>For example, years of BU having great success: 1986, 1991-94. Maine:
>1987-93. Maine spans a longer period of time and would have more NC$$
>tourney appearances (7 to 6), more HE regular season titles (5 to 1),
>etc.
Sorry, but Maine has only won 3 regular season titles, not 5. BU won last
year and BC has won the other 6.
>BU was quite average at best from 1987-89 and had to pull a miraculous
>upset of MSU in 1990 to get to the Final Four. After that season,
>they established dominance to the extent Maine that already had for
>the 3 seasons prior to that. Many people forget how ordinary BU was
>for the several seasons prior to 1990 or so, even less than ordinary.
I would not call BU's win over MSU at Munn 'miraculous' since BU beat them
in a best 2 of 3 series after losing the first games. BU came back to win
two straight over MSU. Furthurmore, BU beat MSU at Walter Brown Arena early
in that season 6-4, coming back from a 1-4 deficit after two periods.
>Here are the teams' annual records for the last 10 years, forfeits
>aside. It seems that you can give an edge to Maine in 6 of those
>years and to BU in 3, with one (1991) being a wash. Maine's overall
>record since 1984 is also better than BU's, and BU had a huge two year
>head start.
I would not call BU's 1984-86 record of 49-28-8 versus Maine's 23-57-2
'huge'. Compare it to the two years BU had a losing record, 1987-89. Maine
rolled up a 65-12-2 record vesus BU's 28-37-4 record.
> Maine BU
>1984-85 12-29-1 24-14-4
>1985-86 11-28-1 25-14-4
>1986-87 24-16-2 19-15-3
>1987-88 34-8-2 14-17-3
>1988-89 31-4-0 14-20-1
>1989-90 33-11-2 25-17-2
>1990-91 32-9-2 28-11-2
>1991-92 31-4-2 22-9-4
>1992-93 42-1-2 29-9-2
>1993-94 17-15-4 32-8-1
>1994-95 12-0-5 9-3-3
>OVERALL 279-125-23 241-137-29
> (.680) (.628)
As can be seen Maine played 427 games compared to BU's 407 games. Included
in Maine's record are 10 games versus Canadian schools (8-1-1), while BU's
record includes only 2 games versus Canadian schools (1-1-0). Also Maine
usally schedules Canadian teams and/or games in Alaska to be able to play
more than the NCAA limit of 34. For eaxmple, this year Maine has scheduled
38 games, 3 in Alaska and one versus Acadia:
A 10/20/94 W 7 Alaska-Fairbanks 3 nc
A 10/21/94 W 3 Alaska-Fairbanks 2 nc
A 10/22/94 W 5 Alaska-Fairbanks 2 nc
H 12/22/94 ___ ___ Acadia ___ nI
Dexter Classic (Orono, ME) 7:00 ET
Furthermore, Maine usually plays more home games than BU does every year.
Maine BU
1984-85 21 21(2)
1985-86 18 22(4)
1986-87 21(1) 17(1)
1987-88 24(4) 18(2)
1988-89 25(3) 14
1989-90 27(5) 19(6)
1990-91 26(3) 20(3)
1991-92 19(1) 17(1)
1992-93 20(2) 16(2)
1993-94 20 17(2)
1994-95 6 6
OVERALL 227(19) 187(23)
the number in ( ) are home playoff games
As you can see Maine has played 40 more home games than BU since HE started,
an average of 4 more per year. Furthermore, Maine has scheduled 208
regualer season home games to BU's 164, a difference of 44 more regular
season games.
>Head to head, I only have on hand results since 1986, but Maine has a
>huge 23-9-4 advantage. Since 1986-87, there has only been one season
>in which BU won the series - last year. It was even twice, and Maine
>won the series 6 times. Maine won 11 straight from 1986 until 1989.
>I'm expecting that BU won the season series in 84-85 and 85-86, but
>that would still leave Maine with a good advantage in the overall
>set since HE was formed.
BU vs Maine (from the BU Media Guide):
1984-85 5-0-0
1985-86 3-0-0
1986-87 0-4-0
1987-88 0-3-0
1988-89 0-3-0
1989-90 1-3-0
1990-91 2-2-0
1991-92 1-1-1
1992-93 1-4-0
1993-94 4-1-1
1994-95 0-2-2
HE Totals 17-23-4
Overall 24-27-4
BU won 13 straight from 1981-82 through the 1985-86 season. BU and Maine
were dead even between 1990-91 and 1993-94, 8-8-2. Including this year
Maine leads in the nineties 10-8-4. By the way, Maine won in the 1923-24
season, 4-2. Since resuming the series in 1979-80 the overall record is
26-24-4 in Maine's favor. Not very lopesided. By the way, BU and Maine
both have had only two losing seasons (on the ice) overall since the start
of Hockey East. Every other HE team has three or more losing seasons.
>Also, on the rivalry...I have had many BU fans tell me they don't
>perceive much of a rivalry with Maine. Not anywhere near the rivalry
>with BC, anyway. They think that because both teams are good, it
>makes for exciting hockey, but the years that Maine, BU & BC were all
>good (1990-92 or so), there was no comparing a BU-Maine game with a
>BU-BC game in the eyes of most BU fans. That was the impression I got
>watching those games as an outside observer, too. Even today, BU
>people say they still prefer beating a weaker BC team to beating a
>better Maine team. :-)
The rivalry is usually more intense on the other teams side when it is
versus BU. Cornell still has there BU chant, ten years after Hockey east
was formed. BU and Cornell have played 3 times since the 1983-84 season.
Cornell had been number one in the east during the sixties, but BU
supplanted them in the seventies. BC is and always will be BU's arch-rival.
>I haven't looked into this yet, but off the top of my head, I would
>guess that a Maine-BC comparison would appear to be closer than a
>Maine-BU comparison. By how much, I'm not sure.
Maine BU BC NU
1984-85 12-29-1 24-14-4 28-15-2 13-24-1
1985-86 11-28-1 25-14-4 26-13-3 20-17-2
1986-87 24-16-2 19-15-3 31-8-0 13-21-3
1987-88 34-8-2 14-17-3 13-18-3 20-13-4
1988-89 31-4-0 14-20-1 25-11-4 18-16-2
1989-90 33-11-2 25-17-2 28-13-1 16-19-2
1990-91 32-9-2 28-11-2 27-12-0 8-25-2
1991-92 31-4-2 22-9-4 14-18-3 15-20-0
1992-93 42-1-2 29-9-2 9-24-5 10-24-1
1993-94 17-15-4 32-8-1 15-16-5 20-12-7
1994-95 12-0-5 9-3-3 4-9-3 8-5-3
OVERALL 279-125-23 241-137-29 220-157-21 161-196-27
(.680) (.628) (.579) (.454)
I am sure everyone is wondering why I included Northeastern in the above
table of team records. I did it because of the next table:
Maine vs BU BC NU
1984-85 0-5-0 1-2-0 0-3-0
1985-86 0-3-0 0-3-0 1-2-0
1986-87 4-0-0 1-3-0 0-3-1
1987-88 3-0-0 2-1-0 1-2-2
1988-89 3-0-0 2-2-0 3-1-0
1989-90 3-1-0 0-4-0 2-1-1
1990-91 2-2-0 1-2-0 3-0-1
1991-92 1-1-1 4-0-0 2-1-0
1992-93 4-1-0 3-0-0 6-0-0
1993-94 1-4-1 1-1-1 1-3-0
1994-95 2-0-2 1-0-1 0-0-1
Totals 23-17-4 16-18-2 19-16-6
(.568) (.472) (.536)
As can be seen BC does lead the HE series against Maine, but just barely and
Northeastern also plays Maine tough. In the HE playoffs, BU leads Maine
5-2-0, and is 1-1 in the championship game. BC is 2-2-0 against Maine in
the playoffs, 2-1 in the championship game. Maine leads NU 4-1-0 in the
playoffs, but is 0-1 in the champioship game.
Sean Pickett
Go BU Terriers, 1994 Hockey East Champions!
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