The Maine Mariners, the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) Affiliate of the Boston Bruins, are gearing up for a second straight postseason appearance on Friday night when they travel to Reading, Pennsylvania to meet the Reading Royals in game one of a best of seven series in the North Division Semifinals.
The series with Reading is also a rematch of the North Division Semifinals last April that was won by the Royals in six games. Maine this season won 40 games in a regular season for the first time in franchise history, finishing as the #3 seed at 42-27-3. Three former players that played for the University of Maine have been the leading point getters this season for the Mariners. Tim Doherty leads the team in points with 21 goals and 52 assists (73 points), and Mitch Fossier has 21 goals and 36 assists (57 points). Former Black Bears Patrick Shea leads all skaters on Maine in goals with 25, and also dished out 29 assists. In net there hasn’t been any announcement as of yet on who head coach Terrence Wallin will start between the pipes in game one Friday, as both Michael DiPietro and Francois Brassard are expected to both see time. Brassard played in 33 games with a 17-14-1 record, a 2.73 goals against average, a .909 save percentage, and two shutouts. DiPietro appeared in 29 contests with a 19-9-0 record, GAA of 2.61, save percentage of .866, and one shutout.
Reading (41-25-6) has been led by Charlie Gerard and Max Newton. Gerard had 33 goals and 43 assists (76 points) in the regular season, while Newton found the back of the net 34 times and dished out 38 assists (72 points). Goaltender Pat Nagle has seen a majority of the time in net going 21-7-0 with a 2.61 GAA, a save percentage of .908, and one shutout. Nolan Maier also went 12-8-3 with a 2.89 GAA and a save percentage of .892. The Royals (Philadelphia Flyers) beat the Mariners four times in the six regular season meetings. Game one and two are in Reading Friday and Saturday, before switching cities to Portland for games three through five (if necessary) Monday-Wednesday. The winner of the series would play the winner of Newfoundland and Adirondack in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here is the full schedule-
Game 1 at Reading- Friday, April 21 @ 7 p.m.
Game 2 at Reading- Saturday, April 22 @ 7 p.m.
Game 3 at Portland- Monday, April 24 @ 7 p.m.
Game 4 at Portland- Tuesday, April 25 @ 7 p.m.
*Game 5 at Portland- Wednesday, April 26 @ 7 p.m.
*Game 6 at Reading- Saturday, April 29 @ 7 p.m.
*Game 7 at Reading- Sunday, April 30 @ 7 p.m.
*-if necessary
Story by Chris Lessner
