The Barr Has Been Raised at UMaine

[Fishman'81]

Or he called his players bad names/smacked them on the helmet/ made them do a lot of sprints. In my personal opinion, if there is something in a coach's style that gets him bleepcanned after 17 years that the AD didn't know about already, shame on the AD. Every boss should know what their people are up to in terms of the broad (sorry!) strokes.

I get you. He coached grown men who chose to be in his program... What, they were too afraid of him to run back home to Mama? Please.

Sounds like bullshit to me, too, and I'm a *snowflake*.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Just think had Maine won in Minnesota and Boston, Tim Whitehead would have hung on past his firing date in April of 2013 and that could have prevented a Red Gendron era[error]...as for Friday night's win over BC, Maine came out hungry/aggressive and played with a so called chip on their shoulder...they had confidence from the opening face-off to the end...nice to see an all out 60 minute effort. Should be interesting to see when year 2 comes in and a whole sale roster change.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

I get you. He coached grown men who chose to be in his program... What, they were too afraid of him to run back home to Mama? Please.

Sounds like bull**** to me, too, and I'm a *snowflake*.

Times have changed and now Coaching the so called hard way is looked upon as a no-no...but think had he won another Championship @ Union...everything would be a-ok.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Why oh why remind me of the 6x3...? What did I ever do to YOU???

But, yeah, Maine had 3 guys right on the crease when a nice centering pass skipped over all three blades. Especially Levielle's (sp). And he was a terrific college player.

Funny how the losses burn more deeply into my memory than the wins do.

I was a few rows behind the net on the goal which was disallowed and at the end of the game with a 6x3...Maine had no plan/no idea and everything was in disarray.

 

[tylerzx2002]

I was a few rows behind the net on the goal which was disallowed and at the end of the game with a 6x3...Maine had no plan/no idea and everything was in disarray.

I can realistically think of only a few other times I've seen a 6x3 and they always look chaotic as hell. I imagine that's not a scenario they are running through in practices often (if at all).

Shame they couldn't score on the PP because that would have been an all-timer.

 

[Chuck Murray]

After Len Ceglarski retired and before Jerry York came to town, there was Steve Cedorchuk. Speak his name on the Heights and the locals will dunk you in Boston Harbor.

Steve "Count" Cedorchuk. Long-time BC assistant coach under Lenny "The Rug" Ceglarski, appointed BC head coach after a losing season in '92 cost Ceglarski (BC's own "Dick Umile" - couldn't win the big one) his job. The Count was fired after two losing seasons, but not until after landing BC in hot water for extending too many scholarship offers to players.

Cedorchuk was replaced by none other than Mike Milbury for all of two (2) months during the 1994 offseason, by which time Milbury had seen enough of what The Count had done to the BC program, and decided to step aside to take work as a color commentator (a year later, he would begin his decade-long stint as Islanders' GM).

Jerry York then stepped in to replace Milbury at the helm for BC. Yes, York was BC's second choice for the job at the time. BC struggled under York for the first three seasons (all under .500), but then once they cleared the debris from The Count's work earlier in the decade, BC zoomed to its place among the D-1 elite starting with their '98 FF Finals OT loss to Michigan.

One can only wonder how it would have all played out at BC, had Milbury not freaked out when he realized the mess he'd just inherited, and stuck it out for a few seasons at The Heights. Would York have ever come, or would he have gone elsewhere? His last four seasons at Bowling Green were .500 or under on the whole, after winning the '84 Frozen Four a decade earlier, so there were reasons he wasn't the obvious clear first choice. But if so, how much deeper would the recruiting hole Milbury dug behind The Count have gotten, even if York's arrival was only temporarily delayed by those few seasons in the mid-to-late '90's? UMaine and BU were clearly HEA and D-1 elites during this period, and UNH (even if a distant-but-closing 3rd) had its best seasons yet to come. The days of BC being a shoe-in as one of the "Big Four" in HEA didn't really begin until after '98.

So regardless of what folks on The Heights might think, I always smile when I hear Cedorchuk's name, and harken back to what many of us will always recall as the "good ol' days of BC Hockey".

 

[Sean Pickett]

...after a losing season in '92 cost Ceglarski (BC's own "Dick Umile" - couldn't win the big one) his job...The days of BC being a shoe-in as one of the "Big Four" in HEA didn't really begin until after '98.

I must dispute your claim that BC wasn't a shoe-in as one of the "Big Four" in HEA until after '98. Despite Coach Ceglarski being unable to win the big one (or more than a few Beanpots) BC was indeed one of the HEA "Big Four" from the start of the league. They won the league regular season the first three seasons and six of the first seven, along with 2 tournament titles and 5 championship game appearances.

Sean

 

[Runsub5]

Just think had Maine won in Minnesota and Boston, Tim Whitehead would have hung on past his firing date in April of 2013 and that could have prevented a Red Gendron era[err0r]

Yes, I agree. Tim has won 3 straight New England Elite 8 Championships (until last year when the streak was broken). This year his team is 18-2-1 so far.

 

[ticapnews]

I must dispute your claim that BC wasn't a shoe-in as one of the "Big Four" in HEA until after '98. Despite Coach Ceglarski being unable to win the big one (or more than a few Beanpots) BC was indeed one of the HEA "Big Four" from the start of the league. They won the league regular season the first three seasons and six of the first seven, along with 2 tournament titles and 5 championship game appearances.

Sean

The early years of Hockey East look like a Boston College yearbook. Token pages are assigned to BU and Maine, with a special section for Chris Terreri. And allegedly there were other teams in the league back then, but that's just a rumor.

One could argue there was no "Big Four" to be a part of until the mid-90's when UNH joined BC, BU and Maine atop Hockey East.

 

[Chuck Murray]

I must dispute your claim that BC wasn't a shoe-in as one of the "Big Four" in HEA until after '98. Despite Coach Ceglarski being unable to win the big one (or more than a few Beanpots) BC was indeed one of the HEA "Big Four" from the start of the league. They won the league regular season the first three seasons and six of the first seven, along with 2 tournament titles and 5 championship game appearances.

Sean

Maybe I should have been more specific, Sean. BC was (for sure) a Big Four HEA team through the late '80's but was already a losing program by the time Ceglarski retired/was retired at age 65 at the end of the '92 season. For UMaine purposes here. UMaine's big HEA rivalry in their seasons as an emerging national power was with BU (your team), not with BC. There was a 6-7 year gap in between BC eking into the '90 Frozen Four, and returning to glory in '98 where BC was a middle of the pack (at best) HEA team, and an absolute non-factor on the national stage.

As you well know. Jack Parker's BU program had a slight slide between '99 through to their '09 D-1 title win, but no matter how you slice it though, the slightly longer Parker/BU "meh" period still had significantly better on-ice results than BC's down period for a good chunk of the '90's. I don't think BU ever dropped out of the "Big Four" during that stretch - as BC clearly did the previous decade - but there were years when BU was a pretty clear fourth-out-of-four in that BC/UMaine/UNH/BU group.

There were SO many pivotal HEA events in the '90's and early '00's that shaped the league and its programs - one of which was almost an afterthought for a generation until UMass Amherst rose to power in recent years after joining as the lowest of the low - but I just wanted to relive the "glory" of the very memorable Steve "Count" Cedorchuk Era after ticapnews raised it a few posts ago.

 

[Drew S.]

Just think had Maine won in Minnesota and Boston, Tim Whitehead would have hung on past his firing date in April of 2013 and that could have prevented a Red Gendron era[error]...as for Friday night's win over BC, Maine came out hungry/aggressive and played with a so called chip on their shoulder...they had confidence from the opening face-off to the end...nice to see an all out 60 minute effort. Should be interesting to see when year 2 comes in and a whole sale roster change.

I don’t think it would have changed much. Tim not being able to find assistant coaches really set the recruiting back and winning a couple national championships wouldn’t have changed that.

 

[Fishman'81]

I was a few rows behind the net on the goal which was disallowed and at the end of the game with a 6x3...Maine had no plan/no idea and everything was in disarray.

The only goal that was disallowed was in the 1st, when Damon was just barely in the crease, and well off to the side.

Does my memory fail me again? IDTS, on this one.

I don't recall anything disallowed during the 6x3.

I DO remember Timmy calling a TO just as it was called, and trying to devise a plan...

Again, there were three Maine sticks ready for a tap-in, and it just didn't happen.

 

[walrus]

I don’t think it would have changed much. Tim not being able to find assistant coaches really set the recruiting back and winning a couple national championships wouldn’t have changed that.

My understanding is Asst. coaches didn't like Tim too much so maybe his reputation preceded him??

Nothing happened on the 6 on 3 except hitting post or crossbar

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

I don’t think it would have changed much. Tim not being able to find assistant coaches really set the recruiting back and winning a couple national championships wouldn’t have changed that.

Had he won 2 NC, his tenure would have lasted longer by "MAYBE" a few seasons and may have spared us all of the Gendron era{error}.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

The only goal that was disallowed was in the 1st, when Damon was just barely in the crease, and well off to the side.

Does my memory fail me again? IDTS, on this one.

I don't recall anything disallowed during the 6x3.

I DO remember Timmy calling a TO just as it was called, and trying to devise a plan...

Again, there were three Maine sticks ready for a tap-in, and it just didn't happen.

Where did I say there was a disallowed goal during the 6x3? I didn't...I said the 6x3 was in TOTAL disarray...

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

My understanding is Asst. coaches didn't like Tim too much so maybe his reputation preceded him??

Nothing happened on the 6 on 3 except hitting post or crossbar

When TW was fired it was time...his shelve life at Maine had ended...and during the 6x3 Maine fired away and away missing the net most of the time and having the puck come out of the zone thru the blueline with nobody at either point as time ran out.

 

[NorthMike]

The only goal that was disallowed was in the 1st, when Damon was just barely in the crease, and well off to the side.

Hamilton no. 22 had skate in crease. Damon tucked in the goal.

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Hamilton no. 22 had skate in crease. Damon tucked in the goal.

Yes indeed, you are correct...I still have the photo of that play on my frig...a painful reminder that in time hopefully I can burn it "IF" or when they win another NC...

 

[NorthMike]

Yes indeed, you are correct...I still have the photo of that play on my frig...a painful reminder that in time hopefully I can burn it "IF" or when they win another NC...

Those were great! Playoff games that year though. It just wasn't meant to be. Maine had lots of scoring chances the whole game.

 

[Chuck Murray]

I don't think it would have changed much. Tim not being able to find assistant coaches really set the recruiting back and winning a couple national championships wouldn't have changed that.

Respectfully disagree. People (recruits, advisors, assistants) will tolerate a lot of junk so long as they think their wagon is hitched to a winner. Had Whitehead gotten over the hump in St. Paul or in Boston in either of those two finals, he would be viewed entirely differently. Had UMaine won both, TW would have been a second "Walshy", except without the personality.

Instead, he came up short, folks gradually started to lose faith in his abilities, and his shortcomings were exposed. Much the same as could be said about the guy who was in charge at the time at UNH.

Jack Parker could rub people the wrong way (ditto Walshy outside the UMaine bubble), but they both had big self-confidence that allowed them to sell big dreams to a lot of talented players. And they both won the big prize enough times to be able to back up that self-confidence, and had long lists of alums playing in The Show to demonstrate the worth and value of their programs. And Whitehead still had GS doing the recruiting work for him early in his tenure.

Had TW won one NC in the early '00's I very much doubt there would have been a Red Gendron era. And if he'd won both of those, TW might very well still be behind the UMaine bench right now, possibly with another title or two on top of those.

Winning begets winning. It's only when folks think you aren't capable of winning, when the end comes. Unless of course if you have a lifetime contract, but that's another story for another day ...