Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

[AMC]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

North Dakota is a small school even and they've had success.

Let's not throw this apple in with your group of oranges. UND has the nicest arena in the world. Not the nicest college hockey arena, the nicest arena period.

 

[carltonbarrett]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Most of those teams you mentioned are located in hockey hotbeds, like MN, MI or have long histories of succsess like N Dakota, which is also right next door to MN and has always drawn talent from right across the nearby Canadian border (not to mention their sick facilities). Denver might not be a hockey hotbed, but it also has a great history, is a very good school and has a great location to boot. As much as you folks love your home state/team, you have to be honest in that Maine doesn't offer a lot of the same things those other schools do and that likely isn't going to change anytime soon. There is certainly that great run you had with Walsh, but even that period has an asterisk next to it with the NCAA violations/sanctions. TIMMAH probably isn't quite as bad as you all think, but what you see is what you get, with a lot of average to below average years, with the occasional NCAA bid. It's hard to picture Maine not being near the top of the HE standings every year, but I think that's how it's going to be looking forward unless you can find another Shawn Walsh.

 

[irishfan85]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Maine is right on the Canadian border and could recruit well enough to not be embarrassed on home ice by St. Lawrence.

 

[walrus]

It's hard to picture Maine not being near the top of the HE standings every year, but I think that's how it's going to be looking forward unless you can find another Shawn Walsh.

There will never be another Walshy, I'll take my chances with Monty though and hope Walshy rubbed off on him

 

[irishfan85]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

I'd take Leaman too, but sadly he probably wouldn't leave PC right now for Maine. He's a former assistant, has done good things at Union and now building momentum at PC. I'd take Dennehy too. Currently, I'd only rate Whitehead above Madigan and Michelletto (sample size too small).

 

[carltonbarrett]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Maine is right on the Canadian border and could recruit well enough to not be embarrassed on home ice by St. Lawrence.

The difference is that if you're a western Canadian kid, N Dakota is pretty much the only big-time program anywhere on the US/Canadian border for about 2000 miles - and certainly the only one that actively recruits across the border (MN doesn't have to). Maine is competing now with all the HE schools as well as the EZAC (including the Ivies). Again, I'm trying to say this nicely, but what Eastern Canadian kid is going to pick Maine over Harvard, BC or BU, and they still have to battle for recruits with other very good schools like Yale, UVM, Dartmouth, Clarkson, Colgate, etc which are also just a few hours drive from the border. As stated previously, N Dakota had multiple NCAA Titles before Maine even had a hockey team and boasts a facility that makes Alfond look like a low-end high school rink. It is going to take a VERY, VERY special coach to get Maine back to the promised land.

 

[Pucknut]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Let's not throw this apple in with your group of oranges. UND has the nicest arena in the world. Not the nicest college hockey arena, the nicest arena period.

Very true, why wouldn't any kid who can hold a hockey stick not want to play there? They get players from New Brunswick to California that play in front of 11,000+ fans every home game, in addition to a fan base that follows them well on the road. Nice arenas are a important tool in recruiting just watch Penn State with their new 80-million-dollar building and Omaha on the verge of building a new rink.

 

[carltonbarrett]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

One other thing, while USHR is not the end all, be all when it comes to recruiting, I cannot remember the last time I saw Maine mentioned in a headline for landing a recruit. You see UNH, BC, BU and even UMASS, PC, UML, etc mentioned on a fairly regular basis for getting a top player, but not Maine. There's probably a connection between the fact that the experts haven't mentioned a Maine recruit with anything resembling a headline for a long time and that they're arguably the worst team in the league. Any kid playing at this level is good, the question is how do they compare to other school's good players and in the case of Maine's, not very good.

 

[BoSox3066]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

One other thing, while USHR is not the end all, be all when it comes to recruiting, I cannot remember the last time I saw Maine mentioned in a headline for landing a recruit. You see UNH, BC, BU and even UMASS, PC, UML, etc mentioned on a fairly regular basis for getting a top player, but not Maine. There's probably a connection between the fact that the experts haven't mentioned a Maine recruit with anything resembling a headline for a long time and that they're arguably the worst team in the league. Any kid playing at this level is good, the question is how do they compare to other school's good players and in the case of Maine's, not very good.

Shrug, if Devin Shore wasn't mentioned on USHR then they've lost it.

I think Maine's good players compare pretty favorably with most of the good players in the league the last 3-4 years, the issue's been depth, they're not surrounded with pieces and goaltending that round out the team. 2008 and 2009 Maine had a combined 1 Hockey East all-star and 2010,11,12 that jumped to 7.

Talent at the top is better; depth, development, defensive philosophy and goaltending are the issues.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Do Whitehead and staff recruit as hard as they should for top talent? Or are they simply content with the fact that they will never be able to draw in the talent that a BC does, resulting in simply going after lesser talented players whom they think will be around for four years and develop? If they don't even attempt to go after big time talent, that would be even more of a concern.

 

[carltonbarrett]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Shore is old news, he committed almost 2 years ago.

 

[all bear]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

One of these days, sigh, Maine will recruit a Hobey worthy player, possibly even a finalist, maybe even one that doesnt pig out on donuts .

 

[J.D.]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Countless schools have produced a Hobey finalist. Having an occasional great player doesn't mean ****.

 

[rufus]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

But there have been tons of injuries and Flynn and Abbott left. Just read the BDN this week. There will be another excuse piece by Larry. I'm getting so sick of it.

But c'mon, that's Penn frickin' State. Everyone wants to play for Penn State.

But it's hard to recruit at Maine. Harder even, than recruiting at Union, apparently. Or Lowell.

 

[all bear]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Countless schools have produced a Hobey finalist. Having an occasional great player doesn't mean ****.

Countless ? Give me a list of those countless schools. Dunk !!

 

[all bear]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

But c'mon, that's Penn frickin' State. Everyone wants to play for Penn State.

But it's hard to recruit at Maine. Harder even, than recruiting at Union, apparently. Or Lowell.

They touch people at Penn State dont they? Oh, they do that at other schools too.

 

[Hockeypuck]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

One other thing, while USHR is not the end all, be all when it comes to recruiting, I cannot remember the last time I saw Maine mentioned in a headline for landing a recruit. You see UNH, BC, BU and even UMASS, PC, UML, etc mentioned on a fairly regular basis for getting a top player, but not Maine. There's probably a connection between the fact that the experts haven't mentioned a Maine recruit with anything resembling a headline for a long time and that they're arguably the worst team in the league. Any kid playing at this level is good, the question is how do they compare to other school's good players and in the case of Maine's, not very good.

Not sure what the point is, but Maine has only had two recruits commit since April so that would explain the lack of coverage. The fact that you base the quality of a recruit by the headline on USHR is comical considering recent players like Nyquist, Flynn, and Abbott got very little coverage and turned out to be top players not only in HE, but the country. Plus at this point most of us don't need lack of USHR headlines to tell us Maine sucks the proof is on the ice.

 

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

TIMMAY's system is not working......period.

 

[KnowItAll]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

The difference is that if you're a western Canadian kid, N Dakota is pretty much the only big-time program anywhere on the US/Canadian border for about 2000 miles - and certainly the only one that actively recruits across the border (MN doesn't have to). Maine is competing now with all the HE schools as well as the EZAC (including the Ivies). Again, I'm trying to say this nicely, but what Eastern Canadian kid is going to pick Maine over Harvard, BC or BU, and they still have to battle for recruits with other very good schools like Yale, UVM, Dartmouth, Clarkson, Colgate, etc which are also just a few hours drive from the border. As stated previously, N Dakota had multiple NCAA Titles before Maine even had a hockey team and boasts a facility that makes Alfond look like a low-end high school rink. It is going to take a VERY, VERY special coach to get Maine back to the promised land.

whether you like to believe it or not, the "school" and the "name" have next to nothing to do with recruiting top prospects.
the only thing that matters is whether the coach/coaching staff can get the kid to the next level better than the other coach...

paul kariya did not go to Maine for the math department and I am sure there is not a single Eagle who chose BC for any academic program

 

[KnowItAll]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

TIMMAY's system is not working......period.

$190K a year.. .he is doing something right.
I am unhappy that so many people are still buying tickets to the games.
the sooner the place is empty, the sooner Maine gets a new coach

although did anyone else notice that the "deer-in-the-headlights" look was replaced last night by "about-to-cry"