Another UNH hockey season is in the books. It started promising with an 8-1 thrashing of some Canadian team, but we quickly learned what exhibition games are worth as we watched the team open with a loss to RPI, a loss and a tie against Miami, big losses to Wisconsin, and just TWO wins in their first ten games. They're only regular season non-conference win was against Dartmouth (woo, another RiverStone). It looked as though the Wildcats would miss home ice, and possibly be on the outside looking in at the NCAA tourney.
However, with a strong middle/second half of the season, fueled by a number of exhilarating comebacks, the team stormed back into the home ice race, and then, into contention for the Regular Season title, which they wrapped up with a thrilling come-from-behind tie against Boston College in the final home game. A loss the next night still left them in precarious position regarding the NCAA's, though. In game 1 of the HE quarterfinals, they once again called upon the comeback magic, scoring 3 goals (and an empty-netter) to beat UVM 7-4. Unfortunately, they wouldn't score another goal, losing a pair of 1-0 games, the second, and deciding, game in OT.
After some nail biting, UNH made the National Tourney, placed in the Albany Regional, and playing Cornell in the opening game. I chose not to make the trek out to Albany, instead choosing to watch the games at a local sports bar with Jay and Sarah. Good food, beer, and lots of hockey. Honestly, I wasn’t sure UNH would beat Cornell, having already lost to them once earlier in the season (and being completely outmatched), and even if they did, I worried about Denver, who took on bottom-seeded RIT.
Yeah, I was wrong a lot that day. UNH stunned Cornell, cruising past them with a 6-2 win. This was slightly overshadowed by RIT, who first stunned everyone by beating Denver, then stunned, well, pretty much just UNH fans by crushing the Wildcats. With 13:22 to go in the 2nd it was 1-1. 95 seconds later, it was 4-1, and the season was all but over. At least I’m pretty sure it was. Jackass bartender changed the channel on us. I don’t walk out on games, and I don’t change the channel just because it’s obvious the ‘Cats are going to lose. Not to mention the fact that this was the FINAL game of their season, and the last that some would play in the blue and white. I wanted to see the end.
Anyway, it sucked. Just a frustrating way to end the season. I have come to realize something, though. I am not playing. It sounds obvious, and I’m sure certain people who might read this are probably saying, “no shit”, but it is important to note. I’ve witnessed many fans treat being a fan of a certain team like it gives them some advantage over fans of another team, simply because their team is better. They might not even come out and say it explicitly, but the nature of their comments and actions is one of, “My team won, therefore I’ve accomplished more than you, because your team didn’t.”
RIT fans were apparently telling UNH fans that they suck because of the score of the game. Really? How many goals did any of those fans score? Right, the exact same number those UNH fans gave up: ZERO.
Something else I’ve come to understand is that rooting for your team involves believing that they’re going to win, and that they can beat the teams they have to play. Yes, it is good to have some perspective – I’m not going to claim that UNH could beat the Bruins, or anything like that – but it is OK to think your team is going to win, and that other fans’ teams are going to lose, and that if you’re wrong about this, it doesn’t mean you’re an idiot or a moron. It’s College Hockey, and I’m just a regular fan. I’m not paid to analyze the sport; I don’t have anything riding on their performance other than having more fun when my team wins. I have no say in who coaches the team, nor in who plays or when. I love my team, and I’m going to pick them to win every game they play. Regardless of the outcome, I will still love watching them play. I love hockey, and I am a UNH fan.
That was longer than I'd anticipated. So, without further ado, here's the 2009-2010 Hoser Quote Book, followed by my first-ever prediction for an upcoming season.
05/09/09 Hoser Movie Fest
Rouge: Ricky, you've been remembering my first name lately, right?
Ricky: um...Rouge?
Matt: Just be careful of his speen.
Darci: What part of the body is the "speen"?
Matt: You don't want to know.
"That's a couch, Jay. It's a loveseat for fat people." -matt
06/14/09 Canobie Lake Park
Crash: Hoops have to go to the back!
Jeff: It's like Rosa Parks in here.
08/08/09 Hoserfest
Jeff: everyone goes bush-diving once in a while.
Jay (to Matt): we should do doggystyle.
10/10/09 UNH @ RPI
Ricky: So, George calls the Sislo, Leblanc, and Butler the hero line.
Matt: Yeah, because he wants to be in a sandwich with them.
"Exit light,
Enter George.
Take my hand,
We're off to Dalton Speelman land!" - George's alternate lyrics to "Enter Sandman"
10/17/09 Miami @ UNH
"...and boobs the size of his head!" -Ricky
"um, I forgot how to unbutton my pants." -Matt
01/09/10 UMA @ UNH
(After S-E-X) "Stop sucking and put it in!" -Matt
01/16/10 Dartmouth vs UNH @ VWA
"That's alright, that's OK, Paul Osgood lives in your town. Suckers!" -Matt
01/30/10 MC @ UNH
"It's 'hit or hit on' with Darci." -Jeff
"Gib came at the last second, or else you would have." -Jeff
03/27/10 Albany Regional
"I feel like a fat turtle." -Ricky
"I'll sleep in his little boys room." -George
The Prediction:
I tend to avoid making predictions. I’m wrong a lot (usually just with little in-game comments about what’s going to happen), so, probably through some silly superstitious instinct, I don’t like to predict outcomes, especially without knowing much about the teams involved. This year, I’m changing that.
Now, I say this is my “first-ever” season prediction, but that’s not entirely true. This is my first-ever college hockey season prediction. I’ve made one other, and that one I was talked into by my then brother-in-law. It was Christmas time in 2003, the team in question was the 2004 Red Sox, and the prediction was just four simple words (presented here in alphabetical order): ‘is’ ‘the’ ‘this’ and ‘year’.
Given what I wrote above, can I make any other prediction? I don’t think so, and so here we go:
2010-2011 UNH Wildcats: THIS IS THE YEAR!
That’s right. I am picking the UNH men’s hockey team to win it all this year. I don’t know if they’ll win the HE Regular Season. I don’t know if they’ll win the HE tourney. I have no reason to think they'll win: they have big question marks in just about every category, don't seem to have the offense of past years, have a solid defense, but an inexperienced goalie, and no real "big name" talent. I am, however, predicting that they will win the National Championship. The blue and white of Durham, NH will be hoisting the hardware in Minnesota this coming April.
Now, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had some doubts throughout that season, and had resigned myself, sitting down to watch games 4 and 5 of the ALCS that they would lose, but the important thing was making the prediction. It felt good to be positive. Some people will tell you they stay pessimistic to soften the blow if/when the team loses. I posit that this is bunk, and frankly, doesn’t work. I’ve been a pessimist, and let me tell you, losing when you expect to sucks every bit as much as when it’s unexpected. The only difference is you already felt negatively about the team.
Well, screw that. What a miserable existence. One of my favorite quotes, often attributed to Albert Einstein, goes, “I’d rather be an optimist and wrong than a pessimist and right”. And frankly, what joy can be had in predicting that a team won’t win? Only one wins each year. Your odds are much higher picking a loser than a winner.
So this year, I’m turning the page. I’m behind my team. I won’t be deterred by a bad start, or a bad November, December, January, or February. We’ve seen numerous examples of teams looking mediocre in the regular season, then turning it on in the postseason. “Just make the NCAA’s” is the mantra these days. Hell, UNH in 2009 looked dead in the water after being swept out of the HE tourney by 5th seed BC, then played the best hockey we’ve seen from them since 2003 in upsetting UND and battling BU. Though they came up short in that game, they took the best team in the country to the wire, and left everything on the ice. They looked that way this past year against Cornell, only to come out and lay an egg against RIT. I remain hopeful that they will find that spark again.
If I’m wrong, it will only be about my prediction. I refuse to accept that making it, or feeling this way is wrong. And, I’ll predict the same thing next year, too.
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