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UMaine '26-'27: The Bridge On the River Stillwater
- Thread starter UncleRay
- Start date
walrus
Wind up workin' in a gas station
BlackBearHockeyFan
Active member
Bridge is still caved in. Reed and Reed putting on a show.
umhockey91
Well-known member
Maine out of the USCHO Pre-Season Top 20 and ranked #8 out of HE.....not quite what I had envisioned for the program heading into Year #6 with Ben Barr.
ticapnews
Never graduate.
That's a rather personal question.
tylerzx2002
Well-known member
Caught my first practice today and middle of the pack in HE seems correct.
Barr was harping on them for a bunch of stuff, including conditioning (yikes?) so have to imagine they're not going to be a finished product by the time they hit the ice with Holy Cross. That's slightly concerning, but not entirely unexpected with how much roster turnover there was this offseason.
Defensively they looked very stout, but not sure there is a single set forward line yet which is a bit worrisome with how out of sync they looked.
Hard to get a proper read on the goaltending because I feel like they didn't really have to do much.
I did like seeing Calvert getting some work with the centers on face-offs (no idea if he had those duties at all in Saskatoon).
Campbell was not on the ice, but was stickhandling off to the side.
Most common D pairings I noted were:
Langlois-Peterson
Usereau-Parekh (these two were locked together all practice)
Krebs-Bales (also played together a bunch)
Lafton-Siciliano (like the way this duo looked)
Langlois-Romaine
topicalgoo
New member
I’m curious how the UMaine staff plans to handle the bridge storyline. It should be interesting to see how that develops once the season gets underway.
The bridge storyline likely will cost Maine a couple places in the standings. It’s certainly a challenge the other teams don’t have to deal with.
Maybe Im just an optimist but I have a feeling Maine is going to out-perform expectations this year. The team is less talented than last years, but I think they're going to come together and execute much better than they did last year, and that will lead to "punching above their weight", if you will. I think a Top 4 finish in Hockey East is likely.
McGoverners
Well-known member
The roster construction mirrors the 2024-2025 team. I am supremely confident in the blue line this year. However, I question where the offense will come from.
And then there's the obvious question about Boija
tylerzx2002
Well-known member
Can see them being a team that gets stronger as the year goes on but I'll keep my expectations tempered early in the season.
Looking forward to getting back up to Alfond for another couple practices before the season starts.
I like the depth a lot and think Maine will be tough/uncomfortable to play against, but the top six will likely be the weakest it’s been since the 80’s or whenever. There really isn’t one good offensive forward returning and not sure any of the guys coming in fit that bill either. I think there is a 90% chance Maine finishes fifth thru seventh with a 5% chance either side of that.
I think saying we have less offensive firepower than last year is fine to say, but to say its the weakest its been since the 80s is laughable. I think the team will be similar to 24/25 with producing offense by committee and grit. We are a much bigger team that can battle in front of the net and get rebounds.
blackbears9
Well-known member
21-22 had one 20 point scorer, 07-08 had two, 15-16 had three. It clearly won't be the worst offensive year since the 80's that's a troll take. I think some combination of Fowler/Scott/Scholle/Russell/Alfano/Fleece/Campbell/Calvert/Peterson will produce five or six 20 point scorers. I wouldn't be shocked if there's none or only one 30 point scorer though.
After seeing what a shit show Arizona State is, I wouldn't be shocked if Alfano takes a big step forward playing in a less dysfunctional program. If he can be this years Makar, Scott takes a step forward and Boija returns to form I'm cautiously optimistic about a return to the NCAA's.