The goal of the new coach is to bring the UMaine men’s hockey back up

ORONO When practicing at the Alfond Arena, Ben Barri is surrounded by ghosts and memories, hopes and expectations.

In the horns at the north end of the field, above a filled balcony on game nights, where students mocked an opposing goalkeeper, hang two national championships won by the University of Maine men’s hockey team in 1993 and 1999. are older than many players taking the polar bear to the Black Bears this season.

At the opposite end of the field is a banner celebrating the performances of the program’s NCAA tournaments, the last of which came in 2012.

Barr, 39, is the man UMaine hired last spring upgrade Alfond Arena interior. A collegiate head coach for the first time, he comes to Orono as a reputation as an elite recruiter. As an assistant coach, Barr attracted players to three schools that won the NCAA Division I championship, including the University of Massachusetts this year.

– He has shown that he has a good eye for talent. He understands that university hockey is recruiting. If you don’t recruit, you don’t win, ”said Tom Ward, a former college and hockey coach who coached Barria Shattuck-St. Mary’s, preschool in Minnesota.

Barr’s job is to revive a program that was once a state speech but has been less relevant for more than a decade. The Black Bears advanced to the national semi-finals 11 times between 1987 and 2007. Since then, in 14 seasons, the team has lost more games than won.

His salary comes after the university’s sports department has launched an ambitious campaign to raise $ 20 million in private donations over the next 10 years to supplement the $ 90 million received from the Harold Alfond Foundation to upgrade Orono’s campus sports facilities. This includes upgrades to Alfond Arena, which features men’s and women’s hockey teams, and an expansion of the Shawn Walsh Hockey Center, including new locker rooms.

Barr’s background as a player at Rensselaer University of Applied Sciences and as an assistant coach at Union College, Providence College, Western Michigan and UMass has prepared him for this challenge. The Black Bears will open the 2021-22 season with games at the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Friday and Saturday. Maine’s first regular season games at the Alfond Arena are scheduled for October 22-23. Against Sacred Heart.

Barr signed a four-year contract and earns $ 235,000 a year, making him a member of the university’s highest-paid sports department. The deal will be extended for another two years if the black bears set a winning record in the Eastern hockey game during Barri’s first three seasons.

The black bears went 3-11-2 last winter in a pandemic-shortened season. While Maine’s winning tradition can be dusty, Barr knows he has to embrace it on the recruitment path.

“For me, it’s about finding players who are interested and want to be here,” he said. “There are a lot of them out there. I can tell you that the Maine hockey brand is still pretty strong, more than anywhere else I’ve been an assistant.”

ROOTS IN THE MINNES WAR

The head coach’s job at UMaine began with the unexpected death of Dennis “Red” Gendron in April. The search for Gendron’s deputy began quickly, and former Maine resignations Jim Montgomery, Garth Snow, and Bruce Major served on the selection board. Barr quickly emerged as the best candidate. Those who have known him for the longest time are not surprised.

“He was a great communicator with everyone. He was a hard worker, ”said Mike Carpentier, a close friend of Barr’s because they were ninth-grade students at Shattuck-St. Marian. “His ability to call someone out without doing it wrong, respectfully, was truly unique. When you look it back, Ben was such an easy teammate. He got along with everyone. “

Ben Barr leads the University of Maine men’s hockey team during a practice last week at the Alfond Arena. Rich Abrahamson / Morning Sentinel

ESPN has called Shattuck-St. Mary’s the Hogwarts of hockey, referring to the school of wizards in Harry Potter books. Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby, who is the NHL’s best draftsman in 2005, attended Shattuck-St. Mary is a year old. So did Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanches, who was the first choice in the 2013 draft.

The school is located in Fairbault, Minnesota, the city where Barr was born. His father Rick Barr and Uncle Brant Barr both visited Shattuck-St. Mary’s in the 1970s, and it was always assumed that Ben would follow in their footsteps.

“It’s probably as good as you get,” Barr said of the school’s hockey vibe. “The coaches they have there, the culture and the details they have put into it.

“I’ve said it many times, it’s probably the reason I get to talk to you today and why I got to play in college. I learned so much. During that time in your life, you’re also really impressive, so you take it with you for the rest of your life. “

Ward, still Shattuck-St’s head coach. Mary’s, Barr was impressed early on.

“He got along well with his teammates and was a companion to our community here,” Ward said. “You can definitely say he had a sense in him.”

Maine captain Jack Quinlivan says new coach Ben Barr reassured him the first time they spoke. Rich Abrahamson / Morning Sentinel

This pleasant side of Barri struck Maine Captain Jack Quinlivan during his first conversation. Quinlivan and Barr continued to speak to Gendron barely a month after his death, and spoke by telephone on the day Barr was hired in May. The behavior of the new coach calmed Quinlivan.

“We talked on the phone and he was very excited. After Red’s death, it was nice to see that something exciting happened to the program,” Quinlivan said.

Matt Fawcett, a junior striker and transfer from the University of Quinnipiac, wanted to be a part of what Barr is building in Maine, and was one of the coach’s first recruits.

– I like the way he coaches. It was very attractive to me. The rich history of the school and Maine really attracted me here, ”Fawcett said. – I like the high pace of play. That’s what he brings to us, and I think we’re going to do it well. “

THE BIGGEST SUCCESS IN UMASS

Barr invites every head coach he played for and worked as a mentor, but it’s undeniably at UMass, where he spent the last five seasons working under Greg Carvel, where Barr had the most influence as an assistant coach and where he grew up a coach who could complete his own program. With Barr Carvel staff, UMass played in the NCAA final in 2019 and won the national championship in 2021. Their coaching relationship felt easy, but it took time to develop.

“I think I was a different head coach than he had worked in before, and I think it took him a while to understand my style,” Carvel said. “When she came to the comfort zone with me, she really started to bloom. For the last two years, especially last year, I knew I had another head coach on the bench with me, and that was very comforting to me. “

Ben Barr worked with head coach Greg Carvel at the University of Massachusetts for the past five seasons. UMass won the NCAA title this year and advanced to the NCAA Championship in 2019. Massachusetts Athletics

Carvel describes himself as a coach whose style focuses on what players do on the puck with his stick, while Barr was more concerned about what players did without the puck, especially in defense. There was much in common between Carvel’s desire for creativity and Barri’s discipline and adherence to structure.

– I think we played well with each other. He let others talk, ”Barr said. “It was his strongest suit. In the end, it was his decision, he ran the program. But he would take things with him, and if he liked it, he would wear it. He was very open to things, which was a good lesson for me.”

Barr’s relationship with Carvel is shaping his plans to work with his assistant coaches in Maine: Alfie Michaud, the sole owner of Gendron’s staff, Jason Fortier, Daniel Perez and Matthew Vanden Berg.

“They’re all very confident people, so I have to be open and listen,” Barr said.

‘SELECTED FOR DETAILS’

Fans are not patient in nature. They want profits and they want them now. But it will take time for UMaine to be able to rebuild under Barr’s leadership as he shapes the team’s vision.

Ward, who coached at the University of Minnesota and the NHL with Buffalo Sabers during his tenure at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, said the sooner holdover players buy into Barr’s system when he brings in his own recruiters, the sooner Maine will see success. In a survey of Hockey East preseason coaches, Maine was ranked 10th in the 11-team league.

“I don’t think the closet was there completely bare from Red (Gendron),” Ward said. “I think they did a good job. They had a competitive group. So it’s not like he’s starting from scratch. He has players and he has a great program to sell to. Black Bear hockey has a great tradition, and I’m sure he relies heavily on it. “

Barr stressed to his team that success this season will be because they all work hard every turn and every game. Hockey East has teams with the talent to win a free night and earn a win. Reputation is not one of them.

“In order to succeed, especially now we have to succeed, we all have to pick the details very well,” Barr said last week. I told the guys the day before yesterday that we can’t have three or four guys for lunch to play with. It’s not our team’s makeup. If we get 18 skaters every night, we’re fine. But if we only have 15, 16, we’re not going to win. That is the reality. “

Quinlivan, UMaine captain, said it has been adapting the entire team to learn new systems.

– He wants to move quickly up and down the ice, control the puck and play a low attack. I’ve been here for four years, so it learns many things again, but it’s exciting. But it’s also challenging, ”Quinlivan said. – Coaches have different mentalities and strategies. Each coach implements their own style of play. He expects the most from us every day, like Red. “

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