Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

[NorthMike]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Tough loss. Can't fault the effort though. When I saw Scarabo or whatever his name is come off the sideboards I knew it was all over. Seen that replay too many times

Very tough loss, good game. I thought the same thing when Prov came off the boards 3 on 2 and said "oh sh...t". We had three tied up around the puck thinking offense and defense was caught off a little on their toes it seemed. Shots on goal sums it up though 51 to 18 or something like that. Team defense and Mattie did great to keep it a close game.
Coaches had them well prepared. Good to see the team matched the physical intensity of Prov and maintained composure/discipline to stay out of the box. We just need some better hands and offensive positioning.

[walrus]

Undrafted junior that sat on the bench for two years pretty much and the backup is a freshman draft pick of the Canadiens

Looked good to me, didn't move unless absolutely necessary.

[hobeyfaker]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Looked good to me, didn't move unless absolutely necessary.

Wknd as figured. No points in a game fri we should have had one pt at least. Nothing has changed. Remember, bad teams
lose blowouts, close games, games they led late, games they out chance or outshoot, the end result is the same, they lose.

[walrus]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Wknd as figured. No points in a game fri we should have had one pt at least. Nothing has changed. Remember, bad teams
lose blowouts, close games, games they led late, games they out chance or outshoot, the end result is the same, they lose.

Don't think you will get any argument from anyone who has watched Maine this year. They played hard they just don't have much talent. Swavely looks hurt to me, Schurthamer is slow, probably hurt also. Robbins is the lone bright spot. Matty played ok tonight, once PC got the 2 goal lead everyone in the building knew it was over

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Maine calling time out with approximately 2.5 minutes left in the 2nd period. Nothing to show for it. I didn't see anything alarming that would have warranted it. Just curious. The Friars used theirs toward the end of the 3rd.

[hobeyfaker]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Don't think you will get any argument from anyone who has watched Maine this year. They played hard they just don't have much talent. Swavely looks hurt to me, Schurthamer is slow, probably hurt also. Robbins is the lone bright spot. Matty played ok tonight, once PC got the 2 goal lead everyone in the building knew it was over

Yea they do play hard. If they just had 2 elite offensive players, like they had in 2010-2012, they could at least string one line together that could score consistently. They would be winning a lot more games. Perhaps they are coming in the next couple years? One can hope.

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Comes down to TALENT and PC has it plus depth/no sugar coating it, can work hard and hard but in the long run you have to have the guns to stay with the top teams and Maine does not...pure and simple. Its a broken record over and over...but when you feel good about the effort and still are ok with the losses just shows the PROGRAM and Direction it's heading is not good and won't get any better...sadly and yes only imo.(maybe??).

[walrus]

Comes down to TALENT and PC has it plus depth/no sugar coating it, can work hard and hard but in the long run you have to have the guns to stay with the top teams and Maine does not...pure and simple. Its a broken record over and over...but when you feel good about the effort and still are ok with the losses just shows the PROGRAM and Direction it's heading is not good and won't get any better...sadly and yes only imo.(maybe??).

I don't know anyone who is happy with all the losses. Friday night was kick in the crotch but there is no changing the talent on this team until next season, therefore the losses will keep piling up.

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Next season is going to be tough to handle. Crowds will dip into the 2500 range and the balcony half full. This program has a solid chance to be good again in 2017-18 but that's a long ways off.

Red is right though. This team puts in the effort, it needs to execute better. Unfortunately it doesn't have the talent to execute better.

[Drew S.]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

Next season is going to be tough to handle. Crowds will dip into the 2500 range and the balcony half full. This program has a solid chance to be good again in 2017-18 but that's a long ways off.

Red is right though. This team puts in the effort, it needs to execute better. Unfortunately it doesn't have the talent to execute better.

There is no doubt it is going to be tough attendance wise for a number of reasons. I've been really critical of the administration down the years but I do have sympathy for the situation Karlton is in now. I'm honestly not sure how many people would show up if the games were free. I do think they should put a big push in the offseason on lowering prices and trying to get in touch with people who have given up their seats in the last five years or whatever. For whatever reason it seems younger folks aren't into sports as much as previous generations and I think Maine will see this more and more with the students, even if the team does get better.

There is a lot of pressure on next year's freshmen class. Three of the kids have been drafted and three or four others look like they could be decent college players. If they play well I think we will feel a lot better about the program, if they don't Maine probably loses what few fans they have left. Red needs to schedule some easy games early on. He has shot Maine in the foot the last few years with the tough starts. I'm sure some of that has been out of his control but he's been here long enough that it can't happen again. Honestly I don't even care if Maine plays fewer games than the maximum.

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

........ This program has a solid chance to be good again in 2017-18 but that's a long ways off.
...........

That's the year I'm looking forward to. The year they compete for a national title.

[walrus]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

That's the year I'm looking forward to. The year they compete for a national title.

That would be awesome

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

For those not following the Hockey East playoff thread, if Maine wins out they would finish in 5th. Can't get a bye and finish in top 4. Sweeping ND will be a problem. Merrimack and NU a remote possibility. Still have a chance for home ice.

[umhockey91]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

For whatever reason it seems younger folks aren't into sports as much as previous generations and I think Maine will see this more and more with the students, even if the team does get better.

They are all too busy taking selfies on Instagram.

[AMC]

Re: Maine Black Bears - Return to the Glory Years or On to Oblivion?

They are all too busy taking selfies on Instagram.

Please.

Younger people like sports plenty. They just have more options. Watching terrible hockey isn't at the top of their list. They also have no memories of Maine ever being that good. A freshman at UMaine right now was still in diapers the last time Maine won the national title. To them, Maine hockey is as nationally relevant as Maine basketball.