Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
The improved overall fitness of the University of Maine men’s hockey team has been rumored, but the Black Bears were able to transfer their words to the ice Sunday afternoon, lighting the lamp 15 times in the annual Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage at Alfond Arena. The White squad defeated the Blue team 11-4.
Ninth-year coach Tim Whitehead, who watched the game while his assistants — Bob Corkum and Dan Kerluke — led the two sides, looked at the game as an opportunity for potential lines to develop cohesiveness before the Black Bears open their season next weekend in Schenectady, N.Y. against Union College.
“It’s the second day of practice, so we’ve got a lot to work on,” Whitehead said. “But at the same time I thought there were a lot of positives.”
Last year, UMaine travelled to the University of New Brunswick for a pair of exhibitions before traveling to Alaska to start the season. Now with the lack of an exhibition schedule, the Black Bears looked at the tune-up game with more focus.
“We’ve got to communicate better on offense and defense,” Whitehead said. “We’ve got to simplify a little on offense when we don’t have a play, but it’s nice to see guys making plays.”
Two 25-minute periods preceded a full team shootout in front of a crowd of 3,427. Walk-on freshmen Richard Randa and Val Poticny, both from Slovakia, also participated while attempting to earn one of the final roster spots.
Whitehead was pleased to see the puck go in the net with frequency after consecutive disappointing 13 win seasons, and just 2.2 goals per game scored by the Black Bears last year. He knows the high scoring Blue-White game more closely resembles an All-Star game than a Hockey East matchup though, and expects a much improved defensive effort when the season begins.
“A lot of our freshmen are very offensively gifted,” Senior right wing David DeKastrozza said. “I think we’re definitely going to produce some more goals this year.”
Junior captain Tanner House and junior assistant captain Jeff Dimmen both wore their blue jerseys, while seniors DeKastrozza, Brett Carriere and Dave Wilson led the white team.
Carriere and DeKastrozza each scored a pair of goals, showing promising point production from last season’s primary checking line. Senior Kevin Swallow did not dress for the game because of an injury sustained in the team’s first practice, but will likely flank center Carriere on the left wing when he returns.
“That was sort of the theme of the night, to get some kinks out of our system and try to put as many pucks on net as possible,” Carriere said.
Last year’s top scoring line of House and sophomores Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn connected on a pair of goals for the Blue team, with one each coming from Nyquist and Flynn.
“That’s definitely an option for us,” Whitehead said of keeping the line together. “There’s good chemistry there.”
Sophomore defenseman Ryan Hegarty scored two goals from the left point to lead a solid returning defense corps. Dimmen, and juniors Mike Banwell and Josh Van Dyk also got shots through. Sophomore Will O’Neill contributed an assist.
“I think that will be a big part of our team — our defense contributing to offense,” Dimmen said. “We have confidence in our forwards to cover for us, so it will be nice to hop in the rush a little bit.”
Freshman center Joey Diamond led UMaine’s newcomers with a pair of goals. Diamond is a gritty forward and is coming off a 42-goal season in his last year of junior hockey. He was glad to find success in his Alfond Arena debut, regardless of the game’s place on the scale of importance.
“You come in here in late August and you just look forward to this game,” Diamond said. “You work so hard. It’s been great. I’m so excited to finally be here.”
Diamond’s classmates Matt Mangene and Kyle Beattie, both former New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, also displayed their scoring touch with a goal apiece.
“The freshman class has been great so far,” Carriere said. “Very, very gifted individually. Seeing some of the chemistry out there, kids like Diamond and [Adam] Shemansky was really inspirational.”
Junior Robby Dee and sophomore Spencer Abbott gained familiarity with each other last year and reunited on a line for the white team. Dee scored a goal and added an assist, while Abbott dished out three assists.
The lopsided score was not entirely indicative of the play of UMaine’s three goaltenders vying for the starting job. Wilson and sophomore Scott Darling were more impressive during the game, but freshman Shawn Sirman made several quality stops in the shootout.
“It’s more of an offensive- minded game typically, the Blue-White,” Whitehead said. “But those guys will be fine. The goalies will do well. They didn’t have their best night tonight, but they also made some nice saves too.”
After travelling to Union, the Black Bears will begin their home schedule on Oct. 16-17 against Michigan State. The Spartans eliminated UMaine from the 2007 Frozen Four in the Black Bears’ last trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Bangor Daily News