The #14 University of Maine men’s hockey team is back to work after the Christmas Break, and will open the second half of the season next weekend with a trip to #6 Denver for a two game non-conference series.
Maine (11-7-1 overall) currently sits 34th in the NPI ranking with 15 regular season games remaining. The top 16 in that ranking get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, a place where the Black Bears have been the last two seasons. They have 10 games left against the current top 25 in the NPI. If they want to earn the automatic bid in Hockey East as they did last year by winning the conference tournament, as of now they are in a tie for fourth place after 11 games played (6-5-0, 16 points). The team they are tied with, Northeastern, has played less league games (9). UNH (9 games, 15 points) and Providence (8 games, 14 points) also have games in hand over Maine. The Black Bears will play all conference games the rest of the way after the series with the Pioneers that includes Providence (3 games), Northeastern (2), Boston University (1), UMass-Lowell (2), UConn (2), and Vermont (1). They must finish in the top 8 out of 11 teams to host a playoff contest at Alfond Arena in Orono whether that be an opening round game or a quarterfinal (top 4 teams skip the opening round and host just a quarterfinal). The semifinals and finals of Hockey East at TD Garden in Boston will be held Friday, March 20th and Saturday, March 21st.
Maine has won three straight games coming into their series with Denver (12-6-1), with a midweek overtime win over UMass-Lowell in Portland on December 10th and a convincing home sweep over Lindenwood on December 12th and 13th. The Black Bears and Pioneers met last January in Orono and split a pair of games. Freshman forward Justin Poirier has found his scoring touch once again and will need to be a key contributor down the stretch. Poirier has recorded two goals and one assist in each of the last three wins for the Black Bears, after putting up just two goals and one assist total in the seven games before that. He leads the team with 17 goals and nine assists (26 points). He is also first in the nation among freshman in goals per game (0.89) and second for all freshman in the country in points per outing (1.37), while he is tied for first among all skaters in Hockey East for goals scored (8) and tied for second in points (12). Maine has 10 players that have scored 10 or more points so far on the season including Poirier. Senior defenseman and captain Brandon Holt has 17 points (3 goals, 14 assists), junior forward Josh Nadeau 16 points (10&6), freshman forward Miguel Marques 16 points (6&10), junior forward Max Scott 12 points (3&9), senior forward Owen Fowler 11 points (7&4), junior forward Charlie Russell 11 points (4&7), senior forward and captain Thomas Freel 10 points (4&6), junior forward Sully Scholle 10 points (3&7), and senior defenseman Brandon Chabrier 10 points (0&10).
Coach Ben Barr hasn’t exactly committed to a full time starting goaltender, as junior Albin Boija and freshman Mathis Rousseau have both seen time in net with Rousseau a bit more lately. Boija (7-5-1, 2.45 goals against average, .903 save percentage) has played three of the last seven games for the team in the cage, while Rousseau (4-2-0, 2.54 GAA, .897 save %) has played the other four that included his first career shutout 3-0 at Boston College on November 22nd.
The Maine-Denver series is scheduled for a 9 p.m. Eastern Time faceoff in the opener in Colorado next Friday (January 2nd), while the series finale is an 8 p.m. start time on Saturday. Out of the 12 wins for the Pioneers they have defeated current #12 Boston College, and have two game sweeps over current #7 Western Michigan, and then previously #17 Colorado College and #19 Miami of Ohio. Junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp is their leading scorer with 12 goals and 8 assists, while freshman Quentin Miller out of Montreal, Quebec has started 17 out of the teams 19 games in net and has a record of 11-5-1 with a 1.92 goals against average and a save percentage of .931.
