After a week off and a two game season opening home sweep over RPI the week before last, the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team is getting set for their first road trip as they head Hamden, Connecticut to play the defending national champion the #5 Quinnipiac Bobcats on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.
The highly touted freshmen Nadeau brothers were impressive in their debuts for Maine in the sweep of RPI. Bradly Nadeau, the first round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, scored his first two career goals and had an assist including the game winning tally in the opening night 4-1 victory over the Engineers. His brother Josh would score two the night after for the Black Bears in a 6-3 win. Lynden Breen also had a goal and two assists on the weekend, and Thomas Freel had four assists to help the team go to 2-0 for the first time since the start of the 2018-19 season. In net, senior Victor Ostman stopped 28 of 32 shots in the two games to earn him Hockey East goaltender of the week. Maine is playing the next four on the road with the two at nationally ranked Quinnipiac, and then two at Merrimack to open conference play next weekend. The Warriors, while not breaking into the top 20, received 34 votes in the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey poll this week.
Quinnipiac out of the ECAC is off to a slow start to their season at 3-2. The Bobcats lost their season opener in overtime to #6 Boston College, before bouncing back for a two game sweep over American International. They picked up a split at UNH this past weekend, winning 5-2 Friday before falling 5-4 on Saturday in Durham. Junior forwards Jacob Quillan and Collin Graf have led the way so far. Quillan has two goals and five assists, and Graf has added six points with three goals and three assists. Three other Quinnipiac skaters have five points each. Senior Vinny Duplessis has played in four of the five games in net (three starts) sporting a 2-2 record, and has a 1.95 goals against average and a .922 save percentage in the early going. The Bobcats went 34-4-3 in 2022-23, culminating in a 3-2 overtime victory over Minnesota on April 8 to win their first national championship in program history.
Written by Chris Lessner/Photo courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco
Maine defenseman David Breazeale takes a shot during a season opening home sweep over RPI at Alfond Arena
