HHM
Well, one of the last Happy Hockey Mondays.
I want to thank our 'Cats and all of Wildcat Nation for a great season, now it's time to do it all over - this time it's do or die in the NCAA Tournament.
This team has defied the conventional wisdom of the college hockey community this year, winning the regular season in Hockey East after many had written them off before the season. Then there are the annual predictions of UNH's supposed 'post-season collapse' - which is absurd when the facts are analyzed. For posterity's sake, how much of a post-season collapse is it to go to the NCAA Frozen Four 4 out of the last 9 years, the Championship game 2 out of those 4. For that matter, how about 2 Hockey East Post-Season titles on top of their Regular Season title. In the span of the last 9 years they were also the Hockey East Tourney Runner-Up three times. Doesn't sound like a history of post-season collapse to me. What I do see is a school that has produced a team that has won 20 or more games each of the past 11 seasons. Most of all though, these facts serve only to rebut absurd claims of predicting how a particular college hockey team will do in a given year based on history at a level where history is more or less confined to the four years that a given class stays at the school(which UNH seems to retain more high-level players for all four years than most other competitive programs). While the history of the current coaching staff would do anyone proud this says nothing about the current team. Every team in college hockey makes their own destiny. This team has shaped their season and done Wildcat Nation proud - as individual students and as a fantastic hockey team for the University of New Hampshire. We can only trust them to continue to do so no matter what life brings.
Go 'Cats!
I want to thank our 'Cats and all of Wildcat Nation for a great season, now it's time to do it all over - this time it's do or die in the NCAA Tournament.
This team has defied the conventional wisdom of the college hockey community this year, winning the regular season in Hockey East after many had written them off before the season. Then there are the annual predictions of UNH's supposed 'post-season collapse' - which is absurd when the facts are analyzed. For posterity's sake, how much of a post-season collapse is it to go to the NCAA Frozen Four 4 out of the last 9 years, the Championship game 2 out of those 4. For that matter, how about 2 Hockey East Post-Season titles on top of their Regular Season title. In the span of the last 9 years they were also the Hockey East Tourney Runner-Up three times. Doesn't sound like a history of post-season collapse to me. What I do see is a school that has produced a team that has won 20 or more games each of the past 11 seasons. Most of all though, these facts serve only to rebut absurd claims of predicting how a particular college hockey team will do in a given year based on history at a level where history is more or less confined to the four years that a given class stays at the school(which UNH seems to retain more high-level players for all four years than most other competitive programs). While the history of the current coaching staff would do anyone proud this says nothing about the current team. Every team in college hockey makes their own destiny. This team has shaped their season and done Wildcat Nation proud - as individual students and as a fantastic hockey team for the University of New Hampshire. We can only trust them to continue to do so no matter what life brings.
Go 'Cats!
posted by THE UNH MEN'S HOCKEY BLOGGER GUY at 12:05 PM
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2 Comments:
Our team has never been built to win it all (the Holt legacy). Rather, it stresses small, quick offensive men and decent goalies with little emphasis on defense. A radical change in coaching and recruiting philosophy is needed before we move up to the level of the elite teams in college hockey. I have my doubts the current coaching staff can effect such a change in direction.
What about the recent defensive emphasis of the team and the recruiting trend where 2/3rds of our recruits are in excess of 6'?
The idea that the University of New Hampshire Hockey Team has 'never been built to win it all' is pure absurdity. They have a record of winning that is inarguable - my above post clearly points to this. If you can get to the final game then you are obviously in a position to win it all - and they will win it all, sooner than later if it is the will of the players. If you think that the teams that get to the National Championship game aren't designed to win it all, then you must not agree that any recruiting or coaching is effective at all - we might as well toss sticks to determine teams at center ice.
My position is that it is a short matter of time before the right team forms here at the University of New Hampshire and they bring a deserved Nation Championship home to New Hampshire. And no matter when we see a UNH team bring home a NC - the team that wins is the team that earns it - it's that simple. Every year it is clear that the coaching staff puts together a winning hockey team - one of these years, one of these teams is going to decide that they want it more than any other team and are willing to work harder than any other team and will earn a National Championship.
Go 'Cats!
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