Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

[TripleE]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

I bet most people from Maine (non-alums) root for Maine hockey because their alma maters either don't have hockey or play at a lower level. Also, the Bruins are hours away so the casual sports fan can gravitate to UMaine hockey and be passionate about it. In Boston, the average fans allegiances are split among a ton of teams and no one team dominates the casual fan's focus. BC maybe, but not really. The Blackbears are truly Maine's team

Those are nice ideas but hold limited truth.

Coverage of UMaine sports outside of Bangor/Orono is atrocious. In the Portland newspaper and TV stations, unless a playoff game is that night, they're never a cover story... and you can't blame them... it's a supply and demand world, college hockey is still a niche sport following, even in a small community oriented state like Maine with UMaine.

As a resident of the Portland area, there were many years where I could watch just about every UNH home game because our area got NH Public Access...but rarely found a televised UMaine game. Had to listen on the radio/online. How many casual, unaffiliated fans are doing that?

45% of the state's population lies in the 3 southernmost counties. Most of that region: the drive to Orono is equal or longer than the drive to Boston. Look at BC's Brian Dumoulin. He's a Biddeford, ME native who grew up going to BC games ... it was a 1.5 hour drive to Boston or a 2.5 hour drive to Orono.

And while AD Steve Abbott is working hard to incorporate southern maine, and send TV feeds to the region...as it stands right now, unless you're already a fan, or an alum...not too many 'casual' and 'unaffiliated' fans are tuning into the grainy, low def feed on a Friday night, especially if the Bruins or Celtics are on.

So at the end of the day, exposure to the casual fan isn't too different. And I'll go ahead an bet that most people who showed up at the Garden wearing blue were not unaffiliated, casual fans. So really, the playing field is somewhat equal...if not lopsided in the Bostons' favor due to game location and in BU's case: student and alumni numbers. And for a casual fan to jump on a bandwagon? I'd say BC's multi-sport BRAND is a helll of a lot bigger and more appealing than UMaines.

So it's like...

How do those schools sell 6,000 tickets for most regular season games, and hardly look like they got 2,000 to show up for a playoff game at TD?

 

[Runninwiththedogs]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

It's really simple.

I have my favorite among two players with nearly indistinguishable performance. Therefore, my post-hoc rationalization is far superior to the post-hoc rationalization you use to defend your favorite.

Now we're getting somewhere!

 

[TripleE]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Does anyone who knows how to spell actually have an opinion? I'm considering attending Maine for another degree but I'm concerned about the quality of the education.

(I really am considering attending Maine and Priceless helped me out with some questions, he rules!)

haha. I wouldn't draw conclusions based on the ramblings of us internet loonies.

UMaine is a warm community, caters extremely well to the students, and has some really solid diamond-in-the-rough programs. Feel free to P.M. me as well. I worked for New Student Programs between 2004-2007.

 

[Sweeper]

Does anyone who knows how to spell actually have an opinion? I'm considering attending Maine for another degree but I'm concerned about the quality of the education.

(I really am considering attending Maine and Priceless helped me out with some questions, he rules!)

Grammar police!! Should learn punctuation b4 u talk. I could careless about spelling when posting on a phone.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Sorta shocked that nobody has howled about JC plastering Shemansky from behind tonight! (Especially TW.) That should have been 5 minutes and the gate for Connolly, without a doubt... And there was that freak bounce, too.

But, whatever, I had UMD in my bracket, because Maine - while much improved - is still not ready for prime-time. There was zero urgency in the 3rd on their part. They just mailed the thing in.

I said it three years back, and I'll say it again: with no FF in five long years, and a mere one-and-done in the NCAAs in the same span, there is nothing much to be lost anymore.

Tim needs to move on.

PLEASE.

 

[TripleE]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

There was zero urgency in the 3rd on their part. They just mailed the thing in..

Your season is on the line and you respond with a season-low 3 shots on goal in the period??

Still...

If you're playing with some urgency, you could play an NHL team and get 4...come ON.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Are you saying Morris isn't good, or isn't showing up?

As of recently Matt Morris is coming to Maine in the Fall and could very well push Sullivan for playing time,question is what will become of the goaltending depth..? Ouellette/Sullivan and Morris entering the picture...everyone knows 3 goalie rotation is not good..and YES they NEED a FULL Time Goaltending and Defensive Coach...

 

[walrus]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Well, I never thought I'd see this, but I guess the transition to - and acceptance of - mediocrity, is now complete up at Orono. Make it to the HE Championship game (where you got smacked around by BC) and a one and done showing in the NCAA's and everything is well in Black Bear country. My, how times have changed....

This is true, the program has changed and Maine can no longer compete with the big boys(at least as long as the current recruiting continues). The team isn't deep, the D isn't as mobile as the best teams and the goaltending isn't great. Its really that simple. I'm waiting for Slappie to tell me I'm full of it but just look at the results against top notch competition.

On the other hand, no one but Drew thought this team was any good last fall and even he was wavering. Its good they turned it around. Its good some young guys got NCAA experience. It got fans interested in the team again instead of talking about firing Timmay all the time.

As far as last nights game, they stopped playing once JC got UMDs first goal, the fluke goal off the glass killed Sully, he lost it right there, the 3rd goal, awful, after that is was over when you consider the rest of the team stopped doing what got them the lead to begin with.

No since worrying about the staff, nothing is going to change, the team continues in the same fashion it has for years.

3 goalies next year, thats a joke, one will be leaving.

 

[DtownDogs]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Sorta shocked that nobody has howled about JC plastering Shemansky from behind tonight! (Especially TW.) That should have been 5 minutes and the gate for Connolly, without a doubt... And there was that freak bounce, too.

Funny guy that Fishman is

 

[Drew S.]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Sorta shocked that nobody has howled about JC plastering Shemansky from behind tonight! (Especially TW.) That should have been 5 minutes and the gate for Connolly, without a doubt... And there was that freak bounce, too.

But, whatever, I had UMD in my bracket, because Maine - while much improved - is still not ready for prime-time. There was zero urgency in the 3rd on their part. They just mailed the thing in.

I said it three years back, and I'll say it again: with no FF in five long years, and a mere one-and-done in the NCAAs in the same span, there is nothing much to be lost anymore.

Tim needs to move on.

PLEASE.

Maine's played five games the last two weeks and UMD has played three, for me that is the difference right there. I think this year has been a great platform for Maine to build on for the future. You're not going to go from not making the NCAA's for four years in a row to national champions, things don't work that way. Anyone who thinks that is going to happen is delusional. This year was a great start to to being successful again and I think next year Maine is even better (assuming everyone turns up that we expect to).

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Funny guy that Fishman is

First of all, while the officiating was typically lousy -see UMD with 6 guys in the Maine zone for about 15 seconds around the 14:00 mark of the 2nd- I am definitely not blaming it for Maine losing. UMD was easily the better team.

Still, don't you agree that the HFB was obvious? That's the only time all year long I've seen that not go for 5 and a DQ.

 

[Sweeper]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

First of all, while the officiating was typically lousy -see UMD with 6 guys in the Maine zone for about 15 seconds around the 14:00 mark of the 2nd- I am definitely not blaming it for Maine losing. UMD was easily the better team.

Still, don't you agree that the HFB was obvious? That's the only time all year long I've seen that not go for 5 and a DQ.

There was one other time where a UMD guy jumped on a line change and attacked the Maine guy with the puck well before the guy switching was off the ice, it was right infront of the benches.

 

[DropPass]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

First of all, while the officiating was typically lousy -see UMD with 6 guys in the Maine zone for about 15 seconds around the 14:00 mark of the 2nd- I am definitely not blaming it for Maine losing. UMD was easily the better team.

Still, don't you agree that the HFB was obvious? That's the only time all year long I've seen that not go for 5 and a DQ.

I'm not going to get too involved with your season thread, so I'll be brief. If you watch the replay the ref who is 5 feet away didn't call it. The ME player fell towards the goal line, not the boards. And Connolly was playing the puck not charging, boarding, contacting the head or roughing.

Not saying the officiating wasn't poor all around though.

 

[Drew S.]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

First of all, while the officiating was typically lousy -see UMD with 6 guys in the Maine zone for about 15 seconds around the 14:00 mark of the 2nd- I am definitely not blaming it for Maine losing. UMD was easily the better team.

Still, don't you agree that the HFB was obvious? That's the only time all year long I've seen that not go for 5 and a DQ.

I had a great view of it and I thought it was a sending off. If its a different player it probably is. There needs to be a lot more consistency when it comes to what is and what isn't. I feel like in general officiating has been awful this year (not always against Maine).

 

[Hockeypuck]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

I think this year has been a great platform for Maine to build on for the future.

So wasn't going to the Frozen Four 4 times in 6 years and how did that work out?

 

[Drew S.]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

So wasn't going to the Frozen Four 4 times in 6 years and how did that work out?

Maine had horrible recruiting classes in '05 and '06 when they were going through the Grant/Guy/Danny transition. As those classes got older thats when Maine was awful. Maine has been an NCAA team or thereabouts the last couple of years but haven't made it because of goaltending, injuries, and a bit of bad luck. This year's team was pretty **** good. Beyond that I really think that this is a real hardworking lot with great attitudes. People can say well they only made it to the first round of the NCAA tourney, but that doesn't really tell the whole story. UMD is a good team with a lot of experience and confidence. It showed last night to. There's probably 10 teams in the tourney that if we would have drawn we would have beaten but that didn't happen. I can honestly say that I feel significantly better about the team going forward now than I did after the 2007 frozen four.

 

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Maine had horrible recruiting classes in '05 and '06 when they were going through the Grant/Guy/Danny transition. As those classes got older thats when Maine was awful. Maine has been an NCAA team or thereabouts the last couple of years but haven't made it because of goaltending, injuries, and a bit of bad luck. This year's team was pretty **** good. Beyond that I really think that this is a real hardworking lot with great attitudes. People can say well they only made it to the first round of the NCAA tourney, but that doesn't really tell the whole story. UMD is a good team with a lot of experience and confidence. It showed last night to. There's probably 10 teams in the tourney that if we would have drawn we would have beaten but that didn't happen. I can honestly say that I feel significantly better about the team going forward now than I did after the 2007 frozen four.

Accurate assessment. I agree.

 

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

How do those schools sell 6,000 tickets for most regular season games, and hardly look like they got 2,000 to show up for a playoff game at TD?

They don't. Take a look at the box scores.

 

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

Maine had horrible recruiting classes in '05 and '06 when they were going through the Grant/Guy/Danny transition. As those classes got older thats when Maine was awful. Maine has been an NCAA team or thereabouts the last couple of years but haven't made it because of goaltending, injuries, and a bit of bad luck. This year's team was pretty **** good. Beyond that I really think that this is a real hardworking lot with great attitudes. People can say well they only made it to the first round of the NCAA tourney, but that doesn't really tell the whole story. UMD is a good team with a lot of experience and confidence. It showed last night to. There's probably 10 teams in the tourney that if we would have drawn we would have beaten but that didn't happen. I can honestly say that I feel significantly better about the team going forward now than I did after the 2007 frozen four.

What "injuries" and "bad luck" kept them from making the NCAAs the past few years????

Agreed on the goaltending part.

 

[Drew S.]

Re: Maine thread (cont) - Hobey Abbott goes Dancing

What "injuries" and "bad luck" kept them from making the NCAAs the past few years????

Agreed on the goaltending part.

I'm in no way a PWR expert, but apparently Nyquist missing the empty net at UNH in 2010 kept them out of the NCAA tourney. I'd say for a player of his caliber to miss a sitter like that is pretty awful luck. Last year Dimmen and O' Neil got hurt at the same time, you're not going to win many games with your two best dmen out. It seemed like that was the point in the season when things went downhill to. I think Nyquist was pretty beat up as well even though he kept playing. Goaltending was definitely the biggest factor. Its easy to blame Tim but Darling really ****** both him and Maine over. He had a fair bit of talent to.