October 24, 2018
Announcements
Pres. Tom: We have a thank you note for the holiday cards we wrote out for our troops overseas. We have spots open for the last two football games on Nov 3rd and 10th ... Hockey will start for us on Nov 23rd and we'll need to staff that game with 5.
Ann: Great district seminar coming up Nov 3rd in Westbrook, ME. Focus will be Membership and the Rotary Foundation. If you're in either business or hope to be, this is the conference for you. Runs 8 AM to noon. We can work out a car pool next meeting, Oct 31st.
Program
Mike Souza, coach of the UNH men's hockey team, continues his tour of Rotary Clubs in the state. After graduating from UNH, he played with the Blackhawks and continued with six seasons of European hockey including skating for the Italian national team. He got into coaching at Connecticut, then Brown and came back to where he always wanted to be as an associate coach for three seasons under Coach Umile.
Hockey needs resources to get done what needs to be done. This past summer he put $80K to work with a July program for the incoming players. The team was last in Hockey East last year, and we're off to a 0-3-1 season. It's going to take some time to build the team. He has 5 returning seniors and 9 new players including UNH's first European-born (Swede), and a great coaching staff. So, he's hopeful that the fans will return and hopeful that he will be able to give them something to cheer about.
Coach Souza's wife, Kelly, skated for BC and is in their hockey Hall of Fame. She coaches now for Berwick Academy. Both of his daughters play.
Coach spoke to several questioners about the new recruiting environment. You still need to trust your eyes and watch the players on the ice. But digital media allow programs to quickly check out promising players, and agents and advisors have made contact with players an arms-length arrangement. He spends have a day, every day, on the phone with agents. What still works are the networks coaches have built over the years. Coach has a unique one in Europe.
Megabucks: $114.50
Editor: Ric
