UMaine 25-26: Marques My Word: Back to the Big Time

[Orono1993]

The team is not a #6 in the country type team. Will need to go through some growing pains, specifically on the d-core.

Everything spot on - but who is top 6 then? BC and Minny are bleh, Penn State struggling w softballs, DU losing to Lindenwood, UNH winning in East Lansing and now getting smoked by Mac, Mass going down hard last night and struggling w Bentley, ASU splitting w another softball, etc.

Even with how good Q is, I say if there was a rematch next weekend at Alfond, Maine wins that series by more than 8-4

 

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Everything spot on - but who is top 6 then? BC and Minny are bleh, Penn State struggling w softballs, DU losing to Lindenwood, UNH winning in East Lansing and now getting smoked by Mac, Mass going down hard last night and struggling w Bentley, ASU splitting w another softball, etc.

Even with how good Q is, I say if there was a rematch next weekend at Alfond, Maine wins that series by more than 8-4

A lot of teams have stumbled early but I still think there are some teams that can clearly say they belong in the top 6 right now. NoDak looks good (let's see how they finish off this game vs Minnesota) as does 6-0 Michigan... after that Pedd State is 5-1 and already had the preseason hype to be in the convo, MSU with a pair of road wins at BU if they can finish the job tonight would be squarely in the mix, WMU... solid picks for top 6. QPac at 3-1-1 with 3 of those games vs BC/Maine is probably a good choice for an Eastern team.

Edit - it appears I have jinxed some teams.

 

[UncleRay]

Yoi trailer park Maine inbreds taking smack about a program you’re years from being
YOU WILL NEVER WIN ANOTHER NATTY

I'd recommend an ESL course for you - it might make you comprehensible.

 

[ticapnews]

A lot of teams have stumbled early but I still think there are some teams that can clearly say they belong in the top 6 right now. NoDak looks good (let's see how they finish off this game vs Minnesota) as does 6-0 Michigan... after that Pedd State is 5-1 and already had the preseason hype to be in the convo, MSU with a pair of road wins at BU if they can finish the job tonight would be squarely in the mix, WMU... solid picks for top 6. QPac at 3-1-1 with 3 of those games vs BC/Maine is probably a good choice for an Eastern team.

Edit - it appears I have jinxed some teams.

Hockey East went a stunning 2-6 last night (although 1 was an exhibition) and Lowell and BU were both swept at home. If not for RIP it would have been a terrible weekend for the conference.

 

[Drew S.]

This is my take on the state of play…the leadership last few years were the guys who went through all the adversity in 2020 and 2021 and had an incredible amount of motivation because of it. I don’t think people come close to appreciating how hard they worked. That’s no indictment on this year’s group, they just are in a lot different situation.

On top of that this is just a flawed team. In the modern game there is so much size and speed that it’s tough to have multiple smaller players in your top six and blueline. Goaltending is a huge strength and I’m sure Maine will be able to ride that to plenty of wins but it’s going to be very difficult to replicate success from past few years.

 

[OronoKO]

Freel, Holt and Chabrier were all there in Barr's second season (playoff loss at home to Vermont and sub .500). I think that, with a big freshman class, we need to accept some inconsistencies in the first half of the season. My bigger worry is that there are lots of players who don't seem suited to Barr hockey.

 

[umhockey91]

A lot of teams have stumbled early but I still think there are some teams that can clearly say they belong in the top 6 right now. NoDak looks good (let's see how they finish off this game vs Minnesota) as does 6-0 Michigan... after that Pedd State is 5-1 and already had the preseason hype to be in the convo, MSU with a pair of road wins at BU if they can finish the job tonight would be squarely in the mix, WMU... solid picks for top 6. QPac at 3-1-1 with 3 of those games vs BC/Maine is probably a good choice for an Eastern team.

Edit - it appears I have jinxed some teams.

West definitely looking like top dog right now. NIL is going to be an issue. Programs like Maine, UMass, UConn & Providence are going to have to figure out how to raise some money for players if they want to continue to strive for the Top 10.

 

[umhockey91]

This is my take on the state of play…the leadership last few years were the guys who went through all the adversity in 2020 and 2021 and had an incredible amount of motivation because of it. I don’t think people come close to appreciating how hard they worked. That’s no indictment on this year’s group, they just are in a lot different situation.

On top of that this is just a flawed team. In the modern game there is so much size and speed that it’s tough to have multiple smaller players in your top six and blueline. Goaltending is a huge strength and I’m sure Maine will be able to ride that to plenty of wins but it’s going to be very difficult to replicate success from past few years.

Agreed. Unless you are getting the top 2 or 3 waterbugs.....you can't have a roster filled with undersized forwards that struggle to score at this level.

 

[umhockey91]

Freel, Holt and Chabrier were all there in Barr's second season (playoff loss at home to Vermont and sub .500). I think that, with a big freshman class, we need to accept some inconsistencies in the first half of the season. My bigger worry is that there are lots of players who don't seem suited to Barr hockey.

I think that they went a bit crazy recruiting the Canadian leagues. Maine's line-up needs to mirror Q & UMass.

 

[Sparkee]

West definitely looking like top dog right now. NIL is going to be an issue. Programs like Maine, UMass, UConn & Providence are going to have to figure out how to raise some money for players if they want to continue to strive for the Top 10.

How do you know they haven’t?

 

[Sparkee]

Agreed. Unless you are getting the top 2 or 3 waterbugs.....you can't have a roster filled with undersized forwards that struggle to score at this level.

The small guys are playing great. Poirier and Gerrior are the smallest new forwards. Poirier leads team in scoring. Gerrior is rookie but had nifty goal. I think it is the older guys not producing(Scholle, Russell no points, Fowler 1 pt). Those are not the smallest guys but closer to average build and not producing.

On defense, Peterson is +5 with 2 assists. So is playing like our second best defensemen.

Meanwhile Djuresevic is our largest defenseman and has no points and has +/- of 0. Nobes not the tall but is quite heavy as he is very stalky muscular so he’s plays heavy. He is -1 and has 1 point.

So to me I feel like the ones not playing up to their potential fall into the veteran and average build or larger categories.

To blame size is not an accurate take.

When I see the team play I see some players without the same effort level as last year. I think Scholle, Russell, Fowler, Djuresevic, and Nobes need to put more effort in and play better.

When that happens and the rookies learn better mistake free hockey the team will be deadly.

Until then I expect Maine to be around 10th to 12th in the country. When it comes together you could see Maine being a top 5 team. This is my opinion.

 

[Sparkee]

Everything spot on - but who is top 6 then? BC and Minny are bleh, Penn State struggling w softballs, DU losing to Lindenwood, UNH winning in East Lansing and now getting smoked by Mac, Mass going down hard last night and struggling w Bentley, ASU splitting w another softball, etc.

Even with how good Q is, I say if there was a rematch next weekend at Alfond, Maine wins that series by more than 8-4

There are 17 teams ahead of Maine in the pairwise. I know they are going to NPI instead for playoffs. But the pairwise can indicate how strong teams are based on the limited number of games so far. https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ratings/ncaapwcr.php

I do think Maine will climb pairwise a little and settle in around 10th to 12th until Maine plays and beats better rated teams. Sweep Colgate and do better than splits with BU and UMass would be headed in right direction. But does doing better than a sweep of Colgate and splits with BU and UMass seem likely? I’ve seen nothing so far to suggest better than that. If anything we just showed we got thoroughly outplayed by the Q the 13th ranked teams ahead of right now. Maine somewhat fortunate to have a 4-1 lead but even coughed that up and turned it into a tie. So I think 6th in the country right now is unreasonable take on it.

Until Maine shows us more then I expect Maine to be just inside the playoff team bubble.

 

[DLG]

West definitely looking like top dog right now. NIL is going to be an issue. Programs like Maine, UMass, UConn & Providence are going to have to figure out how to raise some money for players if they want to continue to strive for the Top 10.

look closely- Providence already figured it out- Big ten going to be difficult to match financially

 

[dabears91]

Everybody breathe. I know it’s easy to get emotional (as I did after the UNH game). Quinnipiac is a top tier program with a top tier coach. Maine has 12 freshmen/13 overall newcomers. We all knew there were going to be growing pains.

Let’s not get hyperbolic with criticism of the roster. This team is loaded with skill. They lost a lot of hard working, high character guys. Effort and details will come. It will take time. They will get there. Let it breathe.

 

[Orono1993]

Agreed. Unless you are getting the top 2 or 3 waterbugs.....you can't have a roster filled with undersized forwards that struggle to score at this level.

Ok Maine did score 14 goals in 135 min of play. 3rd period Fri and all of last night w jumbled lines and no Freel/Lipinski, and Josh was ugly but idk if it's already time to write off the new guys

 

[acs64]

Finallly got a chance to watch the saturday game. Actually came away with a good impression of the game. First off, Q looks pretty loaded and for the most part Maine stayed with them even after losing Lipinski, Freel and Nadeau. You knew going in that getting a W at Q after nearly beating them on Friday was gonna be tuff to say the least. Q is big and fast. I thought Rousseau, who will be the future of Maine goaltending, looked pretty good for his first time out there, minus the goal where he did seem glued to the post on that wrap around. Thats on him and a learning experience for sure. Those D1 guys get around the net pretty f'n fast, lol. I see some things from them freshman I really like, and they are getting used to the speed of D1 hockey. Lot of freshman having to be thrown out to the wolves this year, for sure. They will be great additions to the future of Maine hockey. Sure wish we had had Lipinski....oh and those 2 five minute majors didnt help. Another learning experience, I hope.

 

[McGoverners]

Hockey East went a stunning 2-6 last night (although 1 was an exhibition) and Lowell and BU were both swept at home. If not for RIP it would have been a terrible weekend for the conference.

This points to why Friday night was such a disaster. We had a big win against a top team lined up and we let it slip away and we may not be able to rely on the strength of the conference this year.

 

[AMC]

My only takeaways from this weekend:

1. It's mid-October, relax.

2. 3-on-3 overtime is unwatchable. It's like ice capades, the team that wins the faceoff circles around maintaining possession at all costs, including entering and leaving the zone for line changes.

 

[Mac910]

My only takeaways from this weekend:

1. It's mid-October, relax.

2. 3-on-3 overtime is unwatchable. It's like ice capades, the team that wins the faceoff circles around maintaining possession at all costs, including entering and leaving the zone for line changes.

That might have been the most miserable overtime I have ever seen - no shot attempts until the last 90 seconds (maybe 60, actually) and both teams content with possessing the puck around in order to secure the NPI tie??

 

[umhockey91]

Maine dropped to #10 in USCHO Poll.....and #7 in Everything College Hockey Poll. A bit generous but nice to see the respect for the program despite the rough weekend in Hamden.

Q rose to #6 in both polls.