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Men’s Hockey: Depth, freshmen class key to Bears resurgence

Men's hockey goes for fifth straight win, hope to extend unbeaten streak to six games

Posted on Dec. 09, 2009, at 11:11 p.m.

It took the entire first month of the season for the University of Maine men’s hockey team to find its identity, but the Black Bears are finally hitting their stride.

UMaine’s record (8-7-1) is above .500 for the first time this season, and the Black Bears will look to extend their winning streak to five games this weekend when they host Northeastern University on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the final game before the holiday break.

The fall semester’s end marks the midway point of the season, and the Black Bears’ confidence level is high after recovering from a 1-5-0 start. They have gone 7-2-1 since their Oct. 30 win against No. 10 University of Vermont, and four of UMaine’s wins have come against nationally-ranked opponents. The Black Bears rank third in the Hockey East Conference behind the University of New Hampshire and Boston College.

“I think a little bit of the shadow of last year came over this year, and we didn’t get out of the gate like we wanted to,” UMaine sophomore defenseman Ryan Hegarty said. “I think we handled it well. We just took the bull by the horns and said ‘Let’s just win, we’ve got nothing to lose now.’”

The Black Bears will make their annual appearance in the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla., Dec. 29-30, but must first settle the season series with Northeastern. UMaine won the first game in Boston 6-2 Nov. 13 but dropped the weekend finale 5-2. The Black Bears are receiving eight votes in the latest USCHO.com National Poll, and a win on Saturday would better their chances of breaking into the top-20 for the first time this year.

“These two points are really important for us,” Hegarty said. “What team works the hardest and what team comes most prepared, I think is going to come out with the victory.”

Multiple Black Bears have received recognition from Hockey East in recent weeks. Sophomore goaltender Scott Darling is the reigning Defensive Player of the Week for a second straight week. This week he shares the honor with University of New Hampshire goalie Brian Foster. Junior center and captain Tanner House was the co-Player of the Week after a four-goal weekend against the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and St. Lawrence University on Nov. 27-28. Freshman winger Adam Shemansky was the co-Rookie of the Week after scoring a pair of goals in the win against Vermont.

Improved defensive play has facilitated more opportunities on offense for the Black Bears, who are averaging more than a goal more per game than at this point last year. Their penalty kill struggled early in the campaign, but survived 12 of 13 Providence College power plays last weekend.

“We’ve had certain games where we’ve done well on our penalty kill,” Whitehead said. “But that was perhaps our most solid back-to-back nights.”

UMaine has the top special teams net statistic in Hockey East, due for the most part to their efficient power play, which is capitalizing on 26.5 percent of its opportunities. The power play ranks fifth in the nation.

“We’re just working on getting to the net and generating offense,” Hegarty said.

Darling is the backbone of UMaine’s defense corps. He has allowed just one goal in each of UMaine’s four consecutive wins leading up to this weekend. He is 8-3-1 with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.

“We just work from him out,” junior defenseman Josh Van Dyk said. “He plays solid and gives us confidence, then the defense plays solid and it allows the forwards to do their thing up front.”

Four UMaine defensemen — Mark Nemec, Mike Banwell, Brett Carriere and Nick Pryor — have missed time due to injury, but the Black Bears’ depth at the position has allowed them to avoid a drop-off. During the UMass-Lowell / St. Lawrence weekend, the Black Bears were down to the final skater on their depth chart. Banwell remains inactive with a knee injury.

“We’re confident with anybody in the lineup,” Van Dyk said. “Our depth is key because it keeps everybody fighting for spots.”

Forwards House, Robby Dee, Kyle Solomon, Kevin Swallow and David deKastrozza have also suffered early-season injuries. Dee missed last Saturday’s game against Providence with a shoulder injury and will sit out Saturday’s game before an anticipated return for the Florida tournament.

House has centered UMaine’s first line since his return from a leg injury and is flanked by sophomores Brian Flynn and Gustav Nyquist. The three are UMaine’s top three scorers. Nyquist (11 goals-13 assists-24 points) is tied for second in the nation in scoring and has scored a point in six consecutive games.

“I have not seen a better forward that we’ve played against yet this year,” Whitehead said of Nyquist.

House, Dee and sophomore forward Spencer Abbott are critical parts of UMaine’s forechecking strategy of “Third Man High”. While the other two forwards battle for the puck deep in the offensive zone, the third man remains high in the slot to disrupt odd-man rushes on turnovers as well as provide a presence in front of the net to clean up rebounded shots.

“It allows the defense to play more confident, and they can step up sooner at the blue line,” Van Dyk said. “It allows for more turnovers in the neutral zone because they have to make a play to beat a guy one-on-one.”

Shemansky is one of several freshmen to make an immediate contribution to the Black Bears’ lineup. His 12 points leads UMaine freshmen and five power play goals are most on the team. Whitehead feels forward Matt Mangene’s defensive ability in addition to offensive skill makes him the best-rounded of the freshmen. Mike Cornell has been a consistent blueliner along with redshirt Nemec, who missed the first part of the season with a broken thumb. Goalie Shawn Sirman is a reliable back-up to Darling.

“Everyone knew they were going to make an impact, but not this much,” Hegarty said. “It’s really nice for the upperclassmen to rely on some of the younger guys.”

The trip to Florida will not be a vacation in the typical sense for the Black Bears, as three formidable opponents await them. Cornell University is ranked fifth in the nation. Princeton University made an NCAA Tournament appearance last year and Colorado College rounds out the field. The Black Bears are given a week to spend at home before the trip.

“The best part of the Florida College Classic is not just that we’re in Florida, but that we’re in one of the highest rated competitive tournaments of the holiday season,” Whitehead said.

UMaine will begin the second half of the season with an exhibition against the University of New Brunswick at Alfond Arena on Jan 2.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009, 11:11 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.