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The University of Maine men’s hockey undoubtedly has a strong starting lineup for this upcoming season, but what will happen when the starters need relief from the action?
UMaine’s second and third lines will be there to step in and deliver when head coach Tim Whitehead calls their names.
This talented group of reserves includes many returning players from last year’s team, including junior forwards Adam Shemansky and Klas Leidermark, sophomore forward Jon Swavely, returning defensemen junior Mark Nemec and senior Ryan Hegarty and one player who is switching from center to defense, junior Matt Mangene.
Whitehead has confidence that Mangene can get the job done.
“Mangene will play more defense than center,” Whitehead said. “After losing three solid defenders, we went a little thin. We have some returning guys that we think will help us, there’s no doubt about that but to lose three legit guys we wanted a veteran to go back there and stabilize things.”
Another task the second and third lines will have is stepping up to fill the shoes of graduated players.
Some players are going to see a lot more ice time than last year, such as Shemansky, who played in 19 games and Liedermark, who played in 18. They will be playing with experienced teammates like sophomore Kyle Beattie and senior Theo Andersson, who saw action in 32 games and 28 games respectively.
Whitehead expects all players to grasp their roles whether or not they have more game experience.
“It’s always tough losing players to graduation and signing early,” Whitehead said. “But it’s also always exciting to see the next generation of players step up and capitalize on that ice time. There’s a group of returning players that did not get significant ice time last year and will get it this year and have every opportunity to establish themselves as top-three line players. All of those players have played that role before they came to Maine.”
It is especially important this year, as three players who were part of last year’s senior graduating class were top defensemen for UMaine. Current players such as Nemec and Mangene, who take over for the graduated, will have put a defensive mindset into place.
Communication will be key between the young defenders and the transitioning ones.
“[We need to] communicate with teammates,” Mangene said. “I’m playing both ways this year so I just need to know who my line-mates are and know my role. It keeps me on my toes. I need to know every role on the ice and know everyone’s position and what to do.”
