Black Bears set to joust for conference momentum

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This weekend, the University of Maine women’s hockey team will look to gain sole possession of third place in the Hockey East standings when they face the University of Connecticut.

UMaine’s two-game set against the Huskies is part of the Black Bears six-game stand away from Alfond Arena. Their last series of the road trip will be next weekend against second-place Providence College. After their battle against the Friars, the team will look to make amends against the University of New Hampshire.

“Going into the next few games will be challenging. I think we have to make plays and just play 120 minutes,” said head coach Guy Perron. “Last week we played very well and made a couple mistakes that cost us, and then UNH was able tie the game.”

“UConn is playing very well and they played well against Providence, so it will be a good matchup,” said Perron. “We have to be strong down the road for the rest of the season.”

As for the Huskies, they will enter the weekend with the fifth-best record in Hockey East. They are just one point out of the third place position that is held by both the Black Bears and Boston College. In their last series, UConn was narrowly edged out 4-3 by the Friars, but were able to garner a 3-3 tie in the series finale.

Although their first game may not have been as high scoring, the Black Bears were also on the wrong end of a close game, losing 1-0 Friday against the Wildcats. The loss saw the Black Bears’ seven-game winning streak come to an end. In the second game, the Black Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, thanks to goals by Tristan Desmet and Julie Poulin. Then, with 10 minutes remaining in the first period, the Wildcats were able to cut into the Black Bears lead and tie the game 26 seconds into the third period.

Later in the period, UMaine took the lead off a power play goal scored by Kate Sunstrum. However, the Wildcats were able to take advantage of a late Black Bear miscue to tie the game at 3-3.

Even with the loss and tie, the Black Bears travel to Storrs with an overall record off 11-6-3. This is the team’s best start over their first 20 games. The Black Bears are just six wins away from their best season in school history.

“We’re learning as we go along and we’ve worked hard on different things and everyone is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Perron said. “I’m satisfied with the way we have molded together to work hard.”

“This is our big stretch of the season,” said Perron, “and in three weeks, we will see where we want to be.”

This entry was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2005, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.