The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

[rw1733]

My apologies if this is known info already and for not posting it earlier but the MN State High School Hockey Tournament began today with Class A (smaller school enrollment) and Class AA begins Thursday 3/10 with games at 11:00am, 1:00 pm, 6:00 pm, 8:00 pm with same schedule on Friday with Class A semis in the 2 early time slots and Class AA in the 2 later ones. Saturday is Finals for both all times CST. Link to stream below

Twin Cities home for High School Sports, Prep45 | 45TV

Who cares?

 

[Drew S.]

I would be lying if I said I didn’t have the same feeling earlier. Merrimack was a tough matchup for Maine, especially at Lawler. I was uneasy about Thiessen starting even though he’s played really well his last two starts. I don’t know what it is I just feel more comfortable with Ostman in net.

The seniors deserve all the respect in the world considering what they’ve gone through. Although the team only won 7 games and were tough to watch at times, I was never disgusted by the team like I have been in years past. The effort was consistently there but the talent wasn’t especially in the second half.

The future of Maine hockey is bright, early next season will probably be a struggle but come this time next year Maine is going to be a tough out. I’m ready for October.

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.

 

[walrus]

Shawn died in 2001. Maine kept making Frozen Fours until 2007. .

Grant left

 

[walrus]

Another year and another wait and see what happens next year. I think Barr is the man to take the team forward, we just have to wait and see

 

[amkirby10]

With (by my count) 11 confirmed newcomers next season, with possibly more on the way, either thru current commitments being confirmed or picking up another transfer or two, this team will look completely remade next year. Five freshman D, all of whom look good on the stat sheet, could mean a promising rebuild of the D corps. Two probable stars up-front, and a returning solid goalie. I would bet they are right around .500 next season, perhaps a bit below, and then the big jump comes in 2023-2024.

 

[NorthMike]

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.

 

[AMC]

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.

 

[BoSox3066]

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

 

[Joe peter]

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.

 

[KrbFlint]

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.

 

[Joe peter]

Jeremy. Swayman.

Fossier
Doherty
Tralmaks
Dawe
Sirota
etc.

 

[ticapnews]

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?

 

[chickod]

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)

 

[BoSox3066]

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

 

[Joe peter]

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.

 

[BlackBearFan19]

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.

 

[UncleRay]

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....

 

[Drew S.]

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.

 

[BlackBearFan19]

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.

 

[BoSox3066]

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 shit 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.