UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

[all bear]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

Thats an interesting theory

A few basic glitches in that theory to say that least

 

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

Am not ready to jump off a bridge quite yet. I saw maybe 3 good periods of play and 3 bad periods this weekend. That won't cut it in this league. Well it's their choice , they either make a statement on Friday in front of a hockey starved fan base or they fumble t h e puck. What's it gonna be ?

thought it was 2.5 periods of decent hockey, first part of 3rd last night, then the penalties started happening.

 

[AMC]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

My outlook is still rosier than it was before the season started. Winning on the road isn't something a young team is necessarily good at. 3-3-2, 3-1-0 at home is ahead of where I thought they would be.

If Maine finishes in sniffing distance of .500 and makes Alfond a nightmare for visitors again this year, I think that is a good step. This wasn't going to be a tournament team overnight.

 

[Tater]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

My outlook is still rosier than it was before the season started. Winning on the road isn't something a young team is necessarily good at. 3-3-2, 3-1-0 at home is ahead of where I thought they would be.

BU is tied as the youngest team in the country and they blasted Colgate 6-1 away in their new rink. Generally, I agree that many times winning on the road is hard, but Colgate (saw them in person) is a horrible team. I'm not sure they would do well in the AHC. A loss and a tie is a poor weekend there any way you slice it. It will be interesting to see how the team responds.

 

[Drew S.]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

BU is tied as the youngest team in the country and they blasted Colgate 6-1 away in their new rink. Generally, I agree that many times winning on the road is hard, but Colgate (saw them in person) is a horrible team. I'm not sure they would do well in the AHC. A loss and a tie is a poor weekend there any way you slice it. It will be interesting to see how the team responds.

I don't disagree Maine should have done better but thats not exactly an apples to apples comparison. BU didn't have to travel the weekend before they went out there and Colgate is three and a half hours closer to Boston than Orono. The good thing for Maine is they don't really have any significant travel the rest of the season and reinforcements should be on the way soon.

I'm going to go on a mini rant here for a minute. Tim Doherty committed to Maine back in January, how the hell hasn't the NCAA worked out yet when he is going to be eligible? It's certainly an odd situation but doesn't seem like it should take a year to get to the bottom of.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

Do you know what numbers the freshmen are wearing? There is only one class Timmy had that was anywhere close to as good as this class(2008). Herner and Doherty are still wild cards but this class has at least five decent players, potentially seven, and I'm not ready to give up on Pappalardo quite yet. I think Housakos will turn into a solid player as well. Timmy recruited a few great players, no doubt about that, but his recruiting overall was dismal. You and others can get upset but I'm pretty happy with .500 after eight games looking at who and where they had to play.

I didn't say that this is a bad class; I just meant to say that there isn't a blue-chipper among them, with the possible exception of Fossier.

Yeah, Tim's overall recruiting was nothing special -and I was calling for his head on a pike down the stretch- but he did bring in Goose, Flynn, Hutton, Shore, Ouelette, Abbott... Add any one of those guys to this year's team and we might be looking at another win or two right now. My point was that Red hasn't brought in a single guy of that ilk yet.

Not throwing in the towel just yet. There are very few truly good teams out there this year, and Maine ought to have a puncher's chance in most of their remaining games... But not if they play the way they did at Colgate.

 

[AMC]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

BU is tied as the youngest team in the country and they blasted Colgate 6-1 away in their new rink. Generally, I agree that many times winning on the road is hard, but Colgate (saw them in person) is a horrible team. I'm not sure they would do well in the AHC. A loss and a tie is a poor weekend there any way you slice it. It will be interesting to see how the team responds.

Good for BU. This team is 3-3-2. Sure, it's been a weird split of what teams Maine beat and tied, but they are beating good (Quinnipiac) teams at home and losing on the road.

Anyone who expected Maine to be better than 3-3-2 right now was, frankly, delusional. It's a long *** season. There are going to be ups and downs. The next four games are against top five caliber teams (BC in Portland, BC in Orono, UML in Orono, UML in Lowell). This "down" period may last for a few weekends. It's a young team that was never going to make (or challenge for) the NCAAs. I'll be thrilled if they can steal a game in Orono, and be sitting at 4-6-2, and they will STILL be ahead of where I thought they would be coming into the year.

This team won 8 games last year. We are almost halfway there and it isn't even November yet. Relax.

(yes, I do feel weird being the most optimistic fan around here at this point)

 

[DoubleA]

The painful truth is that Timmay way out-recruited Red, as thin as were thought the crops were back then. The proof is in the pudding, and I am fairly certain that Maine will never garner another NCAA bid as long as the Gendron regime is in place.

A little perspective 8 games into the season here please.... Given the total sheet show Red was left, how exactly is/was he and staff supposed to attract top notch kids, NHL draft quality kids, to a failing program in the *** end of nowhere (yes Orono is pretty much that...and yes I spent 4 1/2 yrs there). The only way is he digs his way out of the dumpster, recruits some non-tier 1 players with potential, DEVELOPS them, wins some games and shows some respectability again, and makes the playoffs. This is a multi year task; not 3 or 4 years. Maybe 6 or 7. His first 2 years don't even count when it comes to recruiting. Those were all already The Undertaker's recruits.
I'm not saying Hey give Red a break. Not at all. Back to his arrival in May 2013 I'm saying he doesn't have a prayer in heLL of recruiting a lot of top players with his only truthful sell being Hey, we have a seriously declining program with very little talent to hook you up to, AND you'll be stationed in Orono. I know BC, BU, UML, Providence, The Q and others are interested in you, but hey this is a great chance to take a once great program out of the gutter and pioneer it to greatness again. Whadda ya say??
My frustration is that now I think RG and staff have gotten some talent in the door, and yes I do think we now have a real goalie, but one team comes out the first 5 games and raises a few eyebrows, and then some other team comes out and stinks the last 3 games. In particular, this weekend should have been a sweep against a weak Colgate team. A tie and a loss took all the momentum away from a very promising season start. Fossier is a rock star the first 4 games. Guys are scoring again! What happened? Are they on break having a cigarette? And lastly, I won't understand the Morris decision Sat night if I live to be 200. No way that was a smart strategic call. Oh well, Play on. I'll be in Portland Fri night. Should be interesting.

 

[all bear]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

Good to see folks being reasonable about results and expectations. I think a 500 season would be a great accomplishment with so many frosh we have. Having said that i want to see them take down some of the real lumber in our league on occasion. Think they are talented enough but ha v e to play hard and smart the full game. Give them a taste of what it feels like for future reference

 

[Drew S.]

A little perspective 8 games into the season here please.... Given the total sheet show Red was left, how exactly is/was he and staff supposed to attract top notch kids, NHL draft quality kids, to a failing program in the *** end of nowhere (yes Orono is pretty much that...and yes I spent 4 1/2 yrs there). The only way is he digs his way out of the dumpster, recruits some non-tier 1 players with potential, DEVELOPS them, wins some games and shows some respectability again, and makes the playoffs. This is a multi year task; not 3 or 4 years. Maybe 6 or 7. His first 2 years don't even count when it comes to recruiting. Those were all already The Undertaker's recruits.
I'm not saying Hey give Red a break. Not at all. Back to his arrival in May 2013 I'm saying he doesn't have a prayer in heLL of recruiting a lot of top players with his only truthful sell being Hey, we have a seriously declining program with very little talent to hook you up to, AND you'll be stationed in Orono. I know BC, BU, UML, Providence, The Q and others are interested in you, but hey this is a great chance to take a once great program out of the gutter and pioneer it to greatness again. Whadda ya say??
My frustration is that now I think RG and staff have gotten some talent in the door, and yes I do think we now have a real goalie, but one team comes out the first 5 games and raises a few eyebrows, and then some other team comes out and stinks the last 3 games. In particular, this weekend should have been a sweep against a weak Colgate team. A tie and a loss took all the momentum away from a very promising season start. Fossier is a rock star the first 4 games. Guys are scoring again! What happened? Are they on break having a cigarette? And lastly, I won't understand the Morris decision Sat night if I live to be 200. No way that was a smart strategic call. Oh well, Play on. I'll be in Portland Fri night. Should be interesting.

I completely agree with the first part of your post. As far as the second part, I honestly don't understand why you and others thought Saturday was such a big game. Why go all in against a mediocre EZAC team? After what we saw Friday why risk Bub when 75% of the season is left? He probably could use a night off anyway and you need to know what you have behind him. The decision made perfect sense to me.

 

[walrus]

Good to see folks being reasonable about results and expectations. I think a 500 season would be a great accomplishment with so many frosh we have. Having said that i want to see them take down some of the real lumber in our league on occasion. Think they are talented enough but ha v e to play hard and smart the full game. Give them a taste of what it feels like for future reference

I think the good start gave people high hopes . So most fans wanted wins and expected wins in toothpasteville. Maine dominated the first 2 periods friday night then looked like **** until the 3rd Saturday and then fell apart again. The only consistent thing is inconsistency. Except for Rob, he has looked good.

 

[AMC]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

I think the good start gave people high hopes . So most fans wanted wins and expected wins in toothpasteville. Maine dominated the first 2 periods friday night then looked like **** until the 3rd Saturday and then fell apart again. The only consistent thing is inconsistency. Except for Rob, he has looked good.

You'd think after 10 years of mediocrity we wouldn't seem so spoiled as fans. We were picked 12th in a 12 team league. We are relying on a TON of freshmen. It's like everyone expects this to be the Kariya/Ferraro class and immediately play up to potential and roll everyone.

Yeah, Colgate probably isn't good. This Maine team is probably a year away from being a year away from competing for the NCAAs. They will lose games they should win while they figure it out.

 

[tylerzx2002]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

I completely agree with the first part of your post. As far as the second part, I honestly don't understand why you and others thought Saturday was such a big game. Why go all in against a mediocre EZAC team? After what we saw Friday why risk Bub when 75% of the season is left? He probably could use a night off anyway and you need to know what you have behind him. The decision made perfect sense to me.

I think it's a bit disappointing because with the match-up you're ideally going on the road against a poor opponent and hoping to come out of it with more than a point. Realistically given the inconsistencies we've seen with the team getting worn down and outplayed as games have progressed we shouldn't be surprised with what the weekend results turned out to be. It's a work in progress, but eventually this team (and Gendron) are going to have to learn to win on the road, which they haven't done a lot of during his tenure (9-39-7 on the road by my count). Here's hoping the youngster can figure that part of games out.

 

[Fishman'81]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

This Maine team is probably a year away from being a year away from competing for the NCAAs.

Where can I sign-on for that?

 

[Don C]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

I was at both games this weekend and can say that the team played hard both games. There young give them time. Maybe instead of complaining you could go out help fund raise for the hockey team and the arena. Help sell the program to young men on trips to the Alfond. Your just whiners if you do nothing to help make changes.

 

[umhockey91]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

I was at both games this weekend and can say that the team played hard both games. There young give them time. Maybe instead of complaining you could go out help fund raise for the hockey team and the arena. Help sell the program to young men on trips to the Alfond. Your just whiners if you do nothing to help make changes.

Many Maine hockey fans on this forum have become chronic whiners. Thankfully, they are not a majority of Maine fans right now.....most of us are pretty happy with the overall direction of the UM athletic program under Creech. It's lightyears ahead of where they were in the dark days of the Nero/James regimes.......

 

[Drew S.]

Many Maine hockey fans on this forum have become chronic whiners. Thankfully, they are not a majority of Maine fans right now.....most of us are pretty happy with the overall direction of the UM athletic program under Creech. It's lightyears ahead of where they were in the dark days of the Nero/James regimes.......

100% agree. There are some minor things I would do different but no doubt heading in the right direction.

 

[AMC]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

Many Maine hockey fans on this forum have become chronic whiners. Thankfully, they are not a majority of Maine fans right now.....most of us are pretty happy with the overall direction of the UM athletic program under Creech. It's lightyears ahead of where they were in the dark days of the Nero/James regimes.......

It's being run like a real division one athletic department. Which is new.

Now just figure out how to get highlights of your fricking games on youtube, and not look like it was smuggled out of Siberia in 1985 with weird music playing over it.

 

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

Many Maine hockey fans on this forum have become chronic whiners. Thankfully, they are not a majority of Maine fans right now.....most of us are pretty happy with the overall direction of the UM athletic program under Creech. It's lightyears ahead of where they were in the dark days of the Nero/James regimes.......

Explain to us why its better now? I have no dealings with ADs office so I'm curious why its so much better. You can leave James out of it we all know what he did.

 

[Pucknut]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2016 2017 season thread

Many Maine hockey fans on this forum have become chronic whiners. Thankfully, they are not a majority of Maine fans right now.....most of us are pretty happy with the overall direction of the UM athletic program under Creech. It's lightyears ahead of where they were in the dark days of the Nero/James regimes.......

Come on? Creech favors football over all other sports and has shown that with creating the Cosgrove position. Look to where the bulk of the recent commitment by the Alfond family is going.