#5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

...it will, as it alwayz is, determined by the playrz on the ice.....thats it and thats all and so it is written and so it shall be for all of eternity.

But what about coaching?!?!!?!?

I know one Maine fan who would loooooooooooooove to have Maine meet BC in the Gahdin though.

Would that Maine fan be playing without a full deck? I'm ruling out gscottie on this one even though he's a few cards short of a full deck himself! Even he's smart enough to know not to wish for a game vs. BC in the postseason. Unless you're talking about basketball or women's hockey...

[BoSox3066]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

Little known fact: Maine is the second most penalized team in HE league play. For the season, MC's powerplay % is 20.8% vs 17.6% for ME. I guess MC must not have any skilled players (Cucci with a league-leading 9 powerplay goals, and 3 others with 5 or more; Dimman leads ME with 4). If MC's powerplay guys show up, that could be a game changer.

Yeah or not. League's a small(er) sample size and using the whole season discounts current trends, discounts the joke that was Maine's PP sans O'Neill and Dimmen and also discounts how many PPGs Mack scored against their joke of an OOC schedule, which I am too lazy to look up today. But like I said before, you can come up a stat to support anything.

Talk about skill guys, Maine has the best player in the building in Nyquist. Da Costa is second. From there its anybody's guess depending on who shows up.

Both teams have 6 ten goal scorers. Both teams have seven 20 point scorers. Maine's got four point per game guys plus Robbie Dee at .9 to Mack's three. Maine's got nine .5 ppg guys to Mack's seven.

Reasonably even skill wise, we'll see which team shows up and which ref shows up.

[maineiac37]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

This series is without question the most intriguing of all the quarter final match-ups. Each team spanked the other at their home barn. Maine wound up taking the season series but without having to face one of the nations most dynamic players in Stephen DeCosta. The "madness" that "topshelf999" is predicting should be great for the sport. After watching the Black Bears all year, i'm curious to see how they respond in a must-win series against a team that physically dominated them the last time they met. Keys to maines victory: their scorers must score....their goalie...most likely sullivan must play like hes been playing..... their D has to contain SDC..and they have to find a way to not be pushed around by the bigger, stronger Merrimack......THE "TIMMAY" COMMENTS SHOULD CEASE FOR THE TIME BEING ...WHETHER IT IS "IN SPITE OF" OR "DUE TO" THE COACHING, THIS TEAM HAS PROVEN THEY COULD BEAT ANYONE WHEN THEY SHOW UP TO PLAY.....ONE GAME AT A TIME....GO BLACK BEARS

[MCHOCKEY]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

how many PPGs Mack scored against their joke of an OOC schedule, which I am too lazy to look up today. But like I said before, you can come up a stat to support anything.

Here are your stats (b/c I have little to do today). In conference: 30 of 144 for 20.8%...OOC 9 of 32 for 28.13%...So, although their % is higher in OOC, 20.8% in conference is pretty **** good. Good enough for 3rd in conference.

[walrus]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

....THE "TIMMAY" COMMENTS SHOULD CEASE FOR THE TIME BEING ...WHETHER IT IS "IN SPITE OF" OR "DUE TO" THE COACHING, THIS TEAM HAS PROVEN THEY COULD BEAT ANYONE WHEN THEY SHOW UP TO PLAY.....ONE GAME AT A TIME....GO BLACK BEARS

Coaching won't have any effect on the series? If not I guess he's off topic, otherwise he is on topic. He's a big boy, one of the highest paid state employees so I guess he can be questioned, before, during or after the series

[KnowItAll]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

In most cases, I would agree with you...but not in this one...MC is a completely different beast of a team when playing at home...add in the fact that they were w/o Da Costa for the series up in Maine...I throw head to head out b/c we really don't know who has the edge there...with full rosters, MC won 7-1 in North Andover...but the Maine team that played then and the one that is playing now is night and day in comparison...GO MACK!!!

by night and day, of course you meant that Maine was without its two best offensive defensemen and two best defensive defensemen...

[KnowItAll]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

THE "TIMMAY" COMMENTS SHOULD CEASE FOR THE TIME BEING ...WHETHER IT IS "IN SPITE OF" OR "DUE TO" THE COACHING, THIS TEAM HAS PROVEN THEY COULD BEAT ANYONE WHEN THEY SHOW UP TO PLAY.....ONE GAME AT A TIME....GO BLACK BEARS

Maine and TIMMY have NOT shown that they can beat ANYONE when Maine comes to play... when Maine came to play against BU And UNH, and had great leads in the third, Timmy coached Maine to a couple "non wins"
coaching is everything, whether you like it or not.
If Dennehy's boys can get into Timmy's head and the player's heads, what do you think will happen?
IF Brent Shepherd were able to stand in front of the Merrimack Bench and get Yopyk to throw haymakers at Brents' face while holding his shirt, then Maine would win....
Brent no longer plays for Maine, and Joey Diamond is unlikely to try to get into Glen Stewart's head

[TripleE]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

10/9/10: Maine is up 3-2 in their own rink, outshooting Atlantic Hockey's UConn 2:1 with less than 7 minutes left in the game. They give up the game tying goal and settle for a tie.

10/14/10: At Michigan State's home opener. Maine holds two seperate 2 goal leads, ending the 1st period up 3-1 and responding to make it 4-2 late in the 2nd. Blow the two goal lead and settle for a tie.

11/6/10: At Boston University. Outshooting the Terriers on their own ice, with a 2-1 lead with less than 2 minutes left in the game, give up the game tying goal and settle for a tie.

12/3/10: At Providence. Maine takes 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 leads but walks away with a tie.

12/10/10: vs. UNH at a raucus Alfond arena, Maine has a 3-1 lead with less than 12 minutes left in the game. Walks away wishing we tied...

1/8/11: Maine scores the 1st goal before getting pummeled for 7 unanswered goals.

1/22/11: At Northeastern. Maine with a 3-2 lead with less than 3 minutes left in the game. Guess what? We tied.

1/28/11: Maine blows another 2nd period 3-1 lead en route to a regulation loss to BU.

1/29/11: Maine scores on their 1st shot on the game and outshoots the Terriers 42-20 and can't get 2 points out of it.

2/5/11: At UNH. Maine makes it 2-1. Falls behind again, but responds multiple times tying the game 3-3 and 4-4. Misses an open net on a broken play with less than a minute left and again, walks away wishing we tied.

3/4/11: Managed 2 points after NEARLY choking multiple 3 goal leads.

3/5/11: Felt bad about the previous night, so despite taking a commanding 3-0 lead against a weaker team....guess what happened??

We all know all of that...but for other fans who think that the bickering just goes with the breeze...how frustrated would you feel supporting a team with no shortage of talent, big expectations, and this was your season?? This isn't a cold streak - every month is represented here. Even March and we're barely a week into it..


This question is for Bob, whose opinion I respect, but scoffed at my frustration...

Teams lose. Teams tie. Sometimes good teams lose big. Sometimes good teams lose a lead.

But without even including the azz pounding we were served at BC, or that embarrassing game vs. Vermont....that is 12 games out of our season. That's over 1/3 of our season where we controlled a game in some form and, barring the UMass 1st game, didn't win. This is way beyond "sometimes"... How is this not a mentality thing?

[KnowItAll]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

I just spoke to someone in the athletic office at Merrimack who informed me that there are only single seats remaining for both games so hope you got your tickets.

when I went back they said that they were out of seats, but then I told them that I was in love with Mark Dennehy and that I was trying to get him a job in Orono... that did me no good
then I asked if they knew who they were talking to... she said "not KnowItAll?"
I said, "yup"... I got all my tickets, together and at a substantial discount.

Priceless...you going? (ooops didn't read the BDN comments... you will go to the garden if Maine makes it... Pity you cannot cheer on the team in person... the one you know so much about)

[KnowItAll]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

10/9/10: Maine is up 3-2 in their own rink, outshooting Atlantic Hockey's UConn 2:1 with less than 7 minutes left in the game. They give up the game tying goal and settle for a tie.

10/14/10: At Michigan State's home opener. Maine holds two seperate 2 goal leads, ending the 1st period up 3-1 and responding to make it 4-2 late in the 2nd. Blow the two goal lead and settle for a tie.

11/6/10: At Boston University. Outshooting the Terriers on their own ice, with a 2-1 lead with less than 2 minutes left in the game, give up the game tying goal and settle for a tie.

12/3/10: At Providence. Maine takes 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 leads but walks away with a tie.

12/10/10: vs. UNH at a raucus Alfond arena, Maine has a 3-1 lead with less than 12 minutes left in the game. Walks away wishing we tied...

1/8/11: Maine scores the 1st goal before getting pummeled for 7 unanswered goals.

1/22/11: At Northeastern. Maine with a 3-2 lead with less than 3 minutes left in the game. Guess what? We tied.

1/28/11: Maine blows another 2nd period 3-1 lead en route to a regulation loss to BU.

1/29/11: Maine scores on their 1st shot on the game and outshoots the Terriers 42-20 and can't get 2 points out of it.

2/5/11: At UNH. Maine makes it 2-1. Falls behind again, but responds multiple times tying the game 3-3 and 4-4. Misses an open net on a broken play with less than a minute left and again, walks away wishing we tied.

3/4/11: Managed 2 points after NEARLY choking multiple 3 goal leads.

3/5/11: Felt bad about the previous night, so despite taking a commanding 3-0 lead against a weaker team....guess what happened??

We all know all of that...but for other fans who think that the bickering just goes with the breeze...how frustrated would you feel supporting a team with no shortage of talent, big expectations, and this was your season?? This isn't a cold streak - every month is represented here. Even March and we're barely a week into it..


This question is for Bob, whose opinion I respect, but scoffed at my frustration...

Teams lose. Teams tie. Sometimes good teams lose big. Sometimes good teams lose a lead.

But without even including the azz pounding we were served at BC, or that embarrassing game vs. Vermont....that is 12 games out of our season. That's over 1/3 of our season where we controlled a game in some form and, barring the UMass 1st game, didn't win. This is way beyond "sometimes"... How is this not a mentality thing?

If I may be so bold...."what about all those frozen fours?"

[TripleE]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

Just for the record: Every team has 'games they want back', but our situation is at a different, ridiculous level.

But do you realize, if there was a scenerio as small as taking back the games we lost, or lost the lead in the last 3 minutes alone, or, didn't win a game that we doubled our opponenents SOG for (that's not unreasonable, is it?), we would flip comparisons with Ferris State, BU, Colorado College, Dartmouth, UNH, and UMD for sure, and possibly Notre Dame.

If that happens, Maine is no lower than 11th in the PWR. At worst.

And hey, I could have taken that further. If I said losing the lead in the last 5 minutes, it would have included another game. If I said losing the lead in the last 7 minutes, it would have included another game. If I said: Blowing 3 goal leads, it would have included another game.... But I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt

[BoSox3066]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

If that happens, Maine is no lower than 11th in the PWR. At worst.

Simply beating UNH at home and Gus hitting the open net at the Whit on Saturday probably flips Maine and UNH in the PWR. That's doesn't touch the 3+ points left on the table against BU. But at some point you are what you are, and that's what Maine is. Also what makes this series so unpredictable.

[KnowItAll]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

if the weather is conducive, is there a chance that we can have a tailgate in some parking lot at Merrimack this Saturday?
interest?
UMZero was at the last one, but he has not been on here much recently

[walrus]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

Does anyone think Maine is a clutch team, probably not, I still think they can take 2 down there this weekend

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: #5 Maine vs #4Merrimack HEA quarterfinals

Does anyone think Maine is a clutch team, probably not, I still think they can take 2 down there this weekend

They WILL...they beat Merrimack 2 games to 1.