A toast to my final semester

UNH Class of 2012, we've been through quite a lot together and as I sit here the day before my last semester of college starts I can't help but be a little retrospective and even a little sentimental. With three and a half years down and one semester left, let's make this one last and make it the best one yet. So let us raise our glasses in the air and in the immortal words of Katy Perry let us "own the night like the 4th of July."

 It's been three and a half years of late nights in the library, cram sessions, the worst best ideas ever (and the best worst ideas ever). It's been three and a half years of drunken adventures, awkward moments and hilarious stories. It's been three and a half years of hungover Friday morning classes, bad decisions and dreading 8 a.m. classes. It's been three and a half years of "that was the best night ever!", insane parties and having to read your texts to figure out what actually happened the night before.

To put it simply, it's been three and a half years that I will never forget, even if there are a few nights I can't remember. And I wouldn't want to change a thing. These three and a half years have been amazing, but let us turn it up to 11 for this final semester. In case you're wondering, 11 is one louder.

I intend to make this the best four months of the best four years of my life (so far). In his philosophical song "Beer Run" Todd Snider proclaims that the "road goes on forever and the party never ends." (Side note: Snider actually borrows this line from and references Robert Earle Keen.) Well, college does eventually end and if college is one big party, then the party must come to end. But I am not going to dwell on the past or fear the future. The moment is now.  Have fun, because in a few months the "real world" is going to hit us harder than Vince Wilfork and it is going to suck worse than Billy Cundiff. (Relevant!)

So UNH, and especially my fellow 2012ers, let us go out in a bang. And if you're worried about your grades slipping, the world is going to end in December anyways so who cares. Don't let the party suck, and let yourself live!

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Tell Congress that you oppose SOPA and PIPA

Censoring the Internet prevents knowledge from spreading and it prevents free knowledge in general, something that many people take for granted. You can make a difference by signing Google's "End Piracy, not Liberty" petition. Do yourself, and the country a favor, by taking 30 seconds to sign the petition. Censorship is wrong and it hurts business, industry and education.

Although, do people really think that they would censor the internet in America? I mean how dumb would Congress be to ██ █████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ and ██████ ██ ████ ██. Also, did it ever occur to you that ███████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██? It's just ridiculous to think that could happen. You know what I mean?

I (still) Believe

Move over "Tebowing" because "Mosesing" has arrived.

Where UNH Stands:

The UNH men's hockey has found itself in unfamiliar territory. Towards the bottom of Hockey East looking up. At the moment the team sits at 8-11-2, which puts them at eighth in Hockey East, with just 13 games remaining to be played. Eight teams qualify for the Hockey East playoffs and the winner of that tournament receives an automatic bid to the national tournament. UNH has the second longest streak in the country for consecutive national tournament appearances and that streak will most likely end unless they win the Hockey East tournament. The national tournament has 16 teams qualify and the last teams in are usually a few games over the .500 mark depending on the automatic bids. 

Out of UNH's final 13 games, the next four will see their toughest competition. This weekend UNH plays a home and home series (meaning one game at both schools) with Merrimack, who sits in 3rd in Hockey East and 7th nationally. Next weekend UNH plays another home and home, this time against Boston College who is in 2nd in Hockey East (technically tied with BU for 1st , but with one more game played) and is 4th in the national rankings. While those games will be a huge four game stretch to determine UNH's talent and mental toughness, the remaining nine games will be even more important when it comes to the seeding for the Hockey East tournament.

Of those nine games, UNH plays Providence twice (a home and home series), Vermont twice (both home) and UMass twice (both away) with single games against Northeastern (home), a third game with Merrimack (away) and finally Maine (away). Northeastern and Vermont are currently the only two teams behind UNH in Hockey East. In their previous meetings UNH has split with Northeasten (a 4-0 loss and a 5-2 win) and tied Vermont 4-4 in Burlington. Those will be three very important games that UNH desperately needs to win as the favorite, especially with all three being played at the Whit, where UNH has played better than on the road. The series with Providence will also be huge. UNH won in Providence last week 1-0, ending a 5 game losing streak (the longest in Coach Umile's tenure). Providence is a surprising 5th in Hockey East, but they could very well drop as the season comes to a close. 

The UMass series could have the single biggest impact for UNH heading into post season play. UMass sits directly above UNH in Hockey East, but the Minutemen are only ahead of UNH by a single point. In their only meeting this year UNH beat UMass 7-3 at the Whit, which was followed by a win over Maine and marked the last time UNH won consecutive games until their wins over Providence and Dartmouth these last few days. 

What Needs to Happen? 

For UNH to make a strong push heading into the Hockey East playoffs, a few things need to happen. 

• First of all, they are not in a spot to lose games they are supposed to win. They currently sit in the final playoff spot with only a point on Northeastern (with a game in hand), but are six points up on Vermont (also with a game in hand). Vermont is all but done, which makes those four points very valuable to UNH when UVM comes to Durham in February. That being said, UNH needs to play tough over the next four games, to keep their confidence up and not play down to the level of their opponents in the games that follow.
• Secondly, Stevie Moses has to stay hot. Red Hot. Parting the Red Sea Red Hot. The alternate captain has five goals in their last two games (both wins) and he needs to have the hot hand for UNH to make things interesting. Everyone knows Moses is fast, but he has developed a great shot and can beat defenders in many ways.
• However, Moses can't do it all. Players like John Henrion, Kevin Goumas and Nick Sorkin need to keep scoring as well to keep some of the attention off Moses. Those four have been solid of late, but someone else will need to step up. Freshman Grayson Downing has shown signs of his scoring touch, but upperclassmen like Greg Burke or Austin Block need to produce more consistently. Burke had a bit of a hot streak going, but has been held pointless for a few games now. 
• Casey DeSmith needs to play like a veteran. DeSmith, a true freshman, has replaced struggling senior Matt Digirolamo in net and has exceeded expectations. DeSmith needs to have ice in his veins down the stretch because with high powered teams like Merrimack and BC coming to town he can't let his confidence be hurt when UNH plays lesser opponents.
• Defense, defense, defense. It's been the ugly of the ugly for UNH all year and it is the team's number one aspect that has to improve. Junior Brett Kostolansky, who started as a freshman, is currently skating at -10. Someone with his experience needs to be more effective.
• Will another freshman please stand up? Aforementioned DeSmith and Downing have been excellent at times this year, but another freshman (or more) may need to take on a bigger role down the stretch. TvR has been very solid from the blueline (also chipping in 12 points) and is second on the team with a +7. I'm looking for players like Casey Thrush (9 points and a team high +8) or Jay Camper to have a bigger impact down the stretch. 

The season ain't over 'till the fat lady sings and with 13 conference games remaining anything can happen. I believe in UNH. And anything really can happen: 

Stay classy not UMassy... and keep believing in UNH.

Win Tickets to Polar Grill Fest: Food, Beer and Live Music!

 (click image to enlarge)

On Saturday January 28th, The Meat House is teaming up with the Redhook Brewery and other local companies to host Polar Grill Fest, an outdoor winter-themed party. The event is to help raise money for Share Our Strength® through its No Kid Hungry® Campaign, which is seeking to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. All proceeds from the event will benefit this campaign.

The Polar Grill Fest is a 21+ party featuring Meat House Steak tips and Redhook Beer and tickets are only $5! Even better, the Meat House is sending me four tickets to giveaway to UNH students! The tickets only cover the entrance fee. Food plates and beer are an additional $5 each (but remember, all of the proceeds go to charity and there is a lot of food per plate!) All you have to do is message/@reply me on twitter (@UNHblog) or email me (unhblog@yahoo.com) and tell me what your favorite part of winter at UNH is and I will select winners from my favorite responses and send the tickets your way. If you choose email, please use your UNH account so I can verify that you are a student.

 Live music will be provided by local bands including the Pete Kilpatrick Band and Larry and The Birds. The event lasts from 1PM to 5PM so show up hungry, thirsty and ready to have a great time. It should be a great party to kick off the new semester and it is for a good cause. I look forward to hearing your responses!

Should I let this freshmen write for the blog?

The following is an email I got from a UNH freshmen. My question to you is, should I let him to write for the blog next semester? My gut says yes.

Dear New Hampshirite,
I have been reading your blog since the end of the summer. I came across it while trying to prepare myself for life at UNH. You see, in high school I was a bit of a one man wolf pack... scratch that, I was a one man wolf pack. My three best friends were:

• my parent's netflix account
• my xbox 360
•  and good ole' lefty

When I got accepted to UNH, I wanted to change that. I never had a girl friend. I never tasted alcohol and I always made lame excuses as to why I missed parties.  Basically, if my high school life was a box a chocolates, that box would be filled with all the shitty flavors everyone spits out. After one semester of college, not much has changed. Sure I've gotten drunk a few times (exactly 3) with kids on my floor, but that's about it. I want to change all that and start fresh next semester and I would like to chronicle my attempts anonymously here on this blog. It should be awkward and hopefully fun. So what do you say? I feel like if you would let me do this, I would feel 100% obligated to leave my room on Friday and Saturday nights and see what UNH really has to offer outside the classroom. A few kids on my floor have offered to take me out at before, but I always declined. I don't want to decline anymore. I wouldn't write more than once a week - if that, just recaps of different experiences and stuff like that. What do you think?


When I first read this email, I immediately thought of this Seinfeld clip. (Embedding is disabled for it.) Basically what it says is this isn't the prototypical person I would have write on the blog, but he has the ambition to become one. We can see this young man develop into a true Wildcat, or at least awkwardly try. What do you say Nonsensical Nation, should we give him a chance?  (Just so you know, this is not a fake. He used his UNH email and I found him on facebook to check that he is a freshman. Yes, even I do background checks when receiving applications.)

Stay classy, not UMassy.

The New Hampshirite's Official Power Hour

Yesterday afternoon I had some time to kill so I decided to throw together a power hour mix, combining some of my favorite songs with more popular stuff. I covered a bunch of genres from hip-hop to dance to country and rock. I really made it for my roommates and close friends so many of the songs are stuff we have jokes or memories about, but I figured I throw it up on the blog.

Power hours are simple. Every minute the song changes and when it does you drink. (Usually a shot of beer. It may start slow, but by the end you'll b pretty buzzed and singing along.) Not every cut is exactly a minute, but they are within a few seconds so it balances out. I let the last song play through because it is our apartment's tradition to play it at midnight at every party we host. Let me know what you think and maybe I'll do more. Most people won't like every song, but there should be something for everyone. Plus, even the worse songs only play for a minute. Enjoy.

Santa Gnarlz, please come to Durham!

If only UNH's problems could be solved with an extra big Santa bag...

For President Huddleston:

A couple money trees to plant around campus. As a bonus, they produce more money when drunk students pee on them! Take that Concord, you're budget cuts mean nothing now!

For Hockey coach Dick Umile:

 

Team defense: A team that plays both ways for three full periods! I'm sorry, but they have let up way too many easy goals and it's not all on the goalies. I love the team, but they need something to change going into the second half of the season.

For football coach Sean McDonnell:

Wider field goal posts! (Too soon/harsh?) Okay, okay, how about that new stadium they drew plans for years ago?

For the Whittemore Center:

Enough said.

For SCOPE:

Earmuffs! What you don't hear, won't hurt you.

For Dean of the Business School Dan Innis:

Acela Train tickets! No more slumming it like the rest of us! (Probably one person gets this...)

For the new business school:

The indoor waterfall from Trump Plaza. You only deserve the best! 

For Hamilton-Smith and Nesmith Hall:

Even Santa doesn't care about you.

Basketball coach Bill Herrion:

Okay, maybe not the Ray Allen, but someone who can hit a free throw now and again would be nice.

For the dining halls:

Salt shakers on every table! Imagine the possibilities!

For ATO brothers:

Also a hammer and nails. Maybe they can borrow some duct tape from Ham-Smith too...

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and have a great New Years,

from The New Hampshirite. Stay classy, not UMassy.