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

Great night for Maine. Saw it live, great to be back at Alfond again. The renovations look amazing, even better in person. I thought UVM actually had the better of the play early on, aided by the early PP they got, but once Maine got the 1-0 goal they were the better team until the end. The second period was domination, they flat out shredded UVM all period long and could have been up by another goal or two, Wright made some nice stops before getting pulled (which, as others have said, he didn't even play that poorly). Marques finally had a breakout game, I am on record having called him a disappointment here a few weeks ago but he was excellent tonight. Deserved to be the first star. I just hope they can replicate the performance again tomorrow night, it could potentially be set up to be kind of a letdown for Maine, especially if UVM jumps out of the gate and gets an early one.
 
amkirby10 said:
Great night for Maine. Saw it live, great to be back at Alfond again. The renovations look amazing, even better in person. I thought UVM actually had the better of the play early on, aided by the early PP they got, but once Maine got the 1-0 goal they were the better team until the end. The second period was domination, they flat out shredded UVM all period long and could have been up by another goal or two, Wright made some nice stops before getting pulled (which, as others have said, he didn't even play that poorly). Marques finally had a breakout game, I am on record having called him a disappointment here a few weeks ago but he was excellent tonight. Deserved to be the first star. I just hope they can replicate the performance again tomorrow night, it could potentially be set up to be kind of a letdown for Maine, especially if UVM jumps out of the gate and gets an early one.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure what age you are but some people can remember Niko Dimitrakos who was a rookie in 1999 the year they won. He was a gifted puck handler, silky hands, could really dangle and make defensemen look foolish. Well, he went through some rough stretches and you could see promise but he often had poor defensive habits. Just Chery pick and never get into his own zone deeper than the circles. He also over handled the puck a lot and he often tried to hard to force/make the play rather than using teammates. We all loved him for his potential but often was frustrated with Niko when there was lack of 200 ft effort and him being a bit of a puck-hogging hot dog. He played his senior year like a different player and was truly dominant. You could see he was noticeably shredded when he came back fall of his senior year. His skating is what improved the most. But he had a willingness to finally back check and it made him dominant. He went on to have a great NHL career with San Jose Sharks. But the point is despite having so much talent in his stick handling, the rest of his game needed work. I always loved Niko because he was so unpredictable and could flat out amaze you with his moves.

I see Marques along those same lines. You are going to see some fantastic passes. Some fantastic stickhandling from him. But you will see boneheaded plays, lack of defensive awareness, turnovers, etc… with Marques. This is what we saw with Niko as well. But give him time and I think he can be a dominant player for Maine. He’s already improved noticeably just from early season until now.
 
Missed the game but like the results. Hopefully Maine will come out ready tonight.
Back in 60s and 70s when the mills were running Millnocket was a busy place with tons of money to spend. Once the 80s hit the downhill slide began. A few years ago you could buy a house for 40 grand that would go for 300 grand in a burb around portland.

The rink on the side of college ave is where Orono Highs club team played.
 
amkirby10 said:
Great night for Maine. Saw it live, great to be back at Alfond again. The renovations look amazing, even better in person. I thought UVM actually had the better of the play early on, aided by the early PP they got, but once Maine got the 1-0 goal they were the better team until the end. The second period was domination, they flat out shredded UVM all period long and could have been up by another goal or two, Wright made some nice stops before getting pulled (which, as others have said, he didn't even play that poorly). Marques finally had a breakout game, I am on record having called him a disappointment here a few weeks ago but he was excellent tonight. Deserved to be the first star. I just hope they can replicate the performance again tomorrow night, it could potentially be set up to be kind of a letdown for Maine, especially if UVM jumps out of the gate and gets an early one.
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Once Maine got the forecheck going in the second period and beyond it was over for Vermont.

Getting a couple powerplay goals was big too. This team is averaging just over 4 goals per game with a middle of the pack powerplay (32nd at 19.1%). Imagine if that actually gets going a bit more.

Only Langlois and Usereau got on the scoresheet, but all of the freshmen defensemen looked composed and made a big impact last night, especially when it came to breakout passes from the D-Zone. They were extremely crisp and honestly didn't look like they missed any of em. Definitely the best all-around game we've seen from Peterson too. I'll live with some of the D-Zone lapses here and there but really love watching him with the puck in transition and in the O-Zone.
 
Sparkee said:
I’m not sure what age you are but some people can remember Niko Dimitrakos who was a rookie in 1999 the year they won. He was a gifted puck handler, silky hands, could really dangle and make defensemen look foolish. Well, he went through some rough stretches and you could see promise but he often had poor defensive habits. Just Chery pick and never get into his own zone deeper than the circles. He also over handled the puck a lot and he often tried to hard to force/make the play rather than using teammates. We all loved him for his potential but often was frustrated with Niko when there was lack of 200 ft effort and him being a bit of a puck-hogging hot dog. He played his senior year like a different player and was truly dominant. You could see he was noticeably shredded when he came back fall of his senior year. His skating is what improved the most. But he had a willingness to finally back check and it made him dominant. He went on to have a great NHL career with San Jose Sharks. But the point is despite having so much talent in his stick handling, the rest of his game needed work. I always loved Niko because he was so unpredictable and could flat out amaze you with his moves.

I see Marques along those same lines. You are going to see some fantastic passes. Some fantastic stickhandling from him. But you will see boneheaded plays, lack of defensive awareness, turnovers, etc… with Marques. This is what we saw with Niko as well. But give him time and I think he can be a dominant player for Maine. He’s already improved noticeably just from early season until now.
Click to expand...
I'm at the age where growing up Niko was one of my favorite Black Bears. Always thought it was a shame his NHL career got interrupted by the 2004 lockout and he wasn't able to get a much time in the lineup when they returned to play. The Niko comp with Marques makes perfect sense to me. He's probably not as much of a finisher as Niko was but nice to see him completely take over a game like he did last night.

Barr sitting him for that Colgate game really lit a fire under Marques, because he's looked night-and-day different since returning to the lineup (same for Fowler and Scholle as well, tbh).
 
Shawn had a board hanging in the locker room with 12 Keys to Victory. If you achieved 55% at home or 65% on the road you should win.

Better special teams, +/- in the first/last minute, more shots, etc. I don't have access to shift times, but none stand out as exceeding the 40-second threshold. The only marker missed was faceoffs (50%). That was a 91% performance last night.

Now repeat it tonight.
 
ticapnews said:
Shawn had a board hanging in the locker room with 12 Keys to Victory. If you achieved 55% at home or 65% on the road you should win.

Better special teams, +/- in the first/last minute, more shots, etc. I don't have access to shift times, but none stand out as exceeding the 40-second threshold. The only marker missed was faceoffs (50%). That was a 91% performance last night.

Now repeat it tonight.
Click to expand...
Do you remember all of those 12 Keys? I feel like they've been posted before but can't quite recall what they all were.
 
tylerzx2002 said:
Do you remember all of those 12 Keys? I feel like they've been posted before but can't quite recall what they all were.
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I have a spreadsheet I adapted when I coached at NYA that incorporated the 12 keys. Luckily, I found it on an old hard drive lol
Can't attach it in this forum, but here are the 12:

More shots on goal
More shot attempts
More Grade A
Faceoffs (55%/65%)
More Hits
Shifts under 40 seconds*
Fastest two goals
+1 first/last minute of a period
Better power play
No SHG allowed
No retaliation/misconduct penalties*
No offsides on a power play*

The ones with stars were tracked individually by player. If your number appeared on the board next to any of those categories, you were going to have a very difficult Monday.
 
tough to watch game on phone but i watched 2 nd period and they dominated for sure. Didnt uvm improve last year, what happened to them since then?

Comments on niko, talking to his mom during his senior year, she wasnt sure if he was really that good. I said yes he was good. He is one my favorites for sure. Im sure he wasnt one of shawns favorites in his first couple years in orono :)
 
walrus said:
tough to watch game on phone but i watched 2 nd period and they dominated for sure. Didnt uvm improve last year, what happened to them since then?

Comments on niko, talking to his mom during his senior year, she wasnt sure if he was really that good. I said yes he was good. He is one my favorites for sure. Im sure he wasnt one of shawns favorites in his first couple years in orono :)
Click to expand...
She was the best. I really liked her. Kind of funny she had me meet Niko one time after the game when the boys would come up to join their parents and head off to dinner. Well he was a nice kid but you could tell he is “here we go, Mom is making me meet one of her new friends again”. He was super respectful of his Mom though, I could tell. I think it was a Greek culture thing. Every guy I know that is Greek heritage puts their Mom above all else it seems. She was quite a nice and comical lady just her big personality. Definitely one of my favorite parents I’ve met. Even though Ross Mitton was only here for one year his father was a riot too. He was everywhere and he loved interacting with the Maine fans.
 
We also had the pleasure of being around Nikos mom a few times. She was great.
Tonight is “somewhat” a test, for Barr. Did he get his message across to the team of keeping the pedal floored? I’m sure he’s tried but was the message received?
 
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