Hands up. Who had Maine’s hockey team beating Boston College by three goals Sunday night? Be honest, now.
My hand isn’t up, either. Boston College was playing like one of the top-ranked teams in college hockey and Maine was playing like, well, the No. 13 team. A very motivated No. 13 but who knew beforehand?
What’s more, Coach Tim Whitehead handed the goalie stick to seldom-used Shawn Sirman, the sophomore. It was a reward for keeping his head up in practice despite slipping down the depth chart behind freshmen Martin Ouellette and Dan Sullivan.
Sirman had something to prove and his teammates even more. Merrimack’s 7-1 victory over Maine last week was a gigantic slap upside the head. Yet what fooled some fans was Friday’s 4-3 overtime win at home over unranked Providence. Maine had given up the lead in that one.
“I thought our team played strong hockey,” said Whitehead. “I was proud of Friday’s game.”
You can imagine how he and his players felt after Sunday’s 4-1 victory over Boston College.
“We feel engergized,” said Whitehead. “There’s a lot to build on.”
Can Maine sustain this? From one Sunday to the next, you saw the worst and the best of Maine hockey.
But instead of playing to prove they weren’t as bad as the loss to Merrimack might have indicated, why can’t they play to prove they’re the team to beat game after game?
There will always be Cinderella teams to thrill you. The triumph of underdogs. Consistency is the mark of a great team.
For Maine hockey, there’s still time. …
Just a thought, but I think Rex Ryan got inside the heads of the Patriots last week just enough to achieve what he wanted Sunday for his New York Jets.
His verbal jabs by themselves didn’t do the job. Combine the needling with a resolute and different Jets defense that had something of its own to prove and you get the feeling that Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots were set up. …
Jamie Ross was a face in the crowd watching the Maine Red Claws at the Portland Expo over the holidays. I caught his eye, gave him a thumbs-up and mouthed the words, good luck. After the game I ran into him and explained that the good luck was for his chance at winning the Fitzpatrick Trophy, the Deering basketball and baseball seasons and the rest of his life.
Ross is a teenage student-athlete who’s handled himself well in the face of disappointments.
Hopefully he’s forgiven himself weeks ago for just missing the field goal that would have sent Deering to the state title football game, not Cheverus. I’d guess he won’t forget.
Cheverus quarterback Peter Gwilym won the Fitzy this weekend, Ross didn’t lose it, and there is a difference. Gwilym earned his trophies. Ross earned your recognition. …
A fan of Maine women’s basketball called to say Coach Cindy Blodgett didn’t need players who worked harder, she needed to recruit players who can shoot better.
Maine’s shooting percentage in Saturday’s loss to Binghamton was 31.9 percent, or 22 of 69. Not good.
Better shooting isn’t the result of praying to the basketball gods.
If you want to improve your putting, you step onto the putting green. To hit a baseball better, you head for the batting cage after watching video on your swing. To improve your shot in the ice, you pound the goalcage with pucks.
From her office in the upper reaches of Memorial Gym, Blodgett can hear the bounce of basketballs on the court. When the team isn’t practicing, Blodgett doesn’t hear that distinctive noise often. She should.
Poor discipline can be another problem. Saturday, Ashleigh Roberts, Amber Smith and Katelyn Vanderhoff were simply taking bad shots that didn’t have much more than a prayer or a hope of drawing a foul. The three players were a combined 14 of 47.
Maybe it was the pressure of losing and trying to do too much. Maybe frustration. These women certainly could score in high school. College defenses, of course, are much different, but these players haven’t forgotten the technique that made them scorers in the first place.
Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at: ssolloway@pressherald.com
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