The University of Maine’s men’s hockey team just completed an eye-opening January in which it went 6-1-1 and swept No. 3 Boston College and No. 2 Boston University on consecutive weekends.
Maine is now 11-2-2 in its last 15 games and has nine regular-season games remaining, followed by the Hockey East tourney. Will the Black Bears continue their winning ways and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years or will they struggle down the stretch and miss out?
Let’s hope whatever has gotten them motivated, and whatever has turned Sullivan into a legitimate D1 goalie continues. P.S. it isn’t Tim Whitehead.
Nostrajimus is the reason behind the turnaraound, as the players & coaches were tired of him calling attention to the fact that they had not defeated a top HE opponent on the road in forever. Then bingo, all of sudden they do what they haven’t been able to do since 2007.
You connect the dots.
All hail Nostrajimus ;)
Even if this team wins out, which is entirely possible, they are not going to stay top-16 in the pairwise unless they make the HEA championship game. Would be a nice accomplishment for the players to get into the NCAAs after the past four seasons of coaching futility…
I saw your comments on USCHO as well. There is no way to predict pairwise right now. I understand your point. I follow PWR closely. There are other teams that will drop. Ohio State is in the midst of a free fall. There are other teams that could drop. Lowell is worth a lot (#3 PWR and RPI). Win that game and make it to Boston and they are in. That is assuming they get at least 2 points vs Northeastern. Love to read your response.
I agree, PWR is difficult to predict. And Maine could stay in the top-16, if,as you noted, other teams continue to struggle – as long as those teams aren’t the TUCs that Maine has already beaten (BC, BU). It’s their schedule that presents PWR math problems. Only the Lowell game is likely to help them. This is why I think they need to have another 3 quality wins – HEA quarterfinals and semifinal – two may not be enough -no way to tell right now.
Maine is currently in 5th in HEA percentage-wise and, again, they only play 1 team in front of them in the HEA standings, Lowell. As blackbear19 points out, Maine could end up with home ice because Lowell and Merrimack have very tough schedules – playing each other 3 times, both have 2 against BU, and Merrimack has two against BC as well. So, I think Maine will finish either 4th or 5th, and play first round against either Merrimack or Lowell – both of which are top-5 PWR so beating them another 2x is going to help. Finishing 2nd or 3rd in HEA, and winning 2 games against Massachusetts or Providence is not likely to help their PWR cause.
It would be a major disappointment for all that to happen, then lose the HEA semi-final and end up 17th or 18th in the PWR. But hey, this team is playing well for all the concerns over the past five years and I think they can win out and make it to the HEA championship game, and hopefully win it. The Feb 11th game at Lowell is key so I’ll be there and again at the Northeastern series. Hope the team we’re seeing lately shows up as well…
If they win out, how will they go down? Especially a win AT UMass-Lowell could put them at a 2 seed….if they win out, and host and win a QF series at home….they shouldnt have a problem getting in.
they will continue to win until they are on the brink of the playoffs, or into the playoffs, and then give up
If this team stays healthy ( diamond?), I see them only getting stronger as the season finishes out and they have already proven they can play with some of the best in the country. MN-Duluth has been beatable as of late as well…”…
This team has a winning chemistry right now and I see them making the elite 8 and possibly Tampa!!