Ahhh ...  UNH may have had a decided advantage Friday at home w/BU, but
Sunday's game could have gone either way.  A couple of defensive
breakdowns led UNH to a 1-goal victory.

IMHO, you got caught up in the broadcaster's rhetoric.  ;-) UNH is
obviously very good ...  several very good forwards, with a bunch of
goals in lop-sided games ...  but they have been beaten.  I'd rather
play them "healthy", but that will probably have to wait for the HEA
tourney.  I'd say the Maine performance this weekend will tell everyone
if they need to know where the NCAA Regionals will be held (East
regional is Worcester).  If you see the Maine team out partying Thursday
night, forget it;  but if they really work like they've shown they can
work the past week or so, I think we can have a great college hockey
weekend.

By the way, Maine beat Merrimack twice and U Mass Lowell twice, since the
last game report on ME-Hockey.  Good crowd with MC, but a relatively
quiet time without classes in session.  Hope you-all fill every seat
this weekend!    cheers, wayne

Wayne T. Smith
[log in to unmask]                          Old Town Landing
The College Hockey lists: Hockey-L and Hockey3 at http://lists.Maine.edu/

Enc: (ME-Hockey contribution by Stephen Merrill)
>Caught part of the game between UNH and BU last night on FSNE. This UNH
>team is for real, and is that good. In fact, some of their strengths
>play directly into Maine weaknesses.
>
>First, UNH has a balanced group of young snipers who like to light up
>goalies. Morrison is playing great right now, no doubt. But UNH is a
>high scoring crew, complete with crisp passing. Maine has a young
>Defensive corps that will occasionally lapse. Maine will need to play
>their best game of defense of the season to win.
>
>Next, UNH is a late game team, Maine is a early game team. UNH is 29-2
>in goals scored in the third period over the last 8 games. While I do
>not have a complimentary statistic (at least yet) for Maine, the Black
>Bears have given up a couple of late game leads to either tie or lose
>games this season. Also, to the opposite, but in a good way, Maine has
>either been in the lead, or tied, after the first period for every game
>over the past year.
>
>Third, UNH has one of, if not the top PowerPlay in the nation. Maine has
>had problems with discipline, and taking stupid penalties.
>
>If Maine is to do well against UNH this weekend, we will need to:
>
>1. Play strong Defense, playoff level defense
>2. Play for 65-70 minutes. I know the game is only 60 minutes, but we
>need to come to play for the entire game, plus overtime, and still have
>something left in the tank for this team.
>3. Stay out of the penalty box, at all costs.
>4. Use home ice to our advantage. Maine is one of the toughest places to
>play in all of college hockey, and we need to be behind the Black Bears
>110% this weekend. On a good note, the students are back, so the
>Maineiac section will be back to full strength.
>
>Fill the Steins...