This interview of Tim by Dave Henderson says it all...especially the last 
paragraph!!  IMHO Tim keeps things in perspective especially that sometimes 
you need to let individuals learn from their own mistakes instead of being 
shown the easy answer. It makes for a stronger individual and a stronger 
team.



Go Blue!!! Sweep the 'Cats



"Part of it is just a mindset when you win or lose," Whitehead says. "At the 
start of the year, our team had that confidence. Then when we dropped a 
couple, we struggled. We bounced back and recaptured that [confidence] when 
we went undefeated in the month of December, before and after the break when 
we won the [Florida College Classic]. That was very good for us.

"Our inconsistency started there. It's just been little things. There's no 
one big reason. It's just a combination of not executing the little things 
consistently and a few injuries. But we've had [injuries] all year; that 
should not be an excuse. When those things happen, you just have to buckle 
down."

"It's been difficult for our players to deal with the reality that there's a 
fine line between all teams and that we're a good team but we're not a great 
team, and as a result we're going to have to be at our very best every 
night. Everybody is gunning for us, especially when they come up here to the 
Alfond."

"We've had such a strong record up here each year," Whitehead says. "Now 
when we have a disappointing performance here, our players are putting a lot 
more pressure on themselves. They don't want to let the fans down.

"It's a self-fullfilling cycle. We're gripping our sticks quite tightly and 
getting very frustrated with each little mistake. That starts the train 
rolling in the wrong direction.

"We've been able to get back on the tracks each weekend for one of the two 
nights, but that's not good enough. That's not what we expect of ourselves 
and certainly not at home.

"To have a record at home like this has been very frustrating for all of us 
because we know it means so much to the community up here."

At least the fans are still standing behind the team.

"The fans have stuck behind us and we obviously appreciate that very much," 
Whitehead says. "I think that's why the players are so disappointed in 
themselves. We're putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to win and that's 
not necessarily healthy sometimes.

"Some pressure is healthy, but I think our players need to take a step back 
and realize we need to do this as a team. The biggest problem we've had has 
been because the guys have wanted to win so badly at home that we've tried 
to do too much individually. That's really been the source of our issues.

"We're nowhere near where we need to be as far as earning back respect from 
our home fans and as far as getting back into the mix in Hockey East and 
nationally. We have a long way to go, but Saturday was a good step as far as 
how we played. We really did play as a team. We blocked a lot of shots, won 
a lot of loose pucks, and really played hard defensively. You could really 
see a concerted effort to stick to the game plan and do the things that were 
such a source of strength for us early in the year and we just got away 
from."

"It's going to take a lot of teamwork, a lot of individual effort steered 
toward the team's goals," Whitehead says. "We're excited about the 
challenge. We've seen some flashes of what we can do when we play together 
as a team. We've also been slapped in the face a lot when we've tried to 
play as individuals. That's not going to get us anywhere.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wayne T Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: Players talking Pairwise


> 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
>>
>