WORCESTER, Mass. — There are times when a team leaves a rink after a loss and simply faces reality.
The better team won.
But I’m not sure the University of Maine’s hockey team left Saturday night’s 5-2 loss in the Northeast Regional to defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth with that mindset.
The Black Bears probably departed the DCU Center bemoaning a missed opportunity.
As well they should.
It was a game for the taking. It was a game they could have won.
They dominated the first period and Hobey Baker Award finalist Spencer Abbott staked them to a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal. But Maine had 11 Grade-A (high-percentage) scoring chances to UMD’s three and should have had a bigger lead.
The energetic Black Bears made UMD look like a very ordinary and sluggish team.
However, Kenny Reiter made eight Grade-A saves, with the best one coming in the final two seconds of the period when he flashed out his pad to rob Matt Mangene, who was trying to capitalize on an Abbott rebound.
Had Mangene gotten a little more on his shot or lifted it, it would have been 2-0 and Maine would have gone into the locker room with all kinds of momentum.
That was one of the game’s turning points.
Mangene did convert a weird goal in the second period to make it 2-0 when he kept skating while the Bulldogs stood around with their hands on their hips after the Maine net was dislodged.
But because a Bulldog player had knocked the net off its moorings, the rules allow the nonoffending team to complete its scoring opportunity and Mangene took advantage.
Some teams would have been unnerved by a goal like that one.
But, to their credit, the Bulldogs were undaunted and when Jack Connolly scored a power-play goal 3:37 later, the momentum had swung.
Sophomore Jon Swavely and junior Klas Leidermark were the penalty-killers and they are in their first seasons as regulars on the penalty kill.
Maine coach Tim Whitehead likes to keep his skilled power-play guys fresh by not playing them on the penalty kill but, in a win-or-go-home scenario, he would have been better served to stick to his power play guys — Brian Flynn, Abbott, Joey Diamond, Mangene, Mark Anthoine — on the penalty kill.
The Bulldogs seized the game later in the period with goals one minute apart off Maine turnovers.
As it turned out, that was all the Bulldogs were to need.
J.T. Brown added an insurance goal in the third period on a shot Dan Sullivan probably should have saved and Jake Hendrickson added an empty-netter, but it was icing on the cake.
Maine could only muster three shots on goal in the final period and just one was of the Grade-A (high-percentage) variety as UMD clamped down impressively.
Maine seemed to be out of gas and rarely even got the puck into the UMD zone.
UMD outshot Maine 8-3 although the Bulldogs managed just three Grade-A scoring chances themselves in the period.
What happened to the Maine team that played with so much jump in the first period?
It was a combination of several factors:
• The excitement of playing in the program’s first NCAA Tournament since the 2006-2007 season resulted in the Bears expending so much energy in the first period that they didn’t have much left in the tank after that.
• The defending national champions didn’t panic in the face of adversity and gave the Bears a lesson in how to stay composed and how to protect a lead.
• A senior goaltender with 11 career playoff wins outplayed a sophomore with much less playoff experience.
• UMD’s top-end players outplayed Maine’s top-end players.
• Maine’s power play wasn’t able to produce more than the one goal in five chances.
• UMD, the higher-seeded team, was able to capitalize on having the last line change by putting out a highly efficient checking line (Joe Basaraba-Hendrickson-David Grun) to neutralize Maine’s top line of Abbott, Flynn and Joey Diamond.
• Costly turnovers.
You have to tip your hat to the Bulldogs.
Overcoming a 2-0 deficit in front of a partisan Maine crowd was a noteworthy feat.
But you didn’t leave the game feeling that UMD was any better than Boston College, Boston University, UMass Lowell or New Hampshire.
It was simply a case of an opportunity lost.
Now it is up to Maine to learn from its experience, take the many positives from this season and build on them next season for another NCAA Tournament run.
They can learn from the experiences, but realistically, how far can this team go next season? Assuming everyone that is eligible returns, the top 3 guys coming back are Diamond, Mangene, and Anthoine. The team is losing a majority of their scoring with the losses of Abbott, Flynn, and O’Neill. Diamond, Mangene, and Anthoine need to continue to be top-flight players and the likes of Shemansky, Beattie, Leen, etc. really need to step it up and contribute on a consistent basis. The D-Corp should still be pretty solid being led by Nemec and Cornell, and only losing O’Neill and Hegarty (two bodies tough to replace, of course). Rutt should get much more playing time next season.
The biggest question mark will once again be the goaltending. Sullivan made great strides this season and showed he is capable of playing at an elite level on occasion. For this team to get over the hump (i.e. winning HE and making a run in the NCAA tourney), he or someone else (Ouellette or an incoming Freshmen) is going to have to play at that level on a consistent basis.
Completely agree with your assessment above. Sullivan did make great strides and seemed to excel in the HE tournament. However, the soft goals in the MD game have to make you think was it familiarity with the teams in HE that led to the “stand on his head” performance against the likes of a BC. ???
I do believe that they have a good set of replacements for next year, but again that seems to be the “consistent inconsistency”. We have the “replacement” system in line, but we don’t seem to come up with the players to enhance. Or, do we have the players and the coaching is the issue. Can’t replace all of the players at once to make the change …. So, the coach has to go.
Wow! Do you really think that Abbott, Flynn, and O’ Neill will be replaced? Oh that’s right just put a warm body on the ice and they are replaced. Maine will NOT be the same team without them and will NOT get better with their graduation. Realistically, the Maine program is headed south and the next excuse will be young players need time to gel bla bla bla. It’s the same every year. Excuse after excuse. We need change. Change is good. We need division 1 recruits and a division 1 coach.
now people are using bbear94’s “bla bla bla”. good grief when will it end.
bla bla bla was started by sugarbear03 long before bbear94. I’ll change my bla bla bla to Who really gives a crap.
ha ha either one applies like you said we all sick of the excuses
why is everyone calling for Tim’s head after they made the NCAA’s? Woodward I can see, but Whitehead met the challenge
Actually, I think Coach Whitehead and the UM Black Bear hockey team exceeded expectations and normally this would have been considered an exciting and productive year. HOWEVER, let’s review how we got to this level of expectation …. Oh, wait “blueline892910” wrote it very well above. Sorry, coach, time for change has come …
Thank you, seriously, for your hard work over the years and great representation of the university. Many points listed in Larry’s article are the inconsistencies that your team has shown over the years again came through in this game.
Sadly you’re comment shows how low the expectations of the program have fallen. With Whitehead in control for 10 more years it’ll be “Well all our players showed up!”
I guess it all depends on what you want from YOUR hockey team.
Larry, you’re coming perilously close to writing a real article here…
Bottom line is they Lost…you can say this and say that…in comes down to coaching/goaltending and in zone defense…which has been Maine’s problem off & on this season as well as the last 5 years…realize the changes in Providence/UMass-Lowell and even at Union and to some extent Michian Tech…that the Program has gotten stale…needs a change….what you’ll see with TW is a 4th thru 6th finish in Hockey East…every 3-4 years a trip to Boston,every 3-4 years a Bid to the NCAA’s,but that will be it…once in a while a 20-22 win season…but in all NO HARDWARE/No Frozen 4 Champioship….settle for the same old/same old…..just being satisfied is not enough….you play the game to win.
We are soooo happy that Maine finally got the recognition they deserve and Coach Whitehead rose above all the nonsense to show what he is capable of. I hope we can get to the top 16 next year. I can’t wait to be 1 and done.
Agreed….
What has Whitehead shown that he is capable of? Anyone can chew gum.
But not everyone can do it with their hands in their pockets…
Maine made us proud once again with a fine showing. The program is going in the right direction. Perhaps with the help of the great fans and optimism, recruits will see the goodness and fun of the program and many chances to participate in high caliber games.
I like being proud year after year, not once every 3-4 years. I can be proud every 3-4 years cheering for the Red Sox. Whitehead has to go ASAP. Put Corkum in as head coach and Kerluke as assistant head coach. Problem solved.
You are so smart and Shawn Walsh is so stupid. SW recommended TW.
I can recommend a restaurant to a friend, doesn’t mean they have to eat there forever. Additionally, the recommendation has now been put up against the reality of the situation over the past 10 years. I’ll say it… Shawn was wrong.
Who are we going to get who is better and how do you know they are better, and would he come?
Shawn’s intent for Whitehead was to be the interim head coach until Shawn was healthy enough to return to the program. Tim was someone who was rather familiar with the program and league, yet not enough of a liability to completely destroy it in the time Shawn thought he needed to get healthy and return to the game. It says something about him and his ability to coach to be fired from Mass-Lowell.
“Head coach Jerry York says that this is the time of year he prepares his team
the most, and he understands the importance of maintaining momentum in this
final stretch.
“We point toward trophies, and that’s our whole psyche,” he said. “We measure
ourselves by how many trophies we can win, and this is a trophy weekend.”
How many trophies has Whitehead put in the UMO Hockey trophy case during his 11 yr tenure?
The answer is 1. BC just added 2 new trophies in the past 2 weeks, with a 3rd on the way :)
Minnesota has had a drought since 2005 and I do not see people calling for the coach’s head. What is the name of the marvelous coach you want to see replace TW, coming to Orono in the far off NE path to deal with these types of fans?
Jim Montgomery.
Has he said he will come?
no but you asked who would we like to see, thats who i would like to see.
Since 2005 Minnesota has won 3 WCHA RS championship trophies and 1 WCHA tournament championship. That’s much more than Whitehead can say because in his 11 years he has never won a RS title and only 1 tournament title…..he’s a loser.
I can recall fans calling for SW’s head many many times. He made fun of it, many many times. TW took a swing at Hanson once and Hanson got in trouble for repeatedly taunting coaches and later admitted he had some personal problems. It is not easy to lure quality coaches to the great north woods and TW has been to many frozen fours and two title games in his short time here. Usually you fire coaches for failure.
Bart, actually they have. Repeatedly. Check out this link, and find “Team in Turmoil”. They’ve lost probably 25 times more early departures than we have. Losing Howard, Bishop, Purcell, Nyquist over the past 7 years is less than they’ve lost in one season.
http://www.letsplayhockey.com/online-edition/kurtt.html?start=10
What are you comparing? Bad News?
isnt minny in the ff this year? pretty sure they won back to back titles about 10 years ago. not recent but they have the same coach so they know he can get’er done because he has twice
a slight difference is that THAT minnesota coach (for whose head MANY Minnesotans have called, so of course you don’t see it HERE), that coach won back to back National Championships. One against Tim. Remember? Remember the game where Tim failed to use the Top goalie in Hockey East?
I do remember an official by the name of Petrowski.
Come on Nostra, we’ve won the Florida College Classic! That counts for something. :)
a first and a millionth
Larry’s first second guessing of Tim… Tim should have used the better guys on the PK… good for you Larry… keep em coming
and Larry’s millionth time writing that “as long as maine learns a lesson from this or that or the other thing”
how many lessons? a million and one?
Maine has a big challenge in recruiting #1’s to come to Orono when it is 5 hours from where they are growing up. They have done a very good job in getting some #3’s and #4’s to make the choice to come north, and then develop into great players. Brian Flynn is a perfect example. I watched him as a freshman and wondered if he could skate at a D-1 level, and look at what he worked to become. The Johnny Gaudreaus of the world, who can make an immediate impact as freshmen, want to play where their parents can watch them in person. And their parents don’t want burn the gas to drive to Orono, pay to stay one or two nights, eat at restaurants, and then drive home.
Say what?
Walsh recruited tons of players to Orono with no problems. These kids go where they know they can win and have a shot at developing into an NHL player or prospect. And that’s not Orono anymore.
The BC roster has kids from NJ, NY, CO, PA, BC, MN and MI. And Johnny Gaudrea is from Carneys Point, New Jersey. A little farther from BC than BC is from Orono….
With all due respect, that was my point exactly. 3 hours from Jersey to BC and 8 hours to Orono.