Mike Anthony: Time for UConn hockey, despite some very real challenges, to take the next step

[huskymedic]

Mike Anthony: Time for UConn hockey, despite some very real challenges, to take the next step

UConn hockey coach Mike Cavanaugh must be fluent in Russian by now. “Nyet,” he said with a laugh Thursday as the UConn Coaches Road Show rolled into Hartford and stopped at Dunkin&#8217…

www.courant.com

>>“We take a lot of criticism because we recruit so many foreign kids,” Cavanaugh said. “It's not by design. The thing is, my friends in Boston will say ‘I've got a great kid at [a New England prep school].’ I say, ‘Why doesn't B.C. want him?’ They say, ‘Well, he's not B.C. good.’ If he's not B.C. good, how is he going to help me beat B.C.? Why do I want him? I'm being paid to beat Boston College and Boston University. I’ve got to find players who are as good as the guys they're getting.”<<

>>Let’s settle for this, for now. UConn needs to be better next season and even better again in 2021-22. Win a playoff series. Get to the Hockey East semifinals in Boston.

“I agree,” Cavanaugh said. “There is a step to be taken and we have to take that step next year. … We’re all impatient, but I know where the program is. I know how hard it is to win and college hockey and I know how quickly it can change.”<<

 

[freescooter]

Pretty consistent with what I heard from another former HEA coach a few years ago. He said that recruiting against the big names in Hockey East was crazy. There were guys who literally wouldn’t even take his calls if BC BU or a few others had been in contact. In some cases the players didn’t even get offers from the Big Names and they would call back. He went the European route too to build. Pecknold went and got guys who were in their final year of Juniors who were older and stronger and more experienced. Same goal.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

It is time for that next step. Missing from the discussion is the same thing we expect from all our coaches, coaching up. Much like Edsall, he needs to find those hidden gems, players with some skills that we think can be coached up or good players overlooked by the big dogs like the foreign kids. Just because BU & BC don't want them, that doesn't mean they can't be great players, they just may need a little more work. And again, much like Edsall, they've got to start winning. Winning makes recruiting easier. Time to make a hockey name for ourselves.
I like Cavanaugh as a coach, but I think the 2 year clock is ticking. It'll be 8 years as HC is enough to see if this is going somewhere or not.

 

[Adios]

Most he's done is show UConn can draw decent talent. And motivate them to beat ranked teams and repeatedly lose to SHU.

 

[SubbaBub]

No facilities and this program has a ceiling.

HE powers or not, plenty of schools have risen from nothing in hockey. There is enough talent out there.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Who is criticizing Cav for recruiting foreign players? Whoever is doing that is a fool. Most big-time D1 programs recruit foreign players, including BC and BU. The game is so popular abroad, particularly in places like Russia, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic that if you're not recruiting there you're doing something wrong.

 

[The Viking]

I don't want to start another war about the whole new arena on campus, my only comment about that is that it will at least be nice if they can get these supposed state-of-the-art locker rooms, etc up and running ASAP. It says in the article 2 years - is that 2 years before they break ground or completed in 2 years?

 

[BigJim84]

Who is criticizing Cav for recruiting foreign players? Whoever is doing that is a fool. Most big-time D1 programs recruit foreign players, including BC and BU. The game is so popular abroad, particularly in places like Russia, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic that if you're not recruiting there you're doing something wrong.

Hey you can recruit foreign kids and get commitments without stepping foot on campus and seeing our practice facilities.

 

[Adios]

Hey you can recruit foreign kids and get commitments without stepping foot on campus and seeing our practice facilities.

We should absolutely be recruiting Russia. Some lower level pro teams there would probably play in Freitas.