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Waiting to see who would come out of the University of Maine men’s hockey team’s locker room after their 4-3 loss to the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Saturday night, one wondered how the players would respond to such a crushing defeat, after calling Friday night’s 5-3 loss to the River Hawks “embarrassing.”
The only problem was, no players came out.
After a lengthy, impromptu team meeting, UMaine head coach Tim Whitehead appeared and answered 2 minutes of questions his voice barely audible.
The loss was beyond words for the Black Bears.
The River Hawks swept UMaine in the Alfond Arena for the first time since 1985, and the home team wasn’t ready to discuss it with anyone — publicly, that is.
Team meetings continued through the weekend and into the beginning of this week, as the entire team tried to figure out what they could do, and what they weren’t doing, to get the Black Bears on track.
“That’s between us and the team,” Whitehead said regarding the content of Saturday night’s meeting. “Some things belong in the locker room. We’re the ones that are held accountable and we’re just looking at ourselves and dealing with it from within. I’m pleased to talk about it, but I’m not going to say everything coaches and players say in their meeting. I can tell you it was not a feel-good meeting.”
In addition, the players — spearheaded by the four captains, senior forwards Spencer Abbott and Brian Flynn and senior and junior defenders Will O’Neill and Mike Cornell — called a players-only meeting Sunday night to address what needed to be done.
“It started with the four captains when we all met at one of our places early Sunday to talk about what we needed to do to move forward,” Abbott said. “We were trying to make sure that we got everyone’s attention and let them know that we have a good team and obviously we’re not doing something right.
“We needed to figure out what it is we had to do to be successful,” he added. “So we decided to meet and get everyone involved and [get] them talking about what they needed to do to make the team successful and what their weaknesses are.”
“I was encouraged,” Whitehead said. “Sunday night they gathered on their own in the locker room and they met for over 2 hours to talk about what they could do individually. Spencer told me about it Monday morning and our staff was very encouraged that they took ownership. We followed it up ourselves — the coaches — Monday afternoon with a good meeting then a real hard skate that day.
“I feel very good where our mental state is right now,” Whitehead added. “If we were able to drop the puck on Monday, I would have liked that. The effort is there, and the desire is there, there is no doubt.”
This soul-searching and holding oneself accountable will mean nothing if it doesn’t produce a victory, and the Black Bears have a difficult task this weekend, traveling to face a red-hot University of Massachusetts Amherst team that has won their last three games, including a 4-2 victory over Boston College after the Eagles decimated the Black Bears 5-1.
“We’re going to attack this next game and leave it all out on the ice,” Whitehead said. “My hope is that we respond with more poise and composure in the third period and throughout the game. If we’re able to do that, we can knock them off.
“But let’s not forget, [UMass] is undefeated at home,” he added. “They’re very strong in their own rink and this is a big challenge for us. But this is an opportunity for us to get back on the winning track and climb up the ladder.”
With many storylines coming out of Saturday night’s heartbreaking loss, one that got lost in the shuffle was the shuffling of Saturday’s lineup, which saw all five usual starters riding the pine when the puck dropped.
“We’ve got to produce if this team is going to be successful,” Abbott said. “I think [Whitehead] not starting us that night did send us a message. He met with us after the first game and told us we needed to play better, and he’s 100 percent right.”
“That’s going to continue until we can play well on a consistent basis,” Whitehead said. “We’ll continue to give both goalies an opportunity; we’ll continue to switch up D-pairs and lineups.”
In addition, junior defender Matt Mangene was pulled to the offensive line for the first time this season after a rough game Friday night and came close to making it pay off, clipping the post in the first period on Saturday.
“[Mangene] had some excellent chances and he wasn’t at fault defensively as he was the night before,” Whitehead said. “He responded very well. He’s a guy we know we can count on whenever we need him.”
If the Black Bears hope to rebound at Amherst this Friday, they’ll need to stay out of the penalty box. UMaine’s penalty kill has been atrocious as of late and the team currently sits eighth in Hockey East with a man in the penalty box, while the Minutemen’s power-play unit is tied for third in the conference, connecting on 13 out of 57 power-play opportunities. The Black Bears have also allowed the most short-handed goals in Hockey East.
Every game in the Hockey East season is big, but if the Black Bears don’t turn things around at UMass this Friday, it will be a long time before they can hit the ice and exercise their demons.
UMaine hosts an exhibition with the U.S. Under-18 team next Wednesday before playing Clarkson University the following Saturday in Portland. After the lone game with the Minutemen, the Black Bears won’t be able to improve their Hockey East standing until the first weekend of December, when they travel to Hockey East bottom-dwellers University of Vermont.
Unless they pick up a win at UMass, the Black Bears could be right there next to the Catamounts.
Bangor Daily News