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By Jeff Mannix
Staff Reporter
The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team will look to improve upon its 2-2-0 record this weekend when it takes on the Western Michigan Broncos at the Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Friday and Saturday nights.
UMaine is now seventh in the latest U.S. College Hockey Online poll after last weekend’s split at North Dakota, who was ranked second in the nation.
Saturday’s starting goalie for UMaine, Mike Morrison, was named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week for his 46 save effort in the game.
“It’s definitely a compliment, and I appreciate it,” Morrison said of the award. “But it’s just one game and everything went my way. I think I should be getting one of the starts this weekend, so I’m just trying to have a good week of practice and go get ‘em.”
According to interim head coach Tim Whitehead, Morrison will be getting one start this weekend, along with fellow senior Matt Yeats.
“I haven’t decided which night each goalie will play, but they will both play this weekend,” Whitehead said. “They both played well last weekend.”
Saturday’s game was Morrison’s first start of the season, which he says makes it a lot easier to prepare.
“You can get ready the night before. You can do the research that you like to do,” he said. “Every single game has a different flow to it and you can’t really get that flow unless you start.”
Though Whitehead was happy to come out of North Dakota with a win, he would still like to see some improvement.
“We’re giving up too many chances defensively,” he said. “We need to get in better position defensively, and we’ll improve that.”
A few Black Bears were injured during last week. In some respects, though, Whitehead sees that as a positive.
“There’s going to be injuries,” he said. “We were still able to play well. It was an important step for us to be able to play well when guys get hurt.”
Freshman forward John Ronan will definitely not play this weekend. His separated shoulder will keep him out of the lineup. Michael Schutte and Francis Nault are both doubtful for this weekend with a separated shoulder and a sprained knee, respectively. Gray Shaneberger is expected to play despite his broken rib. He will be wearing a flack jacket this weekend. Defenseman Prestin Ryan was diagnosed with a concussion after Saturday’s game at North Dakota, but he has gotten the go-ahead to play.
The Broncos are 2-2-0 overall, playing all four games against conference opponents in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Western Michigan proved to be a contender last weekend with a split of a home-and-home series with Michigan.
Jim Culhane coaches the Broncos, a team with a few potent scorers and one of the better goaltenders in the CCHA. Mike Bishai, an All-CCHA selection last year, is leading the team in scoring once again. He has no goals yet, but has dished out eight assists. Freshman winger Patrick Dwyer has the most goals for the Broncos with three.
Most of the leading scorers are underclassmen. Sophomores Dana Lattery (1 goal, 4 assists for 5 points) and Jeff Campbell (1-3-4) will be key components up front for Western Michigan.
The defense is anchored by sophomore Mike Jarmuth and junior David Cousineau. Jarmuth has a goal and three assists while Cousineau has two goals.
Jeff Reynaert returns for his senior season in as the Broncos goalie. He was one of the better goalies in the nation last year, but has only played one game this season. He was pulled from the first game of the season against Alaska-Fairbanks after giving up four goals on only seven shots. Freshman Mike Mantua has taken the job and not looked back. He’s 2-1-0 with a 3.29 goals against average and an .875 save percentage.
Whitehead believes that Western Michigan will definitely provide a good challenge for the Black Bears. He says at this point, he’ll focus more on what his team is doing than on what the Broncos will do.
He also said the goal for the weekend is clear.
“I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win both games,” he said. “But, I know that Western Michigan is a good team as well. And I know if we can come out of there with a couple of points, that’s good, but I wouldn’t be satisfied, because I think we can knock them off twice. But, they’ll be thinking the same thing we are.”
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