University of Maine 2024–2025: Freel-ing good

[acs64]

This team continues to impress. Holt simply is a stud defensmen. Love watching him take control out there. On the flip side, lots of Maine fans getting a little crazy about this team. Always best to remain a little cautious, a long and dangerous road ahead.

[Sparkee]

I was trying to figure out how Breen redirected it with his stick all tangled up… turns out he used his butt. Breen on his goal and mindset: https://youtu.be/7f5wDczyCUk?si=gMI2e4WYrUk7Uqgq

He seems to be a good captain, down to earth type. Helps keep the team grounded and working hard, imagine.

Also, another interview postgame with Nadeau: https://youtu.be/3Kildm4m7bE?si=4L-JoyMUCUHNUlvd

Seems like a great line Freel/Scott/Nadeau

[Runsub5]

Maine's passing and puck handling was very good. Defense was outstanding and I can only recall one or two breakaways. Maine was very quick to get back on defense and was much quicker to the puck. Nice to see Maine's PP improve with two goals and Maine played disciplined hockey with only one penalty. Maine is a very gritty team that attacks the puck and gives the opponent very little time and space. The new lighting over the ice is really nice. It's directed at the ice and gives no glare to the eyes unlike the old fixtures. Disappointing student section attendance, perhaps 3/4 full in first period and virtually empty in the third.

[BlackBearFan19]

This team continues to impress. Holt simply is a stud defensmen. Love watching him take control out there. On the flip side, lots of Maine fans getting a little crazy about this team. Always best to remain a little cautious, a long and dangerous road ahead.

Some fans are delusional and think they’re going to go 42-1-2 every year. To be honest I think the sky is the limit for these guys. Super deep and not a lot of weaknesses. Getting off to such a great start allows some room for error down the stretch.

[tylerzx2002]

Maine's passing and puck handling was very good. Defense was outstanding and I can only recall one or two breakaways. Maine was very quick to get back on defense and was much quicker to the puck. Nice to see Maine's PP improve with two goals and Maine played disciplined hockey with only one penalty. Maine is a very gritty team that attacks the puck and gives the opponent very little time and space. The new lighting over the ice is really nice. It's directed at the ice and gives no glare to the eyes unlike the old fixtures. Disappointing student section attendance, perhaps 3/4 full in first period and virtually empty in the third.

Not only this but this Maine team has looked much better in transition, especially with quick counters on offense.

Barr finally has the personnel he trusts to consistently strike quickly and generate a lot of pressure on opposing defenses.

That will serve us well against that BC/BU/DEN portion of the schedule (just look at how effectively Michigan used that against BU last night in the third period).

[UncleRay]

This team continues to impress. Holt simply is a stud defensmen. Love watching him take control out there. On the flip side, lots of Maine fans getting a little crazy about this team. Always best to remain a little cautious, a long and dangerous road ahead.

Yep. Let's see how the next two weekends go.

[Drew S.]

I think Maine is probably somewhere between 10-15 talent wise but given they play hard and are well coached can outperform that to some degree. I don’t see the AIC, Army, and Merrimack games being very meaningful. Maine certainly was decent enough against Quinnipiac and Northeastern but we have to keep in mind Maine is likely playing their best hockey right now while those teams will get better as the season goes on.

[grooverider]

Merrimack is now averaging 1 goal per game and 16 shots on goal per game. So it makes sense that when going against the #6 team in the country they will struggle to generate offense. Lesakowski is one of the few that can handle battles with big forwards, around the net in particular. I doubt he is out permanently. He took a nasty hit and struggled getting back to the bench against Northeastern. Likely he is hurt.

We will see tonight but my observations were :

D quicker to break out and get in transition
Team seemed faster and forwards more aggressive due to the faster d exits of zones
Better pace overall, wore down Merrimack which was systemically trying to clog the center ice and prevent odd man rushes

That type of style suits you better to battle with BC/BU. It's all above movement and speed.

[StillKIA2]

We will see tonight but my observations were :

D quicker to break out and get in transition
Team seemed faster and forwards more aggressive due to the faster d exits of zones
Better pace overall, wore down Merrimack which was systemically trying to clog the center ice and prevent odd man rushes

That type of style suits you better to battle with BC/BU. It's all above movement and speed.

Northeastern is FAST
Quinnipiac is fast
Merrimack is SLOW
Army is slow

yeah, maine looks fast against Merrimack

i bet Will, Leonard and Gasseau will make a lot of maine fans ask why maine was barely even trying

[RENCEB]

As the resident (only?) Merrimack fan on this site, I think AMC understated it that "Merrimack might stink". I'm disgusted with my alma mater. Worst team in HE, arguably among the worst in D1. Making the HE final 2 years ago was certainly an anomaly. Cannot see any way that Borek is brought back.
On another note, I have a vacation home in Maine, so the Black Bears are my "second team". Wishing you guys continued success.

[grooverider]

Northeastern is FAST
Quinnipiac is fast
Merrimack is SLOW
Army is slow

yeah, maine looks fast against Merrimack

i bet Will, Leonard and Gasseau will make a lot of maine fans ask why maine was barely even trying

Funny you mention that because I wish the camera did the game justice on Northeasterns speed because I couldn't really tell

[walrus]

Northeastern is FAST
Quinnipiac is fast
Merrimack is SLOW
Army is slow

yeah, maine looks fast against Merrimack

i bet Will, Leonard and Gasseau will make a lot of maine fans ask why maine was barely even trying

Took 5 out of 6 from NU, Beat Q, so does that mean Maine is fast also? I doubt anyone on here thinks Maine is going to blow BU, BC, Denver off the ice but this is by far the fastest Maine team we have had in many moons.

[tylerzx2002]

i bet Will, Leonard and Gasseau will make a lot of maine fans ask why maine was barely even trying

Maine was one of the few teams that had BC's number last season. Very disruptive against them and would imagine Barr would use a similar strategy to frustrate them again this season.

[Sparkee]

Same line up as last night for Maine: https://hockeyeastonline.com/pdf/20241102/mnem.pdf

Wonder which goalie we see for Merrimack? Their line up lists goalies numerically. I’m guessing we see Wallstrom in net for Merrimack? https://hockeyeastonline.com/pdf/20241102/merm.pdf

[Blackbear96]

A little surprised to see Lesakowski has a healthy scratch, but possible Barr doesn’t like the volatility that he comes with.