Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Originally posted by amkirby10 View Post
    Went thru and did a quick update to my recruiting spreadsheet. Added in Freel and Calafiore, and if I saw the team make a post about them arriving next year either on Twitter or Instagram, I listed them as "Confirmed". Honestly some pretty good numbers on this sheet, obviously numbers arent everything but they allow for some optimism. Trudeau and Nadeau look like stars, as we expected, and Freel and Pabich in particular look like they could be good depth forwards. On the back end, Kincaid, Arnott, Holt, and Hopkins all look like good pieces. Still very weak in net on the recruiting trail, but Ostman is a good starting goalie and has a few years left. The future looks bright, in my eyes.

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...aZ4/edit#gid=0
    Nice work on compiling this!

    Might be a nice addition to get the player's age added to it to give some context to the stats themselves.

    Comment


    • An Old Wound revisited by Solari:
      Good Luck today Team.


      "Fifteen years ago this month, Blake James and his compadres at the University of Maine massively disrespected Stephen and Tabitha King by yanking Black Bear broadcasting rights from locally owned WZON.

      And UMaine men’s hockey may still be paying the price for it to this day.

      I’ve said it dozens of times: it’s not necessarily what they did it. It’s how they did it. I mean you’d have to be some of the dumbest or most brazen people alive to blatantly insult your most famous graduates and generous donors by not even giving the them the courtesy of a heads up that this move was coming.

      But Blake and the boys had Learfield dollar signs in their eyes and in March 2007 essentially told Bananas the Bear to put the middle fingers on each of his paws right up in the air at their most well known alumni.

      I worked at WZON at the time as the afternoon show host and play by play voice of UMaine women’s basketball. I also did a few men’s hoops games and baseball and softball too.


      I will tell you Dale Duff, General Manager Bobby Russell and everyone involved at Zone Corp never thought this would happen.

      But one March morning in 2007 we got the news. After a decade of broadcasting hundreds of Maine games, the plug was being pulled. Even back then, while I was sore that I had broadcast my last game, anyone could look at the contract and see that it was good deal for UMaine. It was guaranteed cash they has never had before, and that’s major for a cash strapped athletic department.

      So after not even consulting the Kings, or having the common decency to at least provide a courteous heads up about the decision in advance, Learfield hijacked the award winning broadcast team Duff developed and continue to own some of the broadcasting rights to this day.

      But sometimes money isn’t everything as one of the most famous writers on the planet pointed out shortly after the decision.

      "Tabby and I are very disappointed with the University's decision to move its sports broadcasting rights to Clear Channel, a company which is based far from the college it will be serving. We understand that monetary considerations were a prime consideration, but feel the Athletic Department in particular and the University in general may not understand that making money the prime consideration in any dealing is usually short-sighted. My wife and I feel that may prove to be the case here; we feel that what UM Athletics has gained for their programs may be offset by a loss in the area of community relations.”

      And as you see in the image below, Blake James, former President Robert Kennedy, and others took a public beat down for months after the announcement.

      Looking back at it even in 2022, the folks in Orono couldn’t have handled this any more poorly if they had driven up to the King mansion on West Broadway and started a book burning of King novels.

      But perhaps The Master of Horror is getting the last laugh and a little revenge in true Carrie style.

      Prior to the F.U. from Blake and the athletic department, UMaine men’s hockey had been to the NCAA tourney 7 years in a row.
      Since their last appearance in March of 2007, around the time of this controversy, they have only been back one time.

      There’s more. Since the King snub, you can add up zero regular season Hockey East titles and zero conference tourney titles for the Black Bear skaters. In fact the men’s hockey team has just four winning seasons in the 15 years and a miserable record of 195-263-43 since making the move to Learfield and WVOM. All of this after being one of the most successful programs in he country for years and years.

      The program is now a true horror story. Is it the King Curse? The Hockey Hex? Maybe so….

      Publicly the always gracious Kings took the high road and forgave the folks in Orono. But perhaps in some dark corner of the mansion in Bangor behind that black iron fence, there’s a little Bananas stuffed animal with some Voodoo pins still stuck in the middle fingers of those paws.

      Cue the horror music as the hockey hex lives on."


      Comment


      • As much as I appreciate reading Jeff's work, please only quote a few paragraphs and then provide a link. Not only is it courteous, it's a problem for USCHO re: copyright claims and safe harbor.

        I think the downturn in Maine hockey (and the athletics department as a whole) has more to do with the 2008 economic disaster, Harold Alfond's passing and a series of terrible decisions by leadership. This was just another example of those decisions.

        But I wouldn't completely discount a Stephen King curse.

        Comment


        • Question: Why is it that so many media types can't help but interject themselves into stories like this? Seems like Solari can't help himself, especially when everyone knows the downfall of UMaine Hockey definitively began with Walshy's tragic passing, not due to some silly made-up curse or "hoax". By the time of the events that apparently so scarred his broadcasting career that he's still babbling about it 15 years later, the horses had already left the barn ...
          Sworn Enemy of the Perpetually Offended
          Montreal Expos Forever ...

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Chuck Murray View Post
            Question: Why is it that so many media types can't help but interject themselves into stories like this? Seems like Solari can't help himself, especially when everyone knows the downfall of UMaine Hockey definitively began with Walshy's tragic passing, not due to some silly made-up curse or "hoax". By the time of the events that apparently so scarred his broadcasting career that he's still babbling about it 15 years later, the horses had already left the barn ...
            I like reading Solari, but this feels like nothing more than a cheap way to get clicks...

            Still seems weird that Blake James would just take the Learfield offer without at least seeing if the Kings would match it.

            Makes no sense to completely trash that long-time partnership by blindsiding the Kings and then giving them just cause to turn their backs to Maine hockey altogether.


            Last edited by tylerzx2002; 03-09-2022, 06:22 PM.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by tylerzx2002 View Post

              I like reading Solari, but this feels like nothing more than a cheap way to get clicks...

              Still seems weird that Blake James would just take the Learfield offer without at least seeing if the Kings would match it.

              Mades no sense to completely trash that long-time partnership by blindsiding the Kings and then giving them just cause to turn their backs to Maine hockey altogether.


              After a little digging I found that Learfield is little more than a shell company for Clear Channel. For some reason no one in the media felt like mentioning it. Or finding it. I too wonder why James & Co jumped at the CC money and eschewed the Kings. Not only are they prominent alumni and huge boosters, they have single handedly saved entire programs in the past. When I was there the swim and diving teams were on the block and the Kings funded the programs in perpetuity.

              ​​​​

              Comment


              • Originally posted by tylerzx2002 View Post

                I like reading Solari, but this feels like nothing more than a cheap way to get clicks...

                Still seems weird that Blake James would just take the Learfield offer without at least seeing if the Kings would match it.

                Mades no sense to completely trash that long-time partnership by blindsiding the Kings and then giving them just cause to turn their backs to Maine hockey altogether.


                Blake James sucked, its that simple.
                I swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell.

                Maine Hockey Love it or Leave it

                Comment


                • Originally posted by walrus View Post

                  Blake James sucked, its that simple.
                  Amen!

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by ticapnews View Post

                    After a little digging I found that Learfield is little more than a shell company for Clear Channel. For some reason no one in the media felt like mentioning it. Or finding it. I too wonder why James & Co jumped at the CC money and eschewed the Kings. Not only are they prominent alumni and huge boosters, they have single handedly saved entire programs in the past. When I was there the swim and diving teams were on the block and the Kings funded the programs in perpetuity.

                    ​​​​
                    Just shows what a shortsighted decision it really was.

                    Not that you want to take advantage of someone's generosity but no chance the Kings would have spurned the program like they have if their partnership would have continued and that would have eased the blow of Alfond's passing.

                    Do you know if they still support any other Maine athletic programs?

                    Comment


                    • I’m sure Jeff cares about the ZON thing because he lived it, I don’t begrudge him that. Obviously the team doesnt suck because of Clear Channel

                      Its a neat corrleation though. There are some Shaughnessy/Bambino moments over the last 10 years. Nyquist missing the open net at UNH that cost then them a 2011 ncaa berth is like Pesky holding the ball in ‘46.

                      I mean if you wanna go full curse you gotta include the 02 and 04 national titles games dont you? Those are the bucky dent games

                      Maine Hockey: I want to believe
                      43-21-4 (.662) in games I attended over 4 years as a student
                      104-47-14 (.669) in that time
                      3x FROZEN FOUR

                      11-20-2 in games I've attended since. (2-2-1 under Red)

                      Comment


                      • https://bangordailynews.com/2022/03/...eid=8fa35ce6e8
                        I swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell.

                        Maine Hockey Love it or Leave it

                        Comment


                        • Maybe Im just a na?ve optimist, but I have a feeling Maine wins tonight. Interesting choice to start Theissen over Ostman, but we'll see if it pays off.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by tylerzx2002 View Post

                            Just shows what a shortsighted decision it really was.

                            Not that you want to take advantage of someone's generosity but no chance the Kings would have spurned the program like they have if their partnership would have continued and that would have eased the blow of Alfond's passing.

                            Do you know if they still support any other Maine athletic programs?
                            The most recent info (2018?) I have seen is that the Kings gave an average of $3 million a year to various charities, non-profits and public education...not a dime of which goes to anything to do with the University of Maine.

                            Comment


                            • Maine takes a bad interference call and Merrimack scores on the PP.

                              1-0 Mack

                              Comment


                              • Solari's a hack, as are the clowns who sub in for him. As others have stated, there was another momentous event back then that is probably a liiiittle more relevant to the fortunes of Maine hockey than what radio channel the games are broadcast on.
                                bigmrg74: "You can't drink the day away if you don't start early!"
                                SledDog: "UncleRay seems to be the most sensible one here tonight."
                                All great men are dead and I'm not feeling well.
                                A Margarita! in every hand and another Margarita! in the other hand!

                                And stay off the lawn!

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X