I think Wayne really hit the nail on the head here.  It is so easy to
get lost in the "4 Frozen Fours in 6 Years", but there is a lot of
uncertainty in the future of UMaine hockey.

Grant Standbrook is now a volunteer assistant and if I am correct NCAA
rules prohibit the volunteer assistant from recruiting off-campus.  If I
am correct, this means that the 2007-2008 incoming freshman class will
be the first non-Grant recruited class in some time.  The next four
years, as we cycle out Grant's recruits and replace them will in large
part determine the future of our program.  It is not fair (read: Shawn
Walsh vs. Tim Whitehead) to ask Guy Perron to recruit like Grant, but
Maine NEEDS Guy Perron to be a successful recruiter.  He is untested and
has a lot to prove in my opinion.

You could make the case that Grant Standbrook was as instrumental in
building Maine Hockey as Shawn Walsh was.  You could even make the case
that Grant helped make Shawn Walsh who he was too.

Grant has also helped Tim Whitehead be successful at Maine.  Again, Tim
(like Walsh before him) gets all the "credit" for "Four FF in Six
Years", but it has as much to do with Grant getting quality players to
play at Maine as anything else.

It is scary to think about a Maine program without Grant Standbrook
stocking it.

The facilities point is also a good one.  The Shawn Walsh Hockey Center
helps, but Maine still plays in an aging rink and with the rinks at UNH,
BC, BU and sorry, but UMASS, it will become harder and harder to recruit
at Maine IF the program takes a step back at all.  The whole thing is a
big catch-22, but the rink will fast become an issue if we start missing
NCAA Tournaments.  

-Deron

--- Wayne wrote, in part:
> After the Championship game Saturday night, I bumped into Grant and 
> thanked him for his part in another great season.
> 
> Sometimes, I wonder if Maine fans understand the part, the major
> part, 
> the coaching staff has in the Maine successes over the years.  Yes,
> we 
> have the wonderful Shawn Walsh addition and we have a great fan
> turnout, 
> but have any of you compared Alfond Arena to the newer venues in the 
> east and some of CCHA and most of WCHA?   Maybe the Alfond is sized 
> right for the UMaine community, but it just doesn't measure up to a 
> significant number of rinks ... and the programs in those rinks are 
> going after and getting the "best" players. 
> 
> Certainly UMaine is a good school where hockey athletes can and do 
> succeed.  How is it that UMaine is able to compete with BU, BC and
> UNH?