Sports

Women’s hockey looks back on season

Illness, inconsistent expectations plague UMaine in '07-'08 play

By Tyler Francke

Posted on March 24, 2008, at 12:00 a.m.

The University of Maine women’s ice hockey team wrapped up their season before spring break with a pair of tough home losses to Vermont. It was a disappointing end to a very rough season for the young team that finished with a record of 4-27-3.

Expectations were high coming into this season with the hiring of new Head Coach Dan Lichterman. Lichterman had been an assistant at Minnesota State for the past four seasons.

The implementation of Lichterman’s innovative new system and staff, as well as the addition of a deep and talented first-year class, had optimistic fans hoping that the Black Bears would be able to improve on the 10-19-2 effort they put forth last season.

This season started off as planned, with a 6-1 win over the visiting Sacred Heart University. Not much else went to plan over the next few months as the Black Bears struggled through a 20-game stretch without a single win – 18 losses and two ties. The women were outscored 75-20 in the stretch, but also dropped a few one-goal decisions that could have gone either way.

The team showed some improvement after a month-long winter break, collecting a few victories and staying competitive in most of their losses.

“Coming back from Christmas, we still had 18 league games to play,” Lichterman said. “We couldn’t let the early losses get us down.”

Adding to their struggle, the women’s team was plagued with illnesses throughout the season; the second half of the season saw five different players contract mononucleosis. In addition, underclassmen made up 70 percent of the team’s roster this season.

In the end, the biggest factor in the team’s struggles may have been the inconsistency they have had to deal with in their college careers.

“Every year there’s been a different coach, different system, different expectations and no consistency,” Lichterman said. “That’s one thing we won’t have to deal with next year.”

Lichterman bases coaching on what he calls the “Three Cs:” character, commitment and consistency. He said the latter one was something the players haven’t had for years and something they also didn’t have on the ice this season.

Despite the team’s downfalls, stellar performances were seen; second-year goalie Genevieve Turgeon broke the school record for most saves in a season with 907, breaking the previous record of 895 set by Laura Smart in the 2003-04 season.

“It was a major mental growth year,” Lichterman explained. “You can’t always measure success by the record.”

The future looks bright for the women’s ice hockey team. Only losing three to graduation, they have a fresh recruiting class of “strong character players” coming in, according to Lichterman.

For the first time in five years, the players won’t be beginning next season with a new system and coaching staff.

“There is no question that we will be better next year,” Lichterman said.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.