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Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Fishman'81 said:
To altazo:

1. If you don't care about the topic, then why do you reply?

2. I don't claim any glory nor suffer any defeats on the shoulders of Utica's hockey team in a vicarious sense, but I infer from your remarks that OSU's success counts as your own? :rolleyes:

3. One kinda-sorta Utica guy took the time a few months back to inform me that I was embarrassing him by association, but I let that go... I'm guessing that he was in a fraternity, and still suffers from a lingering sense of herd-mentality as a result.

4. You guys that are still ragging vs. debating are the problem here. (Has anyone a cogent argument about how the East shook-out? If not, tee 'em up and give it a rest.)

I was away skiing for a couple of days, not ducking any of you, FCS... And if the weather cooperates, I'll squeeze-in two more days on the slopes. There are certainly better things to do in Life than to talk apples and oranges with chimpanzees; they can never make up their minds on a given day.


;)


XOXO.
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1- I'm a western region alum and follower, but I do have a ton more respect for what Oswego has accomplished on the ice compared to what Utica has (even this season), because often they are playing their best hockey of the season in March, not December.

2- I don't post from my job, because that's not what my employer is paying me to do.

3- Glad you got a couple days of skiing in, but maybe you should google my location before boasting about "the better things in life?"

4- Forget it. Yeah, Utica is #1 in the East, no doubt about it.
 
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Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Fishman'81 said:
I was away skiing for a couple of days, not ducking any of you, FCS... And if the weather cooperates, I'll squeeze-in two more days on the slopes. There are certainly better things to do in Life than to talk apples and oranges with chimpanzees; they can never make up their minds on a given day.
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Kind of like your position on Krach over the last few months..
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

NUProf said:
That's the definition of the tournament. It is the way things are decided. We can work all we want to come up with metrics to determine who is the best/who had the best season (and for what it is worth, my {unpublished} rankings show that UWEC came out on top, with Utica second and Norwich third.), but in the end the NCAA has determined this is how you determine a National Champion. Anybody who loses in the tournament at any stage is not the National Champion, but they had a shot at it.
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Yes, Prof, I agree, and I've said as much many times previously on this very thread.

I'm interested in metrics just for the debates they engender, and as an avenue to talk a little hockey after the fact. I wish you would have published yours for that reason, but I'm not disputing who deserved the trophy this year.
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

altazo said:
1- I'm a western region alum and follower, but I do have a ton more respect for what Oswego has accomplished on the ice compared to what Utica has (even this season), because often they are playing their best hockey of the season in March, not December.

2- I don't post from my job, because that's not what my employer is paying me to do.

3- Glad you got a couple days of skiing in, but maybe you should google my location before boasting about "the better things in life?"

4- Forget it. Yeah, Utica is #1 in the East, no doubt about it.
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1. UC is just now getting up to speed. I respect the OSU program immensely, yet I predict that Utica is poised to challenge it every year from this point into the foreseeable future.

2. I never post from my job, either... I'm usually home by midnight or so, barring a calamity.

3. I know for a fact that the skiing is way better in CO. :)

4. Utica had the best season of any team East of the Mississippi, yes... That's a first for them, and I'm allowed to get excited about that on the Utica thread, last I ran it by USCHO.

Anyhoo, it was a fun year, sorry that I had my "facts" wrong at times, and was impatient with certain people at other times. We all love D-3 hockey; we're just a little family that bickers a bit...

No big deal there, and a happy and healthy off-season to you all.
 
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Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Fishman'81 said:
4. Utica had the best season of any team East of the Mississippi, yes... That's a first for them, and I'm allowed to get excited about that on the Utica thread, last I ran it by USCHO.
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...there's a team in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that would probably take issue with that statement...:D
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Ozz said:
Kind of like your position on Krach over the last few months..
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KRACH tanked in the final week, as I've said before. I'm not going to stick by it unless it makes sense; it's not a religion.
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Got me there, and I've actually spent a night in Eau-Claire. (It's close to being West of the river, though.)

Again, everyone have a nice summer.
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

4. Utica had the best season of any team East of the Mississippi, yes... That's a first for them, and I'm allowed to get excited about that on the Utica thread, last I ran it by USCHO.

I am not quite sure what you mean by this statement, Other teams had better records and one of those went further in the NCAA tourney!?
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Fishman'81 said:
Yes, Prof, I agree, and I've said as much many times previously on this very thread.

I'm interested in metrics just for the debates they engender, and as an avenue to talk a little hockey after the fact. I wish you would have published yours for that reason, but I'm not disputing who deserved the trophy this year.
Click to expand...

My decision not to do so was based on the fact that once it's all over, it's all over. No point in wasting resources.
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

OK; thought you said that you'd already done the math... It would have been interesting, IMO.
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Fishman'81 said:
OK; thought you said that you'd already done the math... It would have been interesting, IMO.
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Oh, I did the math (that's easy, it's built in), I just made an editorial decision that it was irrelevant. I might have it published "on the other site" when we start up in the fall. I'm trying to make a demarcation line between what I do over there and my personal banter here.
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

NUProf said:
Oh, I did the math (that's easy, it's built in), I just made an editorial decision that it was irrelevant. I might have it published "on the other site" when we start up in the fall. I'm trying to make a demarcation line between what I do over there and my personal banter here.
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You would be the only one, then...:D
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

First of all, thanks for posting... I wasn't aware that this was going on, and it doesn't seem that any other local fans were, either.

I'm not shocked to hear the news. Heenan is a D-1 coach, if for no other reason than his win-or-die mentality and his apparent disdain for the requisite diplomacy/eccentricities/BS of the D-3 system. (I'd actually love to see him get the Maine job, because he's a whip-cracker and a recruiter, which is just what they need up there.)

UAA is not a plum D-1 job, though. It's been hard enough to recruit there while the WCHA was arguably the premier D-1 conference, and it's gonna get a lot harder to do so in the future.

Still, I wish him luck. I've been critical of him many times over his UC tenure, but he was a bull in a china-shop then. I've always expected him to land in D-1 and be successful there, and I think he'll eventually do just that.
 
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Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

I'll have more on tonight's "Stampede", along with other chatter of interest, including the strange possibility of a different AHL franchise coming to town.

7 pm.
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Heenan may end up in Alaska but Alaska's restocking the Pioneers for next season...

(Posted vs. linked in case article expires)
----------------------------------------------

Walker commits to Utica
Posted: April 18, 2013 - 10:38pm
By Jeff Helminiak
Peninsula Clarion

A hockey team follows its captain.

Last week, defenseman Ryan Walker became the fourth Kenai River Brown Bears player to announce a college commitment to Division III Utica College in Utica, NY.

Captain Zac Lazzaro was the first to commit to Utica. Forward Mikhail Bushinski and goalie Marcus Zelzer have since followed.

“All my teammates are going, and I wanted to be a part of it,” Walker said.

Lazzaro is happy to have another Brown Bears player on-board.

“It’s definitely nice to have a group you know going into a new environment,” he said. “You think you know what to expect, but there are always variables and you don’t know until you get there.”

The Pioneers boast one of the top Division III programs. This year, the Pioneers earned a share of the Eastern College Athletic Conference West title, and also were tops with 17 honorees on the conference’s West All-Academic Team. Utica also made the Division III Frozen Four.

The Pioneers play in a home environment that outdraws many Division I programs. Last season, Utica averaged 3,754 fans per game to lead Division III and set another school record. That number also ranks 19th at all divisions of college hockey.

Kenai River Brown Bears coach Oliver David said Utica coach Gary Heenan has been very complimentary of the Brown Bears organization.

“We actually received a note from the Utica head coach,” David said. “He said the strong thing that stood out was the character and maturity level of each of the four kids that he found here.”

David said Walker and former captain Brett Lubanski, who are both from Detroit, are the only Bears to play three full seasons with the team. Soldotna High School product Brad Duwe had played two and a half seasons.

David said it’s hard to be a three-year guy. He said the player has to be ready to play Junior A hockey when he is still eligible for midget hockey. Walker proved that when he was named rookie of the year for the Bears.

But David said the player also must then stay for two more years, not getting traded or deciding to play in another league.

“I came in as a raw, offensively talented defenseman,” Walker said. “I think I’ve improved a lot and turned more into a shutdown D.”

Walker also has made the transition from city living to country living.

“At first, I really wasn’t sure about it,” he said of the move from Detroit. “I fell in love with small-town life. It seems like I know everyone.”

Walker had 17 points in his first season, 24 points in his second season and has 25 points this season.

He said he has learned a lot on and off the ice on the Peninsula.

“Just being ready to play every day and doing what I need to do in terms of school,” he said. “Pretty much just getting after it every day.”
 
Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Thanks for posting that article; it was a good read. It's nearly impossible to gauge the level of incoming talent at the D-3 level, but these Alaskan guys are apparently over-aged, and that's a good thing, in a cynical sense. ;)

As far as Heenan being offered/taking the UAA job, I'm having serious doubts that either thing will happen, unless he agrees to work cheap.

Reading the UAA forum on here is enlightening. There appear to be long-standing and ongoing issues with funding and leadership at that school, and it doesn't look like much of an opportunity for success for anyone at this point.

I certainly don't begrudge Heenan his shot at D-1. I actually think he deserves as much, and will win at that level in the right situation.

Thing is, UAA looks like a hot mess right now, though, and not a career-booster. Heenan's stock will rise after another year of putting another elite D-3 team together, and I like his chances of doing just that.

Even without any hot-shot recruits, his team is loaded for '13/'14... It lost very little to graduation.
 
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Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

Tim Coghlin was offered and declined the Alaska Fairbanks job back in '98 or '99 after he turned around the SNC program but before they experienced much success in the NCAA's. I think it requires a unique commitment to go up there to coach. Personally, I don't know how those coaches and players can handle all that air travel.
 
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Re: Utica College Pioneers 2012-13 Season (Part Two)

I hear ya... And it's gotta cost UAA an arm and a leg, too. Tough place to coach, seems to me.

Anybody hear anything about how Heenan interviewed?
 
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