I'm not sure how many of you actually watched the NU/BU broadcast Saturday
night on NESN, but during the second period I believe Bob Norton started
talking about Maine and Walsh and made a real interesting point IMHO.
 
After talking about the success Maine had this year, and showed their final
ranking in the poll (#9), Norton gave Walsh a tremendous amount of credit
then made a GREAT point.
 
He said that he hopes that if Maine learns anything from all of this that it
is that Maine can still get great players without having to circumvent any
rules.  In some ways I'm sure we've all thought of this before, but I don't
know as if it was ever so clear before now.
 
Let's face it, in the last two recruiting seasons Maine has clearly done
things the way they are supposed to, and this recruiting year as well.
Maine's landed some terrific players:
 
Steve Kariya
David Cullen
Cory Larose
Ben Guite
Alfie Michaud
Jason Price
Shawn Mansoff
Brett Clark
Robert Ek
 
I'm leaving some guys out who will have an impact as time goes on, but you
get the drift.
 
In addition, you had these juniors who came in knowing that Maine was under
investigation and that things could possibly happen to them:
 
Jeff Libby
Brian White
Scott Parmentier
Shawn Wansborough
 
Bobby Stewart transfered to Maine under similar pretenses.
 
Not to mention that Trattnig is coming to Maine next year who was ranked #2
in New England (I don't recall by what publication or group) in terms of
prospects.
 
Those players are the core of this team, and all of them came into this
program with either some doubt or cloud hanging over head.
 
I know several of you hate this whole line of conversation, and just wish it
would go away, but I thought this was a terrific point.  Hey, mistakes were
made and harsh penalties were handed down for those mistakes, but DESPITE
all that look at the type of players you've landed and look at the fact that
your program is still one of the best in the league.  There is no need for
these mistakes to ever happen again.
 
It should also be noted that Norton also said Walsh was one of the best
coaches in the country, even with all that has happened.
 
Personally speaking, if I had to think of one season that defined how good
Shawn Walsh is as a coach, it would be between this past season and the
1994-95 season that saw Maine go to the title game with less talent than
several teams in their league let alone the country.  Perhaps that only
further makes Norton's point.
 
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Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])