2015-16 OUA Thread

[Drummer]

15 seasons behind the Stingers bench.
Lifetime 157-191-52 record.
.

MacDougall has been at UNB for the same time frame (365-149-18 and 4 University Cups). I realize not every coach is like Gardiner, but you would have thought (statistically), he would have had one or two teams go deep into the playoffs.

 

[connor macdavid]

Yep, makes you wonder how he hung around for fifteen years. Obviously the school wasn't too concerned about winning, as his teams seemed to get worse in the last 6-7 years.

We'll see what this does to Concordia short-term. Maybe they'll even slip into a battle for last with RMC?

 

[Drummer]

Antoine Houde-Caron was the Stinger's 2nd best forward with 28pts (a former UNB 3rd liner whose best season with UNB was 13pts - he likely would have had higher numbers with more ice-time, but the 8 guys a head of him were doing their job).

The problem doesn't look like offense, they scored 97 goals, more than the four teams ahead of them (UOIT, QU, LAU & NIP) and only 5 less than McGill, but they gave up 119 (only RMC gave up more in the entire OUA). Not a recipe for success.

Run-and-Gun doesn't work in today's competitive hockey landscape.

 

[connor macdavid]

Antoine Houde-Caron was the Stinger's 2nd best forward with 28pts (a former UNB 3rd liner whose best season with UNB was 13pts - he likely would have had higher numbers with more ice-time, but the 8 guys a head of him were doing their job).

The problem doesn't look like offense, they scored 97 goals, more than the four teams ahead of them (UOIT, QU, LAU & NIP) and only 5 less than McGill, but they gave up 119 (only RMC gave up more in the entire OUA). Not a recipe for success.

Run-and-Gun doesn't work in today's competitive hockey landscape.

Their goaltending was awful. Former UofO backup Robin Billingham was their starters, and he had a 4.40 GAA with an .885 sv%. I distinctly remember thinking he looked too small for the net. Undersized and scrambly.

 

[SnipeShow91]

Sucks about Figsby, the guy is a great coach and a great man. He's highly entertaining to watch behind a bench. When I was with the Paladins (won't be back this season) we would talk about not getting sucked into the run and gun game cause they had the offensive horses to put up 5 or 6 goals easily, but we got sucked into it pretty bad

 

[JacqueKallis]

Did Figsby message get stale?!?!?

You have to consider that the message Figsby was delivering got quite stale after being there for so long and not seeing the success on the ice.....players are too smart to not see that and jump all over the game plans as the major problem!

If I am guys like Lowe (UofT) or McParland (NIP) I'd be looking over my shoulder as they have done diddley in the OUA!

 

[northvanman]

Aside from UOIT, the big winner here is obviously the east division. You've got natural rivalries all over the place being highlighted. The west division on the other hand is all over the place, with UOIT hosting the Waterloo teams. Why not instead sacrifice the battle of downtown Toronto by having the Rams and Varsity Blues visit UOIT, thereby creating a GTA faceoff weekend. Then everything falls nicely in place rivalry-wise like this:

Brock - at York
Guelph - vs Windsor
Laurier - vs. Waterloo
Lakehead - none
Ryerson - at UOIT
Toronto - at UOIT
Waterloo - at Laurier
Western - vs Windsor
Windsor - at Western, at Guelph
York - vs Brock

Brock gets former division rival York, the battle of Waterloo ensues and Western hooks up with Windsor. The rationale behind Windsor's second game being in Guelph is that after London, it's the next closest city they could travel to outside of Waterloo, and it would give an extra game in the rematch of last season's OUA West final, when Guelph upset the then-defending champion Lancers on their way to the Queen's Cup.

I agree with your idea, but I think the reason they didn't schedule it this way has to do with home and away. Western and Windsor both need to make up their games on the road, which means they could not make up this game against each other. Same for Waterloo and Laurier - both need to make up the game on the road, so the make-up game against each other also wouldn't work. Ryerson, York, U of T, and UOIT all have home games go make-up, which explains why they've not scheduled any games with these teams against each other.

 

[Dutch]

Figsby had a good team on paper this year, but many of those guys didn't come in with a good reputation from junior hockey and I was surprised to see so many with the same team.

But on their best day, they'd deliver, like they did against UQTR during season. Many Q guys on the roster and Frederic Roy is joining next year, on paper, again, good team.

I'd say that the biggest problem with Figsby was on the tactical side and getting the best out of the players. McGill doesn't have the best 3rd and 4th liners in the league, but they're used so well by Nobes. A guy like Mathieu Pompei is the kind of player that doesn't come up with the Stingers.

But yeah, goaltending has been their problem for YEARS. Can't remember any dominant one for the last decade. Maxime Joyal wasn't bad, but not breaking anything either.

 

[AdamMcg83]

Reposting from Arena thread: UWaterloo plans $1.7m upgrade to the Columbia Icefield Arena, to be complete for the start of the '16-'17 season. Upgrades will include bleachers, boards, ice-making units, and roof.

This should also help in recruiting; The CIF has some decent training and off-ice facilities, but much of the arena has been untouched since its opening over 30 years ago. A facelift should make the rink much more appealing for potential recruits.

News release: http://warriors.uwaterloo.ca/news/2015/7/28/WHOCKEY_0728153557.aspx

CTV Kitchener coverage: http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=667172&binId=1.1147261&playlistPageNum=1

 

[Drummer]

OttawaU Announce new Head Coach

U of Ottawa announced there new Head Coach, former SFX Captain - Patrick Grandmaitre.

Ottawa Citizen - Revived Gee-Gees Hockey

Interesting comment at the bottom.

"He’ll spend the next year recruiting players, helped by a $112,500 fund that will allow him to offer entry scholarships to 25 new players"

This looks like they're offering the maximum AFAs allowed to a hockey team (17 spots, I believe that's the limit x $6600=112K). So, if divided equally - it's about 4K per player. I was under the impression AFAs for hockey in the OUA was a non-starter for most Athletic Departments?

This along with a campus located close to downtown and fairly well situated for road games (Carleton is in town and QU/RMC are only 1hr south and Mc/Con are only 2hr east) should get him some good recruits.

 

[connor macdavid]

U of Ottawa announced there new Head Coach, former SFX Captain - Patrick Grandmaitre.

This along with a campus located close to downtown and fairly well situated for road games (Carleton is in town and QU/RMC are only 1hr south and Mc/Con are only 2hr east) should get him some good recruits.

Not so sure about the recruits. His highest level of coaching experience is Midget AAA/CIS women's assistant. I see the 2016-17 Gee-Gees as more of a CCHL-based league, with a lot of former Junior A players. They'll likely be down near RMC, 3-4 wins I think.

We spoke about Grandmaitre's unveiling on our radio show today (link)

 

[Rob]

No doubt they will struggle their first year but if he can manage to recruit mostly major junior players they might not be that bad.

 

[BramptonFan09]

[/B]

Queen's recruiting reminds me a bit of the progress of Carleton's program. I am not sure when they will break through - but sooner than later in my opinion. Maybe as soon as next year as you predict.

There recruiting has improved drastically but rumour has it top scoring D-man in Canada and CIS rookie of the year Spencer Abraham may be turning pro (DEL) in Germany. Would be a HUGE loss for them considering he lead them in scoring and anchored the defense and may set them back a year or so.

 

[JacqueKallis]

RMC Coaching position?!?!?

With so little time before training camp opens......any thoughts on who might be the candidate for the RMC job?

Tough spot to be in as a coach, but will be interesting to see what kind of response the new guy can get from the players.

Thoughts?

 

[Duke Guy]

Is one of their AC's qualified for a promotion?

 

[SnipeShow91]

Is one of their AC's qualified for a promotion?

Their assistant coaches have full time jobs elsewhere that take up a lot of their time. Being the head coach at RMC takes up at least 14 hours of your day.

 

[connor macdavid]

Carleton arrived in Europe today. They'll play three minor-pro teams during a ten-day trip which will probably serve more as a bonding trip than a competitive one.

I know UQTR's already been in Europe for a little while, heard they beat down 7-0 on a third-rate French team.

Looking forward to the season starting in six weeks' time!

 

[JacqueKallis]

RMC New HC

Snipeshow91...https://www.facebook.com/rmc.paladins

Comments on the new hire?

Light in experience

 

[MiamiHockey]

Snipeshow91...https://www.facebook.com/rmc.paladins

Comments on the new hire?

Light in experience

Excellent hire by RMC (for a change).

The last time RMC lost a good college coach (Kelly Nobes), they got idiotic and brought in Jim Hulton for a season, under the illusion that he'd care to be at RMC. That hire set the program back at least a year in recruiting, and it has since struggled to recover.

To have recruiting success at RMC, you need strong knowledge of the military side, both the good and bad. Players don't go to RMC just to play hockey - they go to RMC to challenge themselves and to develop into stronger people. The recruiting pitch for RMC has to be grounded in reality ("Basic Training is demanding - you will be spending your summer getting 4-5 hours of sleep each night and digging trenches in the clay - but you will emerge a better person"), and it has to be authentic. As an Ex-Cadet and recent RMC Team Captain, Richard Lim has the knowledge and experience to give that honest, authentic recruiting pitch.

 

[connor macdavid]

Carleton Ravens wrapped up their European Tour yesterday in Austria. Highlights here.

2-0 w over EC Peiting (German 3rd Div)
2-1 w over Ritten Sport (Top team in Italian League)
6-1 w over EC Kitzbuhel (Austrian 2nd Div)

Kind of varied opposition, but the recruits seem to be as good as advertised. Jeremy Fraser 1g/3a, Brett Welychka, Brent Norris 2A.

Looks like Pat Killeen and Francis Dupuis will split the reg. season goaltending duties again.

Any other OUA teams - aside from UQTR - done/doing any preseason tours?

 

[Hollywood3]

Carleton Ravens wrapped up their European Tour yesterday in Austria. Highlights here.

2-0 w over EC Peiting (German 3rd Div)
2-1 w over Ritten Sport (Top team in Italian League)
6-1 w over EC Kitzbuhel (Austrian 2nd Div)

Kind of varied opposition, but the recruits seem to be as good as advertised. Jeremy Fraser 1g/3a, Brett Welychka, Brent Norris 2A.

Looks like Pat Killeen and Francis Dupuis will split the reg. season goaltending duties again.

Any other OUA teams - aside from UQTR - done/doing any preseason tours?

Not this year: [Exhibition Schedule]

 

[connor macdavid]

Carleton all-time leading scorer Jeff Hayes tearing it up in Hungary in his first pro season. Twice as many goals as any other player in the league (8 of the top 10 in league scoring Canadian expats).

Not a bad recovery for a guy whose original contract in the EIHL fell through when the team folded in August.

Full Story

 

[AdamMcg83]

Someone mark this date on the Calendar: RMC beat Nipissing 6-5 in OT last night, so the Paladins are in first place in the OUA East.

 

[connor macdavid]

Might as well throw up my OUA East predictions (haven't followed West closely enough to make good ones):

bold represents teams with a legitimate title shot

1. UQTR - good returning core, recruited a solid QMJHL goaltender in Auger, as well as two AHL-level players.

2. McGill - another good recruiting year for the Redmen, who also return most of their top players.

3. Carleton - lots of roster turnover, especially on the blueline. Pat Killeen is probably the best goalie in the OUA at this point.

4. Queen's - arguably the best recruiting class in the division, coach Brett Gibson's got all the horses, now he just needs to rein them in and make it happen in Kingston.

5. Laurentian - not the most talented group, but good leadership and top-end goaltending in Valiquette. They play hard for sixty minutes, every night.

6. Concordia - always had the talent, but Kevin Figsby never really did much with a decent group. New coach should get the Stingers playing closer to their potential.

7. UOIT - hard-working as always, they lost their best player and the Ridgebacks' overall talent level just isn't good enough to seriously threaten.

8. Nipissing - an opening-night loss against RMC has definitely left some questions. When they play properly, they can threaten, but goaltending's a huge ? and consistency is an issue.

9. RMC - will be better (already bested their win total from last season w/opening-night win), but still brutal. Hopefully the D corps can be a little better to save their goaltenders the exhaustion.

 

[MiamiHockey]

Might as well throw up my OUA East predictions (haven't followed West closely enough to make good ones):

bold represents teams with a legitimate title shot

1. UQTR - good returning core, recruited a solid QMJHL goaltender in Auger, as well as two AHL-level players.

2. McGill - another good recruiting year for the Redmen, who also return most of their top players.

3. Carleton - lots of roster turnover, especially on the blueline. Pat Killeen is probably the best goalie in the OUA at this point.

4. Queen's - arguably the best recruiting class in the division, coach Brett Gibson's got all the horses, now he just needs to rein them in and make it happen in Kingston.

5. Laurentian - not the most talented group, but good leadership and top-end goaltending in Valiquette. They play hard for sixty minutes, every night.

6. Concordia - always had the talent, but Kevin Figsby never really did much with a decent group. New coach should get the Stingers playing closer to their potential.

7. UOIT - hard-working as always, they lost their best player and the Ridgebacks' overall talent level just isn't good enough to seriously threaten.

8. Nipissing - an opening-night loss against RMC has definitely left some questions. When they play properly, they can threaten, but goaltending's a huge ? and consistency is an issue.

9. RMC - will be better (already bested their win total from last season w/opening-night win), but still brutal. Hopefully the D corps can be a little better to save their goaltenders the exhaustion.

I think you'll find that RMC will be a much tougher opponent than in past seasons. What they (always) lack in skill needs to be compensated for with grit and determination. They'll have much more of that under Lim than they ever did under Shell. Watch out for RMC to win its fair share of home games, as that small barn is perfectly suited to a gritty game. Constantine will not be a fun place to visit any more.