DEFENSE HAS KEYED BLACK BEAR'S TURNAROUND
by Larry Rogers
Maine Campus Sports Writer
(reprinted with Larry's permission)
 
     On the night of November 14, the home locker room at the Alfond Arena
resembled a morgue.
     The UMaine hockey team had just suffered a crushing 5-2 loss to Boston
University and had won just one of their last five games.  Coach Shawn
Walsh, desperate to find some consistency, had been suffling the lineup
around each night.  The team was struggling to find an identity.
     Now, over two weeks later, the Black Bears - winners of five straight
games - have rediscovered the chemistry that brought them so much success
last season.
     "After that BU loss, a lot of us were kind of second-guessing
ourselves, wondering what kind of team we were," said senior left wing Reg
Cardinal.  "We had a couple of in-depth meetings between the players after
(the BU game), and we set some short-term goals.  Before we just had
long-term goals looking at the NCAA's because of our success last year, and
a lot of us were looking past the regular season."
     Maine, 10-3-2 overall and 3-2-2 in Hockey East, will head into this
weekend's two-game series with Merrimack (4-5-3, 2-5-1) after allowing just
six goals over their last five games.
     Cardinal said the Black Bears are now playing the style of hockey Maine
fans have become used to.
     "We've gotten back to team defense," he said.
     Senior goalie Blair Allison said the team took a step back and refocused.
     "We looked at what we had to do to improve as a team," said Allison,
the reigning Hockey East Player of the Week.  "Everyone had really made the
commitment to work hard and put personal stuff on the back burner."
 
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