Hopefully there's a great deal of introspection with the hockey program this offseason, players and coaching staff. As frustrating as the past two years have been, it's not like the program is in terrible shape. We're still recruiting well and we still have a ton of talent on the team (if we retain most of them). We're not winning uncompetitive against top teams. We have just sleep walked through portions of the last two seasons and it has bitten us badly. I think we need tweaking at the moment, not whole sale change. So I'm in favor of Red finishing out his contract, which is what will likely happen.
Exhibit A: Boston University
Legendary Coach and three-time national Coach of the Year Jack Parker had 40 years behind the bench, had been with BU for 47 years as a player and coach, won three NCAA championships, including the miracle win in 2009, won the mid-season Beanpot Tournament among the four Boston teams so often that they started to call it the BU Invitational, and coached two Hobey Baker Award winners. BU’s rink is named in his honor.
After the 2009 NCAA championship, BU’s program began to fall apart, missing out on some elite recruits, hurt by several early departures to the pros, scandalized by allegations of off-ice criminal conduct by a couple of its players and suffering humiliation while its long-time rival Boston College won two NCAA titles and dominated Hockey East.
With many calling for him to step down, Parker, who turned 69 this month, left after the 2012-13 season with a career record of 876-456-113 and 27 seasons with 20 or more wins. Shortly after BU lost to UMass-Lowell 1-0 in the Hockey East championship game last year and missed out on the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years since they’d won it all in 2009, they named another former BU captain, David Quinn (a long-time coach with the USA National Development program, and then an assistant with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche), as only the fifth BU head hockey coach since 1945.
Under Quinn, Boston University’s hockey team just had its worst season in 50 years, finishing 10-21-4 (ninth in Hockey East), with four of those wins resulting from weekend sweeps in the first and last weekends of the season. They won a total of six games from October 13 to February 27, went winless from December 1 until January 24 and finished last in the Beanpot Tournament.
I think this year's team was decidedly lacking talent, both on the blue line and the forwards. This isn't the Michigan of 3-5 years ago that had healthy scratches of drafted defensemen and a 3rd line that most would ID as a top line. We have one top-level scorer, not much besides that, and 2-3 defensemen. We were 1 win away from the tournament and 3 wins over an awful PSU team from a 2 seed (or a 1?). That's frustrating (and given our start the ending was also frustrutating) but we we'ren't a turrible team this year. Last year was different, but firing this coach after this year would be a bit over the top.
Looks like the team will be deeper AND more talented and with known commodities in goal next year. things look up for 14-15.
Can he block? If we get Lindsay and can slip Red in the interior line might hold up this fall.
March 23rd, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^