Now that it’s been roughly two months and the dust has settled I’m curious what people’s thoughts are on this past season. In particular with how it ended. I was just watching some highlights from the team this year and there were so many games where they were hard on pucks, their passing was crisp, they were clinical and their talent shined through. Obviously we know that there were games when that absolutely didn’t happen. I’m just curious as what people think went so wrong the last month plus, really a decent amount of the back half, of the season and how/why a team that seemed like it was built top to bottom for college hockey got bounced in the first round.
I was very complimentary of the team during the season and felt they were very defendable up until the Notre Dame series. They lost all benefit of the doubt with that one. Sure they got screwed in the UMass game but at the end of the day it’s a results based business and you can’t help but say they underperformed when all was said and done.
That roster was a Frozen Four team plain and simple. Every year we get further and further from Quinnipiac.
I can’t help but feel the 2025-26 team will be a rebuilding year. I feel they will be fighting to make the tourney as a 3 or 4 seed. A TON of youth and inexperience in key positions in a league that looks to be in the best shape it’s ever been, paired with a juggernaut non-con schedule. Next years outlook makes me a lil nervous.
That being said, if they keep this group together, 26-27 and 27-28 could be very promising with a veteran team who’s played together for a while. I hope we keep Mooney for 3 years.
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
That's a good thing. Maybe we get 4 years.I'm not sure Mooney is a NHL player at that size
Thanks for the positive vibes
They started off like GangBusters! Appeared so DEEP and the freshmen got off to excellent starts. But I thought tBob had over-hyped the D core. Rinzel was EXCELLENT, but beyond that, not close to level of 22-23 blue line. Season seemed to turn after Howard & Spartans rallied to beat them. And in hindsight, some players may have had a foot out the door looking forward to Pro careers….it happens. Still a solid year and lots of regular season wins, shared Big Title with Spartans!Now that it’s been roughly two months and the dust has settled I’m curious what people’s thoughts are on this past season. In particular with how it ended. I was just watching some highlights from the team this year and there were so many games where they were hard on pucks, their passing was crisp, they were clinical and their talent shined through. Obviously we know that there were games when that absolutely didn’t happen. I’m just curious as what people think went so wrong the last month plus, really a decent amount of the back half, of the season and how/why a team that seemed like it was built top to bottom for college hockey got bounced in the first round.
I was very complimentary of the team during the season and felt they were very defendable up until the Notre Dame series. They lost all benefit of the doubt with that one. Sure they got screwed in the UMass game but at the end of the day it’s a results based business and you can’t help but say they underperformed when all was said and done.
That roster was a Frozen Four team plain and simple. Every year we get further and further from Quinnipiac.
I can’t help but feel the 2025-26 team will be a rebuilding year. I feel they will be fighting to make the tourney as a 3 or 4 seed. A TON of youth and inexperience in key positions in a league that looks to be in the best shape it’s ever been, paired with a juggernaut non-con schedule. Next years outlook makes me a lil nervous.
That being said, if they keep this group together, 26-27 and 27-28 could be very promising with a veteran team who’s played together for a while. I hope we keep Mooney for 3 years.
While I agree with you on both points my maroon and gold tinted glasses are still on and part of me feels like this next season could be fun because they are going in with less expectations than the last few years. I don’t see them competing for a national championship but I think that after some growing pains in the first half that they could really come on strong down the stretch and potentially make some noise.
Also, with so much roster turnover it kind of feels like we’re entering a new phase of the Motzko tenure. I like a lot of the guys that left but maybe some fresh faces in the locker room will help in the long run. I will always look fondly at the Class of 2026, this year’s seniors, and there are quite a few who stuck around and will be impactful players this year. But unless they wildly outperform our expectations this year I feel like they’ll be looked back on with a of a “what could have been” viewpoint. Fairly or unfairly. Just with having many players pretty quickly have big roles on that 2022-2023 runner up team, having big names like Cooley and Snuggerud, and also other solid players up and down the lineup. But oh well, that’s sports. We’ll see what the guys that stuck around and the new guys can do this year.
Maybe it's not the team but everyone's "expectations" that are the problem. This place is hard to take at times tbh.
@slap-shot What are your expectations for this program?
Be nationally competitive more often than not.
