Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

[Priceless]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

My neighbor Wayne Conlan comes to mind, could have been a pro, but would rather hunt and fish up there. Good kid though.

I always figured we had such a great freshman class that year that he got lost in the shuffle.

[walrus]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

I remember Wayne Conlan had some wheels

[all bear]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

We should have 100,000 bumper stickers made up for the new era of UMaine hockey, no ?

[all bear]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Never mind Timmay. That's over. Done. We got our wish.

Don't post his name ever again on this forum board. Not you all bear, just all of us in this Maine Hockey nuthouse. Name all the good things that can happen to Maine Hockey by putting his name in another post here... That's what I thought... None.

Yes sir.

[rufus]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Grant as a volunteer - even if he is in Florida - will be same as Dave Alexander on Skype.

Except Grant is good at what he does. There was a story about him coming back off the road after being gone a while, took one look at Yeats in practice, who was still having trouble corralling rebounds, and saying to him, "You haven't been doing the exercises I gave you, have you?"

[amherstblackbear]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Who did Guy Perron recruit? He was briefly head recruiter when Grant shifted to volunteer assistant, IIRC, and that time in my mind coincides with Wes Clark being the team's leading scorer....so I guess my question is why do we want him in that role? I don't remember him getting much talent for the women's team when he was HC either, budget issues and all that aside. Good hockey mind, good on the board I'm sure but can he recruit?

I think recruiting was probably a cut above where it has been recently, though not necessarily by leaps and bounds. Except 2007. Guy kicked all kinds of arse that year. Especially if you include Arnold (his leaving is more on Tim than Guy). 2006 wasn't as strong, though Diamond and Van Dyk had solid careers. Hard to say what Kelen Corkum might have done. Sweetland was pretty good in his short time.

Maine probably didn't have a ton of roster spots open when he first took the job, because Maine didn't have many recruits from late 2003 through 2005. The Lundin brothers worked out all right, Bishop, Dee, Hahn, etc. Not bad, but not 2007. And Maine might have had 2 years out of Purcell. It wasn't Guy's decision to put him off for a year.

Year of commitment (not entry)

2008: (partial year, though april) Flynn, Amestoy, Francisco, Ashley, Shemansky, Andersson, Solomon, Nemec, Higgins
2007: Abbott, Nyquist, O'Neill, Swallow, Arnold, Hegarty, Darling, Anthoine, Dimmen, Randall, Banwell
2006: Diamond, Corkum, Van Dyk, Belmore, Sweetland, Orsini, Wilson, Carriere, De Kastrozza, Morrone
2005: Dee, Sill, Yandle, Plaszcz,
2004: Purcell, Bishop, Hahn, Marshall, Laise, Duffy, Clark, Lundin(G), Ryan, Hopson, Ramsey
2003: (after july) Mike Lundin(D)

[rufus]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

I always figured we had such a great freshman class that year that he got lost in the shuffle.

If I recall correctly, he had decent or even great first couple of years, raising high expectations for him that never came to fruition as a junior and senior. I think he had limited playing time as a freshman, but still had something like 7 or 8 goals.

[Goalieboy2000]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

I like how they named Gendron, he looks like the right guy for the job.

[BlackI]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

2008: (partial year, though april) Flynn, Amestoy, Francisco, Ashley, Shemansky, Andersson, Solomon, Nemec, Higgins
2007: Abbott, Nyquist, O'Neill, Swallow, Arnold, Hegarty, Darling, Anthoine, Dimmen, Randall, Banwell
2006: Diamond, Corkum, Van Dyk, Belmore, Sweetland, Orsini, Wilson, Carriere, De Kastrozza, Morrone
2005: Dee, Sill, Yandle, Plaszcz,
2004: Purcell, Bishop, Hahn, Marshall, Laise, Duffy, Clark, Lundin(G), Ryan, Hopson, Ramsey
2003: (after july) Mike Lundin(D)

Highlighted the ones I thought as contributors, others can correct me if they think I am wrong. But it seems like a decent track record. There are some other names that for whatever reason didn't turn out as expected but were supposed to... Dee, Yandle, Arnold, Hegarty, Amestoy, Higgins. Seems like good recruiting to me.

[gscott13]

Players don't decide who plays or who sits nor does the press so let's wait and see what Red does.

I was referring to cutting ties with Corkum not players.

[FredDavenport]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Congrats and Good Luck to Red. This is a great hire!

[BlackI]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Except Grant is good at what he does. There was a story about him coming back off the road after being gone a while, took one look at Yeats in practice, who was still having trouble corralling rebounds, and saying to him, "You haven't been doing the exercises I gave you, have you?"

One of my personal stories that I can share as it was one of the few times I got to talk to Grant. I had been following Maine hockey way too closely but didn't know any better at the time. So as bold as I was and when Grant happened to come around and shake hands with the die hards in the setting, I asked him some very pressing questions. Most of which he handled with ease. Then I asked about a goalie that was recruited and mentioned what I had for a scouting report on him. He kind of looked at me like either I was crazy or he was shocked at how I knew this much(looking back on it, it was some of both). But he went on to say that he was very impressed with his goaltending and he had more of a stand up style. He mentioned that he needed a few corrections to his positioning out of the crease and glove coverage and he would be a very good goaltender for Maine. Frank Doyle.

But I won't bore you with much more. But I suppose we all know about the Penner story. To make a long story much shorter, my favorite quote of all time was from Penner... he said "If it wasn't for Grant Standbrook I'd probably be pumping gas in Winkler, Manitoba". Forgive me if I get his home town incorrect, but this is what I am recalling. But that was a gem from his hard work scouring... Penner has two Stanley cups and is trying for his third last time I checked.

Man, was Maine ever lucky to have had Grant Standbrook. What a gentleman. And I hope he goes down in the Maine hockey hall of fame right there with Walsh as a guy that built the Maine program.

[joecct]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

How did Walsh sell Maine to the recruits?

[BlackI]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

How did Walsh sell Maine to the recruits?

In those days the arena was much smaller. The arena sold itself. It still did despite the expansion. It still can. But for the average Mainer, what with ticket prices skyrocketing as the program didn't have good leadership - it has reached a stalling point. But this recent set of developments have given the atmosphere breath. And I think you will see the Mainers respond with support. It is easy to see why someone would want to don the two tone blue after there is a night watching Maine at Alfond. But what is/was more impressive to me was to go to an away game and see how many "road warriors" helped pack the opposing house.

Maine has a solid academic program despite what opposing fans would like to have everyone believe. It has a nice campus too. And if the right set of coaches are in place there won't be any need to discuss what sells Maine to recruits. The place will sell itself in my opinion. Sure we might not get the kid out of Boston that wants to play in the beanpot... but Maine doesn't have the obligation to recruit only in Boston given it is 4 to 5 hours away.

[gscott13]

Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Nyquist with some nice sauce to tie game seven at 1