UMassHoops.com

Great news. Keep it going guys.

Cannot do worse than a split this weekend. I kind of like playing at their place first. If we can take that one, we should win at home in front of 8,000.

Typical UM PR machine, Hockey makes it to # 1 for the first time in school history and before 9:00 pm, they have moved it from the top story on the Athletics Home Page , for the hiring of the FB coach. The classes in the Sports Management Masters program must have a field day with all the errors they make promoting their programs!

UMass has 3 stories in 'evening Globe' right now. I'm happy, not mad.

Sports page has 2:

1. https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/coll ... story.html

2. https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2018 ... /story.html

3. Is on the wet fall and winter. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/ ... tory.html

Great publicity for Alma Mater, right?

^ Yes, and if they hired Walt Bell on Tuesday, they would have had major sports stories on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let me know how Wednesday’s Globe is, UM sports wise.....Two is always better than one!

TruBluMaroon wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 8:58 pm Typical UM PR machine, Hockey makes it to # 1 for the first time in school history and before 9:00 pm, they have moved it from the top story on the Athletics Home Page , for the hiring of the FB coach. The classes in the Sports Management Masters program must have a field day with all the errors they make promoting their programs!

The department probably could have waited until today for the official word, but the news was breaking from all the major sources by 6pm last night, so it would have had to have been done sooner rather than later. It would have been nice for Hockey to get it's moment in the sun for a bit longer, but it is what it is as we know the football hire was coming through at somepoint soon.

I think I saw this suggestion on twitter or maybe somewhere else. It would be fantastic if Bell could be here Saturday and be introduced at the hockey game. With 2,000 or more students in attendance, it's a great way to get them interested (I hope) in the FB program.

Nice to see most, if not all, the major local news sources pick up the story about UMass being #1. It was part of the Sports Hubs sports updates yesterday as well.

69MG wrote: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:52 am I think I saw this suggestion on twitter or maybe somewhere else. It would be fantastic if Bell could be here Saturday and be introduced at the hockey game. With 2,000 or more students in attendance, it's a great way to get them interested (I hope) in the FB program.

He's going to be outside of the student section pre-game.

Good for the football program. However I kind of wish they let hockey have this game be solely about the number 1 team in the nation playing at home for the first time in program history and bring the football coach a different game.

Old Cage wrote: Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:21 pm

69MG wrote: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:52 am I think I saw this suggestion on twitter or maybe somewhere else. It would be fantastic if Bell could be here Saturday and be introduced at the hockey game. With 2,000 or more students in attendance, it's a great way to get them interested (I hope) in the FB program.

He's going to be outside of the student section pre-game.

This is part of the Email that was sent out:

Meet New Head Football Coach Walt Bell!
Coach Bell will be hosting a pre-game meet and greet from 6:30 - 7:30 PM located in the Mullins Center Concourse behind Section P.

FYI. The game is at 7:30, not 7:00. This isn't a change, it was always 7:30.

jjmc85 wrote: Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:29 pm Good for the football program. However I kind of wish they let hockey have this game be solely about the number 1 team in the nation playing at home for the first time in program history and bring the football coach a different game.

I think you're being a touch sensitive about this honestly. The sellout or near sellout expected for Saturday is all about the #1 hockey team in the country. The new coach (IMO) doesn't distract from that at all. I think it was actually a very smart decision by the athletic department to capitalize on the biggest fan engagement opportunity for the department in the last 5 years. It's not like they are running a different event in a separate building. Nobody is going to this game solely to meet the coach and I don't think anybodies experience or engagement with the game and/or hockey program is going to be changed even a little bit by the coach doing a meet-and-greet outside of the student section before the game starts.

^

Amen.

https://www.gazettenet.com/UMass-hockey ... m-21938661

Nice story by Josh Walfish at the Gazette on the #1 ranking

https://www.masslive.com/umasshockey/in ... iver_index

And one by Matt Vatour in the Republican.

Taking a look at the Hockey East Standings, It sure is crowded at the top. BC and UMass both have 14 points. NU and PC come next with 13. Then BU is in fifth with 12.

UMass has 2 games in hand on BC and PC and five (5!?!?!?) games in hand on BU. Also the tie breaker with PC. But geez. The Minutemen were perfect in the first half in conference play when the league is in a down year, and there’s no margin of error. Every Hockey East game is crucial even for just home ice at this point.