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

[RENCEB]

Need a prestin ryan

...or a Brendan Walsh.

 

[tony potter]

this team is bottom of barrel cant score on powerplays cant win faceoffs i must be forgetting something..oh yeah they just SUCK

 

[pc88]

You guys played great last night and obviously deserved the 3 pts. These are the type of games that PC lost all the time in the last few years. Good luck the rest of the way. I wouldn't want to see Maine in the HE playoffs.

 

[grooverider]

Was the offside on Holt not the too many men penalty, and wasn't it DJurasevic, not Holt, or was there another stupid play that I missed?

This was at the end of the game. Holt was called offsides with about a minute or two left and it wasn't even close. He was onside by a foot and they said the puck went out of the zone. Not to mention the Scholle face off violation in the beginning of the game which was not anything of the sort and Barr was losing his mind

 

[grooverider]

You guys played great last night and obviously deserved the 3 pts. These are the type of games that PC lost all the time in the last few years. Good luck the rest of the way. I wouldn't want to see Maine in the HE playoffs.

I'm all set with Providence this year. Speed, size, skill. Fantastic recruiting class. Also we have had our share of these at home last few years. Maine has now signed depends as their sponsor since we shit our pants so much under 1 minute

 

[grooverider]

Okay guys nobody wants to hear it but we may be losing the locker room. Barr has made some bad decisions this year. He is wearing down some players with his constant bitching. Who knows where we go from here but this may be a lost year and we likely will lose atleast Porier maybe more..can he bring on the right reinforcements? We need some veteran transfers.

 

[BlackBearHockeyFan]

Okay guys nobody wants to hear it but we may be losing the locker room. Barr has made some bad decisions this year. He is wearing down some players with his constant bitching. Who knows where we go from here but this may be a lost year and we likely will lose atleast Porier maybe more..can he bring on the right reinforcements? We need some veteran transfers.

Players should be asked if Barr is the problem

 

[grooverider]

Players should be asked if Barr is the problem

Maybe they are. I think he needs to rethink his vision.

 

[amkirby10]

I decided to do a little research project regarding Maine's alleged choking habit in the Barr era. I compiled every instance of Maine either scoring or allowing a tying/winning goal in the final two minutes of the third period since Barr took over at the start of 21-22. For my formatting, TGF = Tying Goal For, TGA = Tying Goal Against, WGF = Winning Goal For, and LGA = Losing Goal Against. I also included the final score and result of the game in question after the late goal.

11/12/21
TGF 18:33 3P 6-5 OTW VS MC

1/6/23
WGF 19:40 3P 1-0 W VS UAA

3/9/24
WGF 18:43 3P 4-3 W VS UMA

10/19/24
TGF 19:32 3P 6-5 OT W VS QU

11/8/24
LGA 18:27 3P 2-3 L @ BC

11/16/24
TGA 19:39 3P 2-2 T/SOL VS BU

1/3/25
LGA 19:39 3P 1-2 L VS DU

1/18/25
TGA 19:23 3P 2-2 T/SOW VS CT

2/14/25
TGF 19:14 3P 1-1 T/SOW VS UNH

10/17/25
TGA 18:10 3P 4-4 T @ QU

1/31/26
TGA 19:55 3P 2-3 OTL VS PC

In four and a half seasons with Barr as coach, there's been eleven (11) instances of Maine either scoring or allowing a tying/winning goal in the final two minutes of the third period, or over two per year on average. Of those 11 instances, five of them featured Maine being the team scoring the big goal late, and six of them had the opponent scoring late. However, all six of the goals against have come within the last seven instances, after starting 4-0 (if you will). In addition, all six of the goals against have occurred either last season or this season, which if extrapolated, would be an average of 4 per year (6 instances / 1.5 years = 4). Furthermore, nine of the eleven total instances happened at home at Alfond, five goals for and four against. Don't forget, if not for Albin Boija's incredible diving glove stab last year against UMass, we could have had another entry of a goal against on this list.

Interpret this data how you will.

 

[BlackBearFan19]

Maybe they are. I think he needs to rethink his vision.

I think Barr has had it with some of the guys in this group. Watching them it seems pretty clear who has bought in / re-bought in, and those who are struggling to adjust.

I’d imagine we see a lot of turnover again which I think may be good for Maine. People comment about the lack of skill on this team but I strongly disagree. There is plenty of skill, the issue is those skill guys not having enough grind to their game. Give me a team full of Fowler, Komarov, Pichette and Gerrior and mix in a couple bigger high end, older skill guys which I think you grab from the portal. Someone else said it but this team is missing a Taylor Makar.

 

[tylerzx2002]

Without reading too much into the locker room dynamics, you can see Barr is feeling the pressure of the expectations from last season. Looks like he doesn't really have the answers at the moment which is concerning. Bit hard to get back to that level that with such a large roster turnover, even if there are a lot of quality pieces to build around. I think he expected to get more from the returning players but aside from Holt, Fowler & Pichette it's really been a mixed bag. I won't go so far as to say there is a problem, but there is very clearly not the same level of buy-in from the players this year. I won't be surprised if there is are a lot of portal moves heading into next season at this point.

 

[grooverider]

I think Barr has had it with some of the guys in this group. Watching them it seems pretty clear who has bought in / re-bought in, and those who are struggling to adjust.

I’d imagine we see a lot of turnover again which I think may be good for Maine. People comment about the lack of skill on this team but I strongly disagree. There is plenty of skill, the issue is those skill guys not having enough grind to their game. Give me a team full of Fowler, Komarov, Pichette and Gerrior and mix in a couple bigger high end, older skill guys which I think you grab from the portal. Someone else said it but this team is missing a Taylor Makar.

Barr is obsessed with Cale Makar defensemen types and they don't grow on trees. The closest we have is Petersson. And he isn't Cale Makar. Barr likes smaller, shifty, fast, quick thinking, playmaking defensemen. The problem is you can't have a D corp of smaller guys without a shit stirrer who is a bigger dude that can crush opponents with their physicality. It was mentioned earlier. You need two guys on the team, one forward, and one defensemen who are not offensive players, but more gritty and tough. Make the other team fear them and open up the ice for others. There is no toughness in regards to that on this team. It needs to be addressed.

 

[amkirby10]

Aside from my above post, in my opinion anyone calling for Barr's head right now is out of their minds. He has been trying to tell us all season that the team was not at the level at which they were being perceived, and yet the hype train was out of control and didn't listen. Now, that being said, I think next year is shaping up to be a bit of a make-or-break year for him. If they slip further, and/or the vibes around the team continue to get worse, then the voices around the program will only get louder. I agree with others that the current roster is actually very talented, but they are a bit undersized and the buy-in across the roster appears to be very uneven. I still think when the "good Maine" shows up, they could go head-to-head with and beat any team in the nation, but the problem is the "bad Maine" is just as likely to make an appearance, and oftentimes they share the stage in the same game.

In other news, I'm going to be at the BU game this Friday. Anyone else be there too?

 

[Drew S.]

I’ve said this before and will say it again, Barr’s tenure is an extension of the last 20 years. This team isn’t terrible, but it’s very average/mediocre. Even the last couple years I don’t think Maine was talented as much as massively overachieved.

My biggest gripe with Barr is the recruiting. Things have changed so much with college sports you can’t really compare it to the past. With that being said the recruiting just hasn’t been very good. It has to be hard for him to sell the program where he has no ties to it or the state.

 

[umhockey91]

In rewatching the tying goal from last night....I'm absolutely blaming Holt for this loss. When the puck was dumped back in....he had at least a couple of steps on the Providence player to get to the puck and whack it out.....he sauntered lazily to the puck while the Providence player went full steam and got the puck......then Holt falls in front of Rousseau and didn't even attempt to get up while screening Rousseau from having any chance at a save.....it was right up there with the most pathetic few seconds of Maine hockey I've ever seen.

 

[umhockey91]

I’ve said this before and will say it again, Barr’s tenure is an extension of the last 20 years. This team isn’t terrible, but it’s very average/mediocre. Even the last couple years I don’t think Maine was talented as much as massively overachieved.

My biggest gripe with Barr is the recruiting. Things have changed so much with college sports you can’t really compare it to the past. With that being said the recruiting just hasn’t been very good. It has to be hard for him to sell the program where he has no ties to it or the state.

Barr's recruiting is definitely lacking right now....and we can't blame it all on NIL. Even if you exclude the BIG programs + BC/BU + NoDak/Denver.....Maine is getting roasted on the recruiting trail by the likes of Providence, UMass, UConn, Northeastern & Quinnipiac. Even UNH seems to be reeling in some decent recruits.

This to me is a bit of a red flag as it concerns Barr's recruiting, coaching and retention tactics. It's been pretty apparent that Barr is not going to out-coach anyone.....and he certainly has not out recruited peer programs in HE....Maine now has facilities to compete with just about anyone. I don't think recruits care much anymore about how many fans are in the stands.....otherwise programs like Providence would suck. But it comes down to Barr being able to adjust his own beliefs of what it takes to win now in college hockey. The UMass NC was won in a different era even though it was only 5 years ago.....he can't use that team as a template on how to win in 2026.

 

[grooverider]

In rewatching the tying goal from last night....I'm absolutely blaming Holt for this loss. When the puck was dumped back in....he had at least a couple of steps on the Providence player to get to the puck and whack it out.....he sauntered lazily to the puck while the Providence player went full steam and got the puck......then Holt falls in front of Rousseau and didn't even attempt to get up while screening Rousseau from having any chance at a save.....it was right up there with the most pathetic few seconds of Maine hockey I've ever seen.

Don't forget Russell had a chance to get it out and absolutely failed on a clear on the right hash