The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team finished the regular season with three straight losses against Boston College, but still finished in sixth place in Hockey East good enough to host a preliminary series this coming weekend against the team that finished in 11th place, the UNH Wildcats.
The only win Maine was able to muster in their last four games of the regular season was a comeback 4-3 overtime win at Durham against UNH on February 14th. Maine finished the regular season at 16-14-4, and 10-11-3 in league play.
Maine had two ties against the Wildcats when they visited the Alfond Arena on January 19th and 20th. UNH finished their last 22 games of the regular season at a dismal 3-14-5 mark, finishing overall at 10-18-6 and 5-14-5 in Hockey East.
Mitch Fossier led the way for Maine in the regular season with 11 goals and 19 assists (30 pts). Chase Pearson added seven goals and 20 assists (27 pts), and Eduards Tralmaks had nine goals and 14 assists (23 pts).
Freshman Jeremy Swayman led the Bears in net with a record of 13-10-3, that included a 2.74 goals against, and a .920 save percentage. Swayman had one shutout.
The best of three series will begin Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m., with a game three if necessary to be played Sunday at 4 p.m. Both Friday and Saturdays games can be seen locally on Fox 22 Bangor. The winner of the series will advance to a quarterfinal series next weekend. UMaine had reduced all seats for each game within Alfond Arena to $20 per seat, available in person or at goblackbears.com.
