Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

[amkirby10]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

I wonder how Corona is going to affect Red. He did just lose what will almost undoubtedly be his best chance at an actual postseason run, which should hurt him. But, he can say with reasonable doubt "who knows how far I could have taken the team in 2020."

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

I don't know what Red's future will be and I'm not going to speculate. I was almost ready to put up my annual post mortem on the season and a look at all seven seasons but life has gotten in the way so it will still be a while. I'll give a preview though and say while Swayman has been the star we shouldn't overlook Fossier. His 42 points are the most by a Maine player in the Gendron Era except the 43 scored by Devin Shore. I haven't completed the stats yet, but that PK number is also impressive.

There's a lot to like about this team beyond the unworldly performance of Jeremy Swayman.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

I don't know what Red's future will be and I'm not going to speculate. I was almost ready to put up my annual post mortem on the season and a look at all seven seasons but life has gotten in the way so it will still be a while. I'll give a preview though and say while Swayman has been the star we shouldn't overlook Fossier. His 42 points are the most by a Maine player in the Gendron Era except the 43 scored by Devin Shore. I haven't completed the stats yet, but that PK number is also impressive.

There's a lot to like about this team beyond the unworldly performance of Jeremy Swayman.

Yes, but this team is no-where's without Swayman...

 

[ticapnews]

Yes, but this team is no-where's without Swayman...

Agreed. He gets the lion's share of the praise because he has earned it. He might be the best goalie we've seen at Maine, and given our history that's no small feat. I'm just saying there are other people who deserve some attention too.

 

[NorthMike]

Is there a world where Maine hires a coach in waiting as lead assistant and gives Red a farewell year?

That would be most sensible. But things have been so upside down over the past 10 years with AD's (10 is just a random number). Stranger things!

 

[NorthMike]

I don't know what Red's future will be and I'm not going to speculate. I was almost ready to put up my annual post mortem on the season and a look at all seven seasons but life has gotten in the way so it will still be a while. I'll give a preview though and say while Swayman has been the star we shouldn't overlook Fossier. His 42 points are the most by a Maine player in the Gendron Era except the 43 scored by Devin Shore. I haven't completed the stats yet, but that PK number is also impressive.

There's a lot to like about this team beyond the unworldly performance of Jeremy Swayman.

I have really enjoyed watching Fossier on the ice, usually something good happened. Just like Nyquist was fun to watch every time.

When I saw Swayman play his first game I knew he had what it takes. I'm no goalie scout but he had a poise, patience and positioning skill that was evident. It took a couple years to fine tune things and he obvously worked hard to get better.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

I wonder how Corona is going to affect Red. He did just lose what will almost undoubtedly be his best chance at an actual postseason run, which should hurt him. But, he can say with reasonable doubt "who knows how far I could have taken the team in 2020."

I think that Maine's chance at a berth this season was below 50%. They were just barely hanging-around a PW bid as of the shut-down.

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

What might have been...

Connecticut @ Maine - Game 1:
Sometimes, it just does not matter what you do on offense...the opposing goalie is simply up to the task. That was the story tonight from Alfond, as Maine Netminder Jeremy Swayman stunned the visiting Huskies time after time. The first stanza belonged to Swayman, who stopped all 15 of Connecticut's shots on goal, including a glorious save on a breakaway attempt by UCONN's Carter Turnbull. Maine broke the 0-0 stalemate early in the second, when Mitchell Fossier squeezed a wrister through the five hole of Connecticut goalie Tomas Vomacka. That would be all Swayman would need. Maine added an insurance goal midway through the third period when JD Greenway's wrister from the blueline bounced off UCONN Defensemen Jake Flynn and on to the stick of Patrick Shea, who wasted little time burying the puck to give the Black Bears a 2-0 lead. Swayman would stop all 31 shots from UCONN on the evening, en route to giving Maine a 2-0 victory and a 1-0 lead in this Quarterfinal series.

 

[Wayuphere]

What might have been...

Connecticut @ Maine - Game 1:
Sometimes, it just does not matter what you do on offense...the opposing goalie is simply up to the task. That was the story tonight from Alfond, as Maine Netminder Jeremy Swayman stunned the visiting Huskies time after time. The first stanza belonged to Swayman, who stopped all 15 of Connecticut's shots on goal, including a glorious save on a breakaway attempt by UCONN's Carter Turnbull. Maine broke the 0-0 stalemate early in the second, when Mitchell Fossier squeezed a wrister through the five hole of Connecticut goalie Tomas Vomacka. That would be all Swayman would need. Maine added an insurance goal midway through the third period when JD Greenway's wrister from the blueline bounced off UCONN Defensemen Jake Flynn and on to the stick of Patrick Shea, who wasted little time burying the puck to give the Black Bears a 2-0 lead. Swayman would stop all 31 shots from UCONN on the evening, en route to giving Maine a 2-0 victory and a 1-0 lead in this Quarterfinal series.

Cool but it still weirdly hurts because it very well could have played out just like this.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

What might have been...

Connecticut @ Maine - Game 1:
Sometimes, it just does not matter what you do on offense...the opposing goalie is simply up to the task. That was the story tonight from Alfond, as Maine Netminder Jeremy Swayman stunned the visiting Huskies time after time. The first stanza belonged to Swayman, who stopped all 15 of Connecticut's shots on goal, including a glorious save on a breakaway attempt by UCONN's Carter Turnbull. Maine broke the 0-0 stalemate early in the second, when Mitchell Fossier squeezed a wrister through the five hole of Connecticut goalie Tomas Vomacka. That would be all Swayman would need. Maine added an insurance goal midway through the third period when JD Greenway's wrister from the blueline bounced off UCONN Defensemen Jake Flynn and on to the stick of Patrick Shea, who wasted little time burying the puck to give the Black Bears a 2-0 lead. Swayman would stop all 31 shots from UCONN on the evening, en route to giving Maine a 2-0 victory and a 1-0 lead in this Quarterfinal series.

Blackie, it's not nice to hijack tip's identity.

 

[ticapnews]

Blackie, it's not nice to hijack tip's identity.

LOL

It's from the "What if" thread. FS23 is swimming all the conference tournaments, then we'll seed the NCAA tournament and sim that too.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

LOL

It's from the "What if" thread. FS23 is swimming all the conference tournaments, then we'll seed the NCAA tournament and sim that too.

Maine loses twice to UConn in Game One.

(That'll save everyone some time with the sims.)

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

Is Jeremy Swayman the best we've ever seen at Maine? Let's look at the numbers

Games	Minutes	Saves	Shots	SV %	GA	GAA	Win	Loss	Tie 	Win %
31	1812	960	1042	0.921	82	2.72	15	12	3	0.550
35	2034.68	1071	1165	0.919	94	2.77	14	17	4	0.457
34	2060.08	1099	1170	0.939	71	2.07	18	11	5	0.603
100	5906.76	3130	3377	0.927	247	2.51	47	40	12	0.535

Among Maine goaltenders for his career he is #1 in Minutes and Saves (by a large margin), #2 in Save %, #3 in Games played and #4 in GAA.
For season by season he is even more impressive. He has the #1, #2 and #3 seasons ever by a Black Bear netminder in saves. The old record was Martin Ouellette's 926 saves in 2013-14. His .939 is the second best save percentage ever behind only Jimmy Howard's .956 in 2003-4. His 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns were good for #4 and #5 in minutes and #5 in GAA. He played the 5th most games ever in 2018-19, which he would have surpassed this season.

These are the numbers for the top goaltenders in Maine history (sorted by save %)

Player	Games	Minutes	Saves	Sv %	GAA	Wins
Howard	82	4823	1995	0.931	1.84	47
Swayman	100	5907	3130	0.927	2.51	47
Bishop	99	5667	2399	0.912	2.29	54
King	110	5792	2463	0.892	3.10	66
Michaud	98	5455	2095	0.891	2.80	60
Allison	103	5789	2213			62

I was unable to track down the career save % and GAA numbers for Blair Allison.

I would still put Jimmy Howard at #1 all time with Swayman right behind. Jimmy's unreal GAA and slightly better save percentage beats out Swayman's impressive save total. If Swayman were to return for a fourth season and put up even average numbers he would easily move to #1 on the list. He would be #1 in games, minutes, saves and possibly save percentage; and would be challenging for #1 in wins.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

Is Jeremy Swayman the best we've ever seen at Maine? Let's look at the numbers

Games	Minutes	Saves	Shots	SV %	GA	GAA	Win	Loss	Tie 	Win %
31	1812	960	1042	0.921	82	2.72	15	12	3	0.550
35	2034.68	1071	1165	0.919	94	2.77	14	17	4	0.457
34	2060.08	1099	1170	0.939	71	2.07	18	11	5	0.603
100	5906.76	3130	3377	0.927	247	2.51	47	40	12	0.535

Among Maine goaltenders for his career he is #1 in Minutes and Saves (by a large margin), #2 in Save %, #3 in Games played and #4 in GAA.
For season by season he is even more impressive. He has the #1, #2 and #3 seasons ever by a Black Bear netminder in saves. The old record was Martin Ouellette's 926 saves in 2013-14. His .939 is the second best save percentage ever behind only Jimmy Howard's .956 in 2003-4. His 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns were good for #4 and #5 in minutes and #5 in GAA. He played the 5th most games ever in 2018-19, which he would have surpassed this season.

These are the numbers for the top goaltenders in Maine history (sorted by save %)

Player	Games	Minutes	Saves	Sv %	GAA	Wins
Howard	82	4823	1995	0.931	1.84	47
Swayman	100	5907	3130	0.927	2.51	47
Bishop	99	5667	2399	0.912	2.29	54
King	110	5792	2463	0.892	3.10	66
Michaud	98	5455	2095	0.891	2.80	60
Allison	103	5789	2213			62

I was unable to track down the career save % and GAA numbers for Blair Allison.

I would still put Jimmy Howard at #1 all time with Swayman right behind. Jimmy's unreal GAA and slightly better save percentage beats out Swayman's impressive save total. If Swayman were to return for a fourth season and put up even average numbers he would easily move to #1 on the list. He would be #1 in games, minutes, saves and possibly save percentage; and would be challenging for #1 in wins.

I'm thinking Jimmy, but I prefer the save % above any other metric.

Swayman is certainly in the conversation just the same, playing as he has behind a series of lousy Maine teams.

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

I'm thinking Jimmy, but I prefer the save % above any other metric.

Swayman is certainly in the conversation just the same, playing as he has behind a series of lousy Maine teams.

If we take out that stinker to start the season against Providence, his *career* sv % increases to .928 and his GAA to 2.46. His season stats go to .942 and 1.92.

Jimmy never even had a stinker. The most he ever gave up was 5 to BC and PC, and there were only a handful of 4 goal games I could find. Everything else was amazing for three years.

 

[walrus]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

Put Swayman as a Junior on the 03- 04 team and what happens?? I stood behind Jimmy for 3 years, he was unreal but his D used to pack it in also. I didn't watch Sway like that but I know his D wasn't nearly as good(thats being generous BTW) so its hard to say what would his numbers would be like. I guess I'm taking Jimmy by a small margin but some of that comes from his success in the NHL.
Plus, what happens to Sway with Grant as his coach????

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

Either way, with both Howard and Swayman you knew Maine had solid goaltending, and I am just glad to have watched them play.

 

[acs64]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

Either way, with both Howard and Swayman you knew Maine had solid goaltending, and I am just glad to have watched them play.

I regret not getting the chance to see Swayman play in person......he must be special. Jimmy was so consistent, hard to imagine another goalie at Maine being that good but.....guess I'll get to see Swayman as a Bruin some day.

 

[northeastern]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

I regret not getting the chance to see Swayman play in person......he must be special. Jimmy was so consistent, hard to imagine another goalie at Maine being that good but.....guess I'll get to see Swayman as a Bruin some day.

+1

 

[NorthMike]

Re: Maine Black Bears 2020: The Hunt For Red October

Having watched both, to me it's hard to say who was a better college goalie. If Jimmy stayed one more year they would have had a legit chance at a national championship. He had a solid team in front.

Jeremy sure got better this year. Prior years he let some soft goals in on occasion, not so much now. He's stopped alot of break aways. Another great goalie. Hope his pro career pans out, I'm sure it will.