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University of Maine 2024–2025: Freel-ing good

BCeagle said:
Hard to tell but the results could have been a sweep for Maine if they were at Orono

The energy from the home crowd is often a difference maker

games were tight and in post season anything can happen
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Playing on the road is an entirely different animal compared to playing at home, especially in hockey east. Everyone plays best in their own barn.
 
grooverider said:
We might as well revive the debate here too on a similar subject. I stand by my comments that the D looks better without Lesakowski. The arguments against me were that it was Merrmiack and they make everyone look fast and it was only one series. Well Merrimack swept UConn so if we were to stand by Merrimack sucks, then UConn really sucks. But the point stands that we have now had two series with Lesakowski out.

With that said I do not see a path forward to Lesakowski being back in. Yes Dalton made some dumb mistakes, there was some bad penalties too, but it was elite competition and they held their own. What do you think Sparkee?
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Dalton was on the ice for 4 goals against. However one of those was more or less meaningless since it was the empty netter. He did get stripped of the puck or couldn’t clear it to the corner. The other one I wouldn’t beat him up too bad was the goal where Leonard appeared to beat Boija clean. I think Boija would like that one back. He gave up too much net stick side. Boija is an outstanding goalie, outstanding goalies make that save. I don’t think he was screened or Dalton did anything major wrong on that. Another one he broke his stick, and couldn’t do much without a stick. I thought the defensive breakdown there was Nadeau not getting it up off the boards to just clear the zone. Also Brazeale was coasting at a time when the only defender between that BC guy and the net was stickless Dalton. Thought Brazeale should have tried harder to get inside position and defend the net front. The goal last night by Posma was the one where Dalton got completely lost and had no idea the puck is between his feet and spins a couple times without even bodying the BC guy.

So while he was -3 this weekend, I thought really only that game tying goal last night was a big mistake.

I feel like Lesakowski should be in the line up against BU. The Lachance kid gave us fits in front of Boija. He’s big and wreaks havoc in front of the net. Lesakowski may be one of the few with size enough to battle and move him.

I’m not sure I’m arguing for Lesakowski vs. Dalton. I think I’d have them both in and have Antonacci as the extra skater. This way you have an extra penalty killer D if you have a D take a penalty. I would likely bench Arnott. Lesakowski only has 1 penalty this year, so he’s controlling himself. Arnott only has 1 shot on goal over 6 games. Dalton is better offensively it seems than Arnott. I think Antonacci is better defensively than Arnott. Arnott is undersized and can’t handle heavy players nor clear the net front.
 
Sparkee said:
Dalton was on the ice for 4 goals against. However one of those was more or less meaningless since it was the empty netter. He did get stripped of the puck or couldn’t clear it to the corner. The other one I wouldn’t beat him up too bad was the goal where Leonard appeared to beat Boija clean. I think Boija would like that one back. He gave up too much net stick side. Boija is an outstanding goalie, outstanding goalies make that save. I don’t think he was screened or Dalton did anything major wrong on that. Another one he broke his stick, and couldn’t do much without a stick. I thought the defensive breakdown there was Nadeau not getting it up off the boards to just clear the zone. Also Brazeale was coasting at a time when the only defender between that BC guy and the net was stickless Dalton. Thought Brazeale should have tried harder to get inside position and defend the net front. The goal last night by Posma was the one where Dalton got completely lost and had no idea the puck is between his feet and spins a couple times without even bodying the BC guy.

So while he was -3 this weekend, I thought really only that game tying goal last night was a big mistake.

I feel like Lesakowski should be in the line up against BU. The Lachance kid gave us fits in front of Boija. He’s big and wreaks havoc in front of the net. Lesakowski may be one of the few with size enough to battle and move him.

I’m not sure I’m arguing for Lesakowski vs. Dalton. I think I’d have them both in and have Antonacci as the extra skater. This way you have an extra penalty killer D if you have a D take a penalty. I would likely bench Arnott. Lesakowski only has 1 penalty this year, so he’s controlling himself. Arnott only has 1 shot on goal over 6 games. Dalton is better offensively it seems than Arnott. I think Antonacci is better defensively than Arnott. Arnott is undersized and can’t handle heavy players nor clear the net front.
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Here’s a monkey wrench in the works
i thought Breazeale was fantastic as a freshman…lugs the puck as well as anyone

but I think the team needs more from him

i had Breazeale pegged as an All American as a senior and maybe as a junior. Here’s hoping.
 
I'll be interested to see how they respond this weekend. Big series and I expect the place to be packed. There should be plenty of motivation after last weekend.
 
My overall thoughts on the weekend in no particular order:
-Maine did a great job in the D zone on Friday and kept chances to the outside. The collapse came in transition.
-Ugly turnover lead to the 2nd BC goal on Sunday. Inexcusable given the situation
-Fowler is a PROBLEM for the rest of Hockey East
-Winning big games outside the Alfond remains a challenge
-Maine is still very good, but not #5 good.
-The BC production team is probably the best of the ESPN+ schools
-We catapulted BU out of the rut last year. Step on the neck this weekend instead.
 
I think this weekend largely comes down to how well BU plays. I have no doubt Maine will give it everything they have but ultimately BU has more talent. If Maine could split I would be pretty happy.
 
Sparkee said:
Leonard, Perrault, Gasseau, and Fowler were the big difference makers for BC. All NHL draft picks… two 1st rounders, a 3rd rounder, and a 7th rounder. Gasseau seems like a steal for the Bruins in the 7th round.
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This is the summary, right here. You can't question Maine's effort, or the coaching, or anything like that. These were two hard fought games, both goaltenders played well, but BC had four or five future top 6 NHL forwards and Maine didn't. Those guys are going to make something happen over the course of 120 minutes.

Maine needs to have Bradly Nadeau pan out, and put another couple of guys in the league, to make Orono a viable location for future pros and get that assembly line going. The talent level is miles higher than it was, but we are missing the top end snipers who can create something out of nothing. We can spend all the money in the world on facilities, we can have the fan support back to where it was in the 90's, we can get NIL going, we can have top notch coaching, but until players and their families and their agents can look at UMaine and say "they will get you to the NHL" we'll be a cut below talent wise. Which is fine, after where Maine has been the past two decades having the 8th-14th best team in the nation is amazing. But to be a true top 5 team, that's the next step.
 
AIC is going to div 2 next year. How many schools will drop out of D1 in the upcoming years due to the cost of all these changes and impending talent imparity that might result.
Odd as well they went to D2, isnt there a very limited D2 hockey program pool. I gather they must be a D2 school in which case you cant join D3 sports. Not sure how that works.
 
NorthMike said:
AIC is going to div 2 next year. How many schools will drop out of D1 in the upcoming years due to the cost of all these changes and impending talent imparity that might result.
Odd as well they went to D2, isnt there a very limited D2 hockey program pool. I gather they must be a D2 school in which case you cant join D3 sports. Not sure how that works.
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AIC is D-II in all sports, so D-III is not an option. I'm sure they'll play plenty of D-III teams but they will not be postseason eligible.
 
AMC said:
This is the summary, right here. You can't question Maine's effort, or the coaching, or anything like that. These were two hard fought games, both goaltenders played well, but BC had four or five future top 6 NHL forwards and Maine didn't. Those guys are going to make something happen over the course of 120 minutes.

Maine needs to have Bradly Nadeau pan out, and put another couple of guys in the league, to make Orono a viable location for future pros and get that assembly line going. The talent level is miles higher than it was, but we are missing the top end snipers who can create something out of nothing. We can spend all the money in the world on facilities, we can have the fan support back to where it was in the 90's, we can get NIL going, we can have top notch coaching, but until players and their families and their agents can look at UMaine and say "they will get you to the NHL" we'll be a cut below talent wise. Which is fine, after where Maine has been the past two decades having the 8th-14th best team in the nation is amazing. But to be a true top 5 team, that's the next step.
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I think eastern Canada is the only place that produces much talent where Maine has much of a chance. It obviously isn’t the place Barr is most comfortable but given the change in rules he would be well served to get out there as much as he can. Breen, Dawe, and Morrissey were all highly regarded and came to Maine pre renovations so no reason going forward Maine can’t get some good players from that area.

I’m not sold on Maine ever having tons of luck with high end Americans. There are too many other schools in fancier areas with a lot more resources.
 
NorthMike said:
AIC is going to div 2 next year. How many schools will drop out of D1 in the upcoming years due to the cost of all these changes and impending talent imparity that might result.
Odd as well they went to D2, isnt there a very limited D2 hockey program pool. I gather they must be a D2 school in which case you cant join D3 sports. Not sure how that works.
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I suspect they are doing everything they can just to keep the lights on. The next 10 years are going to be very rough for schools like them.
 
grooverider said:
So if Merrimack sucks, but Merrimack swept UConn..but Merrimack lost to Stonehill..UConn really really sucks
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There is a concerning amount of mid in Hockey East this year after the Top 4. UNH, UConn, and UMass have been very disappointing so far. Hopefully Lowell is for real for the sake of the conference.
 
If you were to take 6-8 skaters out of Maine's game day roster and replace them with guys that are currently scratched, how good would Maine look? Merrimack is suffering at the moment. Borek has said he wants to sit guys but has no healthy scratches.
 
OronoKO said:
If you were to take 6-8 skaters out of Maine's game day roster and replace them with guys that are currently scratched, how good would Maine look? Merrimack is suffering at the moment. Borek has said he wants to sit guys but has no healthy scratches.
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Big roster too, Looks like 27 skaters and 4 goalies.
If they opt in next year to the 26 roster max, injuries like this next year would be worse problems.
 
Good afternoon, I have two physical tickets that I originally bought on StubHub to go to Saturday nights game at Maine (Section P, Row 5, seats 6-7). Family emergency and can’t go. I paid $108 for the pair, but will take $80. I will have to ship them overnight. and will accept venmo.
email me at jonmailloux1@gmail.com if interested.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Tonight on the Coach’s Show Barr said the league talked to him on Saturday and the league admitted they got that major on Mitton wrong, was not a penalty.
 
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