For four members of the University of Maine hockey program’s two national championship teams, the program’s resurgence under fourth-year head coach Ben Barr has been a welcome sight — even though the season ended on a sour note with a 5-1 loss to Penn State in the first round of the NCAA’s Allentown Regional.
Jason Weinrich was a junior defenseman and Greg Hirsch was a sophomore back-up goaltender on UMaine’s 42-1-2 NCAA title-winning team in 1992-93. Brendan Walsh was a junior center and Peter Metcalf was a freshman defenseman on the Black Bears’ 31-6-4 championship team in 1998-99.
The current UMaine team won the Hockey East Tournament for the first time since 2004 and earned a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since the 2005-06 and ‘06-07 teams.
Hirsch said the loss to Penn State doesn’t change how he feels about the program’s ascension.
“It’s all part of the process,” said Hirsch. “I would have loved to have seen them get to the Frozen Four this year but it wasn’t meant to be.”
UMaine hadn’t reached the Hockey East semifinals or earned an NCAA berth since the 2011-12 season, before ending that drought a year ago.
“The future is so bright,” added Hirsch. “I’m excited for next year.”
In the 11 seasons between the two NCAA berths, from 2012-13 to 2022-23, UMaine posted only three winning campaigns.
Barr has recruited players for first time NCAA championship teams at Union, Providence and UMass. And Walsh is “supremely confident” Barr has an ideal model and a vision for success through recruiting quality players and developing them.
Walsh also noted that the $45 million in renovations to Alfond Arena and the support of the school, community and state will be valuable assets to the continued growth of the program.
“They know what they have to do and where they are,” said Walsh.
Weinrich, who followed brother Eric to UMaine, said a lot of the turnaround has to do with the culture Barr has brought to the program.
“All the kids seem to be buying in. I noticed that even when they won just seven games his first year,” Weinrich said. “I remember how hard the kids worked.”
Weinrich said that the execution from that first team under Barr was good even when it wasn’t winning games.
“You could tell there was something different,” observed Weinrich.
Walsh had similar thoughts about the shift under Barr.
“What you’ve seen is Ben Barr getting his teams to play the right way with passion and pace,” said Walsh, who transferred to UMaine from Boston University for his junior and senior years. “There is accountability.”
Walsh was an assistant coach at Northeastern under Greg Cronin, who is a former UMaine assistant and interim head coach. Cronin is now in his second year as head coach of the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks.
Walsh said Barr “has been able to find and identify special players and develop them.”
The Black Bears had only one NHL draft pick on their team but that’s where player development came into play, said Walsh. He borrowed a deck of cards analogy from Cronin to explain the way Barr has been able to get the most out of his players.
“What Maine has done really well, and I’ll use [Cronin’s] analogy, is find high number cards like an 8, 9 or 10 and flip them into face cards,” Walsh said. “Ben has done an amazing job maximizing his talent pool.”
Hirsch said Barr provided a “new vision” for the program and it began with the establishment of a six-week workout program on campus in July and August.
The program is optional under NCAA rules but virtually all of the players have shown up.
“He felt the team needed to be together in the summer rather than work out on their own,” said Hirsch.
Those summer workouts enabled the players to bond, and also gave the newcomers a chance to acclimate themselves with the school and the area.
Hirsch agreed with Walsh’s assessment about Barr and his staff bringing in players who fit their mold and culture.
He used a line spoken by actor Kurt Russell from the 2004 movie “Miracle” about the 1980 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team.
Russell, who played head coach Herb Brooks, said about putting his roster together that “I’m not looking for the best players, I’m looking for the right ones.”
Metcalf said Barr “brought a different mentality and expectations” along with “a different set of players and a winning chemistry” to UMaine.
“You don’t need stars or first round draft picks to win,” Metcalf said. “You have to have everyone rowing in the same direction, some luck and a good goaltender and that’s what they’ve had.”
Weinrich felt this season’s team was “very deep,” didn’t have any weaknesses and worked “extremely hard as a unit,” crediting the coaches and the culture they’ve brought to Orono.
“It goes back to their preparedness and culture. They go into every game thinking they’re going to win,” said Weinrich.
“Their work ethic was second to none. With where they have come in four years and the way they competed all year, the program is in incredible shape,” said Weinrich.
One of Barr’s first orders of business when he took over the job from the late Red Gendron was improve his defense corps, adding much-needed mobility on the blue line.
Weinrich has noticed.
“They could all get up and down the ice, they could all handle the puck and generate offense and they were all incredibly sound defensively,” said Weinrich. “A big thing in college hockey is your ability to break the puck out of your [defensive] zone and they have been exceptional at that, especially in the Hockey East tournament.”
The former Black Bears said it is important to recognize that winning the Hockey East tournament is a special accomplishment.
“It’s huge. They hadn’t done it in 21 years,” said Metcalf.
“That says a ton,” said Hirsch.
Walsh emphasized the volume of teams that Hockey East sent to the NCAA tournament this year, which tied an all-time record, and likened the league’s strength to the way the Southeastern Conference has dominated college football.
“Hockey East is the SEC of college hockey,” said Walsh. “They put six teams in the tournament.”