Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Are My Concerns About Mike Gabinet Being Validated By UNO Hockey's Awful Season?

It's been a tough season for UNO Hockey's players and fans.  The Mavs started the season slowly, to put it most positively. Frankly, they didn't even look competitive much of the time. The Mavs looked unconditioned and weren't ready to play. As the season went on, playing games seemed to force them into shape and they did play better...but playing against the best teams in college hockey, it didn't really help.  Since New Years, UNO finished the second half of the season with a 3-14-1 record for UNO's second worst season in program history.

The worst season?  The 2003-04 season where UNO only won eight games, and frankly, I felt better about UNO's future after that season than this.  That 2003-04 team featured several impressive freshmen such as future NHL goalie Chris Holt and Hobey Baker finalist Scott Parse.  This season's UNO team was young, to be sure, but the biggest contributors were the departing seniors, not the young guys. Frankly, how much worse could the season have been if not for senior goaltender Evan Weninger?  Four of UNO's nine wins came in shutouts by Weninger.

Now he's gone, along with co-leading scorers Mason Morelli and Fredrik Olafsson.  This likely isn't a one year blip; in fact, now it's looking like a major rebuilding process. Some Gabinet supporters have suggested it's a seven year rebuild.

Frankly, if it's REALLY a seven year rebuild, that's a strong indication that Mike Gabinet isn't the right guy.

The Gabinet defenders throw lots of reasons why it will take that long, but they come off more as excuses than anything. Or just don't have much of a basis, such as the excuse that Dean Blais stopped recruiting his last few seasons.

That omits the fact that in the six months prior to his retirement, Blais secured commitments from seven players; five are already playing for UNO.

Or the guys who seemed to be heading to UNO when Blais left but somehow ended up somewhere else. Papillion native Ethan Frank told CBS' Ben Holden last fall that he wanted to attend UNO, but couldn't get a call returned after Blais left. He went to Western Michigan instead, where his 15 goals this season ranked seventh in the NCHC this season. Casey Dornbach signed a letter of intent to play for UNO while Blais was head coach, but somehow found himself at Harvard this season, earning rookie of the year honors in the Ivy League.

Another favorite excuse is the Peter Mannino escapade. Mannino, an assistant coach, abruptly left UNO after one season, only to resurface at Miami a few days later. Several UNO commits flipped to Miami in the months afterward, earning Mannino scorn from not only Gabinet but many UNO fans as well.  Without absolving Mannino, two questions need to be answered on this one.  First, who hired Mannino in the first place?  Second, why did Mannino jump to a conference rival? What made Miami a more attractive job to Mannino than UNO? Especially when you consider that Mannino was dismissed today along with Enrico Blasi.  Apparently he thought that it was better to roll the dice and bet on Blasi's hot seat being a better opportunity than staying in Omaha.

I don't pretend to think that Gabinet is in any real danger at UNO. Two years really isn't enough time to prove that a coach isn't working out. Besides, UNO's financial situation doesn't lend itself to pulling the plug on Gabinet.  And frankly, I know I'm in the minority on this one. One notable UNO fan famously said that if Gabinet had UNO playing it's best hockey at the end of the season, he'd be fine.

And the fact is that Gabinet DID have UNO playing it's best hockey at the end of the season. (LOL Swoontober.)  UNO was competitive at times at the end of the season; you couldn't say that with a straight face at the start of the season.  Maybe that's a sign that Gabinet might actually be starting to figure this thing out.  He's had a rush of commitments in recruiting in recent weeks.

This guy was pegged as a bad hire.
Maybe he'll prove me wrong.  I'm on record as saying that hiring Gabinet was a huge mistake. And my "bad hire" detector has had a pretty good track record up to now, and it's still blinking red on Gabinet.

In fact, it's flashing even more rapidly.  Just because UNO fans want an alum to succeed doesn't mean it will.

So was this guy.

Posted by Husker Mike at 4:48 PM 0 comments

Sunday, February 24, 2019

UNO Hockey Plays St. Cloud State During Blizzard To Help The Huskies Get Stranded on Minnesota Highway

As this weekend's blizzard approached, most people did the sensible thing. They stocked up on essentials. Plans were cancelled or rescheduled, in deference to the situation. As the storm hit, travel became impossible and authorities urged people to stay put.


Except for UNO of course. Nevermind the weather outside, they decided to go ahead with their scheduled hockey game against St. Cloud State anyway. The Huskies' hotel is only a few blocks away from the arena, so might as well play.

In a nearly deserted arena.  The official attendance (i.e. tickets sold) was 4,267; a picture of the crowd suggested the actual attendance was probably closer to 267.  I didn't go, as did the vast majority of fans. It simply wasn't worth  the risk.

But why was the game played in the first place? I get that the teams were already here, but why not postpone the game until Sunday?  Perhaps it was because St. Cloud was in a hurry to get home.  Well, Mother Nature had some other ideas.  You see, that same blizzard was pretty much blasting the Huskies path home.  They made it as far as St. James, Minnesota when their bus got stuck.

Eventually, they got rescued, but with the roads closed all through Minnesota, they had to hunker down with the Watonwan County Sheriff's Department, according to assistant coach Mike Gibbons.

It's great that the team is in a good mood, and making the best of the situation, but I still go back to the original decision to play the game Saturday night.  Frankly, it was a reckless decision; the game should have been postponed until today. It was clear yesterday that the St. Cloud bus wasn't going anywhere last night, and frankly, it should have been expected that the route to St. Cloud would be dangerous today as well.

The smart thing to do would have been to postpone the game until today.  It would have been better for fans, and frankly, better for the players as well.  Better for the people who who had to work the game as well as the people trying to keep the roads clear Saturday night too.  But the smart thing wasn't done.

Why?
Posted by Husker Mike at 8:48 PM 0 comments
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