UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Is it? I know football costs a lot but it disappears does all that money fund a hockey program with a 500k coach and Minnesota travel budget? Or does it disappear into the aether? I'm betting No. 2

Ain't no 500,000 dollar coach coming to UMaine in any sport. You maybe right though the money saved would be gone.

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[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Losing at hockey 5-1 at home to a fellow bottom-feeder vs. losing 31-0 to a quality football team on the road is pretty-much the same thing, but enjoy...

Will you all be delighted when Maine doesn't have a single respectable program? ( Yeah, I know, Maine doesn't really have one now. )

Women's Hockey @ 3-1-0.....good for them, they are fun to watch/play hard and they don't cost anything to get in and watch....a little support for them would not hurt either. They play @ Home this weekend: Friday and Saturday versus Robert Morris....Home-Coming weekend, catch the women's hockey team @ 1pm, then Football @ 3:30.

[Fishman'81]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Women's Hockey @ 3-1-0.....good for them, they are fun to watch/play hard and they don't cost anything to get in and watch....a little support for them would not hurt either. They play @ Home this weekend: Friday and Saturday versus Robert Morris....Home-Coming weekend, catch the women's hockey team @ 1pm, then Football @ 3:30.

Women's rule are actually better, IMO. There's a lot more flow to the game without all the hitting that basically just slows the game down. ( And field hockey is worth a look too. Maine is pretty good at that lately. )

[Fishman'81]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Reviewing the schedule again, I would set the over/under for Maine losses at 22. And I might take the over on that one.

[ticapnews]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Gray clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Gray clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

Just look @ the bright side, when your back @ the rink next weekend have a Maine Potato.

[Drew S.]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Reviewing the schedule again, I would set the over/under for Maine losses at 22. And I might take the over on that one.

Nah, Maine actually has a fairly easy schedule. The first 11 games are definitely the hardest part of the schedule. After that I only see really four really tough games in the next 23(2 @ NEU, 1 @ BU, and 1 @ PC).

I was going to respond to your post from a few days ago, but never got the chance until now. My question to you and some of the other negative fans is what realistically do you expect? Timmy didn't leave Red with very much to work with, and hardly any recruits which hurt more than anything else. Last year's freshmen class I believe was first or second in goals in hockey east. That's pretty good isn't it? I expect this year's class will be as good if not better(especially if you factor in the dmen and Swayman.)

The group of fans who expects Maine to bring in Paul Karyia and Jimmy Howard and be good again is crazy. That isn't going to happen and to expect it to is completely unrealistic. The key for Maine, and what they have done last year and this year, is to replace the outgoing class of say two decent players with an incoming class of four or five decent players. If Maine can continue to do this they will be respectable again. Based on what Maine has lined up in the future I would say they are in a decent position to do this. It might take longer than some fans would like but its the right approach and one that can be sustainable long term.

[tylerzx2002]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

The group of fans who expects Maine to bring in Paul Karyia and Jimmy Howard and be good again is crazy. That isn't going to happen and to expect it to is completely unrealistic. The key for Maine, and what they have done last year and this year, is to replace the outgoing class of say two decent players with an incoming class of four or five decent players. If Maine can continue to do this they will be respectable again. Based on what Maine has lined up in the future I would say they are in a decent position to do this. It might take longer than some fans would like but its the right approach and one that can be sustainable long term.

I would say I lean more toward the optimistic side of the bubble, but the biggest thing I want to see is year-to-year development from players. Players that are capable of making a jump each season, and can contribute more and more if they are going to be counted on as three and four year guys. We've got a few guys that immediately come to mind (Pearson, Michel, Robbins, and even Hamilton), but not everyone does that, some guys plateau and just never develop to a level they should play at (cough... Vesey). As much as I'd like a superstar that can take over an entire game himself, that player isn't coming through the doors of the Alfond any time soon so it falls on the coaching staff to extract as much value as possible out of the guys they have coming in, not sure that we can say that about Red & Co. thus far, although there is still time for these freshman and sophomore classes to be big time contributors.

[Fishman'81]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Nah, Maine actually has a fairly easy schedule. The first 11 games are definitely the hardest part of the schedule. After that I only see really four really tough games in the next 23(2 @ NEU, 1 @ BU, and 1 @ PC).

I was going to respond to your post from a few days ago, but never got the chance until now. My question to you and some of the other negative fans is what realistically do you expect? Timmy didn't leave Red with very much to work with, and hardly any recruits which hurt more than anything else. Last year's freshmen class I believe was first or second in goals in hockey east. That's pretty good isn't it? I expect this year's class will be as good if not better(especially if you factor in the dmen and Swayman.)

The group of fans who expects Maine to bring in Paul Karyia and Jimmy Howard and be good again is crazy. That isn't going to happen and to expect it to is completely unrealistic. The key for Maine, and what they have done last year and this year, is to replace the outgoing class of say two decent players with an incoming class of four or five decent players. If Maine can continue to do this they will be respectable again. Based on what Maine has lined up in the future I would say they are in a decent position to do this. It might take longer than some fans would like but its the right approach and one that can be sustainable long term.

Drew, I admire your loyalty and your optimism, truly I do... But let's evaluate the empirical evidence.

Coaching hockey isn't really about X's and O's. The game itself is fairly simple -as in- the more talented team usually wins. Ergo, you need to recruit talent, then throw a puck out and allow the talent to rise to the top ... It almost always works that way.

We all got our panties in a bunch when the program was descending under Timmy, but ****, he recruited so much better than Red has that there's no legitimate comparison to be made between the two. Tim has 6 guys in the NHL. Red has none, and none on his current roster look to have a any chance in that regard.

I've spent many hours driving and many thousands of dollars seeing Maine hockey for a very long time. I loved going to different arenas and seeing Maine win most of the time (even under Timmy!) But the Red regime is showing exactly zero promise. It just looks worse all the time, and that's a fact.

Still expecting a dismal season. Nearly every team on the schedule looks either a lot better, or at least somewhat better.

Sad, but maybe they'll surprise me. (I doubt it, but I hope so.)

[walrus]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

I'm no convinced it matters how much talent there is.

[Drew S.]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Drew, I admire your loyalty and your optimism, truly I do... But let's evaluate the empirical evidence.

Coaching hockey isn't really about X's and O's. The game itself is fairly simple -as in- the more talented team usually wins. Ergo, you need to recruit talent, then throw a puck out and allow the talent to rise to the top ... It almost always works that way.

We all got our panties in a bunch when the program was descending under Timmy, but ****, he recruited so much better than Red has that there's no legitimate comparison to be made between the two. Tim has 6 guys in the NHL. Red has none, and none on his current roster look to have a any chance in that regard.

I've spent many hours driving and many thousands of dollars seeing Maine hockey for a very long time. I loved going to different arenas and seeing Maine win most of the time (even under Timmy!) But the Red regime is showing exactly zero promise. It just looks worse all the time, and that's a fact.

Still expecting a dismal season. Nearly every team on the schedule looks either a lot better, or at least somewhat better.

Sad, but maybe they'll surprise me. (I doubt it, but I hope so.)

Red really only has two classes of his own so its not surprising he hasn't put any guys in the NHL. I think Michel and Pearson definitely make it though. There are some other guys who have a shot. Is guys in the NHL really a good way of measuring how good recruiting is? If you look at Maine between '99 and '07 there wasn't a ton of NHL talent and those teams were all very good. I'll take a team of Peter Metcalfs and Colin Shields any time.

We'll agree to disagree on Maine's future. I really hope you are wrong though!

[Drew S.]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

UConn is losing to AIC 3-0 right now. That doesn't make me feel very good.

[Fishman'81]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Red really only has two classes of his own so its not surprising he hasn't put any guys in the NHL. I think Michel and Pearson definitely make it though. There are some other guys who have a shot. Is guys in the NHL really a good way of measuring how good recruiting is? If you look at Maine between '99 and '07 there wasn't a ton of NHL talent and those teams were all very good. I'll take a team of Peter Metcalfs and Colin Shields any time.

We'll agree to disagree on Maine's future. I really hope you are wrong though!

With all due respect, I think that you can see talent right away. (As in, foot-speed, hands, having the ability to create your own shot... Not seeing that from this team, nor have I seen it in any meaningful way from any of Red's recruits.)

Mac is a very mediocre goalie; he's not going to steal any games to speak of. I haven't see Swayman, but I saw the one box-score, which wasn't encouraging. Without a stellar goalie, Maine will lose 20+ games again.

Passing muster in the NHL isn't the be-all, end-all for sure, but it's as good a litmus test as we have. Veasey might have a shot at a cup of coffee there, but I just don't see anyone else on this roster getting a sniff.

Why Maine extended Red is inexplicable. "His" best players have all been Whitehead recruits. Now, the cupboard looks pretty bare to me.

[Fishman'81]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

I'm no convinced it matters how much talent there is.

Wally, talent trumps everything else most of the time. ( Excuse me for swearing there lol. )

I'm fully convinced that either one of us could have "coached" the '93 team to at least 35 wins. As Jeff Jackson said after that title game, " Not much you can do when guys are coming at you at 100 MPH."

You can't teach speed, you can't teach hands; you only hope to recruit them, and Red hasn't.

[ticapnews]

Re: UMaine Black Bears, 2017-2018 season, is this Reds last stand?

Bemidji upset Minnesota-Duluth tonight. Also UHN, UMass and UConn all won while BC, BU and Lowell all lost...