UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Nice summary table, Mike. But, I believe that the key to Haydar's amazing 61-point freshman year was his line mates. I am really impressed with several of the century club who had unremarkable freshman years. If Bekar had stayed for his senior year, the Cats likely would have that one piece of hardware that eludes us, and probably Bekar would have topped all but Krog and Haydar on the list for total career points. The college of "what if's."

 

[HockeyRef]

Very interesting Mike. Poturalski off to a great start compared to some outstanding UNH players. He is one of those guys that has a knack for putting it in the back of the net. Obviously, your linemates(Kelleher) are critical to your success but Poturalski delivers Love it!!

And the kid sees the ice so well too! He has poise and makes good decisions on his shot selection....yup e.cat he's a quintessential grade A gamer!

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

The game seems to slow down with the puck on his stick. One goal Friday was amazing patients with the puck.

That's pretty cool you notice that! There IS something that happens when he gets the puck; couldn't put my finger on it until you pointed this out ...(cue the twilight zone music). Seriously..I see it too but you just nailed it...Great days ahead for this young man..and team.

 

[sonar]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."
William Arthur Ward

 

[Greg A]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Nice summary table, Mike. But, I believe that the key to Haydar's amazing 61-point freshman year was his line mates. I am really impressed with several of the century club who had unremarkable freshman years. If Bekar had stayed for his senior year, the Cats likely would have that one piece of hardware that eludes us, and probably Bekar would have topped all but Krog and Haydar on the list for total career points. The college of "what if's."

I'm going to have to respectively disagree with you Snively on Haydar. If he was just a product of his line he wouldn't have wound up UNH's third leading scorer all time. My recollection of that year is that Umile started the season with Krog centering Souza and, I think, Ficek. He tried a couple of other wingers instead of Ficek but by the eighth or ninth game he realized that Haydar was the perfect complement to Krog. I'm not sure if it was their first game together but I do remember a break out night at BU when Haydar had two goals. There are some who nitpicked Haydar's career at UNH for some reason but the guy knew how to put the puck in the net and he knew how to put other guys in a position to do the same. Agree on the Bekar point, as do most who followed the team back then.

Also want to point out to Ref that, yes, the numbers guys like Krog, Haydar, and others put up back then were mindboggling, but they were somewhat a product of the way the game was played. College hockey was always a wide open sport, witness UNH's 10-9 PT win vs. Cornell in the 1977 ECAC finals and the 2001 BU-Northern Michigan NCAA final which I believe was 9-8 in OT. You hardly ever see teams combine for more than 9 or 10 goals in a game anymore unless there is a complete meltdown of team defense and the goalie. I was taken aback when NU put up a 10 spot on UConn a couple of weeks ago. Reminded me of the regular pummelings that UNH gave Merrimack back in the day. As to the answer to why, I think it is the advances in coaching and the tools available to assist in coaching. Video breakdown of games was not available until about 10-15 years ago and, since then, it is not surprising that scoring has dropped. The days of 100 point seasons (Kariya) or 300 point careers (Montgomery) are a thing of the past. I believe that Ralph Cox can rest easy knowing that his single season and career numbers are safe.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

98-99 team had top 4 forwards score 56, 59, 60, 66 points spread over 2 lines. The next year Krog (66 pts) was the only one left (2 sr and 1 jr left) scored 85, Souza jr wing scored 65 and Haydar freshman on his line scored 61. Krog was the ring leader.

Team was just short falling in ot, close as we have come. I will always wonder what if Bekar (jr that left - 60 pts in 98-99) had stayed. He only played 11 NHL games over 11 pro seasons.

Bekar left after '98, agreed if he stayed for '98 - '99. My lasting Bekar image is of him effortlessly flying up and down the ice.

That '98 - '99 team didn't give up a whole lot of goals either, SO solid defensively.

Filipowicz/O'Brien
Bragnalo/Lind
White/Enders

Conklin
Matile

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

The game seems to slow down with the puck on his stick. One goal Friday was amazing patients with the puck.

Great point. Foegele is starting to see the game at Neo in the Matrix speed as well. Next up: Eiserman?

 

[JB]

Bekar left after '98, agreed if he stayed for '98 - '99. My lasting Bekar image is of him effortlessly flying up and down the ice.

Yup I was off a year in my post. I think of that year as 98 and the ot game as 99 and I start there and end up off a year.

 

[JB]

Great point. Foegele is starting to see the game at Neo in the Matrix speed as well. Next up: Eiserman?

I am not sure if it will slow down for Eiserman. It is a game style thing, I am not sure if he is a play maker where the game seems to slow, he is more of a space maker / contact player.

Foegele is definately adjusting to the NCAA pace of play.

 

[Greg A]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

I am not sure if it will slow down for Eiserman. It is a game style thing, I am not sure if he is a play maker where the game seems to slow, he is more of a space maker / contact player.

Foegele is definately adjusting to the NCAA pace of play.

I thought his best goal was the second on Saturday night, in the second period. He came down the left wing, did a bit of a hesitation around the dman, gave himself some space, and scored. Of course, this was against Merrimack, which gave us probably the worst performance by a Hockey East team (even more than UNH's 8-2 spanking by Lowell early on) all year. How can a team beat Minnesota in their own building in December, then two months later put up a stinker like that?

 

[GoUNH]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

Didn't think it would happen this year but they've done it again. They've got me excited for the playoffs. Guarded excitement, but excited nonetheless.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

I thought his best goal was the second on Saturday night, in the second period. He came down the left wing, did a bit of a hesitation around the dman, gave himself some space, and scored. Of course, this was against Merrimack, which gave us probably the worst performance by a Hockey East team (even more than UNH's 8-2 spanking by Lowell early on) all year. How can a team beat Minnesota in their own building in December, then two months later put up a stinker like that?

MN has had some issues, but seriously. Between Merrimack's hockey performance and the extracurricular activity it was like we were in a time warp. They used to goad us into late season fights hoping we'd get a player suspended for the next playoff game.

 

[Darius]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

I am not sure if it will slow down for Eiserman. It is a game style thing, I am not sure if he is a play maker where the game seems to slow, he is more of a space maker / contact player.

Foegele is definately adjusting to the NCAA pace of play.

Another good point, although if I remember my limited recruit reading correctly he does have some skill potential?

And here's hoping some of next year's Seniors see the 6 X 4 yard net that Camper is seeing.

 

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

I'm going to have to respectively disagree with you Snively on Haydar. If he was just a product of his line he wouldn't have wound up UNH's third leading scorer all time. My recollection of that year is that Umile started the season with Krog centering Souza and, I think, Ficek. He tried a couple of other wingers instead of Ficek but by the eighth or ninth game he realized that Haydar was the perfect complement to Krog. I'm not sure if it was their first game together but I do remember a break out night at BU when Haydar had two goals. There are some who nitpicked Haydar's career at UNH for some reason but the guy knew how to put the puck in the net and he knew how to put other guys in a position to do the same. Agree on the Bekar point, as do most who followed the team back then.

Also want to point out to Ref that, yes, the numbers guys like Krog, Haydar, and others put up back then were mindboggling, but they were somewhat a product of the way the game was played. College hockey was always a wide open sport, witness UNH's 10-9 PT win vs. Cornell in the 1977 ECAC finals and the 2001 BU-Northern Michigan NCAA final which I believe was 9-8 in OT. You hardly ever see teams combine for more than 9 or 10 goals in a game anymore unless there is a complete meltdown of team defense and the goalie. I was taken aback when NU put up a 10 spot on UConn a couple of weeks ago. Reminded me of the regular pummelings that UNH gave Merrimack back in the day. As to the answer to why, I think it is the advances in coaching and the tools available to assist in coaching. Video breakdown of games was not available until about 10-15 years ago and, since then, it is not surprising that scoring has dropped. The days of 100 point seasons (Kariya) or 300 point careers (Montgomery) are a thing of the past. I believe that Ralph Cox can rest easy knowing that his single season and career numbers are safe.

My recollection is almost the same as yours, Greg, that Krog began the 1998-99 season centering Souza (Jr, LW) and Onufrechuk (Sr, RW) on the first line, but it did not take Umile long to replace Onufrechuk with Haydar, which perhaps was bold given that Haydar was a freshman. I think that Haydar began the season on the second line centered by Sadowski, with Shipulski on the LW? So, I stand by point that Haydar probably would not have racked up 61 points his freshman year if he had remained on the second line that season, when Krog racked up 85 points (and a Hobey) and Souza picked up 65 points. That was one incredible line (211 points total), but the Cats got decent scoring from their second and third lines that season also. And, the D-men and goal tending were outstanding that year. And, of course, I was not speaking to the next three years of Haydar's great career at UNH.

I agree with everything in your second paragraph, that it was a more offensive game back then than it is now. Also, were the goalie pads and other garb smaller back then, or was that just the NHL?

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

My recollection is almost the same as yours, Greg, that Krog began the 1998-99 season centering Souza (Jr, LW) and Onufrechuk (Sr, RW) on the first line, but it did not take Umile long to replace Onufrechuk with Haydar, which perhaps was bold given that Haydar was a freshman. I think that Haydar began the season on the second line centered by Sadowski, with Shipulski on the LW? So, I stand by point that Haydar probably would not have racked up 61 points his freshman year if he had remained on the second line that season, when Krog racked up 85 points (and a Hobey) and Souza picked up 65 points. That was one incredible line (211 points total), but the Cats got decent scoring from their second and third lines that season also. And, the D-men and goal tending were outstanding that year. And, of course, I was not speaking to the next three years of Haydar's great career at UNH.

I agree with everything in your second paragraph, that it was a more offensive game back then than it is now. Also, were the goalie pads and other garb smaller back then, or was that just the NHL?

Shipulski was a right hand shot on the right wing, so I'm pretty sure Ficek (left hand shot) would have been with Sadowski and Shipulski on the second line at the outset. I think Greg is right, and Onufrechuk got the early opportunity on the Krog line, but I don't remember it being more than a couple of games. It's been so long, I don't have a specific memory, but Haydar may have been on the 3rd line with guys like Johnny Rogers and Matt Swain at the start of the season? Just an educated guess though, I don't have the old line charts.

Ryan Cordeiro got quite a bit of time as a frosh before he moved on a year or two later. Frosh like him, Matt Dzieduszycki (sp?) and David Busch were frequent fourth liners as the season played out, and by no means was Haydar being trumped up as the "star" of the incoming class. My recollection (admittedly fuzzy) is that Cordeiro got a lot of attention as a New England kid, and Dzieduszycki was the most publicized of the Canadian recruits. As it turned out, Haydar emerged quickly as the star (it was also Conklin's first year as a soph transfer from UAA), while Busch eventually became a solid two-way 3rd line contributor (and one of my underrated UNH favorites at the time). Neither Cordeiro nor Dzieduszycki made it at UNH, and moved on a year or two later ... as would other highly-publicized guys like Eddie Caron and ( ... wait for it) the *immortal* Travis Banga later in Haydar's career.

 

[e.cat]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

The game seems to slow down with the puck on his stick. One goal Friday was amazing patients with the puck.

Having poise with the puck like that for a freshman is a good sign.

 

[e.cat]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

And the kid sees the ice so well too! He has poise and makes good decisions on his shot selection....yup e.cat he's a quintessential grade A gamer!

No bout adout it

 

[Snively65]

Shipulski was a right hand shot on the right wing, so I'm pretty sure Ficek (left hand shot) would have been with Sadowski and Shipulski on the second line at the outset. I think Greg is right, and Onufrechuk got the early opportunity on the Krog line, but I don't remember it being more than a couple of games. It's been so long, I don't have a specific memory, but Haydar may have been on the 3rd line with guys like Johnny Rogers and Matt Swain at the start of the season? Just an educated guess though, I don't have the old line charts.

Ryan Cordeiro got quite a bit of time as a frosh before he moved on a year or two later. Frosh like him, Matt Dzieduszycki (sp?) and David Busch were frequent fourth liners as the season played out, and by no means was Haydar being trumped up as the "star" of the incoming class. My recollection (admittedly fuzzy) is that Cordeiro got a lot of attention as a New England kid, and Dzieduszycki was the most publicized of the Canadian recruits. As it turned out, Haydar emerged quickly as the star (it was also Conklin's first year as a soph transfer from UAA), while Busch eventually became a solid two-way 3rd line contributor (and one of my underrated UNH favorites at the time). Neither Cordeiro nor Dzieduszycki made it at UNH, and moved on a year or two later ... as would other highly-publicized guys like Eddie Caron and ( ... wait for it) the *immortal* Travis Banga later in Haydar's career.

It very well could be the case that Haydar got moved up from the third line rather than the second. My main point was that playing on the first line with the likes of Krog and Souza for most of the season greatly benefited Haydar's 61 point total. And, by the same token, no doubt that Haydar was influential in Krog winning the Hobey, and the team playing in the NC game that year.

So, back to Poturalski, Foegele, and Yzerman; their future looks bright .

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread

It very well could be the case that Haydar got moved up from the third line rather than the second. My main point was that playing on the first line with the likes of Krog and Souza for most of the season greatly benefited Haydar's 61 point total. And, by the same token, no doubt that Haydar was influential in Krog winning the Hobey, and the team playing in the NC game that year.

So, back to Poturalski, Foegele, and Yzerman; their future looks bright .

If UNH can bring in a couple more classes with quality recruiting depth, the "show could be back on the road" sooner than expected.

'Watcher had an interesting post up here overnight with a retrospective look at Haydar's recruiting process, how he seemed to want to be here from the start, and how UNH overcame Haydar not actually seeing a live game on campus during his stay (game against Brown was postponed due to an ice storm). But back then, UNH and The Whitt were high profile D-1 destinations, and the program was able to virtually sell itself. Success breeds success, etc. Not so much anymore ... and that may be the biggest hurdle of all when it comes to seeing UNH return to the "glory days" of the first decade (plus) of the Whittemore era.

 

[HockeyRef]

If UNH can bring in a couple more classes with quality recruiting depth, the "show could be back on the road" sooner than expected.

'Watcher had an interesting post up here overnight with a retrospective look at Haydar's recruiting process, how he seemed to want to be here from the start, and how UNH overcame Haydar not actually seeing a live game on campus during his stay (game against Brown was postponed due to an ice storm). But back then, UNH and The Whitt were high profile D-1 destinations, and the program was able to virtually sell itself. Success breeds success, etc. Not so much anymore ... and that may be the biggest hurdle of all when it comes to seeing UNH return to the "glory days" of the first decade (plus) of the Whittemore era.

Well Chuck I'm sure you won't agree with me and most of the veterans won't who are convinced UNH isn't much of a draw anymore but I am of the opinion that high profile players have a lot to choose from; UNH being one.

Tell me (I'm really curious) how Union did it last year. Not the most high profile program in the planet. Yale the year before. Who saw that coming? Number 15 in the pair wise? Has to be a combination of things rather than one single element.

Correct me if I'm wrong and I don't kid myself to have knowledge of hockey recruiting that some of you do but were those teams positioned / poised to do what they did? Let's not go down that coaching road although that has to be part of the equation..

Funny guys like Eiserman and Kelleher have said they "always wanted to play" for the Wildcats. I believe there is/are more where that came from and given how huge hockey has become in the past 5 or so years we are or are we not recruiting some decent players? (See our current Freshmen class; not speaking of everyone of them mind you.)

I say we are still are / gonna be a viable sought after program. Maybe those glory days are not meant to be repeated. Maybe...just maybe there's something better ahead. Oops that's the optimist speaking...

Ps Glory Days...isn't that's a Bruce Springsteen song