The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team is preparing to host the University of Vermont Catamounts tonight in what will be the final game of the season at Alfond Arena in Orono in a first round Hockey East playoff game. It will also mark the first time since Maine played UNH in the quarterfinals of the 2017-18 season that they’ll play a playoff game at home in front of fans.
Maine, who finished sixth in Hockey East, finished the regular season at 15-15-5, 9-11-4 in the conference but dropped both games to cap off that regular season to UMass in Orono last weekend. The Black Bears went 13-7-4 over their last 24 games after a tough 2-8-1 start overall. Junior Lynden Breen has led the way with 19 goals and 15 assists (34 points) and also leads the country in shorthanded markers with four. Senior Ben Poisson is second with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) sophomore Nolan Renwick has added 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists), while junior Donovan Villeneuve-Houle has contributed 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists). Graduate student Jakub Sirota has been as steady as they come on defense at the blue line and has six goals and nine assists. Junior netminder Victor Ostman has started 30 games in between the pipes and owns an overall record of 14-11-4 with a 2.18 goals against average and a .919 save percentage with five shutouts. In Hockey East play, Ostman has two shutouts and is 9-9-4, with a 2.31 GAA and a save percentage of .915 in starting 23 of 24 league games. The Black Bears won both regular season meetings with Vermont 3-1 and 5-1 back on December 2 and 3 in Burlington. Maine will be looking to advance to the Hockey East quarterfinal round for the first time since the 2019-20 season, when they were scheduled to host UConn in a best of three at the Alfond before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They haven’t played past the quarterfinals since 2011-12 when they beat Boston University 5-3 in the semifinals at TD Garden and then lost to Boston College 4-1 in the championship, before being defeated by Minnesota-Duluth 5-2 in their last appearance in an NCAA Tournament game after they received an at-large bid. This season the quarterfinals is a one game format. The Bears have lost in the opening round the last two seasons to UNH at home 7-2 in 2020-21, and then last March 9th 6-2 on the road at Merrimack.
#11 Vermont (9-19-5, 4-16-3) has been led offensively by Isak Walther who has seven goals and 10 assists on the year. Andrei Buyalsky has tallied four goals and 11 assists for 15 points. Will Zapernick, Joel Maatta, and Jacques Bouquot each have 13 points, while Eric Gotz and Robbie Stucker also have double digit points with 12 and 11 respectively. Gabe Carriere has played 23 of the 32 games overall in net with a record of 7-13-3, a 2.53 goals against, and a .911 save percentage. In Hockey play, Carriere is 2-10-2, with a 3.07 GAA, and a save percentage of .897. Vermont is averaging 1.7 goals per game, Maine at 2.6 while the Catamounts are 11% on the powerplay and the Black Bears operate at an 18% clip with the extra man.
Faceoff Wednesday night at the Alfond Arena is set for 7 p.m. A Maine win sends them to play #3 seed Northeastern on Saturday in Boston, while a Vermont win would also send the Catamounts to Boston Saturday to take on top seed and regular season champion Boston University.
Story by Chris Lessner. Featured photo by Anthony DelMonaco- The University of Maine celebrates a goal in a game earlier this season vs Boston University at Alfond Arena
