As you might expect today was quite the day for the University of Maine,
after what can only be described as an incredible weekend.
 
First some good news <smile>, my roomie got to see injured freshman forward
Shawn Wansborough, who was originally listed to be out three weeks with a
knee injury.  When I last saw him, he was limping very bad while only
walking, but today Chris told me that he could barely detect anything wrong
with him.  I doubt Shawn Walsh will take him on Maine's road trip to
Providence and Lowell this weekend, but I look for him to be back for the
rematch with UMass-Amherst Feb. 11 at Alfond.
 
I was very interested today to hear the reports in the news about Maine's
reaction to the loss, and hear some comments from the UMass people.  Here's
what I came away with.
UMASS:  I really didn't give the game much thought Saturday night, for
obvious reasons, we were all extremely disappointed, and probally as shocked
as the Maine players.  As I told someone today.  Even when there was 5
minutes left, and the score 4-2, I still thought they were going to come
back.  I listened to the entire game, actually the entire series, and the
largest impression I came away with was that of coach Joe Mallen.  He
deserves a lot of credit for the UMass victory, because somehow he made his
team believe that they could win, even after a 7-2 beating the night before,
he enstilled something in them. That to me is a sign of a great coach.  He
probally has a long way to go, as does his team before they will be
challenging for the championship, but they took a huge step Saturday night.
They have a great freshman goal-tender of Brian Regan who made 69 saves on
72 shots on what amounts to more than a game and a half against the top team
in Hockey East.  Regan didn't just play great Saturday night, as this shows,
he came in with half a game remaining and Maine leading 6-2 Friday night.
Maine Coach Shawn Walsh said that he thought Maine played better in the
third period Friday, even though they only got one goal.  Regan has amassed
incredible confidence, but he didn't do it alone.  It would be easy to say
that Regan stood on his head, but Regan was far from perfect.  Regan gave up
a rebound, at least initiallly on practically every shot, but the UMass
defensemen kept the scrappy Bears from poking it in.  Mallen has built his
program similar to Maine's, in that they use small forwards and large
defensemen.  UMass used a star defensive tackle (6-2, 240+ I believe his
name was Cochran) at defense Saturday night.  He was an All-Star I believe
this year in the Yankee conference in football, so definately a talent
athelete.  UMass has great potiental to build on, because if Regan can
continue to improve, they can build their team around him, and they've got a
heck of better chance at recruits now! <smile>
MAINE:
Two quotes which I will paraphrase, Maine's leading scorer Tim Lovell said
point blank that he believes the team thought they could win on their
reputation alone, and that is not the case.  All year Shawn Walsh has
preached that this team cannot aford to lose focus.  They are at best the
third or fourth most talented team in Hockey East, but when they work
together as a unit, they can compete with anyone in the country.  When they
lose focus, which happens alot, they struggle.  Many times this year Maine
dominates the first game of a two game series, then the games are closer the
second night.  Is it because the other teams all adjust to Maine better?  I
might have thought that at first, but more and more it seems that if Maine
does not come ready to play the struggle more.  They have only lost two
games, and that is a great job for such a young team.  But the team had an
important meeting today, and Shawn Walsh summarized it, he said "After 12
hours or so of thinking about it deeply, it was a wake-up call for not only
our boys, but for the coach as well."  This loss I believe may help Maine
more than hurt them, and may make them tough to beat down the stretch!!
 
A personal side note:  Thank you to all those who sent me a quick note about
the fairness of my post regarding the UMass upset, I appreciate it.  I try
to be fair, I may not always succeed, but I try.
 
 
 
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| DERON TREADWELL - [log in to unmask] |
|         University of Maine (22-2-6)       |
|     1994 Great Western Freezeout Champs!   |
|        1995 RPI Invitational Champs!       |
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