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The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

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  • Originally posted by Drew S. View Post

    I’m a big believer in ‘don’t change a winning team’ but didn’t feel great about Thiessen getting the start. That was one of those where it was kind of a no win situation for Barr. I’m not sure if Ostman was in net it would have changed the outcome though.

    Even though things didn’t go their way I was proud of Maine’s effort and fight. It was one of those nights where Merrimack got the rub of the green. It’s hard to follow up a truly great performance with a decent one and that definitely proved true tonight. On the other hard I’m sure Merrimack was super motivated after how last weekend went for them.

    With all of that being said I’m 100x more encouraged now than I was a few months ago. For me the Alaska series was a major turning point. That Friday night game was as embarrassing of performance as Maine has ever had. Whatever was said after that game lit a fire under the team and outside of one weekend I think they’ve played some really good hockey since then. Hopefully an exciting 22-23 coming up.
    That AK game was aweful, we left after second period, and we never leave early.

    I still say Maine will have to battle next year for getting up to 10th spot. Thats how far behind things are and the other HE lower tier teams having improved relative to Maine.

    2023/2024 should be a big difference.

    Comment


    • I keep using the fixing a decrepit house metaphor.

      This year Barr tore the whole thing down to the studs.

      Next year, start rebuilding the bones.

      2023-24 you can start looking at it as a house again.

      Comment


      • One year closer to mattering again. There were some encourging signs. Barr took a kid off the scrap heap and got him on the all rookie team. Some of the weekend splits show me he’s the best tactical coach we’ve had since Shawn. Add his recruiting vision 1-2 years down the line and we’re in business. Just time between now and then

        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


        • I honestly don't get all this 'the team was awful' narrative. Going into covid the team was fourth in HE and about to host a home playoff. Not sure how you can count the next year which was all on the road, then Red passes. The 2019-20 team was good and they were on the path to further improvement. Sure it took Red a few years longer to get the team to 4th place, but they were there. I'm not a fan of all this revisionist history that they've been terrible and nothing else.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Joe peter View Post
            I honestly don't get all this 'the team was awful' narrative. Going into covid the team was fourth in HE and about to host a home playoff. Not sure how you can count the next year which was all on the road, then Red passes. The 2019-20 team was good and they were on the path to further improvement. Sure it took Red a few years longer to get the team to 4th place, but they were there. I'm not a fan of all this revisionist history that they've been terrible and nothing else.
            Jeremy. Swayman.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by KrbFlint View Post

              Jeremy. Swayman.
              Fossier
              Doherty
              Tralmaks
              Dawe
              Sirota
              etc.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by KrbFlint View Post

                Jeremy. Swayman.
                Does Red get any credit for recruiting him, or did he get lost on I-95 on his way to Boston and just wander into Alfond Arena by mistake?

                Comment


                • Originally posted by ticapnews View Post

                  Does Red get any credit for recruiting him, or did he get lost on I-95 on his way to Boston and just wander into Alfond Arena by mistake?
                  Can you get from Alaska to Orono on I-95? Might have to take I-90 first... (just a little humor...sorry, since we can't use the emojis anymore there isn't the same impact)

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by ticapnews View Post

                    Does Red get any credit for recruiting him, or did he get lost on I-95 on his way to Boston and just wander into Alfond Arena by mistake?
                    of course he does. But he also gets the blame for building a team in front of him that got outshot by 125, gave up 34 shots a night on average and required a 939 save percentage just to get 3 points over .500 in league play

                    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


                    • Originally posted by BoSox3066 View Post

                      of course he does. But he also gets the blame for building a team in front of him that got outshot by 125, gave up 34 shots a night on average and required a 939 save percentage just to get 3 points over .500 in league play
                      Don't get me wrong, Swayman was fantastic. But the top four teams starting goalies has save percentages of .931 (BC), .927 (UMass), .931 (UMass Lowell), and .939 (UMaine). Swayman was the leader, but Maine wasn't the only team with a goalie that stopped a lot of shots.

                      They were a pretty decent team in 2019-20. I don't know why no one wants to admit that.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by Joe peter View Post

                        Don't get me wrong, Swayman was fantastic. But the top four teams starting goalies has save percentages of .931 (BC), .927 (UMass), .931 (UMass Lowell), and .939 (UMaine). Swayman was the leader, but Maine wasn't the only team with a goalie that stopped a lot of shots.

                        They were a pretty decent team in 2019-20. I don't know why no one wants to admit that.
                        I agree that the 19-20 team was good. Fossier was one of the best players in hockey East.

                        I disagree that the team was on track for further improvement. Red brought in two really solid classes in his time here and they were back to back. The Fossier, Pearson, Holway class was really good and the Swayman, keeper, Tralmaks class was also good. But outside of those two classes Maine was not attracting much talent.

                        Red’s biggest issue at Maine was a lack of talent, which I think Barr will not have a problem fixing. Maine was playing an outdated style in an outdated arena with an old coach. They weren’t exactly exciting. Red was a great hockey mind and person but the game changed significantly in his time as a coach and I don’t know that he wanted to change with it. He did recruit a lot of high character guys to Orono and I think that’s part of the reason his time in Orono shouldn’t be viewed as a failure. I’ve never heard a player or opposing coach have a bad thing to say about him, before or after his passing.

                        This program needed some new blood, there’s definitely an energy around the program that Barr has brought and the next couple recruiting classes will show that.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by ticapnews View Post

                          Does Red get any credit for recruiting him, or did he get lost on I-95 on his way to Boston and just wander into Alfond Arena by mistake?
                          Even a blind squirrel....
                          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


                          • Originally posted by Joe peter View Post
                            I honestly don't get all this 'the team was awful' narrative. Going into covid the team was fourth in HE and about to host a home playoff. Not sure how you can count the next year which was all on the road, then Red passes. The 2019-20 team was good and they were on the path to further improvement. Sure it took Red a few years longer to get the team to 4th place, but they were there. I'm not a fan of all this revisionist history that they've been terrible and nothing else.
                            If you wait a few years Barr will be considered the worst coach ever and Red will be known as the second coming of Toe Blake.
                            Originally posted by BobbyBrady
                            Crosby probably wouldn't even be on BC's top two lines next year

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by Drew S. View Post

                              If you wait a few years Barr will be considered the worst coach ever and Red will be known as the second coming of Toe Blake.
                              I don’t think it’s revisionist history to say the team didn’t accomplish enough on the ice in Red’s time here.

                              We never made it to the garden, we never made the ncaa tournament and the team only had winning seasons 3 out of his 8 years. He inherited 3 future NHL players and had a pretty solid first recruiting class with Renouf (NHL player), Brown and Byron (which is largely attributed to Whitehead). Martin Ouelette also had a really good senior season.

                              Barr inherited a team with no drafted skaters and their only drafted player was the backup goalie. The cupboard is pretty bare, the 2019-2020 team was junior and senior heavy. Those players are gone.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by Joe peter View Post

                                Don't get me wrong, Swayman was fantastic. But the top four teams starting goalies has save percentages of .931 (BC), .927 (UMass), .931 (UMass Lowell), and .939 (UMaine). Swayman was the leader, but Maine wasn't the only team with a goalie that stopped a lot of shots.

                                They were a pretty decent team in 2019-20. I don't know why no one wants to admit that.
                                BC gave up 31 shots a game and was -90 **** differential.

                                Lowell gave up 26 per game.

                                Umass gave up 24 a night and was +337

                                And again Maine was -125. On top of being the most penalized team in the country. They were demonsteably bad. The shot differential shows it.

                                Watch a team get out shot 40-20 every night and squeak by on its goalie and then know it was all about the goalie. How novel.






                                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)

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