In a message dated 4/11/2004 9:35:27 AM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > Things almost went according to plan last night, but after coming up > just short and the disappointment that naturally comes with losing by > one goal in the national championship game, there really isn't much to > complain about. > > For starters, few here would have believed it had we said before the > season started that we would appear in the national championship game. > We were supposed to be rebuilding, right? Of course we were. Turns > out that our goaltending was even better than we thought and the > emergence of some on our blue line helped stabilize things. However, > we *were* rebuilding up front and that inconsistency up front of > scoring goals did hurt us at times. It just underscores how good our > goalies and defense actually were. > > Losing is never easy, but what will haunt Coach Whitehead and his staff > is that Maine played well Saturday. I agree with those like Bob Norton > who say Maine got beat at their own game. Denver and Maine went > toe-to-toe and kept each other away from the front of the net and the > goaltenders picked up the rest. If not for one guy who got free on one > power play, they might still be playing. But at the end of the day, > Maine played their game and simply got beat. > > You can't complain about the power play. It's been brutal all year, > but especially in the playoffs. It is probably mostly mental at this > point, not having the confidence. Much like the off-season helped > erase the memories of the 2003 collapse, this off-season will hopefully > to serve to wipe this memory away too. But it wasn't like the power > play didn't show up Saturday, it's been missing for weeks. We've won > without it before. > > You can't complain about the officiating. The rule may stink, but the > rule was followed on Maine's disallowed goal. Give Maine credit for > not using it as an excuse -- because it wasn't. I can't believe the > ref gave Maine a 5x3 to end the game, but he called the penalties that > had to be called. That's pretty unusual in itself. > > You can't complain about the class of our players and coaches. I > thought Tim Whitehead's comments rang very true. He didn't hide his > emotions and how he felt, but it didn't come across as arrogant or > defiant -- just classy and personal. The players, who still were > stunned from losing 1-0 in a game I truly believe they all thought they > would eventually tie, represented the program well and they did not > make excuses. Yes, they lamented their lack of ability to score goals, > but they took nothing away from Denver and they did not use the > disallowed goal as an excuse. > > We all want to win. As Todd Jackson rightly said on Friday, and as > Shawn Walsh himself said, the University of Maine plays for national > championships, period. So in that sense, as a program Maine did not > achieve their goal. But as the curtain falls on this season, it is > hard to say anything negative about where the program stands. In the > six years that we've returned to the national tournament stage after > the NCAA problems we've appeared in THREE National Championship games, > FOUR Frozen Fours and have made the NCAA Tournament all six years. > Yes, we'd like to win them all, because you never know if you'll get > there again. But all signs point to our program being healthy and > strong. > > And it's hard to complain about that. > > Thanks for the memories! > > --- > Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask] > Right on, Deron!