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UMaine '26-'27: The Bridge On the River Stillwater

Some general thoughts…

I didn’t see last night’s game which makes it a little tough to comment on what went right and wrong, but losing to an AHA team is a disaster regardless of the circumstances. Even though these games were on the road it’s still a massive regression YOY. These were probably Maine’s second and third easiest games of the season.

I had pretty modest expectations going into this season and there was nothing I saw over the weekend that changed them for the better. It was nice Maine took advantage of HC’s penalties early on Friday, but not a lot else to hang your hat on.

The more concerning thing for me is that after this year Maine again loses three major contributors(Fowler, Klimpke, Boija) and some solid players(Scott, Russell, Scholle) and there doesn’t seem to be the ability to bring in the necessary talent. I don’t know what the answer is as far as recruiting goes but I hope Barr is able to find it quickly.
 
Drew S. said:
Some general thoughts…

I didn’t see last night’s game which makes it a little tough to comment on what went right and wrong, but losing to an AHA team is a disaster regardless of the circumstances. Even though these games were on the road it’s still a massive regression YOY. These were probably Maine’s second and third easiest games of the season.

I had pretty modest expectations going into this season and there was nothing I saw over the weekend that changed them for the better. It was nice Maine took advantage of HC’s penalties early on Friday, but not a lot else to hang your hat on.

The more concerning thing for me is that after this year Maine again loses three major contributors(Fowler, Klimpke, Boija) and some solid players(Scott, Russell, Scholle) and there doesn’t seem to be the ability to bring in the necessary talent. I don’t know what the answer is as far as recruiting goes but I hope Barr is able to find it quickly.
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Yeah....I get that this is the NIL era but I still expected way more from him recruiting wise. The more I think about it.....the more I think that the Makars made Ben Barr's reputation at UMass. I think that Barr looks the part and probably makes a good first impression with parents and handlers.....but it seems like there is something we are not privy to that prevents him from getting any major talent now. I don't expect to beat out the top dozen programs for top talent.....but we should definitely be in the conversation with the next dozen. Is he and his staff just not identifying talent correctly? Is he too married to a style of play that passes on talented skaters and finishers? Is he just not the coach that we hoped he would be?
 
umhockey91 said:
Yeah....I get that this is the NIL era but I still expected way more from him recruiting wise. The more I think about it.....the more I think that the Makars made Ben Barr's reputation at UMass. I think that Barr looks the part and probably makes a good first impression with parents and handlers.....but it seems like there is something we are not privy to that prevents him from getting any major talent now. I don't expect to beat out the top dozen programs for top talent.....but we should definitely be in the conversation with the next dozen. Is he and his staff just not identifying talent correctly? Is he too married to a style of play that passes on talented skaters and finishers? Is he just not the coach that we hoped he would be?
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Its still too early to see if he can work some magic but what we know:
To me he lost alot in my eyes last year when he critized the team constantly. Stuff that should never come out of the locker room especially by the coach. It was his team man up and own it.
He is a yeller, skill guys might just stay away from that IDK though.
Dump, chase, grind the boards may be a deterrent in recruiting. IDK. I've become surprised that this is his style, it was for sure Reds, thought he would be more of skill and stick to the system guy.
Good things are his demand for hard work and somehow he reenergized the fan base.
 
umhockey91 said:
I don't expect to beat out the top dozen programs for top talent.....but we should definitely be in the conversation with the next dozen. Is he and his staff just not identifying talent correctly? Is he too married to a style of play that passes on talented skaters and finishers? Is he just not the coach that we hoped he would be?
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Why do you expect Maine to be in the conversation on the 2nd dozen?

I didn't see game but can't say I'm shocked at the result. Its one game early in the season, hopefully they learn from it. Bring on Q, don't see many points coming next weekend unless Boija is a brick wall.
 
walrus said:
Why do you expect Maine to be in the conversation on the 2nd dozen?

I didn't see game but can't say I'm shocked at the result. Its one game early in the season, hopefully they learn from it. Bring on Q, don't see many points coming next weekend unless Boija is a brick wall.
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Because Maine should be in the conversation of the 2nd dozen by every metric.....spending, facilities & fan base. These guys aren't coming to Maine to receive a Harvard education. And we're not talking palm trees and beaches like the top of the basketball and football food chains.
 
umhockey91 said:
Because Maine should be in the conversation of the 2nd dozen by every metric.....spending, facilities & fan base. These guys aren't coming to Maine to receive a Harvard education. And we're not talking palm trees and beaches like the top of the basketball and football food chains.
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Are they top 24 in NIL money?
 
walrus said:
Are they top 24 in NIL money?
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iu


I couldn't find hockey numbers but as a department Maine is ranked 289 out of 357.
Fishman'81 said:
I can't get Chrome to open it without almost immediately redirecting me to an "unsafe site" warning page. Any advice?
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Every remaining game is going to be on ESPN+
 
Drew S. said:
Some general thoughts…

I didn’t see last night’s game which makes it a little tough to comment on what went right and wrong, but losing to an AHA team is a disaster regardless of the circumstances. Even though these games were on the road it’s still a massive regression YOY. These were probably Maine’s second and third easiest games of the season.

I had pretty modest expectations going into this season and there was nothing I saw over the weekend that changed them for the better. It was nice Maine took advantage of HC’s penalties early on Friday, but not a lot else to hang your hat on.

The more concerning thing for me is that after this year Maine again loses three major contributors(Fowler, Klimpke, Boija) and some solid players(Scott, Russell, Scholle) and there doesn’t seem to be the ability to bring in the necessary talent. I don’t know what the answer is as far as recruiting goes but I hope Barr is able to find it quickly.
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Maine has lost to an AHA team in every season but 2023-2024 since the conference only pandemic season in 2021.
 
McGoverners said:
Maine has lost to an AHA team in every season but 2023-2024 since the conference only pandemic season in 2021.
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You're confusing Drew with facts. Shame on you.

OK, I haven't seen them play yet, but the coaches' polls seem to indicate that the consensus is that Maine has taken a step back, talent-wise. On paper, that's certainly the case.The Poirier defection alone was a telling blow. He was the best two-way talent to play for Maine in (nearly) decades. Guys like that are likely out of Maine's pay grade for the foreseeable future.

Whatever, I'll still watch. GB!
 
Fishman'81 said:
You're confusing Drew with facts. Shame on you.

OK, I haven't seen them play yet, but the coaches' polls seem to indicate that the consensus is that Maine has taken a step back, talent-wise. On paper, that's certainly the case.The Poirier defection alone was a telling blow. He was the best two-way talent to play for Maine in (nearly) decades. Guys like that are likely out of Maine's pay grade for the foreseeable future.

Whatever, I'll still watch. GB!
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I think your right about Poirier, if he had played the whole season his numbers would have bore that out.
 
With two very different lineups out there on Friday/Saturday it's clear Barr is still feeling out the roster a bit.

My only annoyance is leveraging an out-of-conference road game as an experiment to run lines instead of just scheduling an exhibition (or even a proper Blue-White scrimmage).

I do like what the top-9 has for matchups, just need some time for them to gel a bit. Thought the 22/41/23 line was the most consistent in both games. I would imagine Fleece will be in the lineup every night going forward because its clear his speed and skill will be an asset. Still really not sure about the L4 LW/C spots, can see those being in flux.
 
Fishman'81 said:
You're confusing Drew with facts. Shame on you.

OK, I haven't seen them play yet, but the coaches' polls seem to indicate that the consensus is that Maine has taken a step back, talent-wise. On paper, that's certainly the case.The Poirier defection alone was a telling blow. He was the best two-way talent to play for Maine in (nearly) decades. Guys like that are likely out of Maine's pay grade for the foreseeable future.

Whatever, I'll still watch. GB!
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I see Drew got his dog kicked by Barr again this season
 
Christian Lalonde just posted this tribute to the late Jay Leach

So sad to hear about the passing of Coach Jay Leach. He was a good man — and I just loved the guy.
Jay visited me in Montreal many times before I committed to Maine. I then had the privilege of playing for him, along with Bruce Crowder, Dave Westby, Joe Clark, Greg Cronin and the legendary Grant Standbrook. And let’s not forget Dave Nonis.
Shawn Walsh had many talents, but one of his greatest was surrounding himself and the Maine Hockey program with really good hockey people — and, more importantly, really good human beings. I never had the chance to play under Red Gendron, but he was another great person Coach Walsh brought into the Maine family I got to know well.
For me, though, Jay Leach was the reason I committed to Maine.
His enthusiasm was infectious. His personality, positivity and love for Maine Hockey were second to none. And yes, occasionally his enthusiasm may have included a slight exaggeration about just how incredible everything in Orono was.
But that was Jay. He believed it. And somehow, after spending an hour with him, you believed it too.
Years after my playing days, whenever we'd make trips back to Maine, we'd try to get together with Jay, Mario Thyer and Guy Perron — two other great guys — for lunch, coffee or a few beers. We'd tell the exact same stories we'd already told 25 times.
Somehow, the stories got better every year.
And strangely, so did our playing careers.
Like many of my teammates, I had many options about where to play college hockey. We chose Maine Hockey because of people like Jay Leach.
Something Jay taught me without ever actually saying it:
Go where the enthusiasm is genuine. Go where people truly believe in what they're building. That's usually where growth happens.
Thank you, Jay, for everything you did for me, my teammates and so many Maine hockey players who came through that program.
You were a huge reason I became a Black Bear.
And I'll always be grateful for that.
Rest easy, Coach Leach.
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