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

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StillKIA2 said:
I was only referring to jimmy’s gaudy numbers. He split time to get those save percentage and goals against numbers.

think of where boija’s numbers would be if he hadn’t played saturdays against NU and providence after giving up only one goal each of the nights before
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No you’re right and for my money Frank Doyle was the third best goalie Maine’s ever had post Walsh after Howard and Swayman. Including Bish.

on Ostman and Boija, I think splits are always good for business. Ostman had a 918 last year. There’s a very good goalie in there and its Bens job to get it out of him. Maine’s best chance is with both guys playing at a high level
 
Start of the season I figured a 6th place finish in Hockey East with a outside shot of 4th place that would have been gravy....record wise possible 18-19 wins overall for the regular season...as far as the NCAA's...figured they would have needed to go to Boston and win out...now in present time 3-4-5 is how they could finish in the regular season...Boston..?..maybe but not cemented on that...I think NCAA's are in the cards as a 3-4 seed...but all in all the season has been fun for all....renewed atmosphere The Alfond...and a positive outlook for awhile to come(imo)...Barr has a plan and knows he has areas to fix...part of rebuilding a program.
 
Drew S. said:
Beyond that he clearly needs to find a number one defenseman and maybe one or two other dmen who are good in their own zone. I think all of the defensemen individually are fine but as a group they have been a disaster. I also think you need six or seven legit top six forwards and Maine has three great ones and then three who are borderline at best. This has been an issue for close to 20 years now so nothing new.
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Chabrier is a legit #1 guy offensively, but he definitely needs a solid defensive minded guy to let him continue to shine with the puck. Have liked him with Holt this year. They've generally been a pretty reliable duo.

Little surprised Breazeale and Antonacci have both regressed offensively this year, but I suspect it's because Barr has to lean on them more in the D-zone with so many freshmen in the lineup.

Lesakowski is going to have to be a guy that really improves his skating next year. He falls into the trap where he relies far too much on his long reach to make defensive plays and gets caught coasting often. He took a lot of penalties earlier in the year because of that but definitely needs to be an area if he's going to be the shutdown guy a la Sirota.
 
RossiRules said:
One of my best coaches Fern Flaman used to say, "Good teams overcome bad calls. Great ones don't complain they find a way to win" He played in the NHL and went to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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I like that philosophy! It wasn't that Maine didn't have opportunities. Maine was 0 for 6 on the PP in the second game against NU!
 
I dont think Maine is terrible defensively. They do a good job most of the time keeping shot totals down and not letting their goalie be absolutely assaulted with shots like Swayman used to be. Their problem is sometimes the quality of chances allowed is high even if the quantity isnt, and they fumble the puck at the offensive blue line and in their own end which leads to turnovers and odd man rushes. Turnovers are part of the recent slide that hasn't been talked about enough imo, they can be really careless with the puck and give up possession far too easily.
 
amkirby10 said:
I dont think Maine is terrible defensively. They do a good job most of the time keeping shot totals down and not letting their goalie be absolutely assaulted with shots like Swayman used to be. Their problem is sometimes the quality of chances allowed is high even if the quantity isnt, and they fumble the puck at the offensive blue line and in their own end which leads to turnovers and odd man rushes. Turnovers are part of the recent slide that hasn't been talked about enough imo, they can be really careless with the puck and give up possession far too easily.
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This is a very accurate synapses. We outshot NU in the second game something like 39-24. The defense hasn't been awful, they're just a young team that is a bit naive when shooting themselves in the foot. You cant rush player development and that's where we are at right now.
 
AmaineBlackBear said:
This is a very accurate synapses. We outshot NU in the second game something like 39-24. The defense hasn't been awful, they're just a young team that is a bit naive when shooting themselves in the foot. You cant rush player development and that's where we are at right now.
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The D doesn’t make quick enough decisions to move puck and gets caught with puck in zone. They many times get deeper in zone trying to get away from forecheck instead of chipping it out. The result is a turnover.
 
walrus said:
The D doesn’t make quick enough decisions to move puck and gets caught with puck in zone. They many times get deeper in zone trying to get away from forecheck instead of chipping it out. The result is a turnover.
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True. I think this is how they are coached.
 
Runsub5 said:
I like that philosophy! It wasn't that Maine didn't have opportunities. Maine was 0 for 6 on the PP in the second game against NU!
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Exactly. In the 70s and 80s Fern was convinced that Parker and Lenny C had the refs in their back pocket. It's a good way to look at the game.
 
BoSox3066 said:
No you’re right and for my money Frank Doyle was the third best goalie Maine’s ever had post Walsh after Howard and Swayman. Including Bish.

on Ostman and Boija, I think splits are always good for business. Ostman had a 918 last year. There’s a very good goalie in there and its Bens job to get it out of him. Maine’s best chance is with both guys playing at a high level
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I think I agree on your top three. Bishop would be there if he could have avoided his patented one assist per game for the other team. He had all the tools, and I am glad he fixed his wandering problem at the next level.
 
amkirby10 said:
I dont think Maine is terrible defensively. They do a good job most of the time keeping shot totals down and not letting their goalie be absolutely assaulted with shots like Swayman used to be. Their problem is sometimes the quality of chances allowed is high even if the quantity isnt, and they fumble the puck at the offensive blue line and in their own end which leads to turnovers and odd man rushes. Turnovers are part of the recent slide that hasn't been talked about enough imo, they can be really careless with the puck and give up possession far too easily.
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Agreed, on Saturday Maine was MIA when at least 3 NU goals were potted.

(I missed one goal when the pooch had to be taken out to make his bladder gladder.)
 
amkirby10 said:
I dont think Maine is terrible defensively. They do a good job most of the time keeping shot totals down and not letting their goalie be absolutely assaulted with shots like Swayman used to be. Their problem is sometimes the quality of chances allowed is high even if the quantity isnt, and they fumble the puck at the offensive blue line and in their own end which leads to turnovers and odd man rushes. Turnovers are part of the recent slide that hasn't been talked about enough imo, they can be really careless with the puck and give up possession far too easily.
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Half way through the Providence series they figured out that putting extra pressure effort on Maines D when their dinking around with puck going behind the net waiting etc to get a break out set up, a turnover can be forced. Or if no turnover then just a hurried pass into the neutral zone that can get picked off. Both UNH and NU were wise to this as well successfully.
Be looking to see if VT has success doing this also.
 
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tylerzx2002 said:
Maine shouldn't be looking ahead past Vermont, given the Hockey East playoff upset last year.

Currently sitting at a 58% chance to finish third in Hockey East. A Maine sweep brings that up to 76% and a Vermont sweep drops that to 17%.

Likely need to win 3 of the final 4 games to hold onto third.
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For the teams chasing Maine, PC has a standard HnH series with MC this coming weekend, followed by two home games to close the year against BU and NU. UMA plays a HnH against UML this weekend and then obviously treks to Alfond for the finale.

Six points at Gutterson would obviously go a long way, but they gotta get I would say at least four at the absolute minimum to still be in decent position.
 
grooverider said:
I oddly feel good about this weekend. So you can blame me if they lose both games.
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Ok, we will send the angry mob to your house for a change. Wally is the big dude cursing at Bunyon. :D

I’m hoping for better than a split in Burlington, which makes it very likely they would be third and host UNH at Alfond.
 
For those that care, the Maine women play their hockey east tournament play-in game tonight at 6 pm on espn+ against Merrimack. They are 0-2-1 against Merrimack despite being the higher ranked team.
 
Completely off topic, anyone in Bangor area have t mobile for cell carrier, if so how is coverage? Maps say it’s good, but real life may say otherwise?
 
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