What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

  • Thread starter Thread starter Priceless
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

walrus said:
Money? Although my source say 1 donor took care of that. I dunno, I assume Abbott and company were in town and could have done it anytime. Actually why did they wait until after the season if they just wanted to appoint Corkum as coach?
Click to expand...

that review period was nothing more than lining up private money to pay TW off.

as far as the recruiting discussion, here's my take:

Other teams have gotten the cream of the crop for a long time and maine has largely gotten that next level type player with a few really elite guys sprinkled in here and there. Maine won games by being tenacious, gritty and having a good mix of physical and skill guys. The physical guys to skate and the skill guys could take the body. When Maine wasn't the best team on the ice, they were still capable of wearing the better team down and winning games that way.

I think the focus of recruiting of late was to recruit for speed and skill and less so, the gritty/physical style. The problem is, when you are getting the second/third tier skill guys and end up playing teams that are more or equally skilled and equally quick, then you have nothing left to neutralize a better opponent. This was exacerbated by the less physical style TW wanted his team to play.

So where does the buck stop? Is it on the assistants who were out doing the recruiting, or was TW saying go get me this kind of player and that's what they come up with? The question is, how much discretion do the guys beating the bushes have? I have a hard time believing that Corkum had the same latitude/discretion Grant had.
 
gscott13 said:
that review period was nothing more than lining up private money to pay TW off.

as far as the recruiting discussion, here's my take:

Other teams have gotten the cream of the crop for a long time and maine has largely gotten that next level type player with a few really elite guys sprinkled in here and there. Maine won games by being tenacious, gritty and having a good mix of physical and skill guys. The physical guys to skate and the skill guys could take the body. When Maine wasn't the best team on the ice, they were still capable of wearing the better team down and winning games that way.

I think the focus of recruiting of late was to recruit for speed and skill and less so, the gritty/physical style. The problem is, when you are getting the second/third tier skill guys and end up playing teams that are more or equally skilled and equally quick, then you have nothing left to neutralize a better opponent. This was exacerbated by the less physical style TW wanted his team to play.

So where does the buck stop? Is it on the assistants who were out doing the recruiting, or was TW saying go get me this kind of player and that's what they come up with? The question is, how much discretion do the guys beating the bushes have? I have a hard time believing that Corkum had the same latitude/discretion Grant had.
Click to expand...


Maine also had outstanding goalies. Not so much last 3/4 or after Howard and Bishop to a lesser extent. If Howard, Snow or Dunham were there past 2 or 3 years they would have had home ice playoff games and heading to Garden
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

daaabears said:
Standbrook and Bob never coached Maine at the same time . So it was not Bob's responsibility
Click to expand...

Uh, Corkum took over Grant's recruiting, so it was Bob's responsibility. That's the point. Grant left and Bob dropped the ball on the handoff.
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

walrus said:
If Corkum is the one doing recruiting why is Kerluke the one who is always showing the kids around
Click to expand...

This is also a good point; its not a one man role, or a one year process. Its a cumulative effort. My point here is that a top recruit with interest at a need position who Standbrook had hooked wasn't reeled in by Corkum et. all after Grant moved on, then ended up playing for a competitive program.
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Bob did not have the final say on who to recruit, where to recruit, when to recruit, how much to offer, and the presentation to the recruit. So to say that he is responsible for another's actions or lack thereof is absurd. Personally, I wish they would announce something so they can start planning for the future.
 
Drew S. said:
I am not sure exactly how they handle it. BearBrews is the one banging on about how Corkum has messed everything up.
Click to expand...

I've never seen Bob at a game with a recruit , I've seen Kerluke with lots of them. I've never heard of Bob missing a game due to recruiting. Kerluke has missed many due to reruiting
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

I had assumed recruiting was the assoc coach - not the asst. Maybe I was wrong. :o

OK . . . Fire Kerluke! :p


But seriously, this is why you want continuity when things are going well, but a clean break when they aren't. Separating credit and blame among a staff is really hard.

gscott makes a good point. To the extent that Corkum's comments (when he was named interim) are accurate, that may signal a shift in recruiting. Maybe if he got to dictate team philosophy, he (and Kerluke and whoever the 3rd coach will be) will start recruiting differently than they did when they were getting players for Whitehead. If there's one clear trend that I don't think anyone would argue, it's that over the last several years Maine has moved away from recruiting bigger, older players. These days, Maine is playing more or less the same game that BC, BU, and UNH are (smaller, younger, faster). Just not as well.

I'm ambivalent about going backwards on this one. On one hand, I like the idea of bringing in "normal" age freshmen. I also like bringing in good kids who do well academically, and who reflect well on the program.

But if Maine needs to play a certain style of hockey in order to be more competitive (my take on Corkum's comments and gscott's) and the current approach doesn't suit that model, maybe it's not so unreasonable to expect that things would change under Corkum. Hopefully there's a middle ground somewhere. I don't know how I'd feel if Maine went full-on Quinnippiac (avg age = 24).
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

amherstblackbear said:
I had assumed recruiting was the assoc coach - not the asst. Maybe I was wrong. :o

OK . . . Fire Kerluke! :p


But seriously, this is why you want continuity when things are going well, but a clean break when they aren't. Separating credit and blame among a staff is really hard.

gscott makes a good point. To the extent that Corkum's comments (when he was named interim) are accurate, that may signal a shift in recruiting. Maybe if he got to dictate team philosophy, he (and Kerluke and whoever the 3rd coach will be) will start recruiting differently than they did when they were getting players for Whitehead. If there's one clear trend that I don't think anyone would argue, it's that over the last several years Maine has moved away from recruiting bigger, older players. These days, Maine is playing more or less the same game that BC, BU, and UNH are (smaller, younger, faster). Just not as well.

I'm ambivalent about going backwards on this one. On one hand, I like the idea of bringing in "normal" age freshmen. I also like bringing in good kids who do well academically, and who reflect well on the program.

But if Maine needs to play a certain style of hockey in order to be more competitive (my take on Corkum's comments and gscott's) and the current approach doesn't suit that model, maybe it's not so unreasonable to expect that things would change under Corkum. Hopefully there's a middle ground somewhere. I don't know how I'd feel if Maine went full-on Quinnippiac (avg age = 24).
Click to expand...
I know how I'd feel about average age 24. I think it sucks. I hate it that any team does that chit. Give me a quick, smart, motivated, bright and young kid any day of the week. I'd like to see the overaged kids discouraged from playing college hockey...sorry, but thats that way I see it.
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

all bear said:
I know how I'd feel about average age 24. I think it sucks. I hate it that any team does that chit. Give me a quick, smart, motivated, bright and young kid any day of the week. I'd like to see the overaged kids discouraged from playing college hockey...sorry, but thats that way I see it.
Click to expand...

Call me cynical, but recruiting over-age Juniors (again) sounds fine to me. Maine used to do that, and with success. (Heck, it even works at the D-3 level.)

Let's face it: Maine isn't likely to wrest any top 18-YO prep talents from BC/BU/UNH anytime soon. Might as well open the door to last-chance 22 YO's, win games due to strength and maturity, and then try to attract some plum prospects, when it looks like Maine is on its way back.

Just my $0.02, but I really don't see any other viable strategy at this juncture... Tim has pretty-much buried this program.
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Fishman'81 said:
Call me cynical, but recruiting over-age Juniors (again) sounds fine to me. Maine used to do that, and with success. (Heck, it even works at the D-3 level.)

Let's face it: Maine isn't likely to wrest any top 18-YO prep talents from BC/BU/UNH anytime soon. Might as well open the door to last-chance 22 YO's, win games due to strength and maturity, and then try to attract some plum prospects, when it looks like Maine is on its way back.

Just my $0.02, but I really don't see any other viable strategy at this juncture... Tim has pretty-much buried this program.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. At this point I don't care how old the kids are. To quote the late Al Davis, just win baby! The rest will take care of itself.
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

someone copied this on fb this morning, but one of the funnier things I've seen this week, from twitter:
RT @Dustinpenner25
Honestly I don't care if you are gay or straight as my teammate. As long as you don't listen to Nickelback. #courage
 
Re: Maine Hockey Thread II: The Search for Spock

Drew S. said:
I am not sure exactly how they handle it. BearBrews is the one banging on about how Corkum has messed everything up.
Click to expand...

Corkum was not the one watching the USHL and BCHL games. He will do well and needs to great asts/grunts who will beat the bushes. Then when they come to visit, they see Corkum. He will go to Buc Bowl and thats about it.

Corkum will do a great job, asts will be critical
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top