UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

[Drew S.]

I don’t want to be presumptive or greedy, but I honestly expect four points this weekend. Merrimack just got swept at home by Vermont, and I think they match up in Maine’s favor. They have a pretty good goalie, and an average defense, but they have trouble scoring most of the time. This means they might not be able to exploit Maine’s biggest weakness, in my opinion the defense. Their power play is lethal, though, so Maine will need to kick their bad habit of carving a path to the penalty box to have a successful weekend.

I haven’t seen Merrimack play this year but I anticipate these will be tough games. They’ll play hard and I wouldn’t be surprised if they get us 2-1 one of the nights.

 

[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

I haven’t seen Merrimack play this year but I anticipate these will be tough games. They’ll play hard and I wouldn’t be surprised if they get us 2-1 one of the nights.

Maine has to make a statement at home. This will be warped if the team finishes the season better on the road than at home. Stats, tendencies, and what you had for dinner last night get meaningless if you are persistent, tenacious, and p.o.'d enough.

 

[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Chances of that are slim and none. Merrimack used to like gooning it up some, that will work in their favor if their PP is money.

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I think you will be right. But not because it is impossible. If the team speed sucks, then to ask them to be faster is a pipe dream. If the team is too small then asking them to grow isnt going to happen. But luckily this is an area that isnt impossible. If everyone said to themselves I will not take a penalty tonight, and tried to resist any urges to haul someone down in frustration, hit someone from behind, etc... Maybe they can drop to near average in the league. It seems like you have a better shot of fixing that then a lot of other areas the team could be weak on. Maybe we have to say whomever gets a penalty Red thows in Stillwater after the game.

 

[Dan]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

I think its just the way Maine plays. If you look at this weekend none of Maine's six goals came after having the puck in UMA's end for any amount of time. You do think they're playing with fire but it seems to be working.

UNH got away from what made them successful. Maybe getting Van Riemsdyk was the worst thing that ever happened to them. I really hope they do get their act together.

I can understand how it looks that way from the outside - but no, getting JVR was a coup for UNH and his arrival at UNH only helped their ability to recruit. Then things started to go wrong. I touched on UNH's recruiting downfall in the UNH thread just a couple of days ago...

Greg - I'll go out on a limb and say recruiting would have been better if they had made those three Frozen Fours. Especially if they had won one. They were all frustrating. I'd rank the ND loss as the worst - that team was stacked. If they get past BU the next year, they wipe out Vermont and probably clinch ab national title for Miami...

Here is the problem with looking at recruiting that way. They already had the next great recruiting class lines up - even without those FFs.

The 2009 recruiting class was supposed to be Ryan Bourque, Matt White, Cam Reid, Greg Burke, John Henrion, Brett Kostolansky and Connor Hardowa.

Unfortunately, they lost track of their recruits transcript progress and White and Reid were rejected by admissions (instead of taking a foreign language credit - they were so turned off they went back to juniors and committed to other colleges). Shortly after his buddy White was shown the door, Bourque bounced to major juniors and neither Burke and Henrion ever met expectations.

To make up for losing their star trio UNH brought in Austin Block, Scott Pavelski and Dalton Speelman. That really says it all. But to compound the problem they had to scramble going forward - Goumas and Sorkin had to come a year early and they had to fill holes with guys like Jeff Silengo. It hurt their classes for two consecutive years substantially. As a result the 2011-12 team went 15-19-3...

Around the same time (09) UNH was hit with recruiting probation due to Borek's email infraction. Who knows how many prospects they were barred from recruiting as a result or which high-end kids they had their sites on and lost. Whoever they missed out on, they were undoubtedly better than the prospects they turned to. The two classes that were really impacted by this infraction turned into the following...

2011 - Downing, DeSmith, TVR, Camper, Willows, Thrush
2012 - Correalle, Gaudreault, MacDonald, Smith, Pesce, Quast

...and UNH has never recovered. Downing was in the fold long prior to the probation. I remember watching him play with Reid in Surrey prior to the infraction or admissions issues. DeSmith I believe was too. And TVR Was a legacy.

Those two recruiting mistakes and the subsequent losses buried UNH and made recruiting much more difficult. I'm not sure a few more FF even delay the results we've seen. They simply give us a few more memories of the good times. Borek was always a good recruiter to a front runner. But once the wins slipped, so did his results. They needed a dynamic recruiter and visionary to get them back on track back then and they need the same thing now...

In retrospect they shot themselves in the foot badly! These were all self-inflicted mistakes. Combined with the Laleggia, Vecchione incidents and whiffing on guys like Kalinowski, etc and what an you say. It's a **** shame, but they've brought it on themselves. All under Umile's inattentive (to recruiting) eye...

So, in summary, UNH blew its academic oversight responsibilities on the classes recruits were taking. The admissions office had added stricter requirements on credits in foreign languages. UNH coaches either ignored those requirements, thought they didn't apply to them or never cared to ask about the university's admissions process. White and Reid each had two foreign language credits, they needed three and were out (UNH also lost Will O'Neill around the same time to academics - though I'm not sure what the exact issue was, may have been the same language credit concern since O'Neill was a good student at UM). When White was out, Bourque bolted to MJ. Then Borek's email fiasco occurred and UNH withdrew themselves from the running (as part of self-punishment) for every recruit who received an inadvertent email. Who knows who that cost them. The bottom line was that four out of five recruiting classes were gutted and UNH never recovered from the losses that were the result. Neither Borek, nor Souza currently, have been able to sell a re-birth or turnaround and so UNH simply sinks deeper into the muck...

Blowing it on Laleggia, Vecchione killed any progress. DeSmith's dismissal (though later found not-guilty, with complaint retracted), landed UNH in their current goaltending mess as they again had to rush inferior replacements...

UNH has killed themselves. Period.

 

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

I think you will be right. But not because it is impossible. If the team speed sucks, then to ask them to be faster is a pipe dream. If the team is too small then asking them to grow isnt going to happen. But luckily this is an area that isnt impossible. If everyone said to themselves I will not take a penalty tonight, and tried to resist any urges to haul someone down in frustration, hit someone from behind, etc... Maybe they can drop to near average in the league. It seems like you have a better shot of fixing that then a lot of other areas the team could be weak on. Maybe we have to say whomever gets a penalty Red thows in Stillwater after the game.

Going in the Stillwater across from the rink will be a hard landing.

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[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Swayman will be the difference maker this weekend...he continues to be the key gog and every week he gains more confidence as well as the team believes in him. Solid Goaltending, if you have it...you can beat any team on any given night.

 

[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Going in the Stillwater across from the rink will be a hard landing.

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Good, more incentive.

 

[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

I can understand how it looks that way from the outside - but no, getting JVR was a coup for UNH and his arrival at UNH only helped their ability to recruit. Then things started to go wrong. I touched on UNH's recruiting downfall in the UNH thread just a couple of days ago...



So, in summary, UNH blew its academic oversight responsibilities on the classes recruits were taking. The admissions office had added stricter requirements on credits in foreign languages. UNH coaches either ignored those requirements, thought they didn't apply to them or never cared to ask about the university's admissions process. White and Reid each had two foreign language credits, they needed three and were out (UNH also lost Will O'Neill around the same time to academics - though I'm not sure what the exact issue was, may have been the same language credit concern since O'Neill was a good student at UM). When White was out, Bourque bolted to MJ. Then Borek's email fiasco occurred and UNH withdrew themselves from the running (as part of self-punishment) for every recruit who received an inadvertent email. Who knows who that cost them. The bottom line was that four out of five recruiting classes were gutted and UNH never recovered from the losses that were the result. Neither Borek, nor Souza currently, have been able to sell a re-birth or turnaround and so UNH simply sinks deeper into the muck...

Blowing it on Laleggia, Vecchione killed any progress. DeSmith's dismissal (though later found not-guilty, with complaint retracted), landed UNH in their current goaltending mess as they again had to rush inferior replacements...

UNH has killed themselves. Period.

What is the email fiasco? I missed this. I'll try to look it up.

 

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

What is the email fiasco? I missed this. I'll try to look it up.

They broke NCAA rules by sending too many emails to possible recruits

 

[Dan]

What is the email fiasco? I missed this. I'll try to look it up.

Borek sent a mass recruiting email through their recruiting software and included a large group of recruits who were too young to be receiving emails from colleges. Having used similar software I can see how easy it would be to check the wrong box and include these recruits by accident. Which was their claim.

Either way, UNH self-reported and efforted to avoid larger punishment by being pro-active and agreeing not to recruit any of the players who received the email. Undoubtedly, they had to back away from a number of kids far more talented than the players they eventually brought in to those classes.

After having just blown two years worth recruiting by failing to monitor their prospects' core credits and transcripts, it was a death sentence. They've been spiraling down slowly ever since...

They've only made things worse along the way - I.e. Deferring and losing a pair of players who'd go on to combine for 308 career NCAA points...

 

[UncleRay]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Going in the Stillwater across from the rink will be a hard landing.

We used to play "pond" hockey down there as a kid. If the river froze high, skating among the trees was interesting. And the booms when the ice would crack could put a wee bit of fear into you!

 

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

We used to play "pond" hockey down there as a kid. If the river froze high, skating among the trees was interesting. And the booms when the ice would crack could put a wee bit of fear into you!

We had some dmen who were just like those trees.

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[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Borek sent a mass recruiting email through their recruiting software and included a large group of recruits who were too young to be receiving emails from colleges. Having used similar software I can see how easy it would be to check the wrong box and include these recruits by accident. Which was their claim.

Either way, UNH self-reported and efforted to avoid larger punishment by being pro-active and agreeing not to recruit any of the players who received the email. Undoubtedly, they had to back away from a number of kids far more talented than the players they eventually brought in to those classes.

After having just blown two years worth recruiting by failing to monitor their prospects' core credits and transcripts, it was a death sentence. They've yet to recover...

Oh ok, I vaguely remember. It didn't seem like a big punishment so probably most of us didn't give it much mindshare. That was 8 years ago. I would assume there was time for a contingency plan to take effect.

 

[Dan]

Oh ok, I vaguely remember. It didn't seem like a big punishment so probably most of us didn't give it much mindshare. That was 8 years ago. I would assume there was time for a contingency plan to take effect.

You would have thought so - but once performance slipped so did recruiting. Borek has shown he can recruit to a front runner (LSSU, UNH) but when wins are less plentiful he's a lot less consistent. He still grabbed some good players, but not enough.

I edited my post before you quoted me - but since then they deffered and lost Joey Laleggia (D - 132 career points) and Mike Vecchione (176 career points). They also buried a FR Warren Foegele on the fourth line to give starting minutes and PP time to the SRs they had picked up off the post-email scrap heap. Foegele left and then scored 111 points in 1.5 years of MJ. They've lost a couple of recruits for the same transcript issues that hit them the first time. It's been a mess since 2009 and Borek and Umile have brought it entirely on themselves. And now UNH fans are where we are - very jealous of your 2018 class...

Anyway, I'll let you get back to your thread...

 

[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

You would have thought so - but once performance slipped so did recruiting. Borek has shown he can recruit to a front runner (LSSU, UNH) but when wins are less plentiful he's a lot less consistent. He still grabbed some good players, but not enough.

I edited my post before you quoted me - but since then they deffered and lost Joey Laleggia (D - 132 career points) and Mike Vecchione (176 career points). They also buried a FR Warren Foegele on the fourth line to give starting minutes and PP time to the SRs they had picked up off the post-email scrap heap. Foegele left and then scored 111 points in 1.5 years of MJ. They've lost a couple of recruits for the same transcript issues that hit them the first time. It's been a mess since 2009 and Borek and Umile have brought it entirely on themselves. And now UNH fans are where we are - very jealous of your 2018 class...

Anyway, I'll let you get back to your thread...

Do you mean players coming in next season when you say 2018 class?

In any case I think UNH will bounce back fine after coaching situation settles in.

 

[NorthMike]

We had some dmen who were just like those trees.

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Slow solid guys?

 

[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Slow solid guys?

No Ek jokes now.

 

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

No Ek jokes now.

Big **** was a big part of the 99 team

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[Dan]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Do you mean players coming in next season when you say 2018 class?

In any case I think UNH will bounce back fine after coaching situation settles in.

Yes, next fall. I don't know a lot about the depth of next year's Maine class, but as I lament the lack of goal scoring in UNH's future classes, I can't help but notice Dawe and Schmidt-Svejstrup having great seasons in the USHL. Add that to a number of nice pieces in your last two classes and I think Maine is passing UNH. UNH has a nice sophomore class, but this year's freshmen class is weak (the two best pieces are flight-risk d-men) and the next couple years only bring one high-end HE projected talent.

I'm not sure Gendron is your guy - I'd probably land in the move on to the next guy camp. I think the same may be true with Souza. It will probably need to be the next guy to get UNH back on track...

 

[BlackI]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018, reds last stand part 2

Yes, next fall. I don't know a lot about the depth of next year's Maine class, but as I lament the lack of goal scoring in UNH's future classes, I can't help but notice Dawe and Schmidt-Svejstrup having great seasons in the USHL. Add that to a number of nice pieces in your last two classes and I think Maine is passing UNH. UNH has a nice sophomore class, but this year's freshmen class is weak (the two best pieces are flight-risk d-men) and the next couple years only bring one high-end HE projected talent.

I'm not sure Gendron is your guy - I'd probably land in the move on to the next guy camp. I think the same may be true with Souza. It will probably need to be the next guy to get UNH back on track...

If next year's class is similar to this year's freshmen, this will be three great classes in a row. Which hasnt happened at Maine in a very long time. I have liked Red at times and sometimes not. But right now he has it going. So I am willing to wait and see. I think he'll get his respect in a season or two.