Excellent reporting,Bonk! Thanks.
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Thank you bonk!!
Who are the undergrads in the portal?
I think that’s a great call. The USHL connection is so important. I was hoping for either him or Mannino.
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Seems to have a solid track record of winning games and identifying talent.
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A couple days ago I went down the rabbit hole of watching a bunch of his interviews and press conferences from Youngstown, Orlando, and Tri-City and he quickly became my favorite. The amount of hockey knowledge this man has is incredible. He just sounds so intelligent when he speaks. The way he can draw ideas and inspiration from other teams at all levels really impresses me. He’s also very candid and honest.
The man also was born to be a coach, you can tell this is what he was meant to be doing. He said in one interview “Some guys grew up wanting to be a baseball player or to be the president, I wanted to be a hockey coach from the moment I was born” and apparently when his family home flooded they found a drawing he made when he was in 2nd grade of him in the future behind the bench being a coach of Team USA (which he ended up doing in the Hlinka Gretzky cup!)
Also yes I’m loving the USHL connection. Looking through his EP he’s had SO many young stars on his team. And with being the president of hockey ops at Tri-CIty he has a special knack for dealing with personnel matters. He is very keen on building a team with the right people and talks a lot about locker room culture and really seems to have a care for the players on his teams. In one of his interviews he was talking about having to trade away one of his players and the way he went about it was very player-centered and focused on the needs of the locker room and how to make that transition easiest for everyone. He seems like such a great mix of being a great coach, being a caring person, and having lots of hockey smarts. Not to mention the success he’s had record-wise. Plus, tbh money wise some of the other candidates mentioned probably would have cost a lot more.
Also fun fact a few years ago he was beat out by Brent Brekke for the St Lawrence job.
Love this hire!
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McMahon confirming Noreen. Lurker approves.
https://x.com/MikeMcMahonCHN/status/1774866678230475056?s=20
Back to lurking.
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My friend who’s an advisor likes this hire, fwiw.
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If the hockey people like it, I like it. Hopefully Miami hockey can get back to where it was.
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Has 18 current players committed to NCAA D1 for 24-25.
Is it too late for any of them to get out of their commitment and follow him?
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Noreen was a defenseman for Wisconsin-Stevens Point (2003-2007), and was an All-NCHA Academic All-American his last two seasons and also team captain his junior and senior seasons. Seems like a great hire by Sayler.
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Strong hire on paper, I’m a fan. Based on the very early strides made by Box and Smiley, Sayler is on a bit of a run so I certainly won’t be upset to see it continue.
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It’s CHN Official!
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Says he was a GM before. Do GM’s coach? I don’t know enough about hockey. I ask because as a head coach he only had 2 years in the ECHL. Not dismissing him by any means. Honestly just curious.
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He held both positions at the same time while in the USHL. It’s one of the things that I think will help translate to program building at the NCAA level
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He’s had 11 years of head coaching between the Youngstown Phantoms and Tri-City Storm, plus has been the head coach for team usas u18 and u19 teams in international play.
He’s also won USHL Coach of the year twice
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He was the GM and HC. For the USHL, I think it’s somewhat analogous to NCAA in that one person has both responsibilities, as opposed to the pros where you’d have separate people.
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Great context! Much appreciated.
Thanks for the context! Very helpful.
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This makes more sense. Appreciate it!
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