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Excellence.
It is what Gray Shaneberger strives for, both on and off the ice.
Success off the ice was something Shaneberger was used to before the season began, but now he is having much more success on it because of a new role, more playing time and his work ethic.
“I try to be the hardest working player on the ice,” Shaneberger said. “I’ve finally found my role as more of a checker. I tried to be more of a puck handler in the past, but I’ve realized that my role on this team is to be a checker and dig for loose pucks.”
His new coach, Tim Whitehead, likes Shaneberger’s style of play and physical presence.
“I’ve been very pleased with how Gray is playing on the ice. He’s playing within himself,” Whitehead said. “He’s playing the role he should be playing, which is a defensive power forward. As a result, he’s getting offensive opportunities. He’s been excellent on the penalty kill, and he’s a great checking forward. He’s contributed offensively by driving to the net and winning loose pucks and he’s been very consistent taking the body. He’s really helping the team.”
Whitehead feels that he is filling a role that needed to be filled.
“Any team needs different types of players to win,” he said. “You can’t have a team of all skill players or all physical players. You need to have a mix to be successful, and he is bringing something to our team that we really need.”
Not bad for a kid who was red-shirted his first year and who was used only sparingly during his freshman and sophomore seasons as a player.
But Shaneberger has come into his own in his junior season. He already has two goals and three assists for five points in 11 games. Last season, he had only three points in 14 games. One more point this year will equal his point output for his first two seasons in a Black Bear uniform.
The native of Sewall, N.J. said his role has changed a lot since he came to the University of Maine. He asked to be red-shirted by coach Shawn Walsh upon arriving at UMaine in the fall of 1998.
“I had just turned 18 when I came here,” he said. He played junior hockey for the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers, but told Walsh and assistant Grant Standbrook that he wanted to take the year to get used to the college game. He thinks that year helped him immensely.
“I had great guys to learn from,” Shaneberger said. “Steve Kariya, Ben Guite, Cory Larose, those guys taught me a lot, as did coach Walsh and coach Standbrook.”
He was brought in as a face-off specialist and has seen his role change from a puck handling defensive forward to the banging power forward role that he now enjoys under interim coach Whitehead. His size, 6-foot 4-inch, 225 pound frame certainly helps.
Lack of playing time was a frustration for him for the past two seasons, but sticking with his work habits and finding his role have helped.
“I really needed to find my role on this team,” Shaneberger said.
Success on the ice may be new to Shaneberger this season, but success in the classroom him is nothing new.
The junior natural resources major has won the UMaine Scholar-Athlete Award twice and received the Dale Lick Academic Achievement Award, given yearly to a player from the men’s ice hockey program. He also has been named to the Hockey East All-Academic Team for the past two seasons. Last year, he ended up with highest grade point average of any student-athlete in Hockey East with a 3.82, giving him the Top Scholar Athlete Award. He was the Black Bears’ first recipient of that award in its 10 year history.
“I’m extremely proud of that honor,” Shaneberger said. “I feel that focusing on class helps me focus on the ice. If I’m having trouble in a class, I’ll think about it a lot and it will distract me when I play hockey. So I try to do as well as I can and work hard on my studies so I can focus on playing hockey when the time comes.”
Whitehead believes that his focus on academics helps him on the ice as well.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Whitehead said. “He has his priorities off the ice as well. He takes his academics seriously. He has things in perspective, and that’s important.”
Shaneberger will graduate on time this spring, something which was a goal when he entered school.
“My parents will be here to watch me walk across the stage, so that will be a very proud moment for me.”
Of course, that means that his hockey future at UMaine and beyond is in doubt right now, but Shaneberger is no hurry to decide what to do about next season yet.
“I’ll wait and see how this season goes. I’d like to come back and have the chance to play if I can,” he said. To do that, he will have to become a graduate student so he can use his final year of playing eligibility.
Playing professional hockey is up in the air for Shaneberger right now as well. No one knows what the future will hold for Shaneberger. But for this year, he will be a key emotional leader for the Black Bears and will show steady improvement as the season unfolds.
“Everyone who comes here dreams of playing at the next level,” he said. “But I’m focusing on my education, and doing well with that so I can have something to fall back on just in case hockey doesn’t work out.”
