The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

[NorthMike]

That's correct but the landscape of hockey has changed a lot since you guys were great. Today all the schools are loaded with great tallent and top draft picks, in places like QU and UMass so it's different

Absolutely.
Most of the Maine fan base remembers those days well (yes me too) and wont be happy until Maine is back in a similar position. Which is fine, but its not likely going to happen. Your so correct in that college hockey has changed and continues to change considerably, along with there being lots of talent out there. The problem to overcome is having allowed the program over plus ten years to live on it's past and fall behind to the rest of hockey that is adapting to changes

I can see Maine soon rising again to get a sniff of national contention for a short period, which will take a while, but no way sustaining that success like in the past.
WIth Barr on the bench Maine is in the best position since many years to be on the correct trajectory to modernize the program, bring in talent and gain success.
However, I feel like there's missing critical pieces of support at the University to gain and sustain hockey success again. Like uncertainty at the AD position and financial support. Barr cant do it alone.

[Drew S.]

If Maine could consistently be in the 4th-8th range I would consider it a massive success. Like everyone else I would like the glory days to come back but just don’t see it happening. BU, BC, and UNH have had their struggles as well so it’s not like Maine is an outlier.

As far as this year goes I really don’t get why people are freaking out. Early on what matter is how your new players look and in that regard I am very pleasantly surprised. I’m not sure how many of the new boys will be stars but they can all certainly play.

I went into the Bentley game hoping Maine could go 2-5-1 in the eight games after and at this point I am more bullish on that happening. I see a split this weekend and feel a lot better about this season and the future then I did a week ago.

[acs64]

A very tough upcoming schedule is good for the new guys. They will learn very quickly what it takes to compete on a high level in college. It might take just one turnaround game for them to believe they belong on the ice with these other teams. After that its all about getting your forwards to be creative and teaching the defense. Wheres Grant ?

[ticapnews]

A very tough upcoming schedule is good for the new guys. They will learn very quickly what it takes to compete on a high level in college. It might take just one turnaround game for them to believe they belong on the ice with these other teams. After that its all about getting your forwards to be creative and teaching the defense. Wheres Grant ?

Celebrating his 85th birthday.

[ICECAT1811]

That's correct but the landscape of hockey has changed a lot since you guys were great. Today all the schools are loaded with great tallent and top draft picks, in places like QU and UMass so it's different

Quinny has two NHL draft picks….a 6th and a 7th. They’ve never had higher than a 3rd and he fled for 0-4 Wisconsin….probably because he’s more about the me than the we. We’d be more than happy to take some of these “high draft picks” you refer to. This obviously speaks volumes about the coaching and system. USA hockey certainly recognizes his ability to coach 2nd and 3rd tier players into a consistent top 15 program for over a decade since he was selected to coach the US in world juniors. It seems all the big boys get all the top tier. Michigan, MN, Denver, BC, North Dakota. Union, Yale and UMass proved you not need all those studs to win

[walrus]

Just upgraded so I can watch the FA Cup and checked the on-demand lineup. All the games carried by the ESPN networks this season (men's and women's) are available, including the exhibition game against PEI. If you feel so inclined, you can even watch a game between West Virginia and Liberty....

off topic but I watched Cooper Flagg(on espn +) win a tourney with the Florida Eagles. The great Bronny team didn't make the final. Cooper was a big reason his team won.

[BlackBearFan19]

If Maine could consistently be in the 4th-8th range I would consider it a massive success. Like everyone else I would like the glory days to come back but just don’t see it happening. BU, BC, and UNH have had their struggles as well so it’s not like Maine is an outlier.

As far as this year goes I really don’t get why people are freaking out. Early on what matter is how your new players look and in that regard I am very pleasantly surprised. I’m not sure how many of the new boys will be stars but they can all certainly play.

I went into the Bentley game hoping Maine could go 2-5-1 in the eight games after and at this point I am more bullish on that happening. I see a split this weekend and feel a lot better about this season and the future then I did a week ago.

I don’t often agree with you Drew but I think you’re dead on here. There are 16 new faces on this team and the freshmen look really good. There is a lot more talent on this team than last year.

I don’t know if people expected them to come out of the gates flying but that was an unrealistic expectation. Anytime you’re in a full rebuild there are going to be some really exciting results and some really disappointing ones. As fans we need to not be reactionary and instead should analyze how the boys are playing. The style and quality of play is improving and in time results will come.

[Wayuphere]

S.W. used that weekend SPANKING in Minn as a great learning tool…. 1985/86 season. We all know what soon followed…Bentley most definitely is no Minn nor do we have a bunch of blue chippers incoming like back then, but ugly losses leave a bad taste that the good coaches can utilize. Can Barr?

Fri, Jan 03	Maine	Mariucci Arena	8 - 3 (W)
Sat, Jan 04	Maine	Mariucci Arena	16 - 2 (W)

[Drew S.]

As someone who was there, and someone who can be fairly critical, I didn’t think Maine was that bad. Bentley had a good game plan and it worked to perfection. Maine should have worked a little hard defensively, but that is normal in a game where you expect to dominate. This wasn’t anywhere close to as bad as a bunch of performances last year.

[AMC]

Many things are different, both internally and externally. The athletics department, and the university as a whole, has been rudderless for the best part of this century. The hockey program used to be a cash cow of the university but I don't think it has turned a profit since 2017 or 2018. Last time I bothered to look the athletics budget was about $15M in the red. The school ****ed off its most prominent and generous booster, the student radio station doesn't even acknowledge we have a hockey team anymore and the commercial radio network is quite frankly a joke that even my Alexa can't find. No one has bothered to update USCHO or CHN about the change; hell CHN still has links to a nonexistent Yahoo streaming page! More programs exist now, and many more of them are competitive. In our day, there were about 45 programs and really only a dozen or so were serious about the sport. The EZAC had become Hockey East's little brother and the western conferences were top heavy. The 1992-93 team had players sitting next to me in street clothes that would have been first or second line at most other schools. We stocked up on blue chippahs like we were stocking a freezer before a blizzard. Now there are more than 60 programs with the majority of them competing, offering max scholarships and even extra incentives.

Whether Barr can turn things around remains to be seen. I looked back and we're coming up on the eighth anniversary of my infamous "**** or get off the pot" post about UMaine athletics that cost me a fair number of friends because they'd rather labor under the impression that everything is fine and we just need to give it more time. Eight years later and we're still waiting. I closed that post with the warning that Maine hockey was going to become the laughingstock of Hockey East that Merrimack and UMass used to be. Successive last place finishes will just be the latest embarrassment.

I agree with all of this. UMaine needs to decide if it is interested in operating a competitive Division I athletic department, or if it just wants to check a box that says "has athletics." The Alfond gift for facilities upgrades is nice, but basically just dragging Maine up to average facilities among its America East peers.

[ticapnews]

Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery at today's press conference: I don't take questions from Boston University reporters.

#NeverGraduate

[walrus]

Talk is cheap, we shall see
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022...eid=8fa35ce6e8

[Drew S.]

It would be interesting to know Maine’s injury situation as Trudeau, Mancinelli, and Bruneski would all be in my first choice lineup. I’m glad Lindauer is getting a runout tonight.

[NorthMike]

Its early but this aint no red team. Got some speed.

[walrus]

They shoot like a Reds team though