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Were it not for a few very close losses over the course of the season, the University of Maine women’s hockey team would playing in the first ever post-season game. Instead, the Black Bears are will be watching the playoffs from the sidelines. They ended up one point short of the final playoff spot.
Although the Black Bears did not make the playoffs, the team had many successes over the 2000-’01 season It was the most successful in the four year history of the program at the varsity level. They finished with an overall record of 15-14-1 and a 10-13-1 mark in the ECAC. This season marks the first time the Black Bears finished a season above .500 at the Division I level, which means this is also the first time that they are ranked in the PairWise Ranking, a stat which helps determine teams to play in the NCAA tournament. A team must finish with a winning percentage of .500 or better to be put in this ranking. Maine also set a record for most wins in the ECAC in a season with 10 and highest finish in the ECAC at ninth. Maine also broke its club record for wins at Alfond Arena by winning 10 home contests this season.
“This season is a success,” said head coach Rick Filighera. “We’ll be ranked for the first time at the end of the season. We wanted to make playoffs, and I think it’s too bad that we didn’t, but this team did lots of good things this year.”
Coming into this season, Maine had never defeated a team that was ranked in the top ten in the country. The Black Bears beat three top ten teams over the course of this season. Maine came away with a 5-4 win at Alfond Arena on Jan. 20 over No. 8 Northeastern, a 3-2 win at No. 4 St. Lawrence on February 17 and a 3-2 win last Sunday to close out the season at Alfond over No. 6 Brown.
“This is team is getting better and learning how to win,” Filighera said. “My job is to keep making this team better and I think we’re on our way to doing that.”
Maine also got some huge individual performances this season. Freshman forward Karen Droog stepped into the lineup and made big contributions all season. Droog finished the season with 22 goals and 12 assists for a total of 34 points. The goal total places Droog third all-time at Maine in goals for a single season. She had two hat tricks on the season to go along with three game-winning goals and one game tying goal on a penalty shot on Jan. 21 against Providence at Alfond.
Droog is considered by many around the ECAC to be a strong contender for the ECAC Rookie of the Year. She led the conference in both goals and points by freshman. “I will be surprised if she doesn’t win Rookie of the Year,” said Filighera. “She deserves it. (Andrea) Keller and (Megan) Aarts played well on that line and Karen should be greatful for her linemates. They meshed really well this season.”
Andrea Keller, a junior center, finished the season as the team’s third leading scorer with six goals and 17 assists for 23 points. Aarts, another freshman, was the second leading goal scorer on the team, with 12 to go along with six assists for 18 points. That line was, by far, the leading line for point production.
Kelly Nelson, the senior captain of the team, was the second leading scorer from her defensive position. She scored six goals and 18 assists for 24 points. Though she is a senior, Nelson still has one more year of eligibility left, which she plans to use.
Maine center Raffi Wolf, who broke the all-time mark for career points on Jan. 7, had an up-and-down year. Wolf, a junior from Voerde, Germany, missed Maine’s last 10 games. She ended up with seven goals and eight assists, a low total in both categories for her. She missed four games while she was with the German national team in a qualifying tournament in Switzerland during early February. Germany qualified and she was named team MVP. After she got back she fractured her left ankle during practice and missed the final six games of the season due to the injury.
Maine sophomore goalie Dawn Froats stepped up in a big way. She compiled a 12-3-1 record with a 1.99 goals against average and a .922 save percentage. Her GAA and her save percentage set new single season records.
“She’s been steady all year,” Filighera said. “I think this was a good growing year for a her as a sophomore. And she came up with some great saves in key situations over the year. She bailed us out when we made mistakes, and that’s what the goaltender is for.”
There are many positives heading into next season for this team. All the players will be back from this team. Maine will also be playing in a new league next season. The ECAC, which was a 13-team conference this season, has accepted three new members for next season and has decided to split into two leagues of eight. Maine will play in a league with Boston College, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Niagara, Northeastern, Providence, and Quinnipiac, a league in which Maine should be able to succeed next season.
Overall, coach Filighera views this season as a huge success. “I wish we were in the playoffs. That’s where we wanted to be and we’re not going,” he said. But, before Saturday’s game, Filighera had a conversation with men’s head hockey coach Shawn Walsh that gave him some perspective. “He told me to remember the big picture. The big picture is we are three years old (at Division I) and we are now over .500. We have broken seven team records. There’s a lot of really good things that have happened this year.”
With Maine getting all of their players back and many other teams around the ECAC losing key players, the future will only get better for UMaine women’s hockey.
