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Men’s Hockey: UM power play will be put to the test against BU

Fourth-ranked power play unit faces off against top penalty kill in HE matchup

By Steven McCarthy

Posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009, 12:11 am

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The fourth-ranked power play in the nation will clash with the top penalty-killing unit in Hockey East Sunday afternoon when the University of Maine men’s hockey team hosts defending National Champions Boston University at Alfond Arena.

UMaine scored three power-play goals in their 4-1 win against tenth-ranked University of Vermont last Friday and is 13-for-27 (27.7 percent) with the man advantage in seven games this season. Freshman left wing Adam Shemansky leads the team with four power play goals, followed by sophomore right wing Gustav Nyquist with three.

“We’ve just been getting to the nets,” said junior defenseman Jeff Dimmen. “Most of our goals have been right around the crease, so our forwards have been doing a great job with burying the rebounds.”

The seventh-ranked Terriers (2-3-0, 1-2-0 HE) will counter with an 89.7-percent penalty kill ratio, and have allowed just three power-play goals in their first five games.

“Special teams will be huge,” Dimmen said. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing and hopefully we can pop a couple. That will definitely help us.”

The 4 p.m. game will be the 107th meeting of all time between the bitter rivals, who drew each other in last year’s Hockey East Tournament Quarterfinals.

The Black Bears forced a decisive third game against the Terriers with a 6-3 Game 2 win but lost 6-2 in the elimination game. BU leads the all-time series which dates back to 1924, 52-43-11.

“It was a very hard fought series both ways,” said UMaine coach Tim Whitehead. “We have great respect for B.U. and what they accomplished last year.”

UMaine sophomore goalie Scott Darling started all three games of the series for UMaine and has redemption in mind after allowing four goals in a 7-2 regular season loss to the Terriers at the Alfond.

“They’re a great team. I’ve got a lot of respect for them,” Darling said. “But we’re not afraid of them.”

Darling was between the pipes for both of UMaine’s wins this season, which came in consecutive home games. The Black Bears are 2-5-0 overall and 1-2-0 against Hockey East opponents.

“We thrive off [the Alfond crowd],” Darling said. “When we get a big hit or a big goal and the place goes crazy, it just pumps us up to play better.”

Dimmen denied the revenge aspect of the single-game weekend and feels both teams have turned the page on last year.

“We’re a new team and they’re a new team,” Dimmen said. “We’re looking to get back on track here, and they’re a great team.”

Thirty-seven year BU coach Jack Parker will be without junior first-line center Nick Bonino, who dislocated his shoulder in an Oct. 24 game against the University of Michigan. The Anaheim Ducks’ prospect was second in team scoring for the Terriers last year with 50 points (18 goals, 32 assists), five behind Hobey Baker Award finalist Colin Wilson, who turned pro with the Nashville Predators after the championship run.

Bonino, an assistant captain, is the only returning player from the top six in team scoring, which included Hobey Baker winner Matt Gilroy. Junior defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk captains the team and is B.U.’s leading scorer with five points. Senior defenseman Eric Gryba is the other assistant captain. The Terriers have 14 NHL draft picks on their roster to UMaine’s six.

“They’ve done a great job of each year reloading with top NHL picks and other players to round out the squad,” Whitehead said. “It’s always a challenge playing BU, but over the years we’ve had some great success against them as well.”

After trailing 3-1, Bonino’s goal and assist in the final minute of regulation of the National Championship Game helped force overtime against the University of Miami-Ohio. The Terriers completed the historic comeback on a deflected shot by sophomore defenseman Colby Cohen from the left point that won the game 4-3.

Sophomore goalie Kieran Millan was the dependable backstop that anchored the Terriers to their fifth NCAA Championship. He has started all five games for BU this season.

“There’s no weakness on their team,” Whitehead said. “Despite losing some of their very best guys from last year, they’ve reloaded very quickly.”

With the absence of Bonino, BU ranks tied for last in the 10-team conference in scoring though, averaging just 2.40 goals per-game.

Whitehead was pleased with his team’s improvement against Vermont in protecting their own net-front while skating 5-on-5, but said the Black Bears were fortunate Darling was up to the task when the Catamounts broke away shorthanded three times.

“That’s an area we want to tighten up before we play BU,” Whitehead said. “Making sure we’re not giving up chances on our power play.”

Dimmen is UMaine’s defensive leader and looks forward to the challenge BU will bring to the still jelling defensive corps.

“You’ve really got to be careful defensively, and you can’t be taking chances offensively because they’ll put quite a few goals up on the board,” Dimmen said.

Darling was brilliant on the shorthanded breakaways and odd-man rushes. He made 31 saves and lowered his goals-against average to 3.31. Darling felt his own elevated confidence and the team’s extra focus during practice propelled them to the upset.

“Everyone did their job and that made my job a lot easier,” Darling said. “Stuff we worked on all week showed up in the game and that’s what made the difference.”