Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

[J.D.]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

Not sure what BC did today that was dirty but if drew feels that way i can only imagine how he would classify what vesey did.

[CollegeHockeyRinkReport]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/hock...hockey-program

Demise of Maine Hockey

[walrus]

Not sure what BC did today that was dirty but if drew feels that way i can only imagine how he would classify what vesey did.

The new skating mother teresas,

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/hock...hockey-program

Demise of Maine Hockey

Worth noting... Shocked to see so few Maine fans this weekend. Fan base seems to on the down swing as a result of on ice performance. Can't say I blame them.

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

Not sure what BC did today that was dirty but if drew feels that way i can only imagine how he would classify what vesey did.

There's no excuse for what Vesey did. Whether you are frustrated or not, that is inexcusable behavior and should not be tolerated by the coaching staff. Clearly a bad reflection on the Maine hockey program and fans.

[J.D.]

The new skating mother teresas,

No, not quite. BC will mix it up just like maine. Just saying nobody on BC pulled a stunt like vesey.

[theprofromdover]

Ya from the Saints of BC, famous for there stick work also...don't take away from your netminder's stellar play and 2 W's...but then you have to blank on Maine any way you can.

Their. Dope.

[BCeagle]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

Not sure what BC did today that was dirty but if drew feels that way i can only imagine how he would classify what vesey did.

I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary except the after the whistle activities but the refs should have reigned that in ASAP and give both sides the riot act. I never saw a ref shove a player in the penalty box like that. I think it was Perez he shoved in. But that thing after the game with Demko where Vesey attacked him is something Gendron and and the Commish need to address so that this type of thing does not happen again. I thought Maine did what it needed to, to stay close to BC and BC did what it needed to, to win both games.

[ck1969]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/hock...hockey-program

Demise of Maine Hockey

That article should help recruiting.

[ck1969]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

Looking at the schedule there's no way they get 5 wins. 1 from Princeton, maybe 1 out of 4 vs UHN. Maybe steal another one at home against someone. That's all I see. Then after a 3 or 4 win season how many recruits say screw it and walk. As hard as it is to believe it's going to get worse and there may be no return from the abyss. All my optimism I had after the Icebreaker is gone.

[Drew S.]

Looking at the schedule there's no way they get 5 wins. 1 from Princeton, maybe 1 out of 4 vs UHN. Maybe steal another one at home against someone. That's all I see. Then after a 3 or 4 win season how many recruits say screw it and walk. As hard as it is to believe it's going to get worse and there may be no return from the abyss. All my optimism I had after the Icebreaker is gone.

Were you at either of the games? Maine played very well this weekend. As I said in my earlier post, Maine just needs to get more shots on goal. They had some decent looks and put them wide. Red said basically the same thing after the game. Maine will definitely win 10 games this year.

As far as the incident at the end of game, I watched the video on my phone and it didn't look that bad. It looked like Vesey went over to yell at him more than anything else. Maybe I'm wrong but it was much tamer than I expected.

Some might not like the physical play but I love it. I want to see that fire and commitment. If you look back at the Maine teams that were successful they never backed down and could be pretty physical.

[AMC]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

That article about the demise of Maine hockey isn't new, or surprising. The hockey team's slow, steady decline is pretty emblematic of the University as a whole. A few new engineering buildings and the fitness center aside, the whole Orono campus is shambolic. There's no money for basic maintenance or upkeep, and things keep getting more and more decrepit. The school can't recruit enough students to make money because every time someone reads about UMaine in the paper, it is a budget crisis or a lack of money for something, or a new program to eliminate. Not having money to recruit or support student athletes is the least surprising thing in the world to me.

A lot of this stuff can't be helped- it's a poor state, it's a big state, it's an old state. More and more of what little money the state has will be going to support for the elderly, which makes the fact that what few young people we have will leave the state for school and work a foregone conclusion. Some of it is self inflicted. Leadership has been a black hole for a while. No one has a vision to say "I'm going to re-energize the University by doing a, b and c."

I graduated from Maine undergrad and a private school for grad school. The private school has a lot of money (a LOT of money). Every month I get a solicitation for more. Every month I get a big glossy magazine. Every three months I get a quarterly alumni magazine specific to the program I graduated from. I realize that stuff costs money, but it also keeps the school in the front of people's minds and they give and are energized. Maine stopped sending out an alumni magazine. It saved money, I am sure, but I haven't thought to donate in years, mostly because I haven't been asked.

Beyond that, I know someone who had hockey season tickets since the 1980's. He didn't renew last year. It made no sense to pay for them and not go to some games when he could just buy tickets at the door, usually cheaper. That's someone that has been a loyal customer of almost 30 years. He didn't even get a phone call from someone in athletics or the ticket office to try to retain him or see why he wasn't renewing. That is HORRIBLE customer service and a prime example of how clueless the University is.

Regarding this past weekend at BC, I'm disappointed in the Vesey spear on Demko. I thought Red was supposed to be the coach who brought discipline and accountability and hard work and.... Even if Red suspends Vesey now, it's pretty clear that this isn't a program that has absorbed the message about the right way to play the game. A good program, with solid leadership, and that wouldn't happen in the first place. It would have been known that behavior isn't acceptable.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

Taking away the Vesey thing from the equation, I thought Maine played pretty well this weekend, had a solid gameplan and executed it quite well. On Friday night they just didn't get the bounces, two of their shots hit the post and Demko made a few acrobatic saves. On Sunday it was a different story, they didn't really threaten offensively.

They won a lot of battles on the wall this weekend and still couldn't make that translate into much. Which is saying something. Obviously no gamebreakers on this team. BC seemed to know this and just grinded out the games and poked in a few when their skill could take over and that was it.

I think Maine came into Conte thinking they would maybe intimidate them and bully them and they found out the hard way that BC can handle that situation this year.

As far as the Vesey thing, stupid stupid play. I'm all for playing a full 60 minutes but that goes both ways. Dump the puck in with a few seconds to go and live to play another day. He barely got bumped, lost his balance, and seemed to lose his mind and for whatever reason went after Demko rather than the defenseman that bumped him. It was odd. Happened right in front of me. Clearly a premeditated action. Luckily no one got hurt. Just go to the bench with 5 seconds left, I guarantee BC isn't going to try to score on your team.

[J.D.]

Re: Maine Hockey: Summer 2015 on the Stillwater

The video certainly didn't do it justice. Seeing it live from a different angle was worse. I'd be stunned if the league doesn't suspend him for at least 1 game. And Maine's issue was hardly shots on goal. They had 30 shots on goal in each game. That is plenty. The key is the quality of scoring chance. Simply didn't have that many. Definitely had some good chances but not enough. In the end, it's clear. They worked hard but just don't have the talent. Agree with Nick that for the most part Maine played two pretty good games.

[walrus]

That article about the demise of Maine hockey isn't new, or surprising. The hockey team's slow, steady decline is pretty emblematic of the University as a whole. A few new engineering buildings and the fitness center aside, the whole Orono campus is shambolic. There's no money for basic maintenance or upkeep, and things keep getting more and more decrepit. The school can't recruit enough students to make money because every time someone reads about UMaine in the paper, it is a budget crisis or a lack of money for something, or a new program to eliminate. Not having money to recruit or support student athletes is the least surprising thing in the world to me.

A lot of this stuff can't be helped- it's a poor state, it's a big state, it's an old state. More and more of what little money the state has will be going to support for the elderly, which makes the fact that what few young people we have will leave the state for school and work a foregone conclusion. Some of it is self inflicted. Leadership has been a black hole for a while. No one has a vision to say "I'm going to re-energize the University by doing a, b and c."

I graduated from Maine undergrad and a private school for grad school. The private school has a lot of money (a LOT of money). Every month I get a solicitation for more. Every month I get a big glossy magazine. Every three months I get a quarterly alumni magazine specific to the program I graduated from. I realize that stuff costs money, but it also keeps the school in the front of people's minds and they give and are energized. Maine stopped sending out an alumni magazine. It saved money, I am sure, but I haven't thought to donate in years, mostly because I haven't been asked.

Beyond that, I know someone who had hockey season tickets since the 1980's. He didn't renew last year. It made no sense to pay for them and not go to some games when he could just buy tickets at the door, usually cheaper. That's someone that has been a loyal customer of almost 30 years. He didn't even get a phone call from someone in athletics or the ticket office to try to retain him or see why he wasn't renewing. That is HORRIBLE customer service and a prime example of how clueless the University is.

Regarding this past weekend at BC, I'm disappointed in the Vesey spear on Demko. I thought Red was supposed to be the coach who brought discipline and accountability and hard work and.... Even if Red suspends Vesey now, it's pretty clear that this isn't a program that has absorbed the message about the right way to play the game. A good program, with solid leadership, and that wouldn't happen in the first place. It would have been known that behavior isn't acceptable.

Give me a break on the behavior part. Shawns teams had the same issues. Sometimes people snap, Cory Larose come to mind, Ben Guite come to mind etc etc.