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The University of Maine men’s hockey team has found more obstacles in the way of a return to the Hockey East playoffs than anticipated.
After dropping the tiebreaker in the season series with the University of Massachusetts, who were tied with UMaine for the seventh spot in the Hockey East standings entering the weekend, UMaine is now in the eighth spot, four points ahead of ninth-ranked Providence College. Eight teams in the 10-team conference qualify for the playoffs.
The Black Bears (12-16-4, 7-13-3 Hockey East) will host the University of Vermont this weekend. The Catamounts are ranked ninth in the nation and are tied with the University of New Hampshire for third place in Hockey East. It will be the final home weekend for the Black Bears. Seniors Jeff Marshall, Simon Danis-Pepin, Chris Hahn and Matt Duffy will be recognized Saturday night.
“It’s one of the bigger advantages in college hockey to play here,” said UMaine freshman left wing Brian Flynn. “So whenever a team comes in here, especially a great team like Vermont, we expect both nights to be a fight and for them not to leave here with any easy points.”
The Catamounts (16-9-5, 12-7-4 Hockey East) won the first meeting 3-2 in Vermont on Nov. 29 in front of a sold out crowd. UMaine gained a 2-1 lead on goals by Flynn and freshman Gustav Nyquist, before Vermont mounted a two-goal comeback in the third period. Sophomore defenseman Josh Burrows netted the even strength game-winner with 9:32 remaining.
UMaine looks to play to its defensive strengths as they did in the early season meeting. The game saw a goaltending duel between UMaine freshman Scott Darling and Vermont junior Mike Spillane. Darling made 20 saves, while Spillane made 21.
“We kind of just fell apart in the third, and maybe quit a little,” Flynn said. “We learned from that a lot, so I think we’ve become a stronger team in the second half since then.”
The offense revived itself against UMass, as the Black Bears scored three goals in each game, but fell one short both nights. Flynn had a breakout weekend with three goals, giving him the team lead with 11 points. Nyquist is the points leader with 25 on 10 goals and 15 assists. UMaine is averaging 2.22 goals per game, better only than Merrimack College with 2.17.
“We got that first one in the third, and the flood gates kind of opened,” Flynn said of Saturday’s comeback effort. “Hopefully we can continue to score some goals like we did in the third period that night.”
The normally-formidable penalty kill unit was rattled Friday night, giving up threeone goal leads to power play goals before the Minutemen won in overtime. UMaine is still ranked second in Hockey East with an 87.5 percent penalty kill percentage. Vermont has committed the second fewest penalties in minutes in Hockey East.
“Their [UMass] power play was really doing well on Friday night, and we just got into too much penalty trouble and gave their power play too many looks,” said sophomore defenseman Jeff Dimmen. “They’ve got some really good-skilled players on their team, and they’re going to make you pay.”
The Vermont offense (2.97 goals per game, fifth in Hockey East) is led by junior forward Viktor Stalberg, tied for 21st in the nation in scoring with 35 points. Senior forward Peter Lenes is second in team scoring with 28 points.
“We’ve been giving up too many goals, and letting them get in front of our net and get good shots on our goalie.” Dimmen said. “So we’ve definitely got to work on our team defense and limit their shots from their skilled forwards.”
Providence picked up a point last weekend with a tie against Merrimack College. The Friars will finish the season with two-game sets against Boston College and top-ranked Boston University. Boston College fell out of the national rankings for the first time this season in the latest polls.
The Black Bears know they cannot rely on other teams to seal their fate, though. They will finish the regular season on the road against the University of Massachusetts at Lowell on March 6 and 7. The River Hawks beat UMaine 3-2 at Alfond Arena on Jan. 30, and limited the Black Bears to just 16 shots on goal.
Bangor Daily News