Interview with UML Coach Blaise MacDonald
Part I
by Monty Rodrigues
Blaise MacDonald, the human dichotomy.
Fans of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell hockey team are used to seeing their coach in his jacket and tie, sometimes frazzled, stressed, yelling at the referees, or banging his hand into the glass behind the bench, rarely smiling. Comfortable, happy, watching his son practice, dressed in polo shirt and shorts, the River Hawks coach is a bit different more relaxed as the 2003/2004 season gets closer. His public face won’t be quite the same when the games begin and he’s coaching again. The young coach is coming into his third year at UML (33-33-8, 16-25-7 Hockey East) and is hoping to see his team bounce back from a disappointing year for the fans. During his first year at UML, Lowell was ranked #3 in the country mid year, the highest ranking ever for the university in Division 1.
After that season, Lowell lost 11 players to graduation and suffered in the standings as would have been expected, falling to eighth in Hockey East. While it would be expected that MacDonald would be unhappy after that season, he refuses to even term the season as a bad year for the program. “I wouldn’t categorize last year as a bad year at all,” said MacDonald. He agreed that looking at the final record wouldn’t indicate a good year, but he said, “If you look at the statistics and the way we played, we played extremely well in most of the games.” He did acknowledge that the lack of a big time goaltender hurt the team last year, noting the old adage that the teams with the best goalies tend to do the best.
MacDonald also stated that he had seen tapes of league games from last year and that forwards and defensemen on the BU, BC, UNH and other teams all made the same mistakes that his players made. But the difference was that those teams “had a big time goalie bailing them out.” MacDonald remembered the times when he was coaching against Lowell, “look at [those Lowell teams], they had a couple of good players, but those players played at a whole different level because they had all world goalies in front of them.” He went on to add another positive to take away from last season, stating, “I was really pleased with the play of our freshmen. We made a lot of inroads in terms of gaining experience for our younger guys last year, and I was very happy with the way they played.”
UML then lost even more talent after the 2002/2003 season as 10 players saw their final collegiate action. Most of the departures were expected, but the surprise came just a month ago as the #1 net-minder coming into the season, sophomore Dominic Smart, decided not to return to Lowell for personal reasons. With Anders Strome also leaving with a year of eligibility left (he had already graduated), the River Hawks will get even younger this year, and could very possibly be the youngest team in the country. Senior Jerramie Domish, Junior Peter Tormey, and sophomores Andrew Martin and Danny O’Brien will represent the captains and assistants.
With twenty four underclassmen on the roster and only one senior set to graduate after this year, Lowell’s recruiting class for the 04/05 season will most likely consist of only a couple of players. While MacDonald had not planned on doing any real recruiting for the year, the early departure of Smart has changed those thoughts. “We’re actively recruiting a goaltender right now that we think is a top-level goalie, and could follow in the legacy of all the great Lowell goaltenders,” said MacDonald. It would appear that the coaching staff has a list of other potential players that they might recruit, all depending on how the freshmen on this team do. “If this years freshmen class pans out the way we think they will, then recruiting will be very small. But if some of those guys struggle at this level, perhaps we’ll have to activate some more guys on our database” he said.
It would appear that another possible problem for the program, looking into the future, could be that Lowell will need to severely replenish it’s program every 3-4 years, due to the lack of seniors and juniors this year. The breakdown of classes this year at Lowell is one senior, four juniors, fifteen sophomores and nine freshmen. MacDonald acknowledges that this isn’t the perfect system for Lowell, as that would involve having an even or close to even amount of players in each class. According to MacDonald, this is “the downside of inheriting a program.” Most likely, the Lowell program will have a couple of recruited walk-ons added to their roster next year, which while not getting rid of the problem, does add a couple of kids to an incoming freshman class that currently doesn’t exist. “We’ll have an idea come November or December where our needs really lie,” said the coach. Continuing on the recruiting theme, it may be interesting for people who keep tabs on recruiting to know that the Lowell staff not only maps out their current and future recruiting needs, but those of the opposing Hockey East teams as well. MacDonald says Lowell is currently recruiting “very heavily a lot of 87s and 88s [kids born in 1987 and 1988], as well as 86s and creating a futures list that is very comprehensive. That will really allow this program to take another big step forward because it will give us a year and a half to two years to identify and recruit the right kind of kids for our Lowell program.”
Looking towards the upcoming year, Lowell has to make up for the lost leadership and experience from last year. Is it possible for a team to, in essence, develop leadership when it is so young? Domish (36 games last year, 2-13-15) is a given, but he seems more of a follow my lead type, more than a yeller and screamer. Last year’s seniors were a “hard working group, came to work every day and we were greatly appreciative of that,” said MacDonald. The program needs to keep up that level to compete in Hockey East, and will definitely have the chance to gain experience with a schedule that includes games against traditional power house programs such as Wisconsin, Michigan State, and of course the Hockey East powers. While most of this year’s sophomores have begun to show what they bring to the team, the intriguing part will be this year’s freshmen. With another strong (on paper) class, MacDonald now has brought in every player on the team except for Domish. He seemed excited when talking about the incoming class saying, “they’re all very respectful players and student-athletes.” He continued by saying, “Having been around them in meetings, they’re soaking every thing in, they are very attentive.”
There are a couple of players that stand out a bit from their classmates, most likely lead by forward Jason Tejchma (pronounced Teach-ma). The youngster from Muskegon, Michigan (through the Danville Wings of the NAHL) is described by MacDonald as having “good skating skills, good stick skills." He promises to be a real good solid freshman, probably like an Andrew Martin type of player, not overly dynamic, but certainly solid.” Lowell fans would be pleased if Tejchma can contribute to the level that Martin did his rookie year, when Martin was the third leading scorer on the team with 10-12-22. Two incoming defensemen from the BCHL also stand out, Justin Coutu (Trail) and Cleve Kinley (Powell River). “Kinley has offensive dimensions, needs to learn the game at this speed. I think he’ll be able to really transition the puck for us.” Coutu, also an offensive defenseman, missed the majority of the year for Trail last year after getting hurt during a game. His luck hasn’t changed since arriving on campus, as he came down with a virus and had to go to the hospital, then he made a return trip to the hospital as he received a major cut to his leg which needed stitches. Due to these issues, Coutu is a bit behind on training and getting acclimated. Once he is actually able to step on the ice, MacDonald gives him a pretty interesting compliment, comparing him to Freddy Meyer (BU ’03 grad). “He doesn’t play on the edge quite as much as Freddy did, but he is that type of a player.”
MacDonald went on to mention a couple more incoming players, including late signee Jake Pence. Pence, who played for the Boston Junior Bruins (EJHL) originally had verbally committed to playing at West Point for Army, was convinced to play at Lowell with the help of incoming transfer John Yaros. “I think Pence is going to be a terrific freshman for us. Big body, great offensive skills, real athletic, and shows a great aptitude to pick things up quickly.” While stating that Pence is also a great kid, MacDonald concluded by saying, “I think he could be a very effective player for us this upcoming year.” Another freshman, whose name might be recognized by Lowell fans, Chris Fontas (Cushing Academy) will also have a chance to make a contribution this year. Fontas, whose cousins Dan and Mark played for Lowell, is described by MacDonald as “probably one of the smartest hockey players on our team, no matter the class.” While not being too fast, the Nashua, NH native does have “a tremendous head for the game, but he’ll make all the right plays.” Defenseman Adam Stanieich and forwards Josh Notini (both also from the Boston Jr. Bruins), Rene Gauthier (Chicago Steel, USHL) and Todd Fletcher (Chelmsford High) round out the incoming class, and it would not be a surprise if each got a chance to show what they can do at this level over the course of the year. Notini (Dracut, MA), Stanieich (Stoneham, MA) and Fletcher are also all local kids, along with Fontas. Overall MacDonald expects to see two or three of the rookie defensemen be major contributors for the River Hawks, and of the forwards Fontas and Tejchma appear to be ready to contribute, while Gauthier is almost at the level, and Fletcher “could be a surprise,” according to MacDonald.
There will be some more new faces on the ice for Lowell this year, as transfers F Peter Hanlon (Connecticut College) and G John Yaros (Army) become eligible. Hanlon will be available immediately, but Yaros will most of the first half, becoming available in December. Forwards Paul Falco (Maine) and Matt Walsh (UMass) also have transferred, but the date of their being available to Lowell is not set yet. Transfers not only bring in a bit more experience than incoming freshman, but also a different way of looking at things, as they’ve most likely played in a different system than what Lowell uses. The coach “enjoys the different perspective transfers bring, they have been immersed in a different culture, and now they come into Lowell, and we help them and they help us understand other teams in our league.” MacDonald has received and declined a lot of potential transfer requests lately. “I want to take the right types of kids,” emphasized MacDonald.
If there’s anything that scares or worries any Lowell fans this year, it has to be the goaltending situation. It was expected that Smart (26 games, 6-12-5, 84.2% save rate, 3.77 GAA) would be the #1 goaltender going into the year, but as mentioned earlier, decided to leave the program for personal reasons. The departure of course caught the Lowell program by surprise. What isn’t as widely known is that Smart did change his mind at one point and asked if it was possible to come back to the program. Smart was given a deadline to decide on his decision, but unfortunately for him, he apparently couldn’t make up his mind in time, and by the time he had decided, it was too late. The coaching staff never ruled him out from coming back, nor were they not open to his returning. Eventually though the coaching staff had decided to move on for various reasons. With school already having started, finding a dorm room on campus would have been difficult as would have getting Smart a roommate, as all the hockey players had been assigned their rooms by that point. “Things had changed with the dynamics of the team that it would have been tough for him to come back and have it just like it was when he left,” said MacDonald. Even though his reasons do not need to be explained to the fans, Smart did leave the team in a tough position leaving so close to the start of the year. MacDonald explained, “If you’re not totally committed and totally comfortable and ready to face some adversity and deal with it and move on, you have no chance at having success. I think he felt like it was just going to be too hard to get back into it this year.” MacDonald did leave a small chance that Smart could be back in a Lowell sweater in the future, but did emphasize that the odds were not good for this to occur.
With Smart having departed early, who will be the #1 netminder? According to MacDonald, that’s not much of a decision as it is Chris Davidson’s spot going into the season. Davidson had a rather lackluster year last year, finishing 5-8 with a 3.86 GAA and 84.8% save rate. While that might make most Lowell fans nervous, MacDonald doesn’t seem too concerned. “One of my concerns with Chris last year was that he just didn’t work hard enough in the off season to develop and make the commitment to being a Division I goaltender in Hockey East,” said MacDonald. Apparently Davidson changed his habits during this offseason though, and worked out hard trying to gain back the #1 spot that has defaulted to him for now. “He is by far our most improved guy off the ice. All of his [physical] testings are way up from last year, so that’s a great sign as well. I was very impressed with the work that he put in during the summer. I have a lot of confidence in Chris Davidson,” concluded MacDonald. Davidson did show some signs last year of being able to handle the spot, with the second game of last year against Colorado College coming to mind (36 saves on 37 shots). Davidson probably has most of the first half of the year to prove himself to the coaches, before Yaros becomes eligible. According to MacDonald, it will be based on a simple idea, “I think we need to find [a goaltender] that we can commit to, and one that wants to take charge and wants to be the go-to guy.” If he can’t do so, his future at Lowell will most likely become a huge question mark, especially if MacDonald receives the commitment from the blue chip goaltender he is recruiting. The coach did note that since he has been in charge, Lowell has not gone out and recruited a #1 goaltender. This is the first time that the staff is actively recruiting one.
Click here for Part II of the interview.
Copyright 2003 Monty Rodrigues