The University of Maine men’s and women’s ice hockey teams will be opening their 2024-25 season over the course of the next two weekends at Alfond Arena in Orono.
The Maine women’s team, who was picked to finish eighth out of 10 schools in the Hockey East Coaches pre-season poll, will host Quinnipiac University for a two game series this coming Friday and Saturday. The Bobcats begin the season ranked #10 in the country, coming off a 25-11-1 (13-9-0 in the ECAC) campaign in 2023-24. The Black Bears went 15-18-2 (11-14-2 in Hockey East) a season ago, falling 2-1 at home in overtime to Merrimack in the opening round of the conference playoffs. Maine will open Hockey East play at home on October 11th and 12th against Providence, and will also host perennial national power Wisconsin in non-conference action on November 29th and 30th. The Badgers have won seven national titles, including taking three of the last five losing last season 1-0 to Ohio State in the final. Faceoff on Friday vs Quinnipiac is 6 p.m., while Saturday is slated for a 3 p.m. start.
The Maine men’s team, who was ranked #12 in the nation in the USCHO preseason online poll on Monday, will take on American International College in their season opener next Saturday, October 5th. The Yellow Jackets went 20-16-4 and 12-10-4 in the AHA last year. The Black Bears are coming off a 2023-24 season that was their best in 12 years, making it to the TD Garden for the Hockey East semifinals and also making it back to the NCAA Tournament where they fell 3-1 to Cornell in an opening round game. Maine, who went 23-12-2 (14-9-1 in Hockey East) a year ago, returns plenty of talent that also has them picked to finish fourth in the league standings. That includes defensemen Luke Antonacci, Brandon Holt, Liam Lesakowski, Brandon Chabrier, Jack Dalton, Grayson Arnott, Brodie Nobes, and David Breazeale. Sophomore Albin Boija is expected to be the full-time goaltender, while on offense some familiar names will be seen on the ice in Josh Nadeau, Lynden Breen, Harrison Scott, Aidan Carney, Nolan Renwick, Thomas Freel, Nicholas Niemo, and Anthony Calafiore. Two new names who came in as transfers are forwards Ross Mitton (Colgate) and Taylor Makar (UMass). The faceoff with AIC on October 5th is at 7 p.m. After an exhibition at home with Army on October 12th, Maine stays at home to take on Quinnipiac for a pair of non-conference games on October 18th and 19th. The conference openers are on the road at Northeastern the following weekend in Boston on October 25th and 26th. The Bobcats and Huskies were also ranked in the USCHO preseason online poll on Monday at #8 and #20 respectively.
Maine goaltender Julia Bachetti looks to make a save in a 6-0 women’s Hockey East win over Holy Cross on December 2, 2024 at Alfond Arena in Orono. The Lady Black Bears open their 2024-25 season at home this weekend against #10 Quinnipiac. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco
