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Saturday, April 6, 2002
No need to defend Maine's defense now
By KEVIN THOMAS, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Remember those dandruff shampoo commercials in which a good-looking man or woman would be scratching his or her head. An observer would say something like, "Nice looking, but oh, that dandruff." An observer could look at the University of Maine hockey team at the start of this season and wonder: "Nice talent, but oh, that defense."
The Black Bears could score, but they could give up goals even faster.
UMAINE IN TITLE GAMES April 3, 1993: Maine 5, Lake Superior 4, at Milwaukee
April 1, 1995: BU 6, Maine 2, at Providence, R.I.
April 3, 1999: Maine 3, UNH 2, OT, at Anaheim, Calif.
To top of story
In the second game of the season, Maine was tied 2-2 with St. Cloud, but lost, 6-2.
A 2-1 lead over North Dakota turned into a 3-2 loss.
Then a 3-2 advantage against Western Michigan - a 4-3 loss.
In November came the brutal 3-2 overtime loss to Boston University after Maine led 2-0 early in the third period.
A 3-2 lead over Boston College became a 3-3 tie. On Dec. 30, Maine turned a 3-1 advantage over Northern Michigan into a 5-4 loss.
Maine was 9-6-3 entering January and with its defense, looked like anything but an NCAA title contender.
The defensemen took a lot of the blame. There were only three veterans in the group. Maine Coach Tim Whitehead broke up the veteran duo of Peter Metcalf and Cliff Loya to spread out the experience.
Loya made key turnovers that led to the BU loss and BC tie.
"I struggled," Loya said. "It was a little hard. (Metcalf) is a great player. A lot of times you pass it to him, and he takes care of it.
"When you play with a freshman, you take on more of the load yourself."
Another problem was the defensive play of the forwards. Without their backchecking, the defensemen were sometimes vulnerable to odd-man rushes.
In January, the forwards took on more of a defensive role.
"We've changed our backcheck philosophy a lot to pressure the puck through the neutral zone," said assistant coach Campbell Blair, who handles the defensemen. "That's freed up our (defensemen) to pick up loose guys and pick up loose pucks."
Robert Liscak, one of Maine's better defensive forwards, said: "There was more pressuring of the puck instead of backing off it. We didn't allow the other team to get over the red line and put it in our zone. From that point, the defense seemed to improve.
"The defensemen can step up and force the turnovers."
Whitehead also found solid pairings on defense. He moved Loya back with Metcalf, and Loya's play has improved. He put freshman Troy Barnes, another stay-at-home type like Loya, with the offense-minded Francis Nault. He moved forward Michael Schutte back to defense - at Schutte's suggestion - and paired him with Prestin Ryan, a physical presence who moves the puck well.
"I think we've found the right pairings," Schutte said. "I had told Coach it was great (playing forward) when the pucks were going in. But I think I can help the team more back at the point."
The defensive improvement showed in Maine's record since December (17-4-4) and the recent shutdown of high-powered New Hampshire in the Black Bears' 7-2 NCAA semifinal win Thursday. Maine held UNH to no goals and 15 shots in the last two periods. Darren Haydar, the nation's leading scorer, got no points and only one shot. Barnes was often all over him.
"I wanted to make sure I wasn't the guy who got burned by him," Barnes said.
Assistant coach Grant Standbrook said Barnes' play was an example of the "kids being really responsible. They gave up no second shots."
Just look at that talented Maine team now - including its defense.
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