UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

[Ray Dorn]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

The hockey season is not over yet for UNH! There is more hockey this weekend. Winning the series against Maine is very possible. Maine is not Northeastern!!!

These are the key things in my opinion that UNH will have to do to beat Maine:
1. Special Teams: The power play will have to score more goals than the penalty kill gives up this weekend.
2. Tirone has to play well. He has performed well against Maine for the last couple of years. Like his play against Northeastern a few weeks ago in the 1-1 tie, not his play from this past weekend.
3. The players will have to win the net front battles in both the offensive zone and defensive zone. A lot of the UNH offense this season has come from the forwards screening the opposing teams’ goalie, getting their sticks free for deflections and jumping on the rebounds. Defensively, the players have to do a better job of covering Maine’s players in front of our net. We can’t be giving up goals because of the lack of awareness and puck watching.
4. The players must play as a team, not as a bunch of individuals. They must buy into the roles their coaches give them.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

When I started this feature, I suppose the point was to focus on how this "unique" transition plan was really all about one guy getting his way, at the expense of his program's health, and the program's fans' desire for a fresh start to get this thing turned around in a positive way. I mean, 40 wins over three seasons, with cupcakes galore dotting the schedules of the first two seasons, it really never seemed like getting to the NRN should ever have been a concern, and it should have been a formality at some point this season. Even as late as this past Thanksgiving, it seemed almost impossible to imagine that the (now-former) Quest would end in any other way than Coach getting to celebrate one final time with a modest accomplishment (and I say that not to demean 600 wins, which is terrific, but doesn't equate to a D-1 title, or even one final Hockey East title).

But the unthinkable has happened. The outlook for a somewhat happy ending for our hero has never looked bleaker than right now, as this epic Shakespearian tragedy in the making staggers down the stretch with a broken leg, and the track physician looking up the number of the closest glue factory, as WIS presents our latest prognostications in this probable final "When I Said I'm in Favor of Euthanasia, I Didn't Mean Kohei Sato" edition of "Umile's Last Stand - The _____ for 600".

"Umile's Last Stand - The <s>Desperate Scramble</s> Impossible Dream for 600"

Coach Umile's current career wins total: 596
Wins Remaining to NRN (Next Round Number): 4
Games Remaining: 2-3 this weekend; 4-6 if UNH advances
WIS Estimated Likelihood of Success: 2%
2017/2018 Cupcake Conversion Ratio (CCR): 6/18 (33.3%)

With yet another winless weekend behind them ( ... this is a recording), and UNH finishing what only two (2) months ago seemed to be a promising season in the Hockey East cellar with a lock on the #11 seed, it's going to take a Cinderella story on steroids for Coach Umile to even get a scent of the all-too-elusive NRN at this point. The trip to Orono for the vaunted MBPBEGAM round of the HE Tourney seems to be not-so-daunting - with UMaine looking very much the paper tiger with all of five (5) wins over their last 15 games, and with 3 of those coming against UMass Flagship, plus Merrimack and UNH - but the Mildcats look to have pretty much packed it in at this point. And while the "Orono Tie Festival" last month further supports the idea that UNH actually has a shot in this series, the fact that in retrospect those two ties have been the unquestioned "high point" of the 2018 UNH schedule tells its own tale. The Alfond crazies will be baying for blood, which means the 'Cats may need to be tasered out of their bus/hotel rooms and forced to compete. With the possible "path to victory" to the NRN now laying in ruins, thanks to the NU Huskies, the WIS panel sees only a 20% chance of success for UNH getting through this weekend (and I think that's extremely generous), and a 10% chance at best to get through the next (quarterfinals) weekend on the road. Upsets happen, yeah ... but this one would be a shocker, even with UMaine slumping as well. But the WIS panel takes the safe route ...

Predictions:

Friday: @ UMaine 3 UNH 2 (OT)
Saturday: @ UMaine 7 UNH 2

THE GRASSO REDSHIRT NUMBER (GRSN)

Well ... at long last we're here. The regular season having finished, we'll turn our attention to the MBPBEGAM round of the HE "playoffs", and the GRSN - not to be confused with the NRN. This topic was brought to the fore by Dan regarding the prospects of Patrick Grasso's potentially lost season, and the chances he'll be allowed a "medical redshirt". A minimum of six (6) post-season games will be necessary for Grasso's 2017/2018 season not to become a total loss. So the Grasso Red Shirt Number sits at a 40 game UNH slate. The WIS panel has further downgraded Grasso's chances of following in the career path of the great Tommy Nolan to be About As Likely As The Greater Bangor/Orono Metropolis Being Chosen To Host The 2030 Winter Olympics. We'll revisit this assessment if UNH miraculously advances past the Black Bears this coming weekend.

FOXHOLE CHALLENGE - US AGAINST THE WORLD (in honor of Felger's dopey penguin)

Us 1
The World 14


To seek the man whose pointing hand
The giant step unfolds
With guidance from the curving path
That churns up into stone

If one bell should ring
In celebration for a king
So fast the heart should beat
As proud the head with heavy feet

 

[HockeyRef]

The hockey season is not over yet for UNH! There is more hockey this weekend. Winning the series against Maine is very possible. Maine is not Northeastern!!!

These are the key things in my opinion that UNH will have to do to beat Maine:
1. Special Teams: The power play will have to score more goals than the penalty kill gives up this weekend.
2. Tirone has to play well. He has performed well against Maine for the last couple of years. Like his play against Northeastern a few weeks ago in the 1-1 tie, not his play from this past weekend.
3. The players will have to win the net front battles in both the offensive zone and defensive zone. A lot of the UNH offense this season has come from the forwards screening the opposing teams’ goalie, getting their sticks free for deflections and jumping on the rebounds. Defensively, the players have to do a better job of covering Maine’s players in front of our net. We can’t be giving up goals because of the lack of awareness and puck watching.
4. The players must play as a team, not as a bunch of individuals. They must buy into the roles their coaches give them.

Great post Ray that's right the season isn't ovah (MaineSpeak) yet!!! Yeah I believe (in UNH) they can win if they do what you said...! Gonna be a tough place to play but I'd rather be there first round than anywhere else ('cept the Flagship maybe) Go 'Cats!

 

[BlackI]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Great post Ray that's right the season isn't ovah (MaineSpeak) yet!!! Yeah I believe (in UNH) they can win if they do what you said...! Gonna be a tough place to play but I'd rather be there first round than anywhere else ('cept the Flagship maybe) Go 'Cats!

Force strong in you i see. -Yoda aka BS hex 42

 

[HockeyRef]

Force strong in you i see. -Yoda aka BS hex 42

So I've been told....wish Orono wasn't so far so will have to watch from a galaxy far far away!

 

[BlackI]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

So I've been told....wish Orono wasn't so far so will have to watch from a galaxy far far away!

It is Orono, not Orion.

But it is a galaxy's guide's answer.

 

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

"When I Said I'm in Favor of Euthanasia, I Didn't Mean Kohei Sato"

Priceless!!

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2018/02/28_No-One-Can-Take-Away-Umile.php

 

[maineiac]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Friday's game is on NESN and Fox College Sports. Saturday's game is on Fox College Sports only.

 

[BlackI]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2018/02/28_No-One-Can-Take-Away-Umile.php

Thank you for this post. Actually despite my crazy hatred of UNH hockey.

I will say this, what a great class man. And what a great person to go and fight so hard. He did more for UNH hockey then people would forget. You are all lucky because our coach died. Your coach was the best of all things. He knows and is a man and takes it. And also he is a great coach. In my opinion. He was fierce competition. And also a gentleman. All things considered, i wish he could coach umaine for 28 years. He is a very great coach. And you guys can win and will again. What an outstanding coach.... From Maine's spirit. So felger this is priceless. However having said this. Maine need wins, so we will be very hungry. As we have always been. Signed honey badger.

 

[Snively65]

I hate to sound like a broken record - but, yes, talent and ability is the ultimate factor. That's not the players fault. It's the coaches and recruiters fault. We can discuss effort and development - but it starts with the team's baseline ability and limited ceiling.

The team is weak in net, improved but only OK on defense (lack of depth and youth) and as bad as they've ever been offensively. They can't possess pucks and they're likely to score fewer than 100 goals this season. The first time they'll do so since the 1964-65 season (when they played 20 games total). I'm to lazy to do all the math, but a quick glance at an old media guide leads me to believe this may be their worst goals-per-game effort since 1949-50 when they scored eight goals in four games (and their perhaps their fourth-worst GPG effort since 1923, or in other words, all-time)...

They're 6-17-6 since the third weekend of the year - the data point since which they've only faced teams with chemistry and established starting goalies. I'll say it one final time - UML (who is simply not wh we thought they were) was a brand new team without chemistry and played Tyler Wall, who has been awful all year and has since been banished to the back-up roll. Colgate came to the Whitt without Colton Point who is arguably the best goalie in NCAA hockey - without him Colgate may be among the worst programs in the sport. It's no wonder they looked better early - they were playing disjointed teams with bad goaltending (not playing notably better - though they still had hope/belief in the possibility of great season, misguided as it was)...

Bottom line - UNH returned all but two key players and had the chemistry early that opponents lacked. They were the same team then with a natural advantage, good fortune (goaltending against) and early season enthusiasm. It adds up to a mirage. The first four games will end up being about 1/10 of their season - pointing to 1/10 and wishing they could play like that instead of understanding they are who they've showed 9/10 of the time is only going to lead to frustration. If that's why fans want to do - more power to them. It's time for the recruiters to realize who they are, how they got there and do something different to ensure they don't stay there...

I guess the difference is I would take nothing from the team being a few wins better - having knocked of Brown, Dartmouth, MC or Maine. They're an extremely flawed roster that was never going to contend for anything of note this season whether they played at their ceiling or floor. 10 wins or 15 wins - I don't care. When will they contend again - that's what matters to me...

The coaching hasn't done much to make them better (ZERO arguments here) - say realizing they're limited and changing up the system to try and mask their deficiencies. Instead they've played the same system they always have and magnified the talent gap. Still, where the coaches have really failed the program is recruiting players who can make real impact at the HE level...

All that said, yes, without question they absolutely quit last night after the second period. For the first time that I've seen all year, they gave up and got steamrolled...

---

Play Clark tonight. He's earned it, as much as Tirone, by simply being a good soldier - and the coaches owe it to him for never giving him a fair shake despite all the struggles the team has had with the position. They're not playing for anything tonight and, in fact, would be better of finishing last and getting UConn (or Maine - if tie breakers allow) than drawing Lowell.

They won't give him a shake this time either, though - it will undoubtedly be right back to Tirone. He's the senior who deserves it in their mind. He always has been. In addition to the lack of roster ability - the failure to EVER hosting a legitimate goaltending competition has killed this team for three seasons...

The Ty Taylor era can't start soon enough - assuming he wins the job (he should have no trouble doing so, FYI)...

Cats need 15 goals this weekend to avoid first double digit goals scored since 1964-65, and goals from some players in particular to avoid the second time in over 50 years not having at least three double digit goal scorers (only two in 2011-2012 with Moses and Downing).

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Thank you for this post. Actually despite my crazy hatred of UNH hockey.

I will say this, what a great class man. And what a great person to go and fight so hard. He did more for UNH hockey then people would forget. You are all lucky because our coach died. Your coach was the best of all things. He knows and is a man and takes it. And also he is a great coach. In my opinion. He was fierce competition. And also a gentleman. All things considered, i wish he could coach umaine for 28 years. He is a very great coach. And you guys can win and will again. What an outstanding coach.... From Maine's spirit. So felger this is priceless. However having said this. Maine need wins, so we will be very hungry. As we have always been. Signed honey badger.

Tim Whitehead had a decent track record at UMaine, arguably a condensed version of the "Umile experience" at UNH. A lot of close calls, never quite got there, etc. Handled himself with class, his teams battled hard. You folks tend to be fairly ambivalent about his time in charge, though (and that's probably being generous to you guys). Many of us who follow UNH kind of have many of the same feelings of ambivalence about Umile. Just sayin'.

 

[Runsub5]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Tim Whitehead had a decent track record at UMaine, arguably a condensed version of the "Umile experience" at UNH. A lot of close calls, never quite got there, etc. Handled himself with class, his teams battled hard. You folks tend to be fairly ambivalent about his time in charge, though.........

I'm one of the few here who held Tim in high regard and I agree with your statements about him. If he hadn't had goal tender issues he may well have had a national title. His Kimball Union team has an overall record of 28-5-2 and is in the Elite 8 semi-final this weekend. Kimball Union won the title last year for the first time in 35 years. I bet he's glad to be out of Orono. Your analogy of Tim having a condensed version of Umile's tenure is a good one.

 

[amkirby10]

I'm one of the few here who held Tim in high regard and I agree with your statements about him. If he hadn't had goal tender issues he may well have had a national title. His Kimball Union team has an overall record of 28-5-2 and is in the Elite 8 semi-final this weekend. Kimball Union won the title last year for the first time in 35 years. I bet he's glad to be out of Orono. Your analogy of Tim having a condensed version of Umile's tenure is a good one.

I’m a younger guy, so I’m no expert on the Whitehead era, but weren’t both Bishop and Howard in the Timmy years? Both have been good and the pros and both, especially Howard, were great in college.

 

[Runsub5]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

I’m a younger guy, so I’m no expert on the Whitehead era, but weren’t both Bishop and Howard in the Timmy years? Both have been good and the pros and both, especially Howard, were great in college.

Yes, they were. Howard wasn't recruited by Tim, but Bishop was. Both goal tenders took Maine to the Frozen Four. The goal tender issue I was referring to came after Howard and Bishop.

 

[walrus]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Yes, they were. Howard wasn't recruited by Tim, but Bishop was. Both goal tenders took Maine to the Frozen Four. The goal tender issue I was referring to came after Howard and Bishop.

Bishop was recruited by Grant as was Howard. Neither came for Tim

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Speaking of HEA goalies going pro, CDS pitched a 0.400 SV% against Bs last night, giving up three goals on five SOG.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Speaking of HEA goalies going pro, CDS pitched a 0.400 SV% against Bs last night, giving up three goals on five SOG.

Oh, my...yeah,was following the game on the way home from Flawda tonight!! Happy for my B's tho...you go David Krechi and nice fight from the Captain after a 3 min shift!

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

I'm having this bizarre visual of 'Watcher hunkered down in front of his laptop/TV tonight, with only 2 or 3 beads left on the final row of his abacus, rubbing the head of his newly-acquired Coach Umile bobblehead for luck, repeatedly muttering the phrase "It's finally almost over ... it's finally almost over ... it's finally almost over ... "

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017/2018 - Umile's Last Stand - The Grand Finale

Bishop was recruited by Grant as was Howard. Neither came for Tim

This is true. The scholarship came down to another goalie in the NAHL and Bishop. Standbrook went down to one of their games when they played each other and went with the old adage "you can't teach size" as he told the other kid. Even though they liked him better than Bishop.