Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Fair warning, you are about to read the most optimistic post I have had in years:

Maine came out of October with 4 wins. That's 2 wins ahead of where I thought they would be.

Maine plays 10 games in November (BU, BU, @UML, @UML, UNH, UNH, @NU, @NU, @SLU, @SLU). 4/6 home/road split. But.... 5 wins seems realistic? SLU is very beatable. UNH at home is winnable. You can't expect sweeps, but with 4 very winnable games, and six underdog games, 5 wins isn't crazy.

Of the four December games (@UMA, @UMA, @Yale, AIC), it would be nice to get one. But, that could be 10 wins before the break, heading into a back half of the schedule with home two game sets against Omaha, Connecticut, Merrimack, and Vermont.

Here's my bonkers prediction: Maine finishes above .500 for the season.

That would be a positive note...especially coming into the season with many{myself included}pegging Maine at no more then 10-12 wins...time will tell, but winning is the plan.

 

[GoBlue51]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

It all comes down to goaltending. If Swayman plays like a top three goalie in Hockey East, he has the potential to carry this team to a solid season.

I would love to see them steal at least one game from BU, UML and NU. That's a tall task especially playing on the road for two of those series, but if they manage to do that they're really going to put themselves in a position where they could carry some momentum into December.

The key is going to be this: they have to take care of UConn, Merrimack and Vermont. A team like this absolutely has to beat the teams they should beat if they want to enjoy an extended season.

Fair warning, you are about to read the most optimistic post I have had in years:

Maine came out of October with 4 wins. That's 2 wins ahead of where I thought they would be.

Maine plays 10 games in November (BU, BU, @UML, @UML, UNH, UNH, @NU, @NU, @SLU, @SLU). 4/6 home/road split. But.... 5 wins seems realistic? SLU is very beatable. UNH at home is winnable. You can't expect sweeps, but with 4 very winnable games, and six underdog games, 5 wins isn't crazy.

Of the four December games (@UMA, @UMA, @Yale, AIC), it would be nice to get one. But, that could be 10 wins before the break, heading into a back half of the schedule with home two game sets against Omaha, Connecticut, Merrimack, and Vermont.

Here's my bonkers prediction: Maine finishes above .500 for the season.

 

[BlackBearFan19]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Fair warning, you are about to read the most optimistic post I have had in years:

Maine came out of October with 4 wins. That's 2 wins ahead of where I thought they would be.

Maine plays 10 games in November (BU, BU, @UML, @UML, UNH, UNH, @NU, @NU, @SLU, @SLU). 4/6 home/road split. But.... 5 wins seems realistic? SLU is very beatable. UNH at home is winnable. You can't expect sweeps, but with 4 very winnable games, and six underdog games, 5 wins isn't crazy.

Of the four December games (@UMA, @UMA, @Yale, AIC), it would be nice to get one. But, that could be 10 wins before the break, heading into a back half of the schedule with home two game sets against Omaha, Connecticut, Merrimack, and Vermont.

Here's my bonkers prediction: Maine finishes above .500 for the season.

I agree, I'm cautiously optimistic as well. When the schedule came out I thought they'd be lucky to get out of October at .500. The crazy thing is, they're unlucky to not be 5-1. They've played 4 road games and a home series in an empty Alfond and somehow ended up here. The reality is Maine has 3 elite forwards (Fossier, Tralmaks, Doherty), an emerging forward (JSS) and a couple guys who look to be developing nicely (Dawe, Poisson, Drobot). The defense is still sketchy but Greenway is a lot of fun and Sirota looks like he's settling back in, I've also been surprised by Spicer, he's a much better skater than I realized. Swayman looks fantastic, the 6 goals he's let up in the last 5 games have been good goals, not really anything soft. Obviously I'd still love a change behind the bench but the team winning makes our trip further into oblivion more enjoyable.

Not ready to crown them yet but they look decent. These next couple weekends are huge, need at least 3 wins over the next 6 games. BU's had quite a few injuries to impact players so might be an opportunity to steal some points this weekend.

 

[amkirby10]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

The next two weekends are the most important of the season in my opinion. When I look at Hockey East, I see a clear top 4 (BC, PC, NU, MA), a middle three (ME, ML, BU), and a bottom 4 (NH, VT, MC, CT). 2 wins out of the next 4 should be the ground floor IMO. Both BU and UML are beatable, and getting some W's in the books against other teams in the middle of the conference should be huge.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

it's awesome to see where red gendron has this program! It's been a long time since maine has been top 10 in the pairwise rankings. Hopefully they can offer red an extension here shortly before other programs begin trying to lure him away.

It's going to be a feeding-frenzy, no doubt!

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Fair warning, you are about to read the most optimistic post I have had in years:

Maine came out of October with 4 wins. That's 2 wins ahead of where I thought they would be.

Maine plays 10 games in November (BU, BU, @UML, @UML, UNH, UNH, @NU, @NU, @SLU, @SLU). 4/6 home/road split. But.... 5 wins seems realistic? SLU is very beatable. UNH at home is winnable. You can't expect sweeps, but with 4 very winnable games, and six underdog games, 5 wins isn't crazy.

Of the four December games (@UMA, @UMA, @Yale, AIC), it would be nice to get one. But, that could be 10 wins before the break, heading into a back half of the schedule with home two game sets against Omaha, Connecticut, Merrimack, and Vermont.

Here's my bonkers prediction: Maine finishes above .500 for the season.

(Set down the Famous Grouse, maybe..? )

Maine has averaged 3 GPG, exactly, and has allowed 2.67 GPG.

That's a very fine line, obviously, and Swayman has to continue to be All-World going forward if Maine is going to have any kind of a shot at the NCAA's.

As good as he's been, I doubt that he can carry this team on his back for this entire season.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

I never saw them get to 5. I saw them at 10.

Maine did get a vote in this week's USCHO poll.

Red's wife, would be my guess on that one...

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Breaking News

The NCAA is finally embracing “change” and starting the process of allowing student-athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness, the organization announced on Tuesday.

“We must embrace change to provide the best possible experience for college athletes,” Board of Governors chairman and president of Ohio State University Michael V. Drake said in a statement. “Additional flexibility in this area can and must continue to support college sports as a part of higher education. This modernization for the future is a natural extension of the numerous steps NCAA members have taken in recent years to improve support for student-athletes, including full cost of attendance and guaranteed scholarships.”

That means Jeremy Swayman can do commercials for the local construction firm ("Like a brick wall!")

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Breaking News



That means Jeremy Swayman can do commercials for the local construction firm ("Like a brick wall!")

Is that limited to certain States...like California??? Wonder now what will happen to the land scape of College Sports...will it kill the real small colleges. I guess we are in un-charted waters with this......

 

[ticapnews]

Is that limited to certain States...like California??? Wonder now what will happen to the land scape of College Sports...will it kill the real small colleges. I guess we are in un-charted waters with this......

It is national. It shouldn't have much effect on colleges but we'll see. It just means the QB at Notre Dame can get paid for his likeness. We do have to see if what I wrote is correct...can players do paid endorsements? The story is still breaking so we don't know how it will shake out. All the people online are focused on a college football video game, but if EA has to pay each player a likeness fee that might not work. And are all fees equal? The 3rd string Tackle is the same as the starting QB?

 

[amkirby10]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

It is national. It shouldn't have much effect on colleges but we'll see. It just means the QB at Notre Dame can get paid for his likeness. We do have to see if what I wrote is correct...can players do paid endorsements? The story is still breaking so we don't know how it will shake out. All the people online are focused on a college football video game, but if EA has to pay each player a likeness fee that might not work. And are all fees equal? The 3rd string Tackle is the same as the starting QB?

College hockey video game maybe? I know it will likely never happen from a major studio or publisher, at least any time soon, but I can dream...

 

[NorthMike]

Is that limited to certain States...like California??? Wonder now what will happen to the land scape of College Sports...will it kill the real small colleges. I guess we are in un-charted waters with this......

I cant see it amounting to much. 99.9% of college athletes are not household names and wont be. Just regular kids who are good athletes. All sports. The big names from the big football schools, yeah they will cash in doing local commercials or a day at the Ford dealer.

 

[BoSox3066]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

I could see this helping Maine ..... a fanbase that actually buys merch could pay guys more than a team that doesnt?

If the big money Big Ten type schools that pour money from their profits into hockey now have to give that money to their QBs instead of their assistant hockey trainers, maybe that helps level the playing field too?

We sure as shootin aren’t gonna be able to pay players so lets hope so

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Breaking News



That means Jeremy Swayman can do commercials for the local construction firm ("Like a brick wall!")

Doesn't seem to hold water right now.

As of today, the NCAA is "considering" this concept "within the framework of existing collegiate athletics".

I paraphrase, but it's clear that this is yet another stall-tactic... More of the same lip service while the NCAA brass and the TV outlets continue to line their pockets.

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Doesn't seem to hold water right now.

As of today, the NCAA is "considering" this concept "within the framework of existing collegiate athletics".

I paraphrase, but it's clear that this is yet another stall-tactic... More of the same lip service while the NCAA brass and the TV outlets continue to line their pockets.

The original story has changed quite a bit since I posted the link.

This addition is chilling

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said scholarship money received by college athletes who take endorsement money should be treated — and taxed — like income.

“If college athletes are going to make money off of their likeness while in school, their scholarships should be treated like income,” Burr said over Twitter. He said plans to introduce legislation that taxes scholarships for college athletes who choose to “cash in.”

If scholarships are taxable income that's the end of athletics.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

The original story has changed quite a bit since I posted the link.

This addition is chilling



If scholarships are taxable income that's the end of athletics.

Taxing scholarships will never fly, don't you agree?

Taxing endorsement-money is business as usual.

Apples and oranges, IMO.

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

Taxing scholarships will never fly, don't you agree?

Taxing endorsement-money is business as usual.

Apples and oranges, IMO.

He says his plan is to tax scholarships. I would say it would never fly, but Washington is upside down these days.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

He says his plan is to tax scholarships. I would say it would never fly, but Washington is upside down these days.

Plus they have said they want Unions in force...I think this will come back to bite many programs

 

[AMC]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2019-20: Seeing Red

This is just a do nothing committee formed by the NCAA to win the news cycle. They are still fighting the California law (which goes further, btw) tooth and nail.

 

[ticapnews]

Plus they have said they want Unions in force...I think this will come back to bite many programs

Yeah, but Union sucks this season so...oh, you meant...