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The second weekend of November marked the low point of the season for the University of Maine men’s hockey team.
The University of Massachusetts-Lowell decimated the UMaine players in front of their fans. It was the first time the River Hawks swept the Black Bears in the Alfond Arena since 1986.
In the second game of the UMass-Lowell series, UMaine head coach Tim Whitehead changed the lineup, moving junior defender Matt Mangene up to the second offensive line to join fellow juniors Adam Shemansky and Kyle Beattie.
“Matty was helping our team immensely on defense,” Whitehead said, “but we felt it necessary to move him up front because we needed at least one more guy to provide speed and defensive security, and he’s done that.”
The Black Bears have yet to lose since the sweep, tying at the University of Massachusetts before taking care of Clarkson University in Portland over Thanksgiving break. This past weekend, the Black Bears swept the University of Vermont in Burlington, increasing their unbeaten streak to four games.
“I think we needed to develop some more secondary scoring and Coach knew that we had chemistry together,” Shemansky said. “He put us together our freshman year and at times last year to create scoring chances.”
This chemistry developed before Beattie, Shemansky and Mangene donned the UMaine blue, as all three were teammates on the Eastern Junior Hockey League’s New Hampshire Monarchs.
“I’ve played with Matt the last couple years and in Juniors,” Beattie said. “It’s great to have him up there. It adds a lot of speed to our line and helps us defensively as well.”
“We always know where each other is; we’re a close-knit group,” Mangene said. “We know how to communicate with each other, we know our strengths and weaknesses and that makes it easier for all of us.”
In the four games since the line change, the Beattie-Mangene-Shemansky trio has scored a combined nine points. So far this season, Beattie has two goals and nine assists, Mangene has added three and seven and Shemansky has found the net four times and added two assists.
The rise of secondary scoring has eased the load on the first-line guys — seniors center Brian Flynn and forward Spencer Abbott and junior forward Joey Diamond — and helped open up their offense. In the weekend series against the Catamounts, the starting line combined for 19 points.
“When you get guys like Mangene, Anthoine, Shemansky [and] Beattie chipping in offensively, it takes a lot of pressure off the top guys, and you can see this last weekend — they were able to shine,” Whitehead said. “It’s inspiring to see your teammates rise up.”
The reason for the second line’s chemistry is that each player’s skills complement the others’ abilities.
“My greatest asset is my play-making; I’m a good passer,” Shemansky said. “Beattie has a good shot and Mangene’s got great speed on the wing, and he’s great defensively. When Matty’s on the line with us, we know we can take some more chances offensively because we have someone we can rely on to get back.”
“I add a little more speed,” Mangene said. “My strength helps too — Shemansky’s a little guy — so with me and Beattie, two big guys on the line takes some pressure off. My weakness is burying the puck and both those guys are great goal scorers.”
Mangene’s speed has been the difference-maker for the line. With his ability to get into the offensive zone while having the speed to hustle back on defense, the combination of these three players has helped stabilize a secondary line that was lacking earlier in the season.
“You can just give [Mangene] the puck and he’ll take it into the zone and get it set up,” Beattie said. “I think we have a lot more puck possession with him on the line. We know each other well and we’ve played together a lot and that helps to know all the little things we like to do.”
Shemansky echoed that, saying chemistry can beat talent.
“Chemistry’s such a huge part of the game and there are times where you can have the best players on the team and they might not have the best chemistry,” he said. “Knowing where people are on the ice makes the game so much easier; you can be more creative out there.”
The Black Bears look to continue their unbeaten streak when they host Boston University for a single game this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Bangor Daily News