Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
The whole senior thing this season only highlights the shortcomings of the Borek recruiting classes a few years ago. Correale is a decent player, and in fairness to him, he's been getting regular time (albeit on the 3rd/4th lines) for most of his career, including his freshman year. He is more or less a more traditionally developed UNH grinder senior, not too much unlike guys like Block or Thrush in recent years, or like guys like Johnny Rogers, David Busch and Corey Joe Ficek and numerous others from the "glory days" of the program 10-15 yrs. ago. But the fact that Correale is the closest you can point to as the "star" senior this season speaks volumes on where the program is right now, and where it's in fact been in recent years. Next year's senior class (i.e. Kelleher, Cleland, etc.) isn't too deep either.
Folks on here who follow the recruiting process closely have been sounding the alarm bells for quite awhile now, and while I don't follow that stuff very closely until the players actually arrive on campus, the reality of the situation with this year's seniors really struck home when I saw the selections for captains last Spring. As with HR, I've had experience with coaching a HS program, where you do have to deal with bringing players through a four year cycle, and I totally understand and appreciate the importance of providing your players a path through the program that rewards those who quite literally "stick with the program". It's equally as important for the younger kids to see the seniors leading in some way, shape or form. In a year or two or three, those younger kids will want to be those leaders too.
But here's the disconnect ... right now, there is actually a group of four (4) seniors who are players who have really NOT been regulars during their first three years with the program. The much-discussed Gaudreault/Smith/McDonald "first line", and then Harry Quast on D. Of those four players, I'm pretty sure that without looking at the numbers, Quast probably figured more in the line-up the last two years than any of the aforementioned forwards. Maybe that was due to injuries, early departures, etc. And don't get me wrong, I have not just recently turned into the champion of "Quast must play" brigade.
But there have been occasions recently where he has not dressed, and apparently not due to injury either. When he has played, he has not been anywhere near the top pairing. And quite frankly, I'm OK with all of that. Some kids get brought into the program as insurance policies and/or "spare parts", just in case (and apologies for the terms, which may be unfairly harsh or insensitive). I suspect Quast has been that since Day One, and he's actually played more than he really ever had any reason to believe he would.
But this is completely at odds with the artificial elevation of the Gaudreault/Smith/McDonald line, and I'm positive the determining factor is that two of the three kids on the "checking first line" have letters on their sweaters. The only senior whose prior service level frankly warranted the "C" was Correale. What does it say when this year's captain was a healthy scratch down the stretch last season, when the team was performing at its peak in the biggest games of the season? And one of your "A's" was a bit player scratching out 4th line time? How are they supposed to lead the team when they may not even have experienced simply playing in their team's biggest games in the past?? If those guys were such respected leaders ... why couldn't they even crack the line-up in those situations, where you need your leaders to be leaders more than at any other time in the season???
This year, like most of the rest of you, I see no issue with the players on the artificially elevated "first line" dressing AND playing a part with the team. I'm not even against the idea of Coach Umile being a little cute/clever early in the season by putting those guys out first against the other teams' top lines on the line chart and calling them "first liners" for awhile. We all know better, and so do the opposing teams ... and unless you fall into the trap of rolling them out every time the other guys roll out their top line afterwards, then no one is really getting hurt. 10-12 minutes a game as a 3rd or 4th line is more than fair and quite appropriate.
But giving those guys the first half of your power play time is really taking it all a step much too far. Talk about artificial elevation of the line, that's almost like the B's from a few years ago running out Paille/Campbell/Thornton as your regular first PP unit. Just silly, and stubborn too.
The longer this (my apologies again for harsh but apt choice of words) charade continues, the more potential damage gets inflicted on this year's team's chances of getting into the NCAA's. There was every reason for optimism with UNH's strong finish last season, and although 2-2-1 at this point is hardly fatal ... it seems like with the decisions to try to simply try to will a checking line into a bona fide first line with PP pretensions, and to relegate a decent D-1 goalie who frankly deserved better treatment into a transfer-bound afterthought ... that word stubborn springs to mind yet again.
I want the old dog to incorporate a few new tricks. He doesn't have to abandon all of his coaching and people management principles, but if he wants to finish his career the way I think he wants to - and I'll assume in his favor that he wants a D-1 title more than a meaningless round number - then he's going to have to be willing to try a few new things out along the way. Starting with an admission your senior leaders' checking line aren't first liners deserving of regular PP time together. JMHO.
Re: UNH Wildcats 2015-2016 (Part One) - Return of the "Champions of December"??
The whole senior thing this season only highlights the shortcomings of the Borek recruiting classes a few years ago. Correale is a decent player, and in fairness to him, he's been getting regular time (albeit on the 3rd/4th lines) for most of his career, including his freshman year. He is more or less a more traditionally developed UNH grinder senior, not too much unlike guys like Block or Thrush in recent years, or like guys like Johnny Rogers, David Busch and Corey Joe Ficek and numerous others from the "glory days" of the program 10-15 yrs. ago. But the fact that Correale is the closest you can point to as the "star" senior this season speaks volumes on where the program is right now, and where it's in fact been in recent years. Next year's senior class (i.e. Kelleher, Cleland, etc.) isn't too deep either.
Folks on here who follow the recruiting process closely have been sounding the alarm bells for quite awhile now, and while I don't follow that stuff very closely until the players actually arrive on campus, the reality of the situation with this year's seniors really struck home when I saw the selections for captains last Spring. As with HR, I've had experience with coaching a HS program, where you do have to deal with bringing players through a four year cycle, and I totally understand and appreciate the importance of providing your players a path through the program that rewards those who quite literally "stick with the program". It's equally as important for the younger kids to see the seniors leading in some way, shape or form. In a year or two or three, those younger kids will want to be those leaders too.
But here's the disconnect ... right now, there is actually a group of four (4) seniors who are players who have really NOT been regulars during their first three years with the program. The much-discussed Gaudreault/Smith/McDonald "first line", and then Harry Quast on D. Of those four players, I'm pretty sure that without looking at the numbers, Quast probably figured more in the line-up the last two years than any of the aforementioned forwards. Maybe that was due to injuries, early departures, etc. And don't get me wrong, I have not just recently turned into the champion of "Quast must play" brigade.
But there have been occasions recently where he has not dressed, and apparently not due to injury either. When he has played, he has not been anywhere near the top pairing. And quite frankly, I'm OK with all of that. Some kids get brought into the program as insurance policies and/or "spare parts", just in case (and apologies for the terms, which may be unfairly harsh or insensitive). I suspect Quast has been that since Day One, and he's actually played more than he really ever had any reason to believe he would.But this is completely at odds with the artificial elevation of the Gaudreault/Smith/McDonald line, and I'm positive the determining factor is that two of the three kids on the "checking first line" have letters on their sweaters. The only senior whose prior service level frankly warranted the "C" was Correale. What does it say when this year's captain was a healthy scratch down the stretch last season, when the team was performing at its peak in the biggest games of the season? And one of your "A's" was a bit player scratching out 4th line time? How are they supposed to lead the team when they may not even have experienced simply playing in their team's biggest games in the past?? If those guys were such respected leaders ... why couldn't they even crack the line-up in those situations, where you need your leaders to be leaders more than at any other time in the season???
This year, like most of the rest of you, I see no issue with the players on the artificially elevated "first line" dressing AND playing a part with the team. I'm not even against the idea of Coach Umile being a little cute/clever early in the season by putting those guys out first against the other teams' top lines on the line chart and calling them "first liners" for awhile. We all know better, and so do the opposing teams ... and unless you fall into the trap of rolling them out every time the other guys roll out their top line afterwards, then no one is really getting hurt. 10-12 minutes a game as a 3rd or 4th line is more than fair and quite appropriate.
But giving those guys the first half of your power play time is really taking it all a step much too far. Talk about artificial elevation of the line, that's almost like the B's from a few years ago running out Paille/Campbell/Thornton as your regular first PP unit. Just silly, and stubborn too.
The longer this (my apologies again for harsh but apt choice of words) charade continues, the more potential damage gets inflicted on this year's team's chances of getting into the NCAA's. There was every reason for optimism with UNH's strong finish last season, and although 2-2-1 at this point is hardly fatal ... it seems like with the decisions to try to simply try to will a checking line into a bona fide first line with PP pretensions, and to relegate a decent D-1 goalie who frankly deserved better treatment into a transfer-bound afterthought ... that word stubborn springs to mind yet again.
I want the old dog to incorporate a few new tricks. He doesn't have to abandon all of his coaching and people management principles, but if he wants to finish his career the way I think he wants to - and I'll assume in his favor that he wants a D-1 title more than a meaningless round number - then he's going to have to be willing to try a few new things out along the way. Starting with an admission your senior leaders' checking line aren't first liners deserving of regular PP time together. JMHO.
Sometimes I wonder if you guys tend to compare players to the past; didn't think Ty Conklin necessarily but I do think there's talent between the pipes! Most teams are lucky to have a decent back up let alone 2. Let me have my fun through my blue colored glasses and pom poms, fergoshsakes! 
