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Albany, N.Y – All week, the University of Maine men’s hockey team heard about the scoring prowess of Harvard.
They couldn’t escape it.
They would log on to a college hockey Web site and there it was. Turn over a newspaper and sure enough, some column was detailing the Crimson’s hot streak.
The Black Bears were tired of hearing about it. After all, how many times can you hear that your opponent has won their last seven-of-eight, and rattled off more than 32 goals in five games?
UMaine just wanted to play the game. More importantly, they were eager to let the rest of the hockey nation in on a little secret: They were more than capable themselves of finding the back of the net.
Saturday, UMaine proved it in a thorough 6-1 win over Harvard in their NCAA tournament East Regional semifinal.
“We were the underdog here tonight, but in our eyes, we knew we could beat them,” said assistant captain Michel Leveille. “They talked about them all the way in the paper. There was nothing in the paper about us. It was like they forgot about us.”
UMaine’s offensive assault on the Crimson was nothing new. Many Hockey East teams have fallen victim to this type of high octane barrage throughout the year. Despite having highly touted offenses such as New Hampshire and Boston College in their league, the Black Bears’ 131 goals are second only to Boston University in the Hockey East rankings. Led by Hobey Baker finalist and captain Greg Moore, who has 27 tallies on the year, UMaine is also third in goals per game.
Throughout the season, UMaine has seen their offensive production increase because of their depth. Saturday night was no different.
“It’s a great win; it’s one of the first times in awhile that we have played a complete, 60-minute game,” said Soares. “I think it shows everyone else what we can do if we do play a complete game. But the key is that it showed us what we could do.
“I think it might be one of the best games we have played all year.”
Sparked by an early goal by Josh Soares that came from the point at 8:16 of the first, UMaine went on to see six different players pilfer John Daginaeu’s net.
The second and most important goal, however, came from a defenseman.
The Crimson tied things up 1-1 just over a minute after Soares’ tally. But sophomore blueliner Bret Tyler rushed around the cage and snapped a wraparound chance through Daigneau’s feet only 25 seconds later.
“We knew the next goal was huge and I was lucky enough to get it,” said Tyler.
Tyler believes the key to UMaine’s offense this year has been the coaches’ approach to it. Like his teammates, Tyler admitted to getting offensive advice from assistant coach Grant Standbrook earlier this week. The advice especially worked in this case.
“I talked to [assistant] coach [Grant] Standbrook a lot this week about knowing when to pinch,” Tyler said. “I picked the right time and the defense was kind of standing flat footed, so I said ‘I am going to try and take them.’ I was able to beat them wide and then walk out front for a low shot to the blocker.”
Leveille, who registered the backbreaker that made it 4-1 UMaine, also said Standbrook and head coach Tim Whitehead provide him with assistance. The notorious playmaker, with a goal and two assists against Harvard and 39 points on the season, saw their advice pay off on a highlight-reel unassisted goal at 12:01 of the second.
“The defense just shot the puck right at me and from there I knew I had a step on the defenseman,” said Leveille. “I just wanted to take it to the net. The goalie made the first move on me and left me the top right part of the net wide open.”
Leveille said the coaches had worked with him on carrying the puck in for odd man rushes and when to shoot. Because of what he had discussed with his coaches, he knew exactly what to do after rushing out of UMaine’s defense zone into a 1-on-1 with Peter Hafner.
“I could have taken the shot wide, but I knew I had a step on the guy,” said Leveille. “I protected the puck with my leg and, you know, it was one of those things where I made up my mind early and I wasn’t going to change it.”
Leveille was joined in the scoring column by teammates John Hopson, Moore and Brent Shepheard, as well as Soares and Tyler. Moore, who had an empty netter at 16:24 and Shepheard, who tipped in a Rob Bellamy shot on the power play in the final minute, both scored their goals with the game seemingly in hand.
“Without a doubt, that was one of our most complete games,” said Tyler. “Coach had us in the right mindset tonight.”
The scores were also created by some different and varied faces. Chris Hahn, in for suspended forward Derek Damon, picked up the slack and recorded an assist. Others netting assists were Leveille with two, Keenan Hopson and Rob Bellamy.
Freshman goalie Ben Bishop feels the sustained pressure on the Crimson net front comes from a good aggressive back checking.
“The most effective thing tonight for our team was the way our forwards were back checking,” said Bishop. “If our forwards backcheck like that every game, teams are going to have a hard time beating us.”
According to Bishop, if UMaine is back checking, then they are doing everything correctly. Saturday, this system worked as UMaine peppered the Crimson net with 44 shots.
Whitehead was not willing to discredit the talented Harvard defense, though.
“Sometimes that happens,” said Whitehead about UMaine’s offensive success. “We got some bounces early. We got to the net pretty well.”
Even more commendable was the fact that UMaine scored all but two goals in five-on-five situations.
“Special teams are critical but if you can score a few goals five-on-five it’s major,” said Leveille.
UMaine was 1-for-7 on the power play, and held Harvard to 0-5 with the man-advantage.
While the forwards stole the show, Bishop turned in another impressive outing with 25 saves in his first ever NCAA tournament game. His lone blemish came at 9:32 of the first period when Mike Taylor tapped in a rebound off Bishop’s right leg pad. The second chance opportunity came after a Nick Coskren shot from above the far face off dot. Bishop’s foe on the other end, Daigneau, concluded his career with 38 saves.
“He plays with such poise back there,” said Soares about Bishop. “The way he plays that puck is amazing. He just has so much confidence. He is making the big saves when we need it. He is playing phenomenal right now; he has been the backbone for us.”
For the Black Bears, the tenacious start and complete game were also compliments of an attitude they had drilled into themselves this past week.
“It’s the NCAA’s, if you’re not coming out hard like that then you shouldn’t be in this sport at all,” said Ryan. “It’s do or die.”
