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University of Maine 2024–2025: Freel-ing good

Take those 2 points and get the heck outta there. Played ho-hum all night on the road against a top 10 team and survived.

Also, no coincidence that Scholle scored the only goal in the shootout and he was the only one who entered the zone with some speed. Be an athlete!
 
Take the extra HE point. Unreal game, these guys have no quit in them. Frustrating game to watch but they came back. They had multiple great chances in OT which after watching rest of game I would have thought PC had the edge.
 
I was elsewhere in Hockey East tonight watching a game in person, so I only got to see the OT and SO, which I agree Maine looked great in. I was following along on live stats and it wasn't looking promising, but based on the response here it was hell of an effort from our boys. Two big points, and the Warriors took points from BU tonight as well which is always great.
 
After the injuries and lines depleted if Maine wins tomorrow night they can be 1 pt behind BC with same number of games played. That is quite a feat because BC swept Maine and has been 1st for a while and looks like the best team in the country. This Maine team is pesky. Really looking forward to the game tomorrow night.
 
Looked at PWR, amazing how many HE teams are still in or close to being in the NCAAs. UHN still hanging on despite winning 1 game in 2025 ????. maybe its 2 :)

Not sure what to expect tonight? Seems PC was out of gas in OT and really Maine had several excellent chances to end it 3 on 3. Seeing as PC has home ice I'll give them advantage but if Maine can play a more physical game than last night without penalties I think Maine could wear them down. PCs dominance in the first 2 periods was pretty impressive and time of possession favored them for sure. The 3rd may have been a tossup and OT had the ice tipping in Maines direction. tough call on tonight? Any line changes? I'd put Mitton back on renwicks line. 4th line needs to play more tonight if possible, tough when you don't have last change
 
walrus said:
Looked at PWR, amazing how many HE teams are still in or close to being in the NCAAs. UHN still hanging on despite winning 1 game in 2025 ????. maybe its 2 :)

Not sure what to expect tonight? Seems PC was out of gas in OT and really Maine had several excellent chances to end it 3 on 3. Seeing as PC has home ice I'll give them advantage but if Maine can play a more physical game than last night without penalties I think Maine could wear them down. PCs dominance in the first 2 periods was pretty impressive and time of possession favored them for sure. The 3rd may have been a tossup and OT had the ice tipping in Maines direction. tough call on tonight? Any line changes? I'd put Mitton back on renwicks line. 4th line needs to play more tonight if possible, tough when you don't have last change
Click to expand...
I think the only change I would make is getting Fowler back at wing. He was scoring at a reasonable rate when at wing because he was down low more at wing. Since moving to center he isn’t getting down low as his defensive responsibilities keep him on average further away from the boards. As such he isn’t getting the puck as much in the gritty dirty areas. I think it is admirable he filled in at center when team needed it, but I think the lines are better when he is battling down low and being pest at the net front.

On defense I think I would put Lesakowski with Nobes and sit Antonacci. I would have Dalton as the extra skater. I would alternate Dalton and Lesakowski depending on game circumstances. If you want more offensive help put in Dalton. If you want defensive help boxing out and board battling such as penalty killing put in Lesakowski. Last night Antonacci lost so many battles on the boards in his own end. On top of that letting Richard go to the net untouched was a clear lack of focus and that defensive breakdown keeps happening with him at least once a game. Same for Arnott. Those two have been disappointing this season.

I feel our top 4 d are really great. Nobes is putting in some great play and gaining traction. But the rest of the defense have been having breakdowns in their own zone or in not maintaining the puck at the blue line in the ozone. It would not shock me in the least if Barr brings in more than the 1 recruit, Usereau, Maine has signed up for next year. A while back he made a comment before benching Antonacci and Arnott where he said we have a couple of guys on the backend that are fighting it and are not playable right now and it is hurting the team. I’m not sure what happened to Antonacci from last year, I thought his instincts were good in his own end last year. Arnott I never thought had great instincts in his own end. If you are undersized, losing battles on the boards, turning pucks over, letting guys get to the net due to coverage breakdowns, AND you aren’t contributing on offense(Antonacci has 0 points in 19 games, and Arnott has 1 point in 17 games) then I don’t see anything keeping them in the line up. They can, and should, be replaced by new players next season based on how they are playing. It is the weakest link in the chain and I think Barr knows that and will work to strengthen the weakest link.
 
PC will definitely come out with their hair on fire tonight. NFW they want to get out of this weekend with only a point. Not sure they will have the energy to be as physical as they were last night, but we will see. Last nights points for Maine seemed like a gift from the hockey gods, but we will take it. PC always a tough matchup for Maine, and this year no different. Makar, what can you say. Must have good genes. I'd like to see Maine try to outskate them tonight and not get into a slugfest, but I think it will definitely turn into that if PC gets behind. Here's hoping no injuries
walrus said:
Looked at PWR, amazing how many HE teams are still in or close to being in the NCAAs. UHN still hanging on despite winning 1 game in 2025 ????. maybe its 2 :)

Not sure what to expect tonight? Seems PC was out of gas in OT and really Maine had several excellent chances to end it 3 on 3. Seeing as PC has home ice I'll give them advantage but if Maine can play a more physical game than last night without penalties I think Maine could wear them down. PCs dominance in the first 2 periods was pretty impressive and time of possession favored them for sure. The 3rd may have been a tossup and OT had the ice tipping in Maines direction. tough call on tonight? Any line changes? I'd put Mitton back on renwicks line. 4th line needs to play more tonight if possible, tough when you don't have last change
Click to expand...
 
walrus said:
Looked at PWR, amazing how many HE teams are still in or close to being in the NCAAs. UHN still hanging on despite winning 1 game in 2025 ????. maybe its 2 :)

Not sure what to expect tonight? Seems PC was out of gas in OT and really Maine had several excellent chances to end it 3 on 3. Seeing as PC has home ice I'll give them advantage but if Maine can play a more physical game than last night without penalties I think Maine could wear them down. PCs dominance in the first 2 periods was pretty impressive and time of possession favored them for sure. The 3rd may have been a tossup and OT had the ice tipping in Maines direction. tough call on tonight? Any line changes? I'd put Mitton back on renwicks line. 4th line needs to play more tonight if possible, tough when you don't have last change
Click to expand...
Maine weathered the storm from Providence yesterday. Although Maine played arguably their worst game of the year through 2 periods, it never felt like they were out of it.

I think Providence is pretty demoralized today and wouldn’t be surprised if Maine carries play from the jump.
 
BlackBearFan19 said:
Maine weathered the storm from Providence yesterday. Although Maine played arguably their worst game of the year through 2 periods, it never felt like they were out of it.

I think Providence is pretty demoralized today and wouldn’t be surprised if Maine carries play from the jump.
Click to expand...
Providence was absolutely worked at the end of the third and OT. Their goalie saved the game for them. Maines conditioning was much better last night. Providence is a good team and big and skilled but they just got wore down by Maine after playing a perfect game for nearly 58 minutes. We have seen it before. So while people keep saying lucky remember BU pulled a rabbit out of their ass in Orono the same way after being dominated most of the game. This stuff happens.
 
Tonight's lineup.

Freel-Scott-Nadeau
Makar-Renwick-Russell
Fowler-Komarov-Mitton
Lesakowski, Scholle, Pichette, Niemo

Breazeale-Chabrier
Holt-Djurasevic
Dalton-Nobes

Boija
 
amkirby10 said:
Tonight's lineup.

Freel-Scott-Nadeau
Makar-Renwick-Russell
Fowler-Komarov-Mitton
Lesakowski, Scholle, Pichette, Niemo

Breazeale-Chabrier
Holt-Djurasevic
Dalton-Nobes

Boija
Click to expand...
I like this since it moves Fowler back to wing to get him deep in the ozone. I think Russel on line with Makar and Renwick is interesting. Charlie has been showing more confidence handling the puck by stickhandling and wheeling a lot. It could prove to be better for puck possession for that line, which is already strong at keeping the puck in the ozone.

Not surprised to see Antonacci sit. Dalton in there for him makes sense. With Lesakowski as the extra player he can take shifts on D or penalty kill as a D man if needed.

Line up tweaks look great to me.
 
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