Deron Treadwell wrote earlier this week:
>Notes taken from the Coaches Show.. Shawn Walsh is out recruiting this week,
>so Greg Cronin filled it.
...
>- Blair Allison set school records this weekend for games played, minutes
>played, and wins.  What was interesting is Cronin says this could not have
>been acheived without the help of backups Greg Hirsch, and the Maine closer,
>Blair Marsh.  Cronin said that Allison would be the first to credit these
>guys, because they push him to play his best.
 
I wanted to comment on this because it seemed strange that two goalies
who hardly play at all would be credited with pushing Allison to play
as well as he has.  I can think of several situations where competition
among goalies had led to one or both playing even better:
 
* At BU, Derek Herlofsky and J.P. McKersie seemed to feed off each
other the last few years.  With McKersie out, Herlofsky seemed to have
some problems keeping his focus early on until Noble began to play
more.  I recall BU SID Ed Carpenter mentioning earlier this year that
he felt Herlofsky suffered from not having McKersie around to "push him".
 
* At Merrimack, Marty Legault has been playing his best since
arriving at MC in 1993 - not coincidentally, this has happened since
classmate Eric Thibeault put together back to back superb games
against UNH (3-3 tie) and BU (3-2 win).  At that point, Thibeault had
earned the right to be placed in the rotation.  But Legault responded
with several straight outstanding games, and this is due in large part
to the competition that Thibeault has suddenly provided.  Legault has
earned his way into the last three consecutive starts, in fact.
Thibeault struggled against Northeastern four games ago and this may
have opened the door for Legault to return to being the iron man.
 
* And a few years ago, of course, there were Mike Dunham and Garth Snow
at Maine - the first and second team All-HE goaltenders.
 
I'm not saying Cronin was lying, however, I have seen how goalies in a
rotation can get more out of each other.  Last year, Marsh and Allison
split time rather regularly, and Allison was not having an outstanding
year.  This year, it is the Allison show, and he is playing superbly.  If
Marsh and Hirsch deserve any credit for Allison's success, I'd think
it is more in the area of psychological support.  I don't see how
either could be pushing Allison by giving performances that he wants
to match, since he's the only guy who plays.
 
Allison may just be a goaltender who plays better as he plays more -
although he did seem to reach his limit in the RPI tournament when he
had subpar performances against both Miami and RPI after a long first
semester.
 
>- Talked a little bit about red-shirts though not really specific as to "how
>many" games can be played.  Cronin did say that he thought Maine was
>successful at developing red-shirts into good players, and most importantly
>keeping them interested.
 
Maine also has more good players in street clothes than perhaps anyone
else in DivI.  In 1992-93, I often heard the joke that Maine could ice
a second team in HE and have that one gain home ice too.  I recall
seeing so many extra players that year walking around in Maine sweats
that it sure seemed as if they had two teams.
 
In reality, Maine tends to have many more players on its roster than
other teams (upwards of 40 at the start of some years) and as a
result, many players who get redshirted could play immediately for
other schools - and be stars at some of those schools.  As for why
Maine ends up with so many players, there are undoubtedly several
reasons: the attraction of the program and the staff (everyone wants
to play there and for those coaches), the lower cost of walking on to
Maine as opposed to private schools like BC/BU/Merrimack/Providence,
and so on.
 
It's true that the Maine staff has worked wonders with some of the
past redshirts, like Barry Clukey, but I also believe they have had
more to work with than many other schools have had.  Still, that is a
testament to the successful environment Maine has cultivated and the
fact that so many good players are willing to wait a year or so just
to be able to play there.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93