Re: UNH Wildcats 2014/2015 - Wait 'Til Next Year!!!
So, did Clark play Tirone into a regular starter in net?
God I hope not. Two freshmen goalies, likely to be with the program for the next 3+ seasons apiece, and you can't afford to lose faith in one of them based on just a single poor performance, and with the other guy playing well in his first couple of starts. That would be taking the whole "Flavor of the Month" thing to its limits. Clark has established himself as at least worthy of a spot in a rotation, which is something Tirone has now earned with a couple of strong showings. So let the both of them play, and it will all sort itself out.
Let's face it, folks ... this is one season where there is going to be less of a focus on compiling strong PWR etc. or improving the Hockey East Tourney seeding/placement. I'd love to see this team go on a good run over the next few weeks, no doubt about it. But I'd be totally shocked to see Coach Umile break from the current rotation, at least for the rest of this month, barring injuries. And if one guy steps it up, and the other guy slumps, I'd expect one *might* play a few more games.
But as the thread title says, this season, it's really all about "next year" and beyond. To lose faith in (and potentially damage) a key piece of those long-term plans would be a rookie coach mistake, or a mistake of a guy fighting to keep his job - or maybe a sign that your coach is Mike Keenan

. And say what you want about Coach Umile, but he is hardly a rookie, he is NOT fighting to keep his job, and he has shown exceptional patience (sometimes to his detriment) with developing key players in the past. I don't see any of that changing because Clark struggled last night. It will (and should) take more than one bad night to shake Coach off his rotation.