UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

[wildcatdc]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Excellent info and insights on the goalie situation!! Definitely changed my perspective. Went back and looked at every year since 99-00, and in fact, with the exception of 01-02 and 05-06, the "primary" goalie never played less than 83% of the available minutes. For whatever reason, (somezheimers, I think), I thought we had much more sharing of minutes in the past.

I agree with the prevailing sentiment - share and share alike, develop these guys!

One last thing - I would seriously hope that NO idea is too "out there" to discuss in this forum, ESPECIALLY in a thread of followers of the same team. If an idea provokes the kind of insight that has popped up in the last 10-15 posts, and teaches folks a few things, I think it's time darn well spent. Helped me see things thru a different filter!!

(Come to think of it, a JumboTron might be a bit too "out there", but aside from that!!!)

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Excellent info and insights on the goalie situation!! Definitely changed my perspective. Went back and looked at every year since 99-00, and in fact, with the exception of 01-02 and 05-06, the "primary" goalie never played less than 83% of the available minutes. For whatever reason, (somezheimers, I think), I thought we had much more sharing of minutes in the past.

I agree with the prevailing sentiment - share and share alike, develop these guys!

One last thing - I would seriously hope that NO idea is too "out there" to discuss in this forum, ESPECIALLY in a thread of followers of the same team. If an idea provokes the kind of insight that has popped up in the last 10-15 posts, and teaches folks a few things, I think it's time darn well spent. Helped me see things thru a different filter!!

(Come to think of it, a JumboTron might be a bit too "out there", but aside from that!!!)

Argghh. I forgot about 2005-2006. That was a good but not great team, with Senior Jeff Petrasiak and sophomore Kevin Regan splitting time in net, with very similar stats. Regan got three more starts, four fewer wins, 0.4 higher GAA, and 0.015 lower save % than Petrasiak. Regan got chased a couple minutes into the third period after giving up 7 goals to BU in the HEA semi-finals (UNH lost that one 9-2; BU went on to beat BC 2-1 in OT for the HEA championship, and then lost to BC 5-0 in the second NCAA regional game). So, for whatever reason, Petrasiak got the start in the opening NCAA regional game at the Pepsi Center, losing to #1 seed Michigan State 1-0, giving up a knuckle shot by Tim Crowder a couple of minutes into the game. Petrasiak stopped the other 29 Spartan shots, but Jeff Lerg stopped all 36 by the Cats (so again, SOG mean nothing). For an "out there" idea, along with a Jumbotron at the Whitt, maybe Face Offs (FOs?) mean something, as the Spartans beat the Cats 42-15 in that one. BTW, in case anyone thinks that I might be serious, I do not think that digging up and reducing the big sheet to 85 or 87 ft width would be as good a use of funds as a Jumbotron.

 

[e.cat]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Speaking of SOG, I was listening to the Portland Pirates pregame show last night and Pirates goalie Mike McKenna was being interviewed. He was saying that if the Pirates can keep SOG to 25/26 or under per game that over the long course of the season they will win more games than they lose. I found this to be quite interesting in light of the fact that so many here offhandedly dismiss SOG!

 

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

I forgot about 2005-2006. That was a good but not great team,

Ironically I was thinking about that team the other night.

Watching that hideous second period Saturday night it really hit home with me just how many "jags" are on this roster. (Greg A probably had a better description earlier in this thread when he used the word "imposters.") Anyway I was thinking back to the game at Maine that season when UNH couldn't even dress the full allotment of 18 skaters due to suspensions. For instance, it was the only game Brian Foley played that year. Yet the quality of play was still far, far superior to what we were subjected to this past Saturday.

 

[HockeyRef]

Speaking of SOG, I was listening to the Portland Pirates pregame show last night and Pirates goalie Mike McKenna was being interviewed. He was saying that if the Pirates can keep SOG to 25/26 or under per game that over the long course of the season they will win more games than they lose. I found this to be quite interesting in light of the fact that so many here offhandedly dismiss SOG!

Incoming!! On another note are you coming to the 'Whitt this weekend to see our team beat UMaine?

 

[Greg A]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Argghh. I forgot about 2005-2006. That was a good but not great team, with Senior Jeff Petrasiak and sophomore Kevin Regan splitting time in net, with very similar stats. Regan got three more starts, four fewer wins, 0.4 higher GAA, and 0.015 lower save % than Petrasiak. Regan got chased a couple minutes into the third period after giving up 7 goals to BU in the HEA semi-finals (UNH lost that one 9-2; BU went on to beat BC 2-1 in OT for the HEA championship, and then lost to BC 5-0 in the second NCAA regional game). So, for whatever reason, Petrasiak got the start in the opening NCAA regional game at the Pepsi Center, losing to #1 seed Michigan State 1-0, giving up a knuckle shot by Tim Crowder a couple of minutes into the game. Petrasiak stopped the other 29 Spartan shots, but Jeff Lerg stopped all 36 by the Cats (so again, SOG mean nothing). For an "out there" idea, along with a Jumbotron at the Whitt, maybe Face Offs (FOs?) mean something, as the Spartans beat the Cats 42-15 in that one. BTW, in case anyone thinks that I might be serious, I do not think that digging up and reducing the big sheet to 85 or 87 ft width would be as good a use of funds as a Jumbotron.

I was at that game. Despite the SOG totals, it was one of the more p**s poor efforts by the Wildcats in the NCAA's. Winnik's last game at UNH as I recall.

 

[Greg A]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Recapping my position on the goalie situation ... is it really worth possibly undercutting the confidence of one of your frosh goalies to do anything other than a rotation between the two at this point? What goals are you really playing for?

* HE regular season title? No
* First round bye and home ice in HE quarters? .001 likelihood (essentially No)
* Home ice in HE tourney first round? Only realistic competitive target remaining
* HE tourney championship? Highly doubtful but theoretically attainable
* Slot in the NCAA Tournament? Highly doubtful etc. (see above)
* National championship? No

Clark has earned his place in the rotation by carrying the load capably through early December.

Tirone has probably earned his place in the rotation by jumping in and posting some good results.

Honestly, let both players play and learn. Creating a goalie "controversy" now would be totally unnecessary.

And for those comparing the Conklin and Ayers situations ... go through the same list of outlined competitive goals, all those answers were Yes. Different time, different place in the program's history ... different approach entirely.

As for the answer to Tirone's remaining eligibility ... unless he somehow qualifies for an injury redshirt in the next couple of weeks (an occurrence none of us wish for), then I'm 99.9% certain he has 3 years left after this season. It was part of the discussion we had on this thread as part of the "pros and cons" about bringing Tirone in at midseason, basically "burning" a year of his eligibility this season, which could have instead been tacked on for the one year after Clark's projected eligibility would expire.

I was in the "let's wait for a year" camp, but the decision has been made, and it looks like Tirone is ready. I'm sure we are all very interested in seeing how this goalie competition plays out. But I'd rather we not jump the gun, and instead let things play out for the rest of this season, pick things up where they leave off entering next season, and THEN make the important decisions on who gets the big game assignments (or even just more assignments). Again ... what is it that UNH is playing for this season, to warrant pressing this issue?

Keep in mind this is the first time during Coach Umile's recent (entire?) tenure that he's had two same-season goalies. When Conklin came in, he was a soph transfer, and Matile was a senior who held the starting job basically for 2.5 seasons before Conklin earned the nod on the road to Anaheim. Ayers was a soph who eventually beat out senior Carney (who had been a career backup to Conklin up to that point), DeSmith was a frosh who eventually beat out senior Matt DiGirolamo, who was at the end of a very regular series of goalie succession that ran from Conklin to Ayers to Pietrasiak to Regan to Foster to DeSmith to the present, where the successor was always waiting in the wings a couple of years behind the top guy. That's why the current Clark/Tirone situation is unique to UNH in the Umile era.

Having said all that ... let's hope there ARE bigger things to play for when we reach this point of NEXT season, or else this may be much ado about nothing.

Pretty perceptive post Chuck. The bottom line is that the team is going nowhere, or at least next to nowhere. The most that they can hope for is to squeeze out home ice in a prelim round then no doubt get bounced in the second round. As far as I am concerned play them both in all types of situations. Clark starts in Orono? No problem with that. Despite Maine's record, Alfond is still a tough place to play. Tirone will get his chance in a hostile environment, perhaps BU in a few weeks. Might as well give them both a baptism of fire. I always felt that Umile jumped the gun on the DeSmith/Wyer conundrum. All reports I got at the time that DiGirolamo was benched was that, if Wyer had been healthy, he would have gotten the nod over DeSmith. Always puzzling to me why Wyer, after recuperating, was not just plunked into the rotation since DeSmith, while good, was not a difference maker goalie. Methinks that Umile will not make the same type of miscalculation again.

BTW, re: Matt Carney, you may recall that his senior year he did share the goaltending with Ayers all the way through the NCAA's. What I remember about Matt's season was that right after the first of the year he was concussed and had to sit out a few games which Ayer started. One of those games was the one after Ayers had his hand sliced open in a goal mouth scrum up in Maine. The story I heard was that Carney was watching the game in Portsmouth bar. When he saw what happened to Ayers, he had someone drive him up to Orono so that he could let Umile know that he was ready to play the next night. Umile, of course, couldn't play him and instead started Ayers in one of the more heroic starts I ever saw a UNH player make. Carney eventually got back into the rotation and was the winning goalie when they beat Cornell to advance to the FF in St. Paul.

 

[HockeyRef]

Pretty perceptive post Chuck. The bottom line is that the team is going nowhere, or at least next to nowhere. The most that they can hope for is to squeeze out home ice in a prelim round then no doubt get bounced in the second round. As far as I am concerned play them both in all types of situations. Clark starts in Orono? No problem with that. Despite Maine's record, Alfond is still a tough place to play. Tirone will get his chance in a hostile environment, perhaps BU in a few weeks. Might as well give them both a baptism of fire. I always felt that Umile jumped the gun on the DeSmith/Wyer conundrum. All reports I got at the time that DiGirolamo was benched was that, if Wyer had been healthy, he would have gotten the nod over DeSmith. Always puzzling to me why Wyer, after recuperating, was not just plunked into the rotation since DeSmith, while good, was not a difference maker goalie. Methinks that Umile will not make the same type of miscalculation again.

BTW, re: Matt Carney, you may recall that his senior year he did share the goaltending with Ayers all the way through the NCAA's. What I remember about Matt's season was that right after the first of the year he was concussed and had to sit out a few games which Ayer started. One of those games was the one after Ayers had his hand sliced open in a goal mouth scrum up in Maine. The story I heard was that Carney was watching the game in Portsmouth bar. When he saw what happened to Ayers, he had someone drive him up to Orono so that he could let Umile know that he was ready to play the next night. Umile, of course, couldn't play him and instead started Ayers in one of the more heroic starts I ever saw a UNH player make. Carney eventually got back into the rotation and was the winning goalie when they beat Cornell to advance to the FF in St. Paul.

After last year's Harvard Pre Thanksgiving Clunker where we lost 6-3 Jeff Wyer never started another game. In fact I believe the only time he played the rest of that season was the HE Championship.. v UML in the last 5 minutes. He did have knee issues mid to late season as was pointed out.

 

[UNHJourney34]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Not sure if anyone is interested, but I purchased 4 tickets to the game up at Alfond and because of a death of a friend we will no longer be attending. I have posted the tickets for sale on stubhub at $20 below face value just hoping that we can get something back for them.

 

[e.cat]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Incoming!! On another note are you coming to the 'Whitt this weekend to see our team beat UMaine?

Hey Ref!

Business is keeping me closer to home these days so I will be watching our teàm beat those maniacs on TV

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Speaking of SOG, I was listening to the Portland Pirates pregame show last night and Pirates goalie Mike McKenna was being interviewed. He was saying that if the Pirates can keep SOG to 25/26 or under per game that over the long course of the season they will win more games than they lose. I found this to be quite interesting in light of the fact that so many here offhandedly dismiss SOG!

Methinks McKenna should stop hanging around the stats geeks in his organization, and *maybe* he just might become something more than a 30-something career AHL goaltender with barely 20 NHL games as a 3rd goalie.

If I was one of his Portland teammates, I'd be telling McKenna they could guarantee an even better record if he held the opposition to two or less goals per night. Just sayin' ...

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Weekend predictions? I say it is going to snow on Saturday and as sweet as a UNH sweep would be, figure we split with the dreaded Black Bears. After December's results vs. Maine it is no certainty that each term holds serve on home ice. Looking forward to a snowy Durham day, hoping we don't decide to postpone.

 

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

Weekend predictions? I say it is going to snow on Saturday and as sweet as a UNH sweep would be, figure we split with the dreaded Black Bears. After December's results vs. Maine it is no certainty that each term holds serve on home ice. Looking forward to a snowy Durham day, hoping we don't decide to postpone.

If they didn't postpone that Sunday afternoon game vs the Black Bears a few years back they never will. I only have to drive a few miles and I know there are many who have to drive much farther. But in the wake of that trip I questioned my priorities in life that I still attended the game.

 

[boblav1]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

This week's Hockey East Podcast includes UNH senior forward Grayson Downing and UNH freshman forward Amy Boucher.

http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/men/media/inside.php

 

[Snively65]

Weekend predictions? I say it is going to snow on Saturday and as sweet as a UNH sweep would be, figure we split with the dreaded Black Bears. After December's results vs. Maine it is no certainty that each term holds serve on home ice. Looking forward to a snowy Durham day, hoping we don't decide to postpone.

Not knowing who will be in net either night, that is a tough one (just kidding!). So, I will guess split, with home ice getting the points. I know, I wrote earlier that we needed 12 points over the three weekends, but I was only trying to instill some optimism to this thread.

I think that I found an analog for our goaltending duties this semester and maybe into the future (maybe someone else already mentioned and I missed?). Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton arrived at UMass-Lowell and split time in net pretty much equally for their first three seasons, bumping senior Vinny Monaco out of the rotation during their freshman year, 2006-2007. All of their stats were quite similar over those three years also. I seem to recall that Hamilton got hurt early in the 2009-2010 season, as Hutton picked up about twice as many starts and logged better stats during their senior year. River Hawks (Ospreys?) were not so dominant back then.

 

[HockeyRef]

Not knowing who will be in net either night, that is a tough one (just kidding!). So, I will guess split, with home ice getting the points. I know, I wrote earlier that we needed 12 points over the three weekends, but I was only trying to instill some optimism to this thread.

I think that I found an analog for our goaltending duties this semester and maybe into the future (maybe someone else already mentioned and I missed?). Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton arrived at UMass-Lowell and split time in net pretty much equally for their first three seasons, bumping senior Vinny Monaco out of the rotation during their freshman year, 2006-2007. All of their stats were quite similar over those three years also. I seem to recall that Hamilton got hurt early in the 2009-2010 season, as Hutton picked up about twice as many starts and logged better stats during their senior year. River Hawks (Ospreys?) were not so dominant back then.

Hey Snives I hope no one here has to apologize (not that you were) for trying to instill some positives into this board. Hello it's a 'fan forum' yes? . I know I never will! I'm going for the sweep this weekend how's that for positives? Something has to give for this team...they are due! Hockey Gods are ya listening????

 

[Snively65]

Hey Snives I hope no one here has to apologize (not that you were) for trying to instill some positives into this board. Hello it's a 'fan forum' yes? . I know I never will! I'm going for the sweep this weekend how's that for positives? Something has to give for this team...they are due! Hockey Gods are ya listening????

As you know, Alfond is a tough house. But, Bentley won a game there once.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

As you know, Alfond is a tough house. But, Bentley won a game there once.

I do know that, having gone up there last season. The minute I walked in there I had that "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"! We were leading until the 3rd. Wish I could've made the trip but not on a Friday afternoon. Go 'Cats!! And from what I understand Maine will follow NH back tonight for tomorrow's game, unless they are feeling uneasy about that snow storm coming through. 4 to 6 inches of snow is not a reason to cancel a game although last year at BU...

ps good for your Bentley boys!! (def worth a smiley...)

 

[blackbearbandie]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

One of those games was the one after Ayers had his hand sliced open in a goal mouth scrum up in Maine. The story I heard was that Carney was watching the game in Portsmouth bar. When he saw what happened to Ayers, he had someone drive him up to Orono so that he could let Umile know that he was ready to play the next night. Umile, of course, couldn't play him and instead started Ayers in one of the more heroic starts I ever saw a UNH player make. Carney eventually got back into the rotation and was the winning goalie when they beat Cornell to advance to the FF in St. Paul.

That was a horrible thing to watch. I was looking right down on the whole thing from the balcony at the Alfond, and the pool of blood in the crease was enough to make everyone think the worst. We were all astounded the next night when Ayers was back out there, and he stopped a really hard slapshot from Colin Shields in OT and was visibly in pain right after, and the game ended in a tie. That was heroic. I think it was the skate blade of Nick Mounsey that accidentally got him the night before if I remember it correctly.

 

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

That was a horrible thing to watch. I was looking right down on the whole thing from the balcony at the Alfond, and the pool of blood in the crease was enough to make everyone think the worst. We were all astounded the next night when Ayers was back out there, and he stopped a really hard slapshot from Colin Shields in OT and was visibly in pain right after, and the game ended in a tie. That was heroic. I think it was the skate blade of Nick Mounsey that accidentally got him the night before if I remember it correctly.

It was rather disturbing to see them scraping the dried blood off the ice after Ayers left the game.

I remember the shot you referenced. I was sitting a few rows behind Ayers and you are right, you could just tell how much it hurt.