Funny how the later ends of the post-game thread get me to thinking about
last weekend and looking forward to next season.

I won't be the first nor will be the last to say that Denver out-Mained our
Black Bears.   Lindsay and I were warned by our midwestern guests that
Denver was a team employing the defensive mode.  They then said the Denver
victory shootout over UMD was uncharacteristic -- turned out to be prophetic
words.

Funny as my sense of the flow of the last game in 02-03 against Michigan at
Yost seems hauntingly familiar to that I took away from the NC game in
Boston.  Also similar was the respect gained for the winning school after
Maine's loss.

Compare last year to this year - we all remember the win/lose cycle and the
ultimate collapse last year.

This season, I see the nil-nil tie at Northeastern as the turning point.
Maine went a blistering 12-2 following that scoreless draw: they rebounded
from a loss against UMLowell with a 4-0 drubbing the following night.  Their
only other loss after 0-0  -- the NC game against DU.

Why the success this year ?  I want to point out where the Maine coaching
staff and players deserve plaudits this year for an unrecognized
accomplishment - adjusting

The real adjustment I believe began with the draw at Northeastern.  The
small adjustments which lead to victories inside each game, and others which
carry forward in games day to day, were made this year.   Look at the
variety of styles Maine had to face in its last dozen games, from Merrimack
to UMass to BC and all.  While you may think the low-scoring results of
these games show Maine didn't do much on one side of the rink, on the
defensive side they certainly HAD to adjust.  They skated with the skaters
and mucked with the muckers, albeit they couldn't deposit many against most
of the opponents except against Harvard, but did so when it really counted.

The DU scoring blitz against UMD may have clouded Maine coaching minds into
thinking the NC game would end up more wide open than the BC game was. As
late as the third period, Maine did not adjust to the defensive style that
Denver adopted and did not open up the game sufficiently on offense until
the now-famous 6 on 3.  Reality hit a bit too late for the Black Bears.

Certainly the skein of one-goal low scoring victories can't continue next
year at the 12-2 pace.  The other teams will adjust: UMass already has and I
am thinking of them looming in Maine's mirror throughout all of next year.
Great teams finish their opponents and give no quarter.  4-1 or 5-2 wins
next year would be MUCH more satisfying.

Who out there can help the Maine coaching staff next year in teaching two
areas of necessary adjustment:  (1) - better chances, shot selection and
puck movement on the PP and (2) - winning offensive-zone faceoffs.

My choices for the captains - Mushaluk (repeat) with Penner, and Derek Damon
with the "C"

Finally, for fans in the remainder of college hockey nation, the legacy of
this season's UMaine team might be when the NC$$ adopts the same crease
violation rule as in the NHL.

I'll take away more than that, of course.

Meanwhile, my offer of cash money still stands for a digital image of Dick
Umile which shows him behind the New Hampshire bench rolling his eyes...

Happy off season all !!

Dan