Re: UNH Wildcats TD Garden and Beyond 2015
I used to think NCAA Watcher and C-H-C were the two most informative posters on the UNH fan forum at USCHO and both were mostly on the same page until the recent past (3+ years or so). I believed you both cared deeply about the UNH hockey team and that you both would like UNH to have the best players possible. I eagerly awaited the news about recruits that you two would share with us on a regular basis. It seems Watcher has no longer been informative but has joined the chorus of haters on USCHO. I believe many of you are not season-ticket holders or have limited if any ties to UNH. Dave Lassonde recruited Vecchione as he did many others during the last 20 years. He had ties to a prior assistant coach who left to take over the Head Coaching job at Merrimack and moved to Malden Catholic soon thereafter. Hokydad seems to dislike UNH intensely over Michael Vecchione’s one year deferral. Mike is a great talent and we all wish him the best and congratulate him on his Union championship and career. I hope you can get over it as deep down I know you want to root for UNH. Hokydad, I attended the UNH/UCONN game in Hartford and the lower bowl was mostly full. That was one game but I am sure there were ~ 5000 fans and they were cheering loudly for the home team.
McCloskey did have an impact on the BCHL kids early on and Eric Flinton was the first of many to come to British Columbia East. We brought in 20-21 year olds in the mid-90’s and many teams still follow that model. It seems to get at least one great year out of four for most teams using the model. We had excellent players during most of Umile’s tenure and it is not fair to compare goal (point) scoring during the 1997-2003 period versus thereafter. It is like comparing Kariya to Eichel. They are both great hockey players. Bashing Scott Borek as a recruiter is easy but he is probably one of the best recruiters in college hockey. He was the first to find many of the stars you see at BC, BU and other top schools in the country. I have consistently noted that you could not be more wrong about some of the NH players you stated were not recruited by UNH. Most were heavily recruited by UNH as were many of the BCHL, USHL and top eastern players. There are at least a half dozen or more players now at BC, BU, Northeastern, Notre Dame and Michigan who had great recruiting visits to UNH. They chose other schools for a variety of reasons. There were several star players at BC who had given a commitment date of the following Monday to UNH, only to be stolen away by a call from a certain BC Head Coach without a campus visit. Is that Scott Borek’s fault that they did not come to UNH? I see so many posters who consistently spout falsehoods without any relevant information to back it up. There are very few teams in US college hockey with a track record as good as UNH during Dick Umile’s tenure. Do you bash Michigan on their site for missing the NCAA tourney? Wisconsin? Colorado College? Michigan State? Etc….? We have missed the tournament 3 out of 4 years but seem to be on an upward trend. UNH has made the tourney more than only a handful of schools during Umile’s tenure.
Very few recruits interested in the Big 10, NCHC powerhouses, BC, BU , Notre Dame, choose UNH. That does not mean they do not visit UNH as it is still a first tier program in most student-athletes minds. You downplay Umile’s recruiting abilities. Parents and players love him and he makes his way to the rinks more than you give him credit for. There are only so many junior teams within 2 hours of Durham. Some of you were giving credit to Leaman for being a rink rat. Looking at Providence’s roster, most of the players are not from New England (20 out of 29)(I do not know if he has a Concorde Jet or a Jetsonmobile but it seems unlikely). I admire his training regimen and his ability to recruit players that buy into his system. I admit I do like UNH’s wide open offense as it is much more fun to watch than Providence and Lowell. I know they have been winning recently, but it is very recent and they will run into the fourth liners wanting to be first liners soon enough like every successful school.
Scoring has decreased in junior hockey and college hockey dramatically over the past decade. We are not the UNH of the 1970’s averaging 6+ goals per game or the late 90’s/early 2000’s where we were averaging 30% on power play attempts and scoring 5+ goals per game. Many other teams saw a huge drop in scoring over the past decade. UNH averaged over 3 goals per game last year, which was well above the average in college hockey. I think most could agree that we have excellent top- 6 talents at the forward position with Poturalski, Kelleher, Foegele, Eiserman, McNicholas, Nazarian and Vela over the next 2-3 years and Salvaggio and Hill played very well during the home stretch and playoffs last year. I have read most of your assessments of the senior class, and do not want to start more anger, hate and rage from the tribe. Collins for BC and Butler from UNH did not show their greatness until they were given power play-first line opportunities. Maybe some of our seniors will step up to the plate this year. I hope so as I know most of you really want to show the love instead of the hate in your hearts at present. Other than UMASS and Northeastern, most teams do not play their best player on the third line during regular shifts. Very few 3rd and 4th liners in college hockey are prolific scorers.
The first two lines score the lion’s share of goals on most teams and UNH is no different. We have very solid third and fourth line players with some scoring ability and excellent defensive skills as they generally control the play during their shifts against similar lines. Our defensive recruiting has been very good as well over the past several years with Cleland, Maller (when healthy), Marks, Masonius, Pesce (signed professional contract) and Furgele (late bloomer) are and were very good defensemen. Chanter and Boyd should be better prepared for the change in speed at the college level after some experience and Harry Quast played very well in the latter part of the season in both the offensive and defensive zones. I believe all would agree that we have solid goaltending for the foreseeable future and our recruits from now until 2018 are mostly high end student-athletes.
UNH cannot have an all-star team like BC and BU as we lose most recruiting battles to these schools. We also lose out to Michigan, Miami, Notre Dame, Minnesota, North Dakota and Denver in most cases. I am proud that UNH does not renege on commitments made to recruits (we will honor your scholarship but you will never play here mentality as the Boston schools have been known to do). Dick Umile takes calls from those who are committing elsewhere and wishes them the best unlike some others who just hang up. Yes, it is true that we now lose some recruits to Providence, Northeastern, and other hockey east teams from time to time. This is not always because they do not want to come to UNH (sometimes it is the scholarship package that a school can offer) but sometimes they do not see it as a fit from one side or the other. We did suffer in recruiting when we were on probation, but I believe the mix of recruits over the past few years has been very good. We also lost a few to admissions and questionable deferrals of high end talent that can be debated and has been ad infinitum. Providence has some skill players and as of late spectacular goaltending and the same can be said for Umass Lowell. Both Bazin and Leaman use trapping defenses and marine boot camp training to win close games on a regular basis. Goalies are very important to all teams but particularly important to them. Our home ice is the Whittemore Center which is not conducive to trapping defenses to win close games. We will never win most recruiting battles with the evil empires in Boston but our non-playoff records against these teams have been very good during Umile’s tenure.
Bill Knowles 104M8
And take our AD, Please!
Looking forward to visiting Matthews again this season!! Cool arena..
) and you are absolutely right about Coach Umile. He is a die hard for the sport and his team. The few times I've met him he's always shook our hands and been gracious. They say he builds players into men and that is evident. Like TvR said at the 2014 banquet "No one wants it more and no one is more deserving than Coach Umile" (NC reference). I second that sentiment...
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