Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!
I actually like this team a bit, and would not want them to lose to U.Conn (nor should they). UNH will not fall off the map like LSSU and Maine, because of its location close to Boston. It has an attractive campus, and good academics to attract kids from Mass, Ontario and BC.
The program has reached its nadir, and is on its way up. Although accountability seems to be only a one-way street with Umile (did we really have to stick with a recruiting coordinator for 11 years who destroyed LSSU and steadily eroded UNH?), and his loyalty to same-aged peers extended to him wasting a new chance to add a decent recruiter to the team 4 years ago when Lassonde left, he did finally made a positive structural change this fall (a new recruiting coach). Liam Blackburn and Joel Farabee seem to speak to some uptick.
For all the times we say Umile is not going anywhere soon, bear in mind he is 66. So change will come soon, one way or the other. Unless the admin screws up the replacement process by hiring a friend of Umile, or a competent technician like Gendron, we should be able to return to the HE top 4.
I was on board with 90%+ of your post, but it was that last bit that stopped me from giving it a 100% endorsement, 'watcher. Things have changed in Hockey East during the last few seasons, which has seen two of the previous generation's so-called "Big Four" drop out of that top tier. For one, the league has added three programs to its ranks, and although UVM's addition seems a while ago, they have steadily adjusted and consolidated in the most recent seasons, and have made this a tougher league. In addition, as much as I might downplay Notre Dame's standing in the D-1 hockey community, that was at the very least a quality addition to the depth of the league, and now with UConn in the mix, and at least showing some early promise (and yes, I know we said some of the same things about the UMass Amherst program 20 or so years ago), this is now a 12 team league, so being "top 4" goes from being basically a top half team to a top third team.
Ultimately, back in the day, that meant the impact of a "top four" team having a decent-but-not-great regular season wasn't so much dropping from the top four, but just suffering a more challenging first round (home) seeding. Nowadays, that same decent-but-not-great season probably drops you into a home series in the prelim round, and a trip to a top four team to make it to the Garden (and likely to qualify for the NCAA's).
But most importantly ... the world of Hockey East has continued, and the former perennial "top four" status of UNH and UMaine is but a memory at both programs. Certainly UMaine's rise was attached to Walshy, and its continued position amongst the HE elite after he passed can be attributed to his second-in-command Standbrook, and his hand-picked successor Whitehead, and while the latter had his detractors, they were able to extend Walshy's legacy in the Downeast by almost another decade. But that is now over and done with. UNH is on a similar downwards slide - arguably more gradual until this season, but in the end, both are a shadow of what they've been, and it will take some doing to get either of those programs back to among the HE elite.
In the vacuum left behind from the falls of UNH and UMaine, we have seen UMass Lowell rise to prominence under Coach Bazin, and as I've mentioned consistently over the last year-plus, you can dismiss this development as a "fluke" at your peril. It's looking more and more like that program is going to be a fixture at or near the top of HE for years to come. After a transitional "down" year, BU has now returned among the elite (as posters such as you and others had predicted), and that looks likely to continue, given the quality of their new players, the coaching staff, the history of the program, and the great facilities. BC may be struggling (relatively speaking) this year but I don't see that being a long term issue ... yet (noting that Coach York is roughly Coach Umile's age).
So that's three of the "Big Four" spots that are most likely spoken for through the short-term future. Programs at UVM, Providence, and even Merrimack have made significant forward strides to further fill that vacuum, in the absence of UNH and UMaine. I realize UNH did make it to the HE Finals last season, but that was somewhat of an aberration in the program's recent history. I wish I could believe we (UNH) are only a couple of Glenn Stewart recruiting classes away from returning to where the program was a decade ago, but I honestly don't see that happening so quickly. The league is simply deeper now, and UNH is playing catch-up. JMHO.
I'm only repeating what I've read here in the past regarding the supposed "life time" contract he was given back in the day when he was considering going to UMass. Others with more info can attest to that. Chuck?
