Some years are more challenging than others for coaching staffs.
This will be an extremely challenging year for the University of Maine men’s hockey coaching staff.
That’s not to say it’s a bad thing. It is going to be interesting thanks to the influx of talented newcomers.
But it will certainly add gray hairs to their temples.
The team lost nearly half of its goal production off last year’s NCAA Tournament team so it appears as though the team will be involved in a lot of close, low-scoring games.
This past weekend gave credence to that opinion as the Black Bears lost to Quinnipiac 2-1 and tied the University of New Brunswick 2-2 in an exhibition game.
Both were quality opponents.
Quinnipiac was a much more experienced team than Maine — their players averaged 70 career games apiece compared to Maine’s 48 — and had some impressive forwards, while UNB had a much older team and the Varsity Reds’ strength on their sticks, physical play and speed created a real challenge.
Both teams had stellar goaltenders.
UNB goalie Dan LaCosta already has an NHL shutout to his credit with the Columbus Blue Jackets (vs. Colorado).
Maine should have beaten Quinnipiac but was fortunate to get a tie with UNB.
The Black Bears did turn in two solid defensive performances, allowing very few odd-man rushes or point-blank scoring chances.
But they also didn’t generate a lot of high-percentage scoring chances, which was to be expected.
Head coach Tim Whitehead and assistants Dan Kerluke, Bob Corkum and Dave Alexander will have to constantly make tough decisions pertaining to personnel.
It starts in goal.
Dan Sullivan had an outstanding season last year, but junior Martin Ouellette, who was beat out for the No. 1 job a year ago by Sullivan, appears to be much improved and freshman Matt Morris is extremely quick and sound technically.
The problem is you can play only one goalie at a time. Sullivan has earned the No. 1 job based on last year’s performance, but the Maine staff has the luxury of having two other goalies capable of carrying the load.
It’s too bad we’re not talking about a baseball team and its pitching staff. This would be a formidable three-man rotation.
If Sullivan has an off game, will they play Ouellette or Morris the next game? Will they eventually go to a two-man rotation?
It’s a nice problem to have, but it will also require tough decisions.
The freshman class is a good one and you could certainly see some of them unseating veterans in the lineup both on the blue line and and up front. Maybe even in goal.
If it’s close between a veteran or a rookie for a lineup spot, do you go with the experienced player who might be less prone to make mistakes or do you choose youthful energy and talent and live with the occasional mistake?
They will obviously pick a lineup they feel has the best chance of winning.
I would lean toward the young players and live with the occasional mistake.
I want forwards who can make plays and get the job done in traffic and I prefer defensemen who can wheel out of traffic and make a precise breakout pass.
If upperclassmen aren’t producing, even if they had done so in previous years, don’t wait too long before inserting the underclassmen.
Maine is going to be a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament and every game is going to be important.
I think this team will start out slow, but I can see them putting together a late run much like the team did a few years ago when Nyquist was a sophomore. But I would agree – bubble NCAA team at best.
Well, why would this year be any different from the past 5-6 years Larry? Good grief man start writing the REAL stories – you’re a journalist, not a UMaine staff writer…
It would seem to me, with all of your journalistic expertese with some of the finest newspapers in the country, they would jump at the chance to do what you tell them.
You have previously claimed years of experience in the field. I would hope that someone with this type of experience would be able to spell “expertise,” given that spelling is really the most basic if not the only skill required of an “expert” in “journalism.”
For this egregious error, I beg you to forget anything and everything I have said previously. I am not worthy and will commit suicide promptly.
If they lose to ND this weekend then they will no longer have a shot at being a bubble team because they don’t play any OOC games that are worthy of pairwise points outside of UMD.
That means they would have to finish in top 3 in HE or win the conf tourney. If they go .500 they’ll be lucky.
Another year of maine hockey with whitehead behind the bench making excuses and his putting pal Larry writting new excuses for the programs short commings. Whitehead reminds me of Obama its never their fault for anything that goes wrong as they always blame someone else and never show any accountability. I wish the peeople of maine could vote whitehead out as the coach like the people of america will do with Obama this november. Whitehead has no plan how to fix the program wich has nose dived under his watch just like Obama has no plan going forward to fix the country. They both lie more than pinocio and can only take shots or make jokes to try to cover up how incompetant they are at their jobs. FIRE WHITEHEAD!
I hope your right on November and sometime in April or May of next year…
Monty’s guys are 3-0-0. If only we could have a coach like that. Hmm…
Once Whitehead is canned after this season (finally), Larry will be writing about how he was never a good fit for the program and the decision should have been made years ago. If you are happy about last season–when the team finally made the tournament and then promptly lost the first game, then stop reading now.
It has been obvious for several years that Whitehead has not been able to move this program in the right direction. We have had ridiculous leadership in the athletic department. Giving Whitehead and Blodgett the contract renewals they were granted was absurd. The press, which basically consists of Mahoney, has been covering for Whitehead for years. I still haven’t forgotten the article saying that it was Whitehead’s year to prove his critics wrong. Was that last year, or the year before? Regardless, he hasn’t. Mike Tuell finally said something on the air last year about Whithead essentially remaining in a coma on the bench while the officials went of the rails. Larry can’t bring himself to write a single critical sentence.
This article isn’t bad. It makes some good points, contains a few researched facts, and lays out a pretty honest assessment of this year’s prospects. Basically, Maine isn’t an elite program, and they have to have a lot of luck to even make the tournament. Absolutely forget about competing there if they do happen to make it. I think it is a bit optimistic, actually. But not a bad article. What’s missing from Mahoney’s articles are tough questions for Whithead. A quality program, like Maine used to be, doesn’t end up with a team that makes for a “challenging year.” It just doesn’t.
Until there’s change behind the Bench,this Program is going nowhere’s…a good season out of every four,maybe a trip to Boston once every five years and a NCAA Berth once every six years…not a good recipe for recruiting/selling season tickets/getting NEW Donors…this all started to fall apart after the 2002 seaon,slowly I might add but you could see that this was going to be a train wreck over time…sadly nothing has or will be done…just the “REMEMBER whens” or it “USE to be”….time’s change,but if you don’t win or put down a foundation year after year that gives cause for hope then you slowly lose everyone from the person who watches a game or two…buys a season ticket or travels away to follow the Team….the writing has been on the wall for several years…things need to change after the Season…buy out the last year of TW’s Contract and do go out and FIND a Coach that wants to make this “HIS” Program…and there are plently out there who would jump at the chance…you already have the Fan Base at Home and Away…Donors will come back…a Rink that has the Atmosphere second to none…but will it happen..???????????????????? One person that could/would be able to turn this Wreck around would be Jim Montgomery….knows his hockey from all types of experiences/knows the area/knows the fans……and knows that he could bring it back.