UMaine Hockey 23 - 24: The Barr Crawl to Glory!!!

[walrus]

Nah, I doubt anyone will take the SMT moniker away from UNH. (smiley). Nothing wrong with physical hockey, its just that I prefer to watch college hockey games where the skaters (both sides) get to skate a few strides and dangle with the puck before someone brings the hammer down on them. Or even worse, watching someone going out their way to finish a check when it’s clearly not warranted and distracts from the game. But if its win at all costs, then so be it I guess. Can you name a Walsh coached Maine team that specifically played hard hockey/football for me? I'm having a little trouble seeing any of the Kariya brothers laying any one out on the ice.

Unhers hate Ben Guite for his hard nosed play

 

[acs64]

Unhers hate Ben Guite for his hard nosed play

Oh yeah that's right. Chucks poster child for cheap shots. (smiley chuck)

 

[9twenty]

Wait, so now Maine is the SMT? Is the game a little too physical for your team? Would they be more comfortable with no checking?

Honestly, UNH must play this way. They don't have the talent depth to play any other way. What they have is a bunch of guys that can skate (shoot not so much) and so they need to be in your face and grinding away, causing chaos. When they get into trouble is when they don't play that hard a game, and try and get fancy. What is funny is the further you go into playoff hockey the more they generally put the whistles away. It is what has traditionally bit UNH in the butt, too soft. My thought on this last weekend is this UNH team looked sorta/kinda like some of those Jack Parker BU teams (the less talented ones that still hung out up in the Hockey East Standings) that hammered the opposing D all night long, using extra steps to hit the D even if the puck is gone. It is a style that honestly makes me a little crazy and if UNH had simply been as consistent doing it all year they would be much better positioned.

Side Note: something that always impressed / annoyed me about Walsh, he played the game his players needed to win. It was clear he loved a skating scoring game, but if the roster in any year needed to play hard hockey/football that is what Maine did.

Teams play the style the roster is built for...some years teams are fast/talented...some are all in,grinding/guts and never quit....bottom line ...competing with what you have...no excuses.

 

[RENCEB]

Oh yeah that's right. Chucks poster child for cheap shots. (smiley chuck)

Geez, I would have thought that would be Brendan Walsh or Joey Diamond!

 

[Sparkee]

Geez, I would have thought that would be Brendan Walsh or Joey Diamond!

It was because of Guite’s hit from behind on UNH Mowers that injured him.

 

[umhockey91]

I was quite jealous of how UNH played. They were gritty and tenacious. I do think that they got a homer job from the refs but Maine served it up on a silver platter. I was looking over the UNH roster and noticed that they have 15 players from New England and only 2 from Canada. Those Mass kids are tough and know how to play hockey. Obviously BC and BU are getting the cream of the crop from NE....but UNH seems to be a destination for the B-listers. Hopefully Maine gets in on that more local recruiting action.

 

[grooverider]

I was quite jealous of how UNH played. They were gritty and tenacious. I do think that they got a homer job from the refs but Maine served it up on a silver platter. I was looking over the UNH roster and noticed that they have 15 players from New England and only 2 from Canada. Those Mass kids are tough and know how to play hockey. Obviously BC and BU are getting the cream of the crop from NE....but UNH seems to be a destination for the B-listers. Hopefully Maine gets in on that more local recruiting action.

Maine had three or four really good trickle past the goalie or slightly missed shots when it was 1 to 0 and 1 to 1. Then the pants shitting happened. I understand the major on Nobes but the player put himself in that position and the contact was minimal but sold hard. Again not saying it wasn't a penalty but in a playoff game that's 2 minutes not 5. I have noticed this same crew makes themselves part of the game quite often and even when they came to Orono.

With that said this weekend is huge. If they want home ice they need to shake out the cobwebs and ride the home crowd to wins.

The Whittemore center was a decent environment. Not as loud as Maine. There was some UNH douchebag students behind me who started shit and proceeded to leave after they realized I was going to grab an usher because it wasn't their seats. They recorded it all too for some strange reason since they thought it was cute grabbing their crotches to us. Plenty of Maine fans there and overall nice people minus a few tools.

 

[dabears91]

Can we please stop complaining about the calls? Houle’s was a direct shot to the head. Nobes was a cross check in a vulnerable area directly into the boards. Those were easy calls. The refs swallowed their whistles the rest of the weekend and it was the best called series Maine had all year.

Maine broke down far too easy both nights. UNH was the better team for basically 110 minutes of play. The next step in the Barr era for this program is learning how to play tough winning hockey down the stretch against tough gritty veteran teams. They started to last year but fell apart at the end. They are 5-5 since the schedule went to conference play rest of way.

Maine is still 7th in the Pairwise and 3rd in Hockey East. As hard as the last 3 weekends have been they are still in a good position. They need to reach down inside and mature and start making teams play their game again.

 

[Chuck Murray]

It was because of Guite's hit from behind on UNH Mowers that injured him.

Yup, that's the one. Scummy hit that deserved more of a punishment than it got ... sign of the times, I guess.

But now that UMaine are the SMT's (what did I hear repeatedly, 2nd lowest PIM's in HEA, right?), as evidenced by some of the kvetching on here over the weekend, it'll be fun to enjoy a little role reversal. Honestly, I was surprised at how soft UMaine was this weekend. Is that the usual, or were the Nadeaus too busy reading their CSB profiles??

My guess is Coach Barr will be able to work with this weekend's results to affect a turnaround, before it's too late.

It's still a pretty young team, and wherever they finish this season only sets the floor for a spectacular '24/'25 ...

 

[grooverider]

Can we please stop complaining about the calls? Houle’s was a direct shot to the head. Nobes was a cross check in a vulnerable area directly into the boards. Those were easy calls. The refs swallowed their whistles the rest of the weekend and it was the best called series Maine had all year.

Maine broke down far too easy both nights. UNH was the better team for basically 110 minutes of play. The next step in the Barr era for this program is learning how to play tough winning hockey down the stretch against tough gritty veteran teams. They started to last year but fell apart at the end. They are 5-5 since the schedule went to conference play rest of way.

Maine is still 7th in the Pairwise and 3rd in Hockey East. As hard as the last 3 weekends have been they are still in a good position. They need to reach down inside and mature and start making teams play their game again.

Were you there? If you were not please refrain from the "stop complaining about the calls" bullshit because I had a first row seat to that ..I'm sorry I'm really tired of that rhetoric

 

[grooverider]

Yup, that's the one. Scummy hit that deserved more of a punishment than it got ... sign of the times, I guess.

But now that UMaine are the SMT's (what did I hear repeatedly, 2nd lowest PIM's in HEA, right?), as evidenced by some of the kvetching on here over the weekend, it'll be fun to enjoy a little role reversal. Honestly, I was surprised at how soft UMaine was this weekend. Is that the usual, or were the Nadeaus too busy reading their CSB profiles??

My guess is Coach Barr will be able to work with this weekend's results to affect a turnaround, before it's too late.

It's still a pretty young team, and wherever they finish this season only sets the floor for a spectacular '24/'25 ...

MS7 extension incoming. PS - Darius ate his Wheaties this week.

 

[amkirby10]

Were you there? If you were not please refrain from the "stop complaining about the calls" bull**** because I had a first row seat to that ..I'm sorry I'm really tired of that rhetoric

I was there on Friday, though not on Saturday. What calls (or non-calls) are you objecting over? I'm genuinely asking, and not trying to be a twit, because as I said in my post I thought the officiating was quite good this past weekend, and I concured with both majors, especially against Nobes.

 

[grooverider]

I was there on Friday, though not on Saturday. What calls (or non-calls) are you objecting over? I'm genuinely asking, and not trying to be a twit, because as I said in my post I thought the officiating was quite good this past weekend, and I concured with both majors, especially against Nobes.

Friday was fine.

Saturday- Houle call. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, saw Donny shake his head, I'm guessing this was the right call. Just happened to be looking away at this time. The Nobes call. 2 minutes in a playoff game. Player turns going into the boards, puts himself in a vulnerable position, full dive spread eagle into the boards, looks around, sells it, gets up and is fine the rest of the game.

My issue is if you want to sell it and act like a sniper shot you. You better be hurt. Two 5s in one game. Game changing. The second 5 is what I do not like and is a nut punch. One 5 fine. Second. Make the right call and don't give into the crowd.

 

[Drew S.]

Friday was fine.

Saturday- Houle call. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, saw Donny shake his head, I'm guessing this was the right call. Just happened to be looking away at this time. The Nobes call. 2 minutes in a playoff game. Player turns going into the boards, puts himself in a vulnerable position, full dive spread eagle into the boards, looks around, sells it, gets up and is fine the rest of the game.

My issue is if you want to sell it and act like a sniper shot you. You better be hurt. Two 5s in one game. Game changing. The second 5 is what I do not like and is a nut punch. One 5 fine. Second. Make the right call and don't give into the crowd.

UNH scored a minute into the second 5MM so in theory even if it was a minor penalty they still score. You’re overlooking the huge break Maine got on the goalie interference call Friday.

I think the refs have been pretty consistent most of the year when it comes to not calling a lot of penalties. The one thing that irritates me are some of the icing calls. If it’s close I wish they would let it go.

 

[dabears91]

Were you there? If you were not please refrain from the "stop complaining about the calls" bull**** because I had a first row seat to that ..I'm sorry I'm really tired of that rhetoric

What a silly argument.

 

[dabears91]

Friday was fine.

Saturday- Houle call. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, saw Donny shake his head, I'm guessing this was the right call. Just happened to be looking away at this time. The Nobes call. 2 minutes in a playoff game. Player turns going into the boards, puts himself in a vulnerable position, full dive spread eagle into the boards, looks around, sells it, gets up and is fine the rest of the game.

My issue is if you want to sell it and act like a sniper shot you. You better be hurt. Two 5s in one game. Game changing. The second 5 is what I do not like and is a nut punch. One 5 fine. Second. Make the right call and don't give into the crowd.

You can’t cross check a guy in a vulnerable position into the boards. It was a dirty hit and took the refs 2 seconds to review it. Saying he flopped is ridiculous.

 

[Darius]

MS7 extension incoming. PS - Darius ate his Wheaties this week.

Amazing what a renewed competitive rivalry weekend does for the psyche. I went from missing a bit of Friday's game to watch parts of Bullitt on TCM to full on yelling at the TV on Saturday.

To those complaining about officiating, it's a bad look when your team lost by a combined 11-4. #beatdown. Own it. Build off it. You'll be back.

 

[StillKIA2]

You can’t cross check a guy in a vulnerable position into the boards. It was a dirty hit and took the refs 2 seconds to review it. Saying he flopped is ridiculous.

I refereed for 20 years. I don’t know what this years points of emphasis are, but directly from behind HEAD FIRST into the boards is a major…feet first was never a major [edit…the Gagne hit IS a major according to the NCAA rulebook…it requires what dabears wrote, “in a vulnerable [sic]“ directly from behing, into the boards…no head first is needed)

Brad was hit directly from behind into the boards by Providence…Brad’s head smashed violently into the glass and it was a 2…I guess because Brad’s gloves made contact with the dasher before his head smashed the glass?

In the same game as the Nobes/Gagne hit, Brazeale took a crosscheck directly from behind that landed him on his azs (while he was carrying the puck)…no call (the major -minor difference is supposed to be whether the players are going into the boards….if the Brazeale hit was legal, then the Gagne hit should have also been a legal hit)

just be consistent

and for God’s sake watch behind the play for the dirty hits and takedowns of Josh…UNH got away with it all night long…they added the second ref so that one could watch the play while the other could watch behind the play.

 

[tylerzx2002]

Have the day off from work today and I'm debating heading up for this afternoon's practice, but do I really wanna watch this team bag skate for an hour+?

 

[amkirby10]

Have the day off from work today and I'm debating heading up for this afternoon's practice, but do I really wanna watch this team bag skate for an hour+?

Id be interesting in seeing what practice is like today but I don't live anywhere close enough