UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

[UncleRay]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

I agree with you, people here think we are destined to fall elow Massachusetts, but I think we will finish 8th next season.

Only if HE loses three more teams.

[Runsub5]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

I agree with you, people here think we are destined to fall below Massachusetts.......

Just my opinion, but I don't see Guite and Gendron out competing Ben Barr and Greg Carvel for talent and ability to sell the program. Now that Seth Appert has been fired at RPI , Ben Barr seems to be a favorite for the coaching position by RPI fans.

[walrus]

Only if HE loses three more teams.

I don't see why folks are optimistic about players they have never seen play. In the 17 class several guys who were supposed to make an impact didnt. Losing byron and brown takes a large part of the offense away. But D and goaltending are where maine lacks. I'll wait and see on that

[Drew S.]

I don't see why folks are optimistic about players they have never seen play. In the 17 class several guys who were supposed to make an impact didnt. Losing byron and brown takes a large part of the offense away. But D and goaltending are where maine lacks. I'll wait and see on that

Are you referring to this year's freshmen class? I'd be curious who other than Pappalardo you were disappointed with. To have one guy disappoint isn't out of the ordinary. I guess you could say Herner and Doherty were disappointing but I don't think it was their fault.

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

Are you referring to this year's freshmen class? I'd be curious who other than Pappalardo you were disappointed with. To have one guy disappoint isn't out of the ordinary. I guess you could say Herner and Doherty were disappointing but I don't think it was their fault.

Hoglund also,

[amkirby10]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

I don't see why folks are optimistic about players they have never seen play. In the 17 class several guys who were supposed to make an impact didnt. Losing byron and brown takes a large part of the offense away. But D and goaltending are where maine lacks. I'll wait and see on that

I agree that you can't completely judge any player you haven't personally seen, but the statistics on many of Maine's recruits gives something to at least be cautiously hopeful for. We have three players who were point-per-game players or better coming in (Adam Dawe, Adrian Holesinsky, and Brady Keeper) and a fourth if you count Eduards Tralmaks, who had 29-27-55 in 40 games last year and has been batting injury trouble this year, and Keeper is a defenseman. Two more are just a touch under the PPG mark (Emil Westerlund, Brent Hill), and can add more down the wing in most cases. And while I realize that offense is the area of least concern for Maine, D is even harder to quantify from stats than forward or goalies are, but they have two potentially game-changing blueliners (Keeper and Alexis Binner) coming in, with more potential depth also waiting behind them. According to collegehockeyinc, we don't have a goalie coming in, which could be a problem, but that would leave us with only two, so maybe they have it wrong and Ben Beck or Jeremy Swayman will be headed to Orono in the fall. Speaking of recruits, who does Connecticut have coming in that jumps out at you? They already can't score, and with no particularly skilled freshman expected to head to Storrs and them graduating a goalie, they don't figure to be a particularly scary opponent. And for that matter, how about New Hampshire? They also have nobody coming in able to even dream of replacing Kelleher, who carried their offense for most of the season (UNH as a team scored 118 goals, Kelleher had 62 points, so he had a hand in a lot of of their offense this year), and their defense was about just as bad as ours this season. They are getting a goalie already picked in the NHL draft, Mike Robinson, but with their offense trying to offset the loss of Kelleher and minimal reinforcements on D, he can probably only do so much. As such, I don't think it's out of the question at all for Maine to pass UConn or UNH in the standings next year.

[Drew S.]

I agree that you can't completely judge any player you haven't personally seen, but the statistics on many of Maine's recruits gives something to at least be cautiously hopeful for. We have three players who were point-per-game players or better coming in (Adam Dawe, Adrian Holesinsky, and Brady Keeper) and a fourth if you count Eduards Tralmaks, who had 29-27-55 in 40 games last year and has been batting injury trouble this year, and Keeper is a defenseman. Two more are just a touch under the PPG mark (Emil Westerlund, Brent Hill), and can add more down the wing in most cases. And while I realize that offense is the area of least concern for Maine, D is even harder to quantify from stats than forward or goalies are, but they have two potentially game-changing blueliners (Keeper and Alexis Binner) coming in, with more potential depth also waiting behind them. According to collegehockeyinc, we don't have a goalie coming in, which could be a problem, but that would leave us with only two, so maybe they have it wrong and Ben Beck or Jeremy Swayman will be headed to Orono in the fall. Speaking of recruits, who does Connecticut have coming in that jumps out at you? They already can't score, and with no particularly skilled freshman expected to head to Storrs and them graduating a goalie, they don't figure to be a particularly scary opponent. And for that matter, how about New Hampshire? They also have nobody coming in able to even dream of replacing Kelleher, who carried their offense for most of the season (UNH as a team scored 118 goals, Kelleher had 62 points, so he had a hand in more than half of their offense this year), and their defense was about just as bad as ours this season. They are getting a goalie already picked in the NHL draft, Mike Robinson, but with their offense trying to offset the loss of Kelleher and minimal reinforcements on D, he can probably only do so much. As such, I don't think it's out of the question at all for Maine to pass UConn or UNH in the standings next year.

Swayman signed his letter of intent and is expected on campus in the fall. I would think he is an improvement in what we have had since Oullette graduated.

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

Again stats mean little. Gibson had great stats, others did also and they aren't even on the team. What's the competition they are playing against? Last but not least I'm not convinced Red knows how to put them in a position to win.

[Bhall44]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

I don't see why folks are optimistic about players they have never seen play.

I have seen most of them play and fans being optimistic is justified.

In the 17 class several guys who were supposed to make an impact didnt.

Arguably top defenseman and centerman both Freshman and were highly touted coming in.

Losing byron and brown takes a large part of the offense away.

Absolutely true. Also is fair to state that both were defensive liabilities which leads to your next point....

But D and goaltending are where maine lacks.

Couldn't be more true. We all knew this coming into the season though. Also worth noting Rob made big improvements from his Freshman season. I would also add, from a player personnel standpoint, Maine lacked the forward depth for a true third line.

I'll wait and see on that

That's all we can do... And hope that coaching staff can does their jobs.

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

No doubt on the 3rd line. 2 lines aren't going to cut it in hockey east.

[Bhall44]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

I agree that you can't completely judge any player you haven't personally seen, but the statistics on many of Maine's recruits gives something to at least be cautiously hopeful for. We have three players who were point-per-game players or better coming in (Adam Dawe, Adrian Holesinsky, and Brady Keeper) and a fourth if you count Eduards Tralmaks, who had 29-27-55 in 40 games last year and has been batting injury trouble this year, and Keeper is a defenseman. Two more are just a touch under the PPG mark (Emil Westerlund, Brent Hill), and can add more down the wing in most cases. And while I realize that offense is the area of least concern for Maine, D is even harder to quantify from stats than forward or goalies are, but they have two potentially game-changing blueliners (Keeper and Alexis Binner) coming in, with more potential depth also waiting behind them. According to collegehockeyinc, we don't have a goalie coming in, which could be a problem, but that would leave us with only two, so maybe they have it wrong and Ben Beck or Jeremy Swayman will be headed to Orono in the fall. Speaking of recruits, who does Connecticut have coming in that jumps out at you? They already can't score, and with no particularly skilled freshman expected to head to Storrs and them graduating a goalie, they don't figure to be a particularly scary opponent. And for that matter, how about New Hampshire? They also have nobody coming in able to even dream of replacing Kelleher, who carried their offense for most of the season (UNH as a team scored 118 goals, Kelleher had 62 points, so he had a hand in a lot of of their offense this year), and their defense was about just as bad as ours this season. They are getting a goalie already picked in the NHL draft, Mike Robinson, but with their offense trying to offset the loss of Kelleher and minimal reinforcements on D, he can probably only do so much. As such, I don't think it's out of the question at all for Maine to pass UConn or UNH in the standings next year.

As of right now, Adam Dawe (according to news release from SJHL) & Brent Hill are not coming to Orono next year. For now expect Swayman to come next fall unless another netminder is picked up which would push hime back to 2018. Keeper is difficult to project in NCAA at this point, he certainly has the ability to benefit on the Power Play, defensive ability at this level yet to be determined. Binner certainly and Spicer probably would have started for Maine this year. As for UNH, they have a done a good job recruiting incoming blueliners for their system. Liam Darcy especially will be very good in Umile's system.

[Runsub5]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

Information for those folks who are discounting UMass from finishing ahead of Maine next year. A poster on the RPI thread reminded me of his accomplishments.

Recruited a National Championship team while he was assistant at Union; recruited a National Championship team while he was assistant at Providence and recruited a Western Michigan team that is currently 7th in the pairwise before taking the Assistant job at UMass.

[Drew S.]

Information for those folks who are discounting UMass from finishing ahead of Maine next year. A poster on the RPI thread reminded me of his accomplishments.

Recruited a National Championship team while he was assistant at Union; recruited a National Championship team while he was assistant at Providence and recruited a Western Michigan team that is currently 7th in the pairwise before taking the Assistant job at UMass.

That's stretching the truth a bit. He had his hand in each but they weren't solely his recruits. I would assume he is gone anyway so it shouldn't matter. Umass might improve in time but I would be surprised next year if they are better than Maine.

[ticapnews]

Information for those folks who are discounting UMass from finishing ahead of Maine next year. A poster on the RPI thread reminded me of his accomplishments.

Recruited a National Championship team while he was assistant at Union; recruited a National Championship team while he was assistant at Providence and recruited a Western Michigan team that is currently 7th in the pairwise before taking the Assistant job at UMass.

How many college and professional rings does Red have?

What's the fine print the financial wizards always use? "Past performance is not indicative of future success"?

[ticapnews]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2nd verse same as the first 2016-2017

Ryan McLaughlin posted in the Facebook group that Coach told Larry Minnesota-Duluth is coming to Alfond Arena next year. He also confirmed Miami will be here for a pair. It will be the first visit by Miami since the Dexter Classic in 1993 and UMD's first since January 1988.