Re: Maine Off Season 2011
I don't feel like arguing with you, so here's a half-hearted effort. Kids are committing younger than ever, and I don't pretend to know everything going on in all of their heads. Recruiting has become a lot more competitive since Walsh's heyday in the late 80s. Between fighting other NCAA programs for recruits and fending off Canadian juniors, nobody gets everyone they want. Witness the Minnesota threads calling for the resignation of the great Don Lucia. Don't tell me Walsh this or Walsh that, or X player absolutely would have worn a Maine jersey. Those trends are larger than Walsh, and to ignore them makes you look like someone stuck in time.
In other words, don't make it easier for Whitehead's apologists to dismiss criticism. There are perfectly reasonable arguments that can be made. And I agree completely that, in general, Maine would be more successful at recruiting in-state talent if they were more successful.
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I challenge you to name these "pretty good" Mainers that went on to other D1 schools. Besides Greg Moore and Matt Duffy, who were "pretty good", there isn't another kid that has come out of this state since Eric Weinrich to be drafted out of high school in the 2nd round and been as highly-touted as Dumoulin. Some above posters referenced to Billet, who as a goalie, is one of very few from Maine to play D1 hockey.
I don't feel like arguing with you, so here's a half-hearted effort. Kids are committing younger than ever, and I don't pretend to know everything going on in all of their heads. Recruiting has become a lot more competitive since Walsh's heyday in the late 80s. Between fighting other NCAA programs for recruits and fending off Canadian juniors, nobody gets everyone they want. Witness the Minnesota threads calling for the resignation of the great Don Lucia. Don't tell me Walsh this or Walsh that, or X player absolutely would have worn a Maine jersey. Those trends are larger than Walsh, and to ignore them makes you look like someone stuck in time.
In other words, don't make it easier for Whitehead's apologists to dismiss criticism. There are perfectly reasonable arguments that can be made. And I agree completely that, in general, Maine would be more successful at recruiting in-state talent if they were more successful.
$.02