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University of Maine 2024–2025: Freel-ing good

AMC said:
Looking at the schedules thread, we're kind of running out of possible opponents for a big home non-conference series. Big Ten or bust at this point I guess.
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We're basically down to:

The Alaskas, LIU, Lindenwood, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, St. Lawrence, Michigan State, Penn State & Wisconsin.

I think we will see 2 home series added. Penn State would be a huge series after last season's Regional drubbing.
 
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blackbears9 said:
Looks like the narrative that Barr can't get talented forwards is over. This is easily the best on paper recruiting class at Maine I've been around for. I'm sure some of the older guys can comment on how this stacks up to some of the best Walsh teams.
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Pretty hard to comment on this years recruits until we see them play as a team. Be tough to beat the Kariya, Ferraro twins class.
 
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Puckthomas said:
I’m thinking about the Nadeau, Poirier, Marques line working together.
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I think Sparkee mentioned a while back that Marques might be do well as a center and from watching some tape I don't disagree.

Do we know if he's played any at Lethbridge over the last few seasons?

If he hasn't it still looks like a really strong top nine no matter which line he slots in on:

Poirier-Scott-Marques
Freel-Lipinski-Nadeau
Fowler-Komarov-Russell
 
tylerzx2002 said:
I think Sparkee mentioned a while back that Marques might be do well as a center and from watching some tape I don't disagree.

Do we know if he's played any at Lethbridge over the last few seasons?

If he hasn't it still looks like a really strong top nine no matter which line he slots in on:

Poirier-Scott-Marques
Freel-Lipinski-Nadeau
Fowler-Komarov-Russell
Click to expand...
My thought is that he could develop into one over time. He has mostly played RW from the line up charts I viewed and from a lot of footage on him. He does tend to cherry pick and be the first forward up ice looking for stretch passes. As such he has had a reputation as not being strong defensively. He is a very high skill scorer where his stick handling and playmaking are his strengths. I’m not sure how many here remember Niko Dimitrakos. Niko was an elite stick handler and playmaker. He was not defensively responsible early. He put on more muscle and improved his power skating. By the time he was an upperclassmen he became dominant. He went on to have a great NHL career. I see Marques very similar to Niko. Likely he will wow people with his stickhandling and nifty playmaking, but piss them off from time to time when he’s out at the red line when the other team forechecks for a goal. This is how Niko was early in his time at Maine. He was pudgy when he came to Maine but ended up ripped and his skating was dramatically different. They are nearly identical size. If Marques could use Niko as a role model for how to transform he will make a great pro some day. I don’t think Niko ever played center much.

Having said all that I am quite happy with this addition and how the team was rebuilt/reloaded this year. It is very outstanding and the coaches should be proud( Fortier and Soltys in addition to Barr and Allie). Soltys and Fortier have moved on to better pathways to where they aspire to be. But they were great. At the same time I think the two new coaching staff additions are outstanding. So with program strong, coaching staff strong, and Alfond upgrades nearing completion it is hard to find anything to be disappointed in. The one thing that would make me 110% impressed, giddy, and awe struck would be if Maine finds a way to opt in.

I would say it has potential to be similar strength of the 99 rookie class(Barrett Heisten, Niko Dimitrakos, Peter Metcalf, Doug Janik, Mike Morrison, Eric Turgeon, Ed Wood). Maine was still down four scholarships, and had solid blue collar types with some solid talent(Steve Kariya, Cory Larose, Ben Guite, David Cullen, Dan Kerluke, Marcus Gustafson, with a very good goalie(Alfie). Maine was sort of rebuilding similar to what Maine has done recently. Added a strong freshman class and ended up winning the National Championship.
 
walrus said:
Pretty hard to comment on this years recruits until we see them play as a team. Be tough to beat the Kariya, Ferraro twins class.
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Paul Kariya, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro, Mike Latendresse, Dave MacIsaac, Jamie Thompson, Jacque Rodrique, Greg Hirsh

Kariya, Ferraro Twins, and Latendresse were in the top 6 in scoring as freshman combining for 89 goals and 252 points!

I don’t know if there has been a better freshman class ever in college hockey?

So, I doubt it happens again.
 
tylerzx2002 said:
I think Sparkee mentioned a while back that Marques might be do well as a center and from watching some tape I don't disagree.

Do we know if he's played any at Lethbridge over the last few seasons?

If he hasn't it still looks like a really strong top nine no matter which line he slots in on:

Poirier-Scott-Marques
Freel-Lipinski-Nadeau
Fowler-Komarov-Russell
Click to expand...
He gave this interview at the beginning of last season in fall of 2024. If you go to 5:30 mark she mentions a coach mentioned he might try Marques at center and Marques says he would like to try. So I don’t think he played any center before the fall of 2024 in the WHL. I will have to try to pick through the game charts if they exist to see if he did play center. Here is the interview: https://youtu.be/rzQdX0Cs_YQ

He even admits he cheats and needs to work on his 200 foot game. So he appears to be wanting to work on developing his defensive skills.
 
If recent history tells us anything, Maine's schedule should be released pretty soon. Recent schedule release dates: 6/21/24, 6/30/23, 7/7/22, 6/28/21
 
amkirby10 said:
If recent history tells us anything, Maine's schedule should be released pretty soon. Recent schedule release dates: 6/21/24, 6/30/23, 7/7/22, 6/28/21
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I've been keeping tabs on the Alfond calendar but nothing obvious as of home dates right now. One thing I noticed is that among all the hold times placed on it OTO Practice is currently listed on every weekend in Feb. Would be kind of strange to go a whole month without a home series right?
 
McGoverners said:
It's interesting to see Marques commit after we publicly opted-out. Does this imply somebody lost a scholarship? Or does it imply there isn't as much money floating around as we thought?
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BlackBearFan19 said:
I thought I saw that they extended the deadline and Maine is reevaluating until 6/30. To me it’s a signal that Maine may be opting in.
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Right, and it was in the paper that Killy is now evaluating since deadline was extended and the NCAA is releasing more information on the rules. I think the lack of documentation was a big issue where some ADs where thinking they don’t want to opt in because they didn’t know all of what they were opting into. Now with the “designated student” exemption schools don’t feel like they have to cut students from the roster. That seemed like North Dakota’s concern and they now have opted in. So maybe Maine decides to opt in? Shall see in next 10 days. I just hope Killy is meeting with the donors to get their opinions.
 
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