As I said, really nice to see the play of late without 93. Looking forward to getting him back if they can keep up that momentum. Likewise, I've been pretty critical of 20 early/mid season and seemingly trying to do to much on his own and in tight. Nice to see him distributing the puck more and then positioning himself to receive a pass or make more plays the last few weeks.
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UMaine 25-26: Marques My Word: Back to the Big Time
- Thread starter UncleRay
- Start date
tony potter
Active member
anyone see the ending of the umass uconn game saturday night... the friggin lights went out when uconn had a fast 2 on 1 developing before they got to goalie the arena went pitch black long enough for umass to get back and no shot for uconn that was in overtime..if i was uconn coach id be bullshit.. kind of odd thing to happen
tony potter
Active member
wow thats funny
tylerzx2002
Well-known member
Obviously an extra must-win game isn't ideal, but kind of seems like this team has realized every game is a must-win at this point and that has been reflected in the intensity they've played with the last couple weekends.
Even more impressive is the way they've played without one of the best offensive players in the country in JP and a 90th+ percentile defensive player in Scott. JP/Scott/Russell together would be the best way to work them both back into the lineup without disrupting the rest of the lines, and then James can be the extra skater (he's earned it with his defensive play in my eyes).
The only reason I would want the extra game is to continue to see this team hone in on special teams, but knowing it'd be Vermont makes it less appealing, as they are one of the more disciplined teams in the nation (4th fewest penalties per game), so like others said little benefit to having them come to Alfond.
Thankfully they have gotten better on both fronts: Maine had that stretch from 12/14-2/13 where they went 3% (1/27) on the PP and it's finally woken up since then (clicking at 33% over their last 18 chances). Likewise for the penalty kill which has been at 94% (30/32 kills) since that disastrous road series at Providence.
Even more impressive is the way they've played without one of the best offensive players in the country in JP and a 90th+ percentile defensive player in Scott. JP/Scott/Russell together would be the best way to work them both back into the lineup without disrupting the rest of the lines, and then James can be the extra skater (he's earned it with his defensive play in my eyes).
The only reason I would want the extra game is to continue to see this team hone in on special teams, but knowing it'd be Vermont makes it less appealing, as they are one of the more disciplined teams in the nation (4th fewest penalties per game), so like others said little benefit to having them come to Alfond.
Thankfully they have gotten better on both fronts: Maine had that stretch from 12/14-2/13 where they went 3% (1/27) on the PP and it's finally woken up since then (clicking at 33% over their last 18 chances). Likewise for the penalty kill which has been at 94% (30/32 kills) since that disastrous road series at Providence.
Nick Papagiorgio
Holding court
Yea, I was watching this live on the computer, it was crazy and could have serious implications for the NCAA tournament given that both of these teams are on the bubble. There are clips of it circulating around on social media. UMass had a guy cut across the crease trying to jam the puck past the Yukon goalie who was holding the post with his pad. Some moron in the control room thought it was a goal and hit whatever button they normally do for a goal celebration where the lights start dimming and moving all over the place above the ice surface. Yukon then takes the puck up on a 2 on 1 with all this weird lighting going on and previously said moron panicked and must have hit the wrong button again and turned the lights off for the entire arena. It was unbelievable. Cavanaugh didn't even know what to do.
AMC
Registered User
Given that Northeastern isn't going to play a home game for the next 49 years or whatever, you have to imagine that a number of their players will be portaling. I bet a number of Hockey East schools have their shopping lists ready, but there are a fair few guys who would look good in Black Bear blue on that roster.
tony potter
Active member
still think the npi is a joke ..or i just dont understand how it works .. i still dont see st thomas ranked with the top teams in the county RIDICULOUS!!!!
AMC
Registered User
It is interesting to look at the NPI vs. the PWR (which can still be found on CHN if you dig a bit).
1 seeds: The same across both systems. Michigan is #1 in both, Western Michigan is #4 in both. NoDak and Michigan State flipflop between 2 and 3.
2 seeds: Both agree on the TEAMS in the 2 seed block (Penn State, Providence, Quinnipiac, Denver), but the ordering is different. PSU is 5 in both, the NPI then goes PC-QPac-Denver, while the PWR goes Denver-PC-QPac.
3 seeds: Cornell, UMD, Dartmouth, Wisconsin in NPI. UMD, Cornell, Dartmouth, Wisconsin in PWR. So, minor shuffle but same teams.
4 seeds: Both agree that BC is #13. Both have UConn and Augustana some combo of 14/15. NPI has Augustana higher. This could be the cut line though, with any bid thieves. Augustana is the highest rated CCHA team, and there is no AHA representative in either, so if Augustana DIDN'T win the CCHA but lost in like the tournament final, UConn could get edged out for that second CCHA bid. Obviously any surprise winner of a multi-bid conference could mix things up, too. The AHA rep will be the #16 seed barring something completely shocking, as Bentley/Sacred Heart are the highest ranked teams at around 30ish. The last team out in the NPI is Minnesota State. In the PWR? Your Maine Black Bears.
Once you get to 16 and lower is where the real differences between the PWR and NPI show up. Minnesota State is 16 in NPI but 19 in PWR. St. Thomas falls from 17th in NPI all the way to 24th in PWR. Bowling Green falls from 19th to 21st. I'm not a math whiz, but for some reason the NPI loves the CCHA a lot more than the PWR. PWR prefers Maine (18->16), UMass (20->17) and Ohio State (23->18).
I don't know that either is necessarily "better." At the end of the day we are parsing resumes of teams that are 18-12-3, 19-12-1, 18-9-7(x2!), and 18-11-5 (Maine, UMass, St. Thomas, Minnesota State, and Bowling Green). Ohio State is 12-18-2. Just win more games is the solution for any of them. It's not like the Pairwise has a team at 6th and the NPI has them out.
1 seeds: The same across both systems. Michigan is #1 in both, Western Michigan is #4 in both. NoDak and Michigan State flipflop between 2 and 3.
2 seeds: Both agree on the TEAMS in the 2 seed block (Penn State, Providence, Quinnipiac, Denver), but the ordering is different. PSU is 5 in both, the NPI then goes PC-QPac-Denver, while the PWR goes Denver-PC-QPac.
3 seeds: Cornell, UMD, Dartmouth, Wisconsin in NPI. UMD, Cornell, Dartmouth, Wisconsin in PWR. So, minor shuffle but same teams.
4 seeds: Both agree that BC is #13. Both have UConn and Augustana some combo of 14/15. NPI has Augustana higher. This could be the cut line though, with any bid thieves. Augustana is the highest rated CCHA team, and there is no AHA representative in either, so if Augustana DIDN'T win the CCHA but lost in like the tournament final, UConn could get edged out for that second CCHA bid. Obviously any surprise winner of a multi-bid conference could mix things up, too. The AHA rep will be the #16 seed barring something completely shocking, as Bentley/Sacred Heart are the highest ranked teams at around 30ish. The last team out in the NPI is Minnesota State. In the PWR? Your Maine Black Bears.
Once you get to 16 and lower is where the real differences between the PWR and NPI show up. Minnesota State is 16 in NPI but 19 in PWR. St. Thomas falls from 17th in NPI all the way to 24th in PWR. Bowling Green falls from 19th to 21st. I'm not a math whiz, but for some reason the NPI loves the CCHA a lot more than the PWR. PWR prefers Maine (18->16), UMass (20->17) and Ohio State (23->18).
I don't know that either is necessarily "better." At the end of the day we are parsing resumes of teams that are 18-12-3, 19-12-1, 18-9-7(x2!), and 18-11-5 (Maine, UMass, St. Thomas, Minnesota State, and Bowling Green). Ohio State is 12-18-2. Just win more games is the solution for any of them. It's not like the Pairwise has a team at 6th and the NPI has them out.
NorthMike
Well-known member
Rico Blasi !!
BlackBearHockeyFan
Active member
Where would maine be?
Assuming UVM win sat, UHN split, Colgate + UVM win at home gets us to 9th... d'oh!
Ineverquit
Born a Mainer
and a UNH sweep gets us to 5th.
Beat only Colgate: 14th NPI
Beat only UVM: 14th
Beat only UNH x1: 14th
Beat UNH x2: 12th
Hang on for another 5 seconds to beat PC: 17th
Beat UVM + UNH x1, as Wally said: 12th
All of these before factoring in this Saturday's game in Burlington.