On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 11:47 PM, Aaron Hermes <[log in to unmask]> wrote, in part:

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So, am I just not getting the email from the list, or is nobody talking?

Nobody is talking and there really aren't many on this list ... maybe one hundred, last I checked. You are right to ask for people to contribute!

Also, can someone explain how Maine can play UMass and have it be a non-conference game? I don't get it. I've seen a few references online to "reductions in the Hockey East schedule," but have to admit I'm a little lost.

To backup from what James wrote, ... with Hockey East adding Notre Dame this year, it was decided that continuing to play 3 games against each team (3 games*10 other teams = 30 games (was 27 games) would leave too few games for non-conference. NCAA allows for 34 games per regular season (with a few exceptions). So HEA decided to drop from 3 games to 2 games per team per season. This caused a different problem. 3games*(10-1 teams) was 27; 2games*(11-1 teams) is 20 games. All of a sudden, all HEA teams need to find 7 more games to play this season! Many HEA teams did it primarily with additional games with other HEA teams. Maine did this, along with some late additions of Canadian University games. Big-time schools such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. had the "power" to get teams to come to their house ... and they play many more home games than away games. (The NCAA recognized this would happen and adjusted NCAA tournament selection to account for unbalanced home/away schedules).

At least it looks like Maine's in third in Hockey East, and Anthoine was the HE player of the week, so things are moving the right direction!

Maine will be a much more interesting team to watch this season, but if you're expecting a top-half finish, I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

Cheers, Wayne