To me, it's their recognition that this has been a Jeckle & Hyde 
season.  They've had some incredible, world-class success and some 
pond-scum-ugly non-successes.  Many fans are wondering what's going on 
... players must have their own set of concerns ... they're not robots.

I've had a few people suggest that this is such a different team from 
past years, that the fans will have frustrations.  They suggest that 
while this may be among our most skilled set of players ever, it is not 
as athletic as we're used to.  I'm not sure I buy it .. but if so, how 
do they play to their strengths?

Deron (Hi Deron!) uses the term "unacceptable" (and has at times in 
other seasons), but I don't know how it helps us see "the light at the 
end of the tunnel".  What work is there to do?  Score more -- allow 
fewer odd-man rushes for a start?

That Shepheard can visualize 2 wins against the team that clobbered them 
earlier this season is a bit of good news, IMHO. :-)

cheers, wayne

Deron Treadwell wrote, in part,  on 2/1/2007 1:49 PM:
> How do people feel about our players talking about Pairwise Rankings on
> 2/1 on the eve of two important games with UNH?
>
> I don't know why, but it strikes me wrong.  Like it is "OK" that things
> haven't gone well lately, because heck we are still #7 in Pairwise?  I
> can't put my finger on why and there is nothing about what Shepheard
> says that is "bad", it just strikes me wrong for some reason.  Maybe it
> is because we are in sixth-place (according to this article) in Hockey
> East and that despite our PWR status, that is unacceptable, which means
> there is a lot of work to do the next few weeks.
>
> And wins the next three weeks will take care of the Pairwise rankings.
>
>
> Quote from today's Maine Campus:
> Despite the Black Bears' woes so far this year, the one constant
> throughout has been their steadfast play on the road, where they carry
> a 7-2-1 record. The mark is bolstered by an impressive opening run in
> the beginning of the season that featured wins against North Dakota and
> Minnesota. Although the Black Bears know they are in fine standing with
> the PairWise Rankings - No. 7 - they are eager to get back to clogging
> up their resume with quality wins. 
>
> "I don't think we can say we haven't been looking," said Shepheard
> about taking a gander at the PairWise. "I mean we're sitting seventh
> right now in the PairWise even though we haven't been doing that well
> lately. However, the wins at the beginning of the year against
> Minnesota and North Dakota really solidified us. If we can get two road
> wins this weekend, that would be huge for the PairWise and that is what
> matters at the end of the year."
>
> http://media.www.mainecampus.com/media/storage/paper322/news/2007/02/01/MaineSports/Marquee.Match.With.Hated.cats.On.Tap-2691688.shtml?sourcedomain=www.mainecampus.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com
>