESPN2) and please don't take it personal. JMHO.

Thanks Chuck loved this post! My UNH experience this inaugural season
were made all the better from all of the points of view here and I have as of late come to my own conclusions and realizations. Of course being a fairly educated person (not nec. about hockey!) I hate to say dumb things so I tend I stay out of the bigger debates....for now !! Thankfully I've moved past what a "blue line" is haha. I'm thrilled to be following the 'Cats and my only regret is not doing it sooner...With our youngest graduating from the U this Spring (son in 11) I'm glad I have a great reason to return...

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Thanks for sharing that article, sonar. Gosh, that brings back some memories. We were at Snively for that playoffs finale against BC, and the Boguniecki (double?) OT game winner. It was the first game we'd taken our eldest to, and she had just turned 4 years old at the time. I think it was a high-scoring game (5-5 or 6-6?) and featured the one and only UNH goal ever scored by Bob Norton's son Pat, which I think deflected in off his pants or something! I'm not sure but I think that may have been Coach Cedorchuk's last game behind the BC bench, before their *troubles* began (oh the good ol' days ) that eventually led to Coach York returning to his alma mater.

Our daughter made it through most of regulation, but didn't last and slept in Mom's arms through the duration of OT. I think she might have been briefly awoken by the roar of Bogey's game-winner though. Fast-forward, she graduated from UNH year before last with her Masters. Time sure flies.

I also remember checking out the construction site over the next year-plus. It's hard to put into perspective now just how much the new building was seen to be a game-changer for UNH before it opened. The BC building was still relatively new, and while Mullins Center at UMass Amherst was almost identical, UMA was new to the league, and despite high hopes of early success (see UConn, 2014) you knew it was going to take some time ... and they're still waiting out there. Plans for the Lowell arena were in advanced stages as well, but otherwise The Whitt was going to be head and shoulders above the rest of the league's facilities. And so it was, for the better part of a decade after it opened. And it's only been eclipsed in the league since the construction of Agganis Arena a few years ago.

The old barn was a wonderful place though, and there's not a single time when walking through the lobby that I don't look through the doors on the right and think about the magical times spent under that arched roof, before turning left into the current arena.

 

[HockeyRef]

I also appreciate the energy of the "newbies" and I get the sense that they may even appreciate some of the perspective (even if sometimes negative) provided by the "vets". Speaking of perspectives .... perhaps the newer posters will appreciate an article I wrote for The New Hampshire almost twenty years ago .... at least I hope they will. I apologize for the length.

"It is late in the afternoon on a windy and cold Thursday. The darkness is showing aside remnants of sunshine and there is an air of excitement and anticipation. Something is happening. There are those who would say that the new UNH arena is just a building, and in some way they are right. However, in watching this building go up I have noticed a number of what I would call 'elders' perusing the scene. I include myself in that group. Now I know that the favorite spectators at construction sites are kids and old people, but this group was somehow different. I realized that I had seen them at many a UNH hockey game. Some were sitting in their cars, either in the parking lot overlooking the back of the building, or in the one near the Dairy Bar. Not much going on at the site on weekends but they came for a visit. There was that sense that they were looking at more than a building.
At some point I began to ask myself why I was making these weekly visits to the construction site. It obviously had something to do with the fact that I have watched UNH men's hockey for the last 28 years and missed approximately a half a dozen home games during that time, but it seemed like more than that. It all seemed very personal to me, kind of like the way I felt when I went to watch my new house being built and doing so on a daily basis.
It has taken me until the eve of the opening to set pen to paper. The stimulus was viewing an elderly couple, standing arm to arm, looking at the frantic activity that surrounded the building's completion. It occurred to me that they were being afforded the luxury of observing their future and their past while remaining in the present. There are times when this observing phenomena is clearly experienced; perhaps at the birth of a child, a daughter's wedding, at graduations or other endings and beginnings. It seems that at such moments in our lives we have a heightened awareness that 'something is happening.'
Walking back to the office after this latest 'sighting' I had a greater awareness of wht I was looking at during those construction visits. I was looking at the future while experiencing my own history with INH hockey. At some level of consciousness I must have been wondering who were going to be the future Rich Davids, Lou Frigons and Graham Bruders who initiated me to UNH hockey and Snively Arena; wondering whether we will be able to avoid the sadness of watching a big strong winger named Warren Brown leaning against the boards during practice and realizing his death a week later; who will provide the rare combination of fire and talent of Dave Lumley; will we ever again experience the elation of the Cox-Clark-Hislop flurry of goals followed by the hollow feeling of being No.1 being defeated by No.8; will we ever see another player as good in the face-off circle as was Dick Umile; will we ever again have to watch the puck go directly off the face-off and into the net and thus the NCAA loss to Wisconsin; will we ever again experience the likes of Bobby Gould #17 scoring at 17:17 in the Boston Garden and the sight of an exhausted Greg Moffett sitting on the ice leaning against the boards, and finally an ECAC championship; will anyone ever duplicate Andy Brickley's rise from a walk-on to All-American; when will see the intensity of a Kevin Thompson again; we know we will never see another last and longest game ever played at Snively and Eric Boguniecki's successful rush up the left side; we also know that it will be a very long time before we once again see the likes of Charlie Holt and Bob Kullen who will always remain exemplary of what college athletics can be. As our journey beyond time and space continues we will find that the answers to the above questions will be yes, no, and maybe.
The present is the birth of the past and when we see this clearly it can make us pause. Whatever season of life we are in it is important to know when to grasp and when to let go, as this is the only way we can allow ourselves to enjoy the present. In retrospect I see that my pauses by the construction site were grand opportunities to experience present moments. Something was happening, something is happening, something will be happening, and it was all happening at the same time."

As you said Chuck, "and so it goes" .......................

Well...you said it all thank you for a wonderful heartfelt story. So moving and it depicts the deep down sentiments of why so many of you continue to hope for the future while honoring the past. Which is WHY so many here have such strong feelings about the state of future UNH hockey teams... It's worth fighting for!

 

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

A finely crafted piece of writing Sonar. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

There was also much negativity surrounding the Whittemore Center construction and financing. - Why did UNH Hockey need a new arena? UNH is always looking for money and they want to build an ice rink while so much else on campus needs attention? The financing is a debacle that will take decades to recover from. - Sound familiar?

“The decision to prioritize this project ahead of $180 million of other requests USNH presented to the Governor and legislature earlier this year was surprising. The decision to use the State’s Capital Budget appropriation to fund this project was surprising,” - House Republican Leader Gene Chandler, October 2013

 

[UNHhockey29]

CAVEAT: If you are a season ticket holder and want your own seats, you may have to purchase all three games, not sure. I think that's the way they used to do it anyway!

I had the choice of buying 2 tickets or buying all 3 but if it doesn't go to 3 games I will be reimbursed for the 3rd

 

[e.cat]

I had the choice of buying 2 tickets or buying all 3 but if it doesn't go to 3 games I will be reimbursed for the 3rd

Thanks for the clarification 29

 

[ClOuD 9]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

we know we will never see another last and longest game ever played at Snively and Eric Boguniecki's successful rush up the left side;

As a fan who started following in the late 90's/early 2000's I love these little bits of history from before my time, helps to fill in the blanks and gives one a greater appreciation of the program before it's sudden rise around when I started coming.
And, while obviously not in Snively, it did not take long to pass the UNH-BC game in length - on March 10th, 1996 the UNH Women went to FIVE overtimes against Providence in the ECAC title game at the Whitt with the winning goal being scored at 145:35. It held the record for longest DI hockey game for 14 years until the Quinnipiac-Union men ended at 150:22 on March 12th, 2010.

Interestingly 5 UNH games make <a href="http://www.uscho.com/stats/longest-games/">the list of 50 longest DI men's games</a>, and I was fortunate (unfortunate?) enough to be at 2 of them:

#14) 3/21/2008 Hockey East Semifinal: Boston College 5, New Hampshire 4; 100:43 (3 OTs) at TD Garden
#29) 3/10/2006 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 2): New Hampshire 2, Providence 1; 94:18 (2 OTs) at the Whitt
#36) 3/12/1994 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 2): New Hampshire 6, Boston College 5; 90:28 (2 OTs) at Snively
#43) 3/13/1998 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 1): Maine 3, New Hampshire 2; 88:34 (2 OTs) at the Whitt
#50) 3/11/2012 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 3): Boston University 5, New Hampshire 4; 86:42 (2 OTs) at Agganis

I was also at the Maine-UMass Hockey East Championship game that went to 3 OTs back in 2004 and came in at #9 on the list, had to catch the train back after the second OT so never saw the game winner - lots of Mainers were on it and missed it too.

 

[e.cat]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

What a great piece Sonar. A diversion from your usual mystic eloquence. I could feel the passion coming through your words. Kudos

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Hey e.Cat, thanks for the info on the tickets. Us "commoners" have to wait until Wed to get our seats but I might get lucky and get awesome Center Ice tix from a season ticket holder I know who just might have a couple of seats to sell me which would be awesome! Either way I'll be there for sure!! Hate this wait but it will be fun to see what happens to the other teams over this coming weekend...

 

[JB]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

#14) 3/21/2008 3/21/2008 Hockey East Semifinal: Boston College 5, New Hampshire 4; 100:43 (3 OTs) at TD Garden
#29) 3/10/2006 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 2): New Hampshire 2, Providence 1; 94:18 (2 OTs) at the Whitt
#36) 3/12/1994 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 2): New Hampshire 6, Boston College 5; 90:28 (2 OTs) at Snively
#43) 3/13/1998 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 1): Maine 3, New Hampshire 2; 88:34 (2 OTs) at the Whitt
#50) 3/11/2012 Hockey East Quarterfinal (Game 3): Boston University 5, New Hampshire 4; 86:42 (2 OTs) at Agganis

I was also at the Maine-UMass Hockey East Championship game that went to 3 OTs back in 2004 and came in at #9 on the list, had to catch the train back after the second OT so never saw the game winner - lots of Mainers were on it and missed it too.

Wow... I was at all 6 you listed here.

Also watched a BU-St Law game in NCAAs on TV - that game was so long they went away to show the Celtics and rejoined the hockey game after the Celtics ended...

 

[unh1982]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Hey e.Cat, thanks for the info on the tickets. Us "commoners" have to wait until Wed to get our seats but I might get lucky and get awesome Center Ice tix from a season ticket holder I know who just might have a couple of seats to sell me which would be awesome! Either way I'll be there for sure!! Hate this wait but it will be fun to see what happens to the other teams over this coming weekend...

Students will be on break correct ?

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Students will be on break correct ?

Yes...but maybe they will be back for the Saturday and Sunday (if needed) games! Hopefully we'll get a big local crowd in there; I imagine the NU fans will show as well?

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Not surprisingly our very own Kevin Goumas is Hockey East's "Warrior Hockey Player of the Week" with his weekend antics...Way to go Kevin! That line of Gourmas, Sorkin and Willows had I believe 9 points on the night (Saturday) and Kevin reached his 100 career assists milestone as well. He is a great playmaker; gonna be soooo missed next year in the line up as will all of our Seniors..(this is the hard part of being a fan but it happens to the best of 'em)!

 

[UNHhockey29]

Yes...but maybe they will be back for the Saturday and Sunday (if needed) games! Hopefully we'll get a big local crowd in there; I imagine the NU fans will show as well?

The students aren't allowed back into dorms until Sunday so prob won't see too many

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Great article, sonar. I vaguely remember reading it, as I was teaching at UNH that year during a sabbatical. And, I remember watching that last goal at Snively by Bogie; everyone on both sides had been dragging on their shortened shifts, and Bogie seemed to dig deep for one last rush, leaving everyone several strides behind. I also attended the first game at Snively, and like you did with the Whitt, as a townie I rode my bicycle over to the construction site of Snively every day in 1965, taking photos with my little Brownie camera, as another arch went up each day.

 

[UNHhockey29]

I was also at the Maine-UMass Hockey East Championship game that went to 3 OTs back in 2004 and came in at #9 on the list, had to catch the train back after the second OT so never saw the game winner - lots of Mainers were on it and missed it too.

I was so hungry and tired by the end of that game (also a bit deletion a by the end of it iirc). Turning off the consessions before the 3rd was just cruel.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

Yes...but maybe they will be back for the Saturday and Sunday (if needed) games! Hopefully we'll get a big local crowd in there; I imagine the NU fans will show as well?

NU fans are not that big on traveling to away games, barring the Beanpot and cross-town games maybe.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)

The students aren't allowed back into dorms until Sunday so prob won't see too many

Duh I should've known that with my daughter a CA in ATW...!