I just got home from the game. Some thoughts...
The absolute first and foremost reason for this loss was #32 in blue. This game is officially what has put me out on Ostman. He was really bad, plain and simple. In my opinion, three of the goals I would say were "bad goals", and two of them weren't necessarily ones he "should" have had, but they were ones he "could" have had. A goalie on his game for Maine tonight would have allowed a max of two goals, and might have allowed less. I have previously been a defender of Ostman, you can see as such in my posts on this very forum. I'm not sure if he's injured, or psyched out, or had some decline in his ability in the offseason, or what his problem is but he is not right and is hurting the team. He plays nervous currently and does not have confidence in his net. I want to see Bojia tomorrow and for the rest of the season, unless he gets hurt or perfoms similarly to how Ostman has thus far. Boija has much more confidence and poise in the net, I've always though he looks cool and collected when he has been asked to come in.
Secondly, the referees. I really, genuinely, don't like to blame referees for my team losing. And as stated above, they were not the primary cause of the loss. That said, they were absolutely a factor, as is to be expected when playing at Matthews. I don't know what it is, but every single time I see a game there it's always astounding how much home cooking they get from the officials. And it's not just against Maine either, I've seen games there with my dad, an alumnus of fellow Hockey East school that isn't Maine, and it's the same, so hilariously slanted for the home team. I know I can expect a much more evenly referreed game at Agganis, which doubles as a much nicer rink. Anyway, the Poisson play was worthy of a minor, in my opinion, but a major was just obscene. And basically every other call against Maine was garbage, with my favorite being a "holding" call on a basic, run-of-the-mill body check along the boards. And in the opposite direction, the Scott play I mentioned earlier sticks out in particular.
Thirdly, I felt like after the fourth and fifth goal, Maine played like they just wanted to get out of there. I wouldn't necessarily say they "gave up", because if they did they could have easily let up another 2-3 goals and wouldn't have scored the third of their own. But they did play like they had resigned to their fate at that point, and were just waiting for the clock to run out. I would have liked to see a little more grit and fight to at least try and make it interesting and not let NU just coast to the end unresisted.
Finally, I was impressed with the team defense in the first fourty minutes, and on a few of the goals on the major it was the complete opposite, stunningly bad. They couldn't clear the zone in the third to save their skins. Such a dramatic change from literally the same game, when they had previously not given them much of an inch.
In all, immensely frustrating loss, to a team I (naturally) despise, and one you have to hope isn't repeated. I want Bojia the rest of the way, and I think tomorrow's game in Amherst is very important for Maine to win to stay on course and not let the entire weekend go to waste.
