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After pulling off their first sweep of Boston College in six years over the weekend, the season doesn’t get any easier for the University of Maine men’s hockey team as they prepare to travel to No. 2 Boston University.
While the Black Bears managed to take two of two from then No. 3 BC, playing in Agganis Arena is a lot different from the friendly confines of Alfond Arena.
The Terriers have been on a roll as of late, winning five straight games and even garnering some first-place votes in this week’s USCHO.com poll. BU outscored Providence College 14-1 over the weekend after picking up two road wins, including a hard-fought overtime victory at Harvard University.
The Terriers got the best of the Black Bears on Dec. 10 in the Alfond, sending UMaine into winter break with a 5-1 loss.
Led by a wealth of scoring options — including four players with at least 20 points — and a goalie who’s stopping over 92 percent of shots, the Terriers have shown why they’re the class of Hockey East.
“We really need to get to the net front. We’ve got to cool off [senior goalie Kieran] Millan,” UMaine head coach Tim Whitehead said. “He’s coming off his best weekend of the year with 62 saves out of 63 shots.”
Sophomore forward Matt Nieto has been the most balanced for the Terriers this season, scoring 10 goals and helping on 13 others, while junior forward Wade Megan leads the team with 12 goals. Senior forward Chris Connolly and sophomore defender Adam Clendening lead the team with 19 assists.
“You’ve got two elite senior goalies, a great core of defense and then you’ve got — despite losing those two forwards — a very dynamic group of forwards that continue to produce,” Whitehead said.
The Terriers received some addition by subtraction in the form of exiled senior forward Corey Trivino. After BU played the Black Bears in December, Trivino was kicked off the team after being charged with two counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime and one count of assault with attempt to rape after he allegedly made his way into a female student’s room and proceeded to kiss and fondle her against her will. Trivino led the Terriers with 13 goals in 15 games, but BU has gone 5-1 since his dismissal.
“It’s very impressive,” Whitehead said. “After losing Trivino and [sophomore forward Charlie] Coyle, they’ve gone on a nice run. Since mid-November they’ve started their run. It is impressive that they haven’t missed a beat since those two left. It speaks to the depth of their recruiting.”
Coyle left to begin his NHL career.
However, if there’s a team confident enough to beat BU in Boston, it’s the Black Bears. UMaine has gone 8-2-1 since Thanksgiving and are back in the top 20 for the first time since Halloween.
Led by Hobey Baker award nominees senior center Brian Flynn and senior forward Spencer Abbott, the Black Bears have one of the most potent power plays in the country.
In fact, UMaine’s top line of Flynn, Abbott and junior forward Joey Diamond are ranked one, two and three, respectively, in Hockey East points. The next three players in line: BU’s top line of Nieto, Connolly and sophomore forward Sahir Gill.
“When a team has depth like this, it’s difficult to shut just one line down, because the other line will burn you,” Whitehead said. “They bring a lot of offense from their defensive core. We have to manage the puck well to stay away from odd-man rushes and we have to stay out of the box.”
If the Black Bears are able to duplicate their power-play success from the weekend, they’ll have a shot at taking one or both games from the Terriers. If it plays out the other way and UMaine ends up in the sin bin, BU can wreak havoc on the short-handed Black Bears.
UMaine still has the second-best power play in the country, converting on just under 30 percent of their chances. However, the Black Bears haven’t faced a power-play unit as talented as the Terriers, who are fifth in the country.
“We did execute well on the power play [against BC],” Whitehead said. “I thought we showed a lot of resiliency by not getting too high or too low in the swings of momentum and we were able to get that last surge.”
The Black Bears will undoubtedly need that resiliency if they hope to overcome the No. 2 team in the country. Friday’s game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., while the finale’s start time is 7:30 p.m. and can be seen on CBS College Sports.
Bangor Daily News