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While there is precious little wiggle in the University of Maine women’s hockey team’s bid for a Hockey East playoff spot, the Black Bears are unshaken. Riding momentum from a shutout win over Vermont and a narrow, overtime loss to second-place Providence, UMaine heads to Beantown this weekend looking to pick up points in dates with Boston University and No. 9 Boston College.
“Even with the loss against Providence, I was happy because we played a full, complete game,” said UMaine coach Lauren Steblen. “We played twice as well as we did on Saturday [in the win over UVM], and I told the girls that’s the hardest I’ve seen them work all season.”
UMaine is 2-8-2 in Hockey East action and 7-13-2 overall, but early season struggles skew the record, in part because the Black Bears played nine games against top-10 teams.
Led by captains Kelly Law and Brigitte Laflamme, the squad refused to adopt a losing mentality and may be primed for a second-half run.
“We have six seniors and they’re all kids who are used to winning,” said Steblen. “It doesn’t matter what the score is, they’ve gone hard throughout every game. They think they can win them all, whether it’s UNH or Vermont. That trickles down and gets the freshman up. They take every game seriously and that sets the tone for everyone else.”
This weekend, the Black Bears face an upstart Boston University team that has risen to 6-6-2 in league play in recent weeks. The Black Bears will look to sophomore goaltender Genevieve Turgeon to hold the potent Terriers off the board Saturday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena.
“Turg’ came back [from winter break] and really took over, which is great because I was hoping one of them would do that. It’s really nice, especially against the Hockey East teams because goaltending is such a big part of the game. The goaltenders are always getting better in the women’s game, it’s become so much more of a focus, and now when your goalie is hot you can steal a game,” Steblin said of her stalwart netminder who has made 163 saves over four games in 2007.
Despite quality play, asking Turgeon to stop an average of over 40 pucks per game can be taxing.
“We’re doing a better job keeping the shot outside and out of the slot,” Steblen explained. “I don’t mind the number of shots as long they’re not high quality chances.”
Shots, goals and chances will be at a premium when UMaine travels down Chestnut Avenue to face No. 9 BC Sunday. Freshman goalie Molly Shaus is among the nation’s leaders in goals against, and the Black Bears will look to a diverse offense that features eight players with more than 10 points to break the dam.
Though it may have hurt in terms of depth, UMaine’s scoring and chemistry are bolstered by a small roster that includes only 16 skaters, meaning every player logs considerable ice time and no one is scratched.
“There’s no fourth line that’s just sitting around, everyone is logging a lot of ice time,” said Steblen, who’s squad had six freshman and sophomores in the top-10 in scoring, led by former Ontario gold medal teammates Vanessa Vani and Robyn Law. “They’re all out there, into the game, and that’s part of the development of those underclassmen.”
The Black Bears are nine points out of the playoffs entering this weekend, but have games in hand as well as games against the teams ahead of them. Steblen believes that with the same grit and tenacity the club showed against the Friars, the post-season is not out of reach.
“Absolutely [we can move up]. If we play like that, there’s no reason we won’t pick up some points down the stretch.”
