Quick Tidbit on Nichols and UConn overall

[hockeyfan44]

According to Mike Anthony of the Courant the incoming class consists of:

Miles Gendron
Tage Thompson
Carl El-Mir
Marco Richter
Tyson McClellan
Ben Freeman looks like he will be 16-17.
Tanner Creel (News came after article)

NLI day is in April.

From Mike Anthony:

Six UConn players will exhaust their eligibility after this season – forward Ryan Tyson (captain), forward Trevor Gerling (team-high five goals), Jacob Poe (a top defenseman), backup goalie Tom Comunale, forward Cody Sharib and forward Brad Smith.
Seven recruits have committed, with six scheduled to join the program next season. Next year's freshman class, as it stands now, is right wing Tage Thompson, center Miles Gendron, left wing Marco Richter, left wing Carl El-Mir, right wing Tyson McLellan and right wing Ben Freeman, who might end up as part of the 2016-17 class. UConn averages 1.73 goals a game, 55th out of 59 Division I teams. The aforementioned players, particularly Thompson and Gendron, will be expected to immediately breathe life into the offense.
Thompson, the son of Bridgeport Sound Tigers coach Brent Thompson, is currently with the U-18 team as part of the U.S. National Team Development Program, based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Originally expected to enroll at UConn for the 2016-17 season, Thompson has begun accelerating his schooling with plans instead to enroll in the fall of 2015.
Thompson, 17, whose family lives in Orange, made an oral commitment to UConn in August and said he will sign a national letter of intent in April. He toured just about every Hockey East campus and gave strong consideration to Boston College and Maine but chose UConn because he felt so comfortable with the coaching staff. Thompson's commitment is widely considered the biggest recruiting victory so far for Cavanaugh.
"The plan right now is for me to be there next year," Thompson said. "I didn't think I could go wrong either way, playing another year of juniors or going to UConn next year. I'm really excited to play for Coach Cav. UConn just felt right. … I feel pretty comfortable with the level of Division I play and I feel like I can jump right in and be a major contributor."
Thompson has seven goals and seven assists in 27 games for the U-18 team, which plays a 54-game schedule against top college, junior and international teams.
Gendron, of Shrewsbury, Mass., was a third-round selection of the Ottawa Senators in the June NHL draft. He is currently playing with Penticton of the British Columbia Hockey League. He has signed a national letter of intent.

http://www.courant.com/sports/hc-uconn-hockey-1223-20141222-story.html#page=2

I wouldn't be surprised based on lack of performance, production,talent,skating,skill over the past two years of Atlantic Hockey and especially this year in Hockey East which is so noticeable Cavanaugh parts way with this years junior class of Pauly,Huson,Kirkland and Ferriss after this season is over ??

 

[TheDoggPound]

I wouldn't be surprised based on lack of performance, production,talent,skating,skill over the past two years of Atlantic Hockey and especially this year in Hockey East which is so noticeable Cavanaugh parts way with this years junior class of Pauly,Huson,Kirkland and Ferriss after this season is over ??

Won't happen. Pauly produces, he's our team leader in points overall and has 13 pts. (3G, 10A) in 16 HE games, which also leads the team. Kirtland is valuable on the PK and has a role on the team for next yr. Ferriss on the other hand will likely be a healthy scratch a lot next season and Huson will still be our 6th defenseman ahead of Koonas.

 

[hockeyfan44]

Won't happen. Pauly produces, he's our team leader in points overall and has 13 pts. (3G, 10A) in 16 HE games, which also leads the team. Kirtland is valuable on the PK and has a role on the team for next yr. Ferriss on the other hand will likely be a healthy scratch a lot next season and Huson will still be our 6th defenseman ahead of Koonas.

Pauly is minus 11 and Kirtland only has 6 points as a 24 year old junior. He cant be that valueable on the PK because UCONN is ranked 11th out of 12 teams in HE on the PK. Him and Pauly are extremely slow and very passive on the ice. If Huson is the 6th dman next year the only people smiling will be the opposing HE coaches. I agree if they dont part ways with Ferris he will be a healthy scratch all next year as a senior.

 

[TheDoggPound]

Pauly is minus 11 and Kirtland only has 6 points as a 24 year old junior. He cant be that valueable. Him and Pauly are extremely slow and very passive on the ice. If Huson is the 6th dman next year the only people smiling will be the opposing HE coaches. I agree if they dont part ways with Ferris he will be a healthy scratch all next year as a senior.

Well we're only bringing in Gendron so the 6th spot is up for grabs between Kunnas and Huson again. Doesn't mean we have to like it (I don't particularly like Huson's game but I can't control it).

+/- can be misleading, if that was the end all be all wouldn't Tyler Cooke (who btw what happened to him?) be the #1 D-man on this team and wouldn't Golonka would be on the first line?

Also 44 it's probably better to go off of HE statistics only considering the beginning of the season was a wash so Pauly would be a -4 and middle of the pack on this team while being it's leading scorer.

 

[TheDoggPound]

My concern is what happens if we have a slew of injuries on Defense? What would we do? (Same thing could happen now to). Do most teams in college hockey only have 7 D-men?

With Austin out what happens if Poe went down, who would transition to Defense? And we'll have this same concern next yr.

 

[hockeyfan44]

Valid points on the injury questions. I guess your right depth would be a question mark if one of your top 6 dman got injured.

 

[FDNY99]

Coming from the AHA with only 10 scholarships you knew the talent deficit was going be there....and you knew that Cav and his staff (who both played at a high level as players in HE) know what they need talent wise to build the roster up to a HE competitive roster talent wise. Nichols has been the main reason we haven't had games like last night week in and week out. The fact we are not in last place says a lot about Cav having these kids buying into his system. When they deviate from it..like last night..VERY bad things happen. This will take some time to build...like I have said in previous posts. Next year at 14 scholarships they will still be 4 behind everyone else...the following year he gets the full 18. Somewhere in there they have to decide on concrete plans for the on campus barn/team facility so he can recruit with a even hand.

 

[TheDoggPound]

@FDNY99 What would happen though in the situation I outlined ever came to pass? Surely Cav should be bringing in some other bodies off of scholarships just in case of emergency but instead he seemed to have given T. Cooke his walking papers leaving us dangerously thin at D depth for this season and the next.

 

[hockeyfan44]

Lets not start using the "Scholarship Number" as an excuse for not winning hockey games now. Union and Yale don't offer scholarships at all and the both won National Championships in the past two years. UConn can offer "financial aid" packages just like Union and Yale so please don't use that as a crutch why UCONN cant win hockey games now. I don't buy it. In addition you give the coaching staff and players reasons why they are not winning ( not enough scholarships etc.) they will cling on to that and use it as an excuse every time they loose a hockey game.

 

[FDNY99]

@FDNY99 What would happen though in the situation I outlined ever came to pass? Surely Cav should be bringing in some other bodies off of scholarships just in case of emergency but instead he seemed to have given T. Cooke his walking papers leaving us dangerously thin at D depth for this season and the next.

I never thought of that for next year...although he plays center up front...Ojantakanen plays the point on the pp he may be able to slide him back there in a pinch...or he just goes with the 5. He definitely has to bring in another d for next season though

 

[FDNY99]

Lets not start using the "Scholarship Number" as an excuse for not winning hockey games now. Union and Yale don't offer scholarships at all and the both won National Championships in the past two years. UConn can offer "financial aid" packages just like Union and Yale so please don't use that as a crutch why UCONN cant win hockey games now. I don't it.

Yale and Union also have VERY nice on-campus barns and team facilities...have played in a good league where they can shop top in conference teams to recruits. Let's face it Cav has had one full recruiting season to bring in kids to this team. Berard and Marshall didn't exactly kill it on the recruiting trail and load this team up with talent while they were here. The talent level is about where this team is in HE standings...middle of the pack to lower 1/3.

 

[hockeyfan44]

I never thought of that for next year...although he plays center up front...Ojantakanen plays the point on the pp he may be able to slide him back there in a pinch...or he just goes with the 5. He definitely has to bring in another d for next season though

He should of given Huson his walking papers instead of Cook. Cook could at least skate.

 

[TheDoggPound]

He should of given Huson his walking papers instead of Cook. Cook could at least skate.

Nothing worse than someone who's 6'5" - 6'6" but plays like they're 5'8"

 

[TheDoggPound]

I thought Cooke looked decent when I watched the games we had vs. Penn State.

 

[mac2351]

Does anyone know who is on scholarship?

 

[FDNY99]

Does anyone know who is on scholarship?

I don't

 

[FDNY99]

He should of given Huson his walking papers instead of Cook. Cook could at least skate.

I'm not gonna argue with you on that one

 

[hockeyfan44]

Good to see all the boys concur on the Huson front.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Lets not start using the "Scholarship Number" as an excuse for not winning hockey games now. Union and Yale don't offer scholarships at all and the both won National Championships in the past two years. UConn can offer "financial aid" packages just like Union and Yale so please don't use that as a crutch why UCONN cant win hockey games now. I don't buy it. In addition you give the coaching staff and players reasons why they are not winning ( not enough scholarships etc.) they will cling on to that and use it as an excuse every time they loose a hockey game.

With the possible exception of some players from affluent backgrounds, yes, Union and Yale each provide Grant-in-Aid financing. Call it a scholarship or grant-in-aid financing, there's absolutely no way UCONN's been on competitive terms nor is it likely UCONN's been in a financial position to allocate as much aid to men's hockey as far better endowed hockey programs and schools, e.g., Union and Yale.

That's not making excuses, but it's also more reasonable then heightened levels of naivety required to suggest UCONN's suddenly come up with equivalent funds or will offer hockey-specific financial aid packages. Over a few seasons, hockey funding and total scholarships will increase in Storrs. Consequently, the number of scholarships available to allocate to players will eventually be more on par with other HE programs and ECAC grant-in-aid and scholarship schools.