I could not agree more.  To say that I was a little frustrated after the
disappointing performance on Friday would be a mild understatement.

I have not been comfortable with the frequency of changes that Whitehead has
made, and fear that may be contributing to our recent woes.  But, moving
Reimann back to defense was a very wise move.  Tommy has not been having his
best season in terms of scoring, and putting him on D does stabilize things,
especially since he does have some very good hockey sense.

Despite the last 8 or so games, we are still in great shape in terms of the
national picture and the PWR, and if we can make it to the Fleet, we should
have a real shot at a top 4 seed nationally.

-Steve

----- Original Message -----
From: "Deron Treadwell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2003 11:14 AM
Subject: Maine/UMass Game 2


> Well, from what I heard listening to the game Saturday and from what
> I've read this morning, there is definitely cause for some hope in
> Black Bear nation today!
>
> In case you missed it, Maine beat UMass 4-0 Saturday in by accounts of
> people who were there was a more spirited effort.
>
> Whitehead changed things up, he took Lyall, Greyeyes, Barnes and Mullin
> out and inserted Pretin Ryan, Ben Murphy, John Ronan, and Paul Lynch.
>
> But perhaps the most significant move was moving Tom Reimann back to
> play defense.  Whitehead called this a move to "stabilize" the blue
> line corps.  He figured that Reimann, as a senior, who is a good skater
> and has good hockey sense would be able to get the puck up ice.  By all
> accounts this was a success, and I hope we'll continue to see it.
>
> It sounded like Ryan and Lynch brought a physical presence and I know
> Greg Moore had at least one outstanding hit.
>
> As a friend told me, it doesn't matter if this game was against UMass
> or against Bangor High -- Maine needed a win.  He's right!  The most
> important part of this game is that Maine won and hopefully will start
> to restore some confidence.
>
> What can you say about this weekend coming up?  BU needs to take 3 of 4
> points to earn home ice *IF* Providence beats Lowell Friday.  BU can
> give Maine problems because of their tenacious forecheck.  But by all
> accounts Maine cleaned up their game some Saturday, they protected
> Frank Doyle (who helped set a new record for most shutouts as a team in
> one season) and created plenty of action on the other end of the ice.
>
> I know we've all agreed that the goaltenders are not at fault, but
> Frank Doyle deserves to start Friday.  He had to make several odd man
> saves in the first period when the score was 0-0.  If he doesn't come
> up big, Maine might have been behind the eight ball.  Maine needed a
> big performance and Doyle gave it to them and he deserves to be
> rewarded.  Fan the flame that is the hottest.  I don't think it would
> be a bad thing to make Jimmy Howard a little hungry to play either.
>
> It looks like Maine will be hosting either Merrimack or UMass in the
> Hockey East Quarterfinals.  Hockey East is so deep that neither of
> these teams will be easy.
>