The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

[Chuck Murray]

I see Maine as a seventh or eighth place team. I'm not concerned if Maine doesn't have a good season but I think it would be a real disaster to have a bad one. For a lot of reasons it's important for him to get off to a respectable start and I think he has a decent enough roster to do so.

If history tells us anything, it could get worse rather than better this season. UMass had an 8 win season the year before Carvel and Barr came to town, and their first season in Amherst, they won only five (5) games - last place, and a comfortable 7 points behind the next-to-last place UMaine Black Bears. In their second season, they still had a losing record, but moved up to 8th place. The next three seasons saw their meteoric rise up the Hockey East standings, and advancing to the last two Frozen Four Finals games, winning one. So if UMaine struggles again this season, I wouldn't consider it a "disaster" in any way, shape or form. It may even be a necessary evil, as Coach Barr transitions gradually away from Red's kids to his kids.

Now if we're 4 years out, and UMaine is still treading water, questions can and should be asked ...

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Bottom line here is that CHANGE's had to be made and they have...with that said there will lumps/bumps along the way the first two years...but as a whole fans better be ready that Barr came here to win...not just coming over for a cup of coffee...he's here to win...he's here to change the mind-set...and I for one can't wait to see the way he goes about doing it...and yes we will most likely have some painful moments during the next two season but all in all fans have to be in a positive mood that the "U" finally came on board that Maine Hockey can be relevant again...I stress patience/patience/patience....you can bet you will see it every night a team that plays as a team, a team with a plan, changes in the style of play, changes from playing undiscipline hockey...I will say it again I can't wait for Maine hockey 2021-22..!!

 

[UncleRay]

The biggest thing I will be looking for is an immediate reduction in penalties taken. That is about coaching, listening to a coach, buying into a coach, and discipline. While a player can get faster, become a better shot, give up fewer rebounds, etc., they can't decide to do it, they can only decide to try to do it by putting in the work. A player can decide to play in a more disciplined manner.

 

[Drew S.]

Bottom line here is that CHANGE's had to be made and they have...with that said there will lumps/bumps along the way the first two years...but as a whole fans better be ready that Barr came here to win...not just coming over for a cup of coffee...he's here to win...he's here to change the mind-set...and I for one can't wait to see the way he goes about doing it...and yes we will most likely have some painful moments during the next two season but all in all fans have to be in a positive mood that the "U" finally came on board that Maine Hockey can be relevant again...I stress patience/patience/patience....you can bet you will see it every night a team that plays as a team, a team with a plan, changes in the style of play, changes from playing undiscipline hockey...I will say it again I can't wait for Maine hockey 2021-22..!!

I’m okay with some bad losses, but given the projected roster there isn’t any reason they shouldn’t be around .500. I don’t expect any sort of miracle this year from Barr but I’m going to be pretty disappointed if this season is a complete disaster.

 

[AMC]

I’m okay with some bad losses, but given the projected roster there isn’t any reason they shouldn’t be around .500. I don’t expect any sort of miracle this year from Barr but I’m going to be pretty disappointed if this season is a complete disaster.

If the roster is that good, why couldn't Red go .500 with it?

I'm okay if Barr needs to rip this thing down to the studs and rebuild from scratch.

 

[Drew S.]

If the roster is that good, why couldn't Red go .500 with it?

I'm okay if Barr needs to rip this thing down to the studs and rebuild from scratch.

18-11-5 in his last year. I don’t expect Barr to do that good, but don’t think he should be much worse than a couple games under .500. It’s not the toughest out of conference schedule in the world either.

 

[UncleRay]

If the roster is that good, why couldn't Red go .500 with it?

I'm okay if Barr needs to rip this thing down to the studs and rebuild from scratch.

I don't know - have you seen the price of lumber lately??

 

[AMC]

18-11-5 in his last year. I don’t expect Barr to do that good, but don’t think he should be much worse than a couple games under .500. It’s not the toughest out of conference schedule in the world either.

Wow! I didn't realize that Maine went 11-0-3 in games that weren't reported anywhere this past winter! That's amazing!

 

[Drew S.]

Wow! I didn't realize that Maine went 11-0-3 in games that weren't reported anywhere this past winter! That's amazing!

I didn’t realize Maine played a normal schedule this year! I was busy with work and must have missed that.

 

[NorthMike]

I dont know about a worse season, my feeling is this season will be better than Reds averages. Have high hopes with Barr. Players should be better motivated, etc.
I dont think much demo has to be done for rebuilding. Grow, strengthen, recruit, teach, team!

Discipline: really it couldn't get much worse. How many six on the ice penalties will there be this coming year? None!

 

[Drew S.]

I dont know about a worse season, my feeling is this season will be better than Reds averages. Have high hopes with Barr. Players should be better motivated, etc.
I dont think much demo has to be done for rebuilding. Grow, strengthen, recruit, teach, team!

Discipline: really it couldn't get much worse. How many six on the ice penalties will there be this coming year? None!

I just checked and Red averaged 14.5 wins a season. If Barr gets more than that next year it would be great. I think given the roster(we don’t know the final roster right now but it looks like it should be solid enough) and schedule it is definitely achievable. As I said earlier Maine doesn’t need a great season but I think an awful one would be a massive setback.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

If the roster is that good, why couldn't Red go .500 with it?

I'm okay if Barr needs to rip this thing down to the studs and rebuild from scratch.

Its a good chance you will see it happen over this year and next.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

I just checked and Red averaged 14.5 wins a season. If Barr gets more than that next year it would be great. I think given the roster(we don’t know the final roster right now but it looks like it should be solid enough) and schedule it is definitely achievable. As I said earlier Maine doesn’t need a great season but I think an awful one would be a massive setback.

Why???? Setback in what way..?

 

[NorthMike]

I just checked and Red averaged 14.5 wins a season. If Barr gets more than that next year it would be great. I think given the roster(we don’t know the final roster right now but it looks like it should be solid enough) and schedule it is definitely achievable. As I said earlier Maine doesn’t need a great season but I think an awful one would be a massive setback.

What is it a 34 game schedule, with a 14.5 win average, getting better than .43 win %. Should be very possible, Im ok if they fall flat too.

 

[walrus]

I'll bet Coach Barr is more worried about getting the program going in the right direction with kids who buy into his perspective then he is won loss at this point. I don't expect miracles, I expect a team playing with more discipline and playing whatever systems Coach Barr thinks can win games with the talent he has.

 

[Chuck Murray]

I just checked and Red averaged 14.5 wins a season. If Barr gets more than that next year it would be great. I think given the roster(we don't know the final roster right now but it looks like it should be solid enough) and schedule it is definitely achievable. As I said earlier Maine doesn't need a great season but I think an awful one would be a massive setback.

Yes, good point. UMass Amherst is still reeling from the horrendous first season when Carvel/Barr led an 8 win team from the previous season to only 5 wins in their first year. Wonder whatever happened to that program after their "massive setback"??

 

[sezenack]

The roster isn't that good flat out. This is a team that had a .250 winning percentage last season. Anyone expecting 15 wins is delusional. Not like the first season of a new coach matters much though. As the previous post mentions, UMass had 5 wins their first season with Carvel

 

[AMC]

I'll bet Coach Barr is more worried about getting the program going in the right direction with kids who buy into his perspective then he is won loss at this point. I don't expect miracles, I expect a team playing with more discipline and playing whatever systems Coach Barr thinks can win games with the talent he has.

Exactly. This isn't a situation where a coach has left a successful, winning program behind and the new guy needs to sustain that same level. This is a rebuild, start from the ground up situation. Win/loss year one does not matter at all to me.

Start building the culture, evaluate the players on the roster, recruit hard, and at the end of the season have set up some building blocks to start a true renovation year two. This is going to take a lot of time.

 

[UncleRay]

18-11-5 in his last year. I don’t expect Barr to do that good, but don’t think he should be much worse than a couple games under .500. It’s not the toughest out of conference schedule in the world either.

Convenient how you pulled Red's best year by far - an anomaly, really - as representative of his body of work.

[QUOTE =Drew S]I just checked and Red averaged 14.5 wins a season. If Barr gets more than that next year it would be great. [/QUOTE]
There you go again, forgetting that they did, in fact, play the '20-'21 season. When you include this most recently concluded year, his average wins per year are actually 12.875. But math obviously isn't your strong suit since using your definition of Red's career delivers a result less than 14.3. I guess that's a rounding error?

I believe the elimination of the truly stupid penalties will get the team to 15 wins this year no matter the change up or down of relative talent level.

 

[Drew S.]

Exactly. This isn't a situation where a coach has left a successful, winning program behind and the new guy needs to sustain that same level. This is a rebuild, start from the ground up situation. Win/loss year one does not matter at all to me.

Start building the culture, evaluate the players on the roster, recruit hard, and at the end of the season have set up some building blocks to start a true renovation year two. This is going to take a lot of time.

Maine’s last normal season was a winning season though. I don’t really understand the view of looking at Maine in binary terms. It seems like for a lot of folks if Maine isn’t one of the top teams in Hockey East and in the NCAA’s that means they’re one of the worst teams in the country. There is obviously a long ways in between those two places and that is where Red got Maine to. It’s obviously not where we want to be, but it’s not like there is nothing to work with.

If college hockey was like the NBA it would make sense to trade away all your good players, tank for a few years, and then hope you had a good team, but that obviously isn’t how things work. I get that you’re willing to be patient and I am as well, but what percentage of fans feel that way? I doubt it is more than thirty or forty percent and we need to get the Alfond full again, or at a minimum not as empty. On top of that I think it’s important for the current players to be part of a respectable team and makes Maine a lot more appealing to recruits as well.

Here is roughly how I think Maine lines up this year:


Breen Dawe Suthers

Morrissey Poission Schmidt

Westerlund Renwick Fawcett

Quinlivan Houle Drobot


Sirota Spicer

Butala Dunn

Bisson Dockey


Ostman


Is that good enough to get you to the NCAA tournament? Almost surely not, but I don’t see any reason with that you can’t be around .500 with that team.