This article from the Maine Campus really did a good job at looking back
at this season and gave a positive look at what is to come....
Can't wait until next season!
-Beth
Men's hockey says goodbye to seniors
7 Black Bear careers come to a close with NCAA
Regional loss
By Jeff Mannix
It wasn't expected to be an easy year for the
University of Maine men's ice
hockey team at the start of the 2002-03 season. The
Black Bears lost both
goalies to graduation, its leading scorer, its two
best defensemen and the
captain, who was the team's emotional leader.
No one expected what happened at the start of the
year. Led by seven seniors
and plenty of younger players stepping up, the Black
Bears came out of the
gates blazing. UMaine won its first game 8-1 over
Lake Superior State at home
in the Championship of the Black Bear Classic Oct.
12. Junior Colin Shields
picked up where he had left off the season before,
when he led the team with
29 goals by scoring a hat trick on opening night.
UMaine stumbled in its first game of the Nye Frontier
Classic in Anchorage,
Alaska, losing 3-0 to Colorado College. That would be
UMaine's only loss in the
2002 part of the schedule.
The Black Bears began a 16-game unbeaten streak the
next night with a 4-2
win over the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
The goaltending question was answered resoundingly by
the early play of
freshman Jimmy Howard and junior Frank Doyle. Howard
did something early
on the season that no UMaine goalie had ever done -
he recorded three
consecutive shutouts. Howard also tied the record for
shutouts in a season in
that string, and set a new record for time without
giving up a goal in 193
minutes, 45 seconds.
Not to be outdone, Doyle tied the mark that Howard
had set the week before
for quickest shutout in a career when he notched one
Nov. 2 against Mercyhurst
College in his third career start.
UMaine continued to roll into the Hockey East
schedule, dominating on two
consecutive nights in mid-November at Northeastern
and Boston University.
The Black Bears beat Northeastern 8-2, while setting
a new school record by
scoring six goals in a span of 10:18 in the second
period. UMaine then scored
four power play goals the next night in a 7-3 win
over BU.
UMaine remained perfect in Hockey East with a
thrilling 2-1 overtime win over
New Hampshire in front of a sellout crowd at Alfond
Arena Nov. 22. Senior
Martin Kariya scored the game-winner 29 seconds into
the overtime to give
UMaine the win.
UMaine continued to find ways to come back from
adversity and picked up a
win and a tie on back-to-back nights at Boston
College in early December,
scoring late goals in both games.
UMaine closed out the 2002 part of their schedule by
winning the Florida
Everblades College Classic tournament in Estero,
Fla., with a 3-2 comeback win
over Cornell University Dec. 28, and then beat UMass
8-3 in the championship
game. Senior forward Gray Shaneberger took home the
tournament's Most
Valuable Player award, named for UMaine's late coach,
Shawn Walsh.
UMaine dropped its second game of the season Jan. 3
at Providence, but all
appeared to be well with the team after UMaine won
its next three games
easily. The team continued to find ways to get points
by scoring two late goals,
one from Todd Jackson and another from Francis Nault,
to come away with a
5-5 tie at Merrimack Jan. 18.
The first major chink in the armor for UMaine came
with 4-4 tie at Alfond Arena
with Hockey East's last place team, UMass-Lowell Jan.
25. The Black Bears
gave away two-goal leads twice and Shaneberger
injured his knee late in the
overtime. He was sidelined for a month.
UMaine lost its next game at the Verizon Wireless
Arena in Manchester, N.H. to
the University of New Hampshire 4-2 Feb. 1, which
would be the first of eight
consecutive weekend-opening losses. UMaine's season
still appeared to be on
the right track the next night when UMaine won its
first game at the Whittemore
Center in Durham, N.H. since 1998, when Lucas Lawson
kicked in the overtime
game-winner with 6.8 seconds left to give UMaine the
3-2 win over the
Wildcats.
It would be the last major break that went UMaine's
way.
The next game, a Feb. 7 home date with BC, saw the
beginning of the season's
deterioration. With three major forwards out of the
lineup, UMaine was
embarrassed by the Eagles 5-2, which broke up a
29-game unbeaten streak at
Alfond Arena for the Bears.
UMaine won their next outing against Merrimack Feb.
9, but at a price, as
captain Chris Heisten received a concussion that
sidelined him for a week.
The next weekend, UMaine saw its 14-year unbeaten
streak at home against
Providence come to a screeching halt when the Friars
throttled the Bears 5-1 on
Valentine's Day. UMaine could only muster a tie the
next night, and the slide
was in full swing.
UMaine got all of its injured players back for a
two-game series at UMass Feb.
21 and 22, but the first night UMaine was outworked
and beaten 4-2. Doyle
ended the next night with a shutout and UMaine looked
great in a 4-0 win.
The ship appeared to be righted as UMaine dominated
the next game at home
against BU Feb. 28. But, a frantic comeback by BU,
which capped two goals
within three seconds of each other, led to a 4-2
loss. UMaine recovered on
Senior Night the next night with a stellar effort and
won 4-2.
It was UMaine's last win of the year.
The Black Bears didn't appear ready for the Hockey
East Playoffs. The upstart
UMass Minutemen handed UMaine its first two losses
ever in the conference
quarterfinals at home, beating the Bears 5-3 and 4-2
on March 6-7.
UMaine then had a 22-day layoff before playing
Michigan at Yost Ice Arena in
Ann Arbor, Mich., in the NCAA tournament. Despite one
of UMaine's best efforts
all year, Michigan's freshman goalie Al Montoya stole
the show, stopping 34
UMaine shots in Michigan's 2-1 win, ending UMaine's
season at 24-10-5.
The big question now is where does the team go from
here? UMaine has lost
seven seniors, including the team's leading scorer
Kariya (14 goals, 36 assists,
50 points), its leading goal scorer Lawson (21),
Hockey East's Best Defensive
Defenseman award winner Cliff Loya, their best
defensive forward Robert
Liscak (12-22-34), Shaneberger (7-6-13), versatile
defenseman/forward Tom
Reimann (5-13-18) and captain Chris Heisten
(15-16-31).
UMaine fans shouldn't panic, though. The team looks
to return with a stronger,
more experienced defense, two of the top goalies in
the country, plus some
players up front who have the ability to score in
bunches.
The Black Bear hockey team will release its 2003-04
schedule during the
summer. Dry-land training is slated to begin in early
September.
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