UMaine Hockey 23 - 24: The Barr Crawl to Glory!!!

[OronoKO]

Outshot them 42-24 in their own rink. Deserved more.

 

[Drew S.]

Even getting swept this weekend Maine is still four points ahead of where they were a year ago so still in a good place.

UNH and UConn will be very interesting and I think so far probably Maine’s most important games. It is two of the easier league games they have left but still will be pretty challenging. UConn started off really bad but seem to have improved and obviously they have always been tough on Maine. I’m not convinced UNH is an NCAA team or anything lien that but they’re pretty solid.

I didn’t see much of this weekend but it’s impressive they were as competitive as they were considering these games made eight tough ones in a 23 day stretch. I’m sure the rest will be helpful(perhaps it explains Ostman’s struggles tonight.)

 

[Fishman'81]

On to whoever Maine plays next. Team has heart anyway. Just think about a few years back how ugly this game would have been. Certainly forward progress.

Absolutely, we are seeing progress.

But Ostman is a back-up goalie, plain and simple.

 

[umhockey91]

Maine got royally screwed when they ruled Berzins ineligible and he ended up in the USHL….that little move had Beantown written all over it…just enough to keep him out of Orono for BU’s “dream season”.

 

[OronoKO]

PP was 3-7 over the weekend. It's not bad when it sets up. The zone entry is bad.

 

[Drew S.]

Absolutely, we are seeing progress.

But Ostman is a back-up goalie, plain and simple.

He was all conference second team last year and even this year was huge in the Friday night wins over Qpac, Merrimack, and BC. I think at this point I question his endurance more than his talent. He would do much better in a rotation.

For me games like tonight are a little deceiving. It’s easy after the fact to say if we had kept a couple of goals out we win but game situation determines how each team plays and I’m not completely convinced if it’s 3-2 BU in the third instead of 5-2 Maine ends up winning or even gets the game to OT.

 

[Drew S.]

Maine got royally screwed when they ruled Berzins ineligible and he ended up in the USHL….that little move had Beantown written all over it…just enough to keep him out of Orono for BU’s “dream season”.

I believe you meant to say Indianapolis instead of Beantown.

 

[Runsub5]

Maine kept the weekend interesting, but they don't have the depth that BU has. BU has more skilled players and a better goal tender.

 

[9twenty]

Absolutely, we are seeing progress.

But Ostman is a back-up goalie, plain and simple.

Ostman is a #1 goalie....you have to take in a game sometime....live....all goaltenders have bumps in the road during the season, and Ostman is no different...not a Swayman or a Howard.....on a different note how'd Maine football season go this year and last...no more chatter that, that program has a legit chance at a Nat. Title anymore...(?)

 

[walrus]

Absolutely, we are seeing progress.

But Ostman is a back-up goalie, plain and simple.

Ostman played well Friday. Perfect shots on all 3 goals. Saturday I think his positioning wasn’t great but just look at fifth goal. It was a three on 1, d took puck, great pass, bu in all alone. He made one of those stops early, but you can’t expect that every time. I don’t believe he is Swayman but he isn’t awful.

Disappointed that they got swept but they weren’t the better team either night so. Week off to regroup and take care of business at home

 

[9twenty]

10 games in and 6-3-1...nothing wrong with that. Are they at the top of there game...not yet, need tweaking every where's like any other team..."IF" they can get the pp clicking this will be just another addition to a dangerous team as the season progresses...Barr has his plan working...

 

[BoSox3066]

Ostman is a #1 goalie....you have to take in a game sometime....live....all goaltenders have bumps in the road during the season, and Ostman is no different...not a Swayman or a Howard.....on a different note how'd Maine football season go this year and last...no more chatter that, that program has a legit chance at a Nat. Title anymore...(?)

tends to happen when you hire a coach that tries to retool the entire offense without the requisite players. Maine found a horseshoe with the Coach H and Charlton staff. Its gone. Such is life.

I’ll take whatever I can get video wise but god was the espn-plus announcer last night brutal. Pretty sure he actually cheered on the 5th BU goal.

Maine played well enough to be fine. Barr will keep them improving and they’ll take a shot at these guys in March. Can’t ask for much more.

 

[9twenty]

tends to happen when you hire a coach that tries to retool the entire offense without the requisite players. Maine found a horseshoe with the Coach H and Charlton staff. Its gone. Such is life.

I’ll take whatever I can get video wise but god was the espn-plus announcer last night brutal. Pretty sure he actually cheered on the 5th BU goal.

Maine played well enough to be fine. Barr will keep them improving and they’ll take a shot at these guys in March. Can’t ask for much more.

Correct, Maine most likely will have a say in March...as far as the football program...no Coach will stay more then 3 years if he is a rising star in the game of Coaching...may sneak in a real good season here and there...like every 6-8 years. And I am a long time season ticket holder...so I've seen the sometimes good and more or less fair to bad times....hockey at Maine is different in that a Coach will stay and be more successful.

 

[defkit]

tends to happen when you hire a coach that tries to retool the entire offense without the requisite players. Maine found a horseshoe with the Coach H and Charlton staff. Its gone. Such is life.

I’ll take whatever I can get video wise but god was the espn-plus announcer last night brutal. Pretty sure he actually cheered on the 5th BU goal.

Maine played well enough to be fine. Barr will keep them improving and they’ll take a shot at these guys in March. Can’t ask for much more.

I think ESPN was using the BU feed. It's usually Bernie Corbett and his partner but I heard they had other commitments, so it wasn't the usual BU guys. Friday night was the NESN team even though that included BU alum Colby Cohen.

You guys have a very good team. Certainly a strong shot at making the NCAA's, and you could got a lot further than that. Ostman had an off game but he looked pretty darn good on Friday night. BU's Caron looked like a weak back-up in the first few games of our season but lately he has been at another level.

The traffic around Agganis has been worse this year than I can recall, and it was never good. The problem is that Comm Ave goes down to virtually one lane due to all the activity in front of Paradise Club, one block up (tour buses, etc.).

 

[amkirby10]

I wonder if the team, and Ostman in particular, have some sort of mental block about playing the Terriers. It may not be the case but I think its a fair question to at least ask.

 

[9twenty]

I wonder if the team, and Ostman in particular, have some sort of mental block about playing the Terriers. It may not be the case but I think its a fair question to at least ask.

Possible...let's hope times are a changing.

 

[Bomber]

Ha! Someone lost a bet.

https://x.com/flutoshinzawa/status/1726287125325267344?s=46&t=iHSfKmETuaNp0Z7CLbXA0Q

 

[Runsub5]

We finally saw someone other than Ostman in goal. Boija wasn't really challenged, but I wonder if the coaching staff will give him more opportunities? Ostman must clearly be better during practice, but at some point I think he deserves a start.

 

[Fishman'81]

Ostman is a #1 goalie....you have to take in a game sometime....live....all goaltenders have bumps in the road during the season, and Ostman is no different...not a Swayman or a Howard.....on a different note how'd Maine football season go this year and last...no more chatter that, that program has a legit chance at a Nat. Title anymore...


Brilliant of you to reference football, as if that had the first thing to do with with Ostman... Makes no sense to conflate the two, but you were likely in a hurry to get to some rally.

Ostman has had some good statistical stretches, but he usually fails the eye-test. I've only seen about 300 Maine games, but I stand by my assessment. And a soft goal is a soft goal, even if seen on TV with a thousand other angles available. ;-)

If I'm Barr, I'd give Boo-ya the next start. He's quick, anyway. No way in the world that VO is a FF goalie, IMO.

 

[Drew S.]

We finally saw someone other than Ostman in goal. Boija wasn't really challenged, but I wonder if the coaching staff will give him more opportunities? Ostman must clearly be better during practice, but at some point I think he deserves a start.

I think it’s difficult where there really aren’t any games where Maine is a big enough favorite or underdog to justify it. I do worry that if you don’t play either of the backups at all and then Ostman gets hurt it is that much tougher for them.