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The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

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First look at this Maine team yesterday. Suitably impressed....work ethic, puck management, passing, decision making, physicality, moving their feet..... Most of the night I thought Maine the better team. Yeah, UConn camped out on Ostmans top shelf. Only place they could beat him I guess. Future looks bright. Tenacity reminded me of teams in the past under that Walsh guy. That element has been lacking for a long time.
 
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Tango said:
They should be better and Barr obviously thinks so!

“A bunch of guys that don't want the puck on their tape”

https://youtu.be/ATNUCSQWjBc
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I am just speculating here and I don't mean to be critical of Barr as I think he has improved the team. However, perhaps he needs to do more as a coach to inspire confidence in his young players to not be afraid to shoot the puck and to be more aggressive offensively. Late in the game yesterday a Maine player obtained possession of the puck and skated through the crease without taking a shot on goal. It's almost like they are afraid to make a mistake.
 
Tango said:
They should be better and Barr obviously thinks so!

“A bunch of guys that don't want the puck on their tape”

https://youtu.be/ATNUCSQWjBc
Click to expand...

He looks pretty p***ed, and acts it.
Things arent going as quick as his plan with the rebuild.

Why cant the home post game pressers be made available!
Good grief Umaine Athletics.
They used to be up to six or seven years ago.
 
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I don’t really understand Barr’s reaction. Maine is not even that close to any of Quinniapiac, NEU, or UConn. I get he wants to win and all that stuff but kind of crazy to react like that and will be interesting how the team responds. I don’t think if I was a player I would be super pleased.

Outside of Muticelli I’ve been pretty pleased with everything this year. The team has played pretty hard and they’ve added some really solid players. I have concerns whether they can add enough high end talent to get to the next level but that is somewhat of a crapshoot anyway.

Barr probably would disagree with me on this, but I see the real test of this team being if they can beat the bad teams. If they can consistently do that it would be a huge step in the right direction.
 
You won't beat many teams, good or bad, scoring as many goals as Maine does. That may work with Sway in net but not now. I will leave the coaching to Barr. I have confidence he said what he said for a good reason
 
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a little bit of a softer rhetoric from the coach. However, it also does come across as a guy who just wants to win at all costs. This stretch was pretty damn tough, and I'm mostly satisfied with how they played. This next bit of games is significantly more forgiving, and I'm thinking we'll see the wins start to come. I bet his tone will change then. Also, still thinking next year is the big jump with the Nadeau Brothers and Anthony Calafiore coming in up front and Hopkins on D. I'm still confident.
 
I'd feel a lot better if Maine hadn't lost to Bentley 5-1. This team lacks a lockdown goaltender.....and there are none on the horizon.
 
amkirby10 said:
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a little bit of a softer rhetoric from the coach. However, it also does come across as a guy who just wants to win at all costs. This stretch was pretty damn tough, and I'm mostly satisfied with how they played. This next bit of games is significantly more forgiving, and I'm thinking we'll see the wins start to come. I bet his tone will change then. Also, still thinking next year is the big jump with the Nadeau Brothers and Anthony Calafiore coming in up front and Hopkins on D. I'm still confident.
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I’m not as sure on next year. Sirota will be a huge loss and I suspect we significantly underrate how good his all around game is. Hopkins should be good but I think at least for next year it is a clear negative. Brad Nadeau is one of the best forwards we have got in awhile and definitely helps. Josh is a bit of a wildcard. Maine had another Josh come in a number of years ago, Pappalardo, with a similar game to Nadeau’s and he did nothing at Maine. I’m not sure any of the other guys are major improvements on what Maine has now.

On the other side of the ledger what do Poisson and Breen do? If Maine loses one or both it would be big setbacks. Losing Renwick, Trudeau, or Ostman would hurt as well. I’m not predicting Maine is worse next year but I don’t think it’s nailed on that they’re better.

A big part of me wonders if Barr and Maine are a good fit. He never really seems thrilled to be coach at Maine and obviously a lot of players have moved on. He took over in incredibly difficult circumstances and if it doesn’t work out I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative reflection on him as a coach. Hopefully they turn things around starting with AIC but his press conference is a huge red flag that all is not right as far as I’m concerned.
 
Drew S. said:
I’m not as sure on next year. Sirota will be a huge loss and I suspect we significantly underrate how good his all around game is. Hopkins should be good but I think at least for next year it is a clear negative. Brad Nadeau is one of the best forwards we have got in awhile and definitely helps. Josh is a bit of a wildcard. Maine had another Josh come in a number of years ago, Pappalardo, with a similar game to Nadeau’s and he did nothing at Maine. I’m not sure any of the other guys are major improvements on what Maine has now.

On the other side of the ledger what do Poisson and Breen do? If Maine loses one or both it would be big setbacks. Losing Renwick, Trudeau, or Ostman would hurt as well. I’m not predicting Maine is worse next year but I don’t think it’s nailed on that they’re better.

A big part of me wonders if Barr and Maine are a good fit. He never really seems thrilled to be coach at Maine and obviously a lot of players have moved on. He took over in incredibly difficult circumstances and if it doesn’t work out I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative reflection on him as a coach. Hopefully they turn things around starting with AIC but his press conference is a huge red flag that all is not right as far as I’m concerned.
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I disagree on this. For one, I think next year’s team is going to make the tourney, I said before and I still stand by that. Sirota is a great player and Maine is lucky to have him but Hopkins will be a top 4 defenseman the second he steps on campus. Josh and Brad Nadeau will both be electric especially considering they’ll likely play on the same line.

Barr is thrilled to be the coach at Maine. He’s said it time and time again and that he’s honored to lead a program like this. People are reading into this quote like he’s unhappy with the team. He’s said dozens of times that he’s been pleased with the effort but they need to find ways to win. Personally I think this is a shot at the veterans (Breen, Houle, Breazeale, Sirota, Poisson, Ostman). If Maine is going to win, they’re going to have to step up, we can’t count of freshmen to score every night. I’m happy that we have a coach who’s not content with moral victories, the goal at a program like this is to win.

I’m a firm believer that this ship is heading in the right direction. When he took over this program, he said year 3 is when you hope to see the jump, based on what we’ve seen I’d say we’re on that path. I remember hearing a press conference from Carvel a couple years back and he laid into his team after they let Maine sweep them at the Mullins center. Barr strikes me as the type of guy who might be critical and let you hear it but is very constructive 1 on 1 with these guys.
 
The important thing is that Barr is motivational and builds the desired culture. However he does that I trust he knows how to or will quickly figure it out empirically. Theres got to be some tough love involved.
I suspect the players know where they stand, Barr has always talked about part of the desired culture including honest, unfiltered, and open feedback.
 
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walrus said:
Pretty sure Walshy said some things to get players attention in his days.
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Ya think ? When you have a slew of young impressionable freshman this is how you get their attention and make winners out of them. These new guys arent pussywhopped, they can handle a litte adversity and grow from it. Barr is demanding excellence. Good for him, just what the doctor ordered if you want to change the culture of the team. Carry on Big Ben
 
Drew S. said:
I’m not as sure on next year. Sirota will be a huge loss and I suspect we significantly underrate how good his all around game is. Hopkins should be good but I think at least for next year it is a clear negative. Brad Nadeau is one of the best forwards we have got in awhile and definitely helps. Josh is a bit of a wildcard. Maine had another Josh come in a number of years ago, Pappalardo, with a similar game to Nadeau’s and he did nothing at Maine.
Click to expand...

First of all, his name was Jake Pappalardo, not Josh. Second of all, Pappalardo put up his big numbers in prep school, a far cry from the BCHL that both the Nadeau's have been dominating (Josh 9-24-33 in 16 GP, Bradley 17-18-35 in 16 GP) which has been known to generate plenty of top level collegiate talent over the years. Third of all, Josh Nadeau has been raved about by top scouts, with his Elite Prospects page having one call him "one of the best players I have ever seen play the game at his age." Fourth of all, Josh is scoring just as much as Bradley on the same team, and he's only a year and a half older. Comparing Nadeau to Pappalardo is frankly flat-out laughable.
 
I have loved being able to watch the games on ESPN+

I agree with coach, Maine found a way to lose both games this weekend. A sweep was completely within their grasp.

I have no issue with his presser. I took it as a message to some in the room. The way he mentioned trying to change the culture, more than once, makes me wonder if that wasn't a direct message to some who have been slow to embrace that culture change away from "hey we had a good effort tonight but" mentality and get them to the "hey, we didn't have our A game but we found a way to get the W" mentality.

I loved it.
 
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Loving the look of today’s lines up front, top 3 lines could all provide scoring.

Poisson-Breen-Trudeau
Henbrandt-Renwick-Houle
Freel-KO-Pabich
Lindauer-Hanson-Michaelian
 
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