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The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team will play its first home games of the season when it hosts the Mid-Maine Communications Black Bear Classic at Alfond Arena this Friday and Saturday night.
The Black Bears come off a very impressive weekend last week, as they stormed past two-time defending national champion Minnesota 4-0 on Friday night in the first round of the Maverick Stampede at the Qwest Center at the University of Nebraska – Omaha. The Bears then dispatched Wisconsin 6-2 in the championship game of the tournament hosted by the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Coach Tim Whitehead says the start was impressive.
“It was a great start,” Whitehead said. “Now we have to keep building on it. We need to realize there will be some ups and downs this year, but the results of the weekend certainly give us motivation to do something special this year.”
Three UMaine players were named to the All-Tournament team, including senior forward Todd Jackson, who scored two goals in each game of the tournament, sophomore forward Greg Moore, who had a goal and two assists on the weekend, and sophomore goalie Jimmy Howard, who stopped 25 shots in the shutout of Minnesota. Jackson was also named the Hockey East Co-Player of the Week and the National Player of the Week by Inside College Hockey.
“We’re really proud of Todd,” Whitehead said of Jackson. “Not just with how he played this weekend, but how he has handled the team as captain. He leads by example on and off the ice. He’s really elevated his game, and we need that from our upperclassmen.”
Howard was also named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week.
Perhaps the most astounding of the results this weekend is how far UMaine jumped in the national polls. Ranked 13th in both preseason polls, the Black Bears leaped eight spots in both polls this week to fifth. UMaine garnered three first-place votes in the US College Hockey Online Poll and two first-place votes from the USA Today-American Hockey Magazine Poll.
“It’s hard for the pollsters this early in the season,” Whitehead said. “The preseason rankings are based on what you have on paper. We had a really good weekend. The goal for us is to play as consistently as we can and be ranked as highly as we can all year. If we can get a young team to play consistently, that will be great.
UMaine’s next challenge is this weekend when they host the annual Black Bear Classic. The Black Bears’ first game will be against an exhibition game on Friday with the Under-18 team from the U.S. National Team Development Program. That program produced three UMaine players: Jackson, Moore and Howard.
The U.S. Under-18 Team is coached by Moe Mantha. The team is 4-5-0 overall this season, playing a mix of junior teams and college programs. The team has lost its last five games, four of them to college teams, including a 5-0 decision to UNH on Oct. 4.
Forward Brandon Scero leads the U.S. U-18 team in scoring with eight goals and one assist for nine points. Other top forwards include Geoff Paukovitch (6-2-8), Bryan Lerg (3-5-8), and Kevin Swallow (2-6-8).
The team hasn’t scored much from the blue line. Nate Hagemo leads the way with four assists for four points, while Brett Bevis has two assists for two points.
In goal, time has been evenly split between Jordan Pearce and Chris Carlson. Pearce is 2-2-0 with a 3.87 goals against average and an .842 save percentage, while Carlson is 2-3-0 with a 4.07 goals against average and an .869 save percentage.
The Holy Cross Crusaders, coached by Paul Pearl in his ninth season, are 1-0-1 thus far, beating and tying league foe Canisius on the road last weekend. Holy Cross is an experienced team trying to crack the top of the league this year.
The four top forwards are all seniors: Tim Coskren (1-1-2), Matt Conway (0-2-2), Jeff Dams (0-2-2), and Greg Kealey (0-2-2). The top defenseman is senior J.R. Walker. The two goalies, however, are sophomores. Tony Quesada, a native of South Freeport, Maine, was in net for Saturday’s 3-1 win, while Ben Conway played in Sunday’s 3-3 tie.
The Sacred Heart Pioneers, coached by Shaun Hannah in his eighth season, are 0-2-0 after losing to a pair of Hockey East teams last weekend. Sacred Heart was throttled by Providence on Friday 7-2 on the road, and then lost 4-2 at Merrimack Saturday.
Freshman forward Pierre-Luc O’Brien got off to a good start with two goals, while senior Marc-Andre Fournier and juniors Garrett Larsen and Barclay Folk will also be keys. Junior Ryan Bremner will lead the defense corps, while junior netminder Kevin Lapointe and freshman Jason Smith split time last weekend.
Bangor Daily News